June in Moldova

It is now truly summer. Days are hot, although we are to have rain for Saturday and Sunday this week. You may suspect that since I am approaching the end of my time in Moldova I am not as active on the blog, but actually I have been busy with everything from monitoring elections to attending my son Colin.s wedding in Denver, to conducting many amazing interviews among the nai players in Moldova.
I know photos add a lot to my blog so here are a few.

This is a photo from my apartment. It is a very large flower that appeared on the plant in my living room. My landlords use the health of the plant to gauge my involvement as a renter, and so far I have done pretty well (except for one time when my landlady scolded me and made quite a show of carrying several large containers of water to rescue the plant). I am very happy to have a big flower in the apartment!

I have been practicing on a large nai, but this week I decided to take a smaller one to my lesson. My professor was very happy and said that this should be my primary instrument now. Here is a photo showing a collage of the two instruments, a flag advertising the current mayor - Dorin Chirtoacă - and some CDs from Dmitru Blajinu - a fantastic Moldovan musician. This is taken in my living room.

Food is the most important thing for many Moldovans. I love to ask people about food because it brings any conversation to a halt while the person describes how to make their village (and family) version of sarmale, mamaligă, zeamă, or other Moldovan favorite dishes. Here is a shot of my favorite dish - crenvurști (Moldovan hot dogs) fried and put on top of fresh tomatoes, rice, and peas. Add balsamic vinegar and it is delightful! (and the Romanian language texts in the background....)

 

One of the reasons I have not posted recently is that Moldova has been having some very close and very crucial elections during the past few weeks. I was honored to serve as an international observer on June 5th for the first election of local officials. The election results were very close and another election took place on the 19th in which the incumbent mayor, Dorin Chirtoacă, a very brave young man, made a strong showing and clearly won by a small margin. I hope the very best for Moldova and am so thrilled that over 60 % of the people eligible to vote came out for the most recent runoff election.

So I will show a photo of Moldovan and Ukrainian chocolate to represent Moldovan desserts. Both very tasty!!! Bucuria is made right here in Chișinău and is my very favorite chocolate.