WARNING: This post may be completely unintelligible, scatter-brained, and confusing. Too many thoughts are crowding my mind. I fear they might not all make it out in an orderly fashion.
We have snow (we, as in all of us here in Chisinau)! The first snowfall came on Nov. 27, the day we celebrated Thanksgiving! It was beautiful, and the perfect backdrop to a busy morning of cooking and a long delightful afternoon with friends and lots of food. More on Thanksgiving in a bit.
Since then, we've had snow four or five times. The heaviest snowfall came last weekend. Moldova has a vibrant International Women's Club, and each year the IWC hosts a charity bazaar. Embassies, international organizations (including the UN and EU representation), and various other NGOs set up booths and sell food, crafts, and trinkets representing their cause or country. All the earnings go to a few specially selected projects that the IWC has been involved with.
Suz and I had been planning on going for weeks, but some Saturdays even the best plans aren't enough to wake us early. Regardless, we decided to brave the cold rain and head out. After waiting longer than usual for a rutiera, we rode the minibus as near to the Moldexpo (creative, huh?) as we could, and then splashed our way across the block and up the street. After discovering that my brown boots are definitely not waterproof, we found refuge from the cold at our destination. The expo was pretty crowded, but it was exciting to see such a large turnout for a good cause. We visited the booths of our native lands. I had a delicious cup of coffee (starbucks!) from my dear ole USA booth. Feeling rather patriotic, and maybe a tad homesick, I even bought a miniature American flag....it only cost me one lei (about 8 cents).
The entertainment included various soloists and dances performed by two different groups of kids. The kids were precious! Some of them were so focused on getting every move correct, and others looked like they were having a blast. At some point during the performance, some little girls were giggling behind me. I didn't think anything of it, until I suddenly realized I could understand what they were saying, and it wasn't because my Romanian has improved. It's funny to me how strange and out of place one's native tongue becomes after becoming used to hearing foreign languages constantly.
Confession: I love high heels. What? I'm short, and they're classy.
Snow boots, however, don't normally have high heels. So to rectify the loss of elegance, I was about to succumb to, I decided to find a pair in a fun color. I found the PERFECT pair. Cute, simple, purple...I mean, come on! Then I realized they were children's shoes. Don't worry, I still tried a pair on, but i ended up with a more practical pair of black boots. The furry lining and the "Queen" logo in shiny silver on the purple boots probably wouldn't have helped my attempt at maintaing an adult image, anyways....
When I stepped outside of the mall, I discovered that the rain had turned to snow. The snow was coming down in sheets. I had to shield my face to try and make out the bus numbers! Despite my nearly frozen boots, my excitement and sheer fascination with this snow convinced me to stop and take a few pictures. I will post those soon!I started this post a few days ago. Today happens to have been the most snowfall we have had so far. Snow fell from the time I woke up this morning (about 9 am) until at least 4:30 pm! Weather reports say it snowed for much longer than that. Either way, we have a much thicker blanket of snow out and the cold air to keep it (feels like 10 F)!
Warm wishes from Moldova :)
~ Redeemed
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