new things learned recently

I (Yuliya) am hanging with my sister in Kharkov, Ukraine now and Amy has gone back to home and work (ha!). This is giving me an opportunity to read trashy magazines in Russian -- shout out to Elle Ukraine -- watch TV and generally absorb crucial information.

Things learned:

1. Vodka IS supposed to be served cold

2. The overwhelming Eastern European belief that sitting on cold things is somehow bad for women's reproductive systems was echoed even in Elle

3. In the summer, bright colors and "beach hair" styles will be fashionable

4. Tbilisi had many ruined buildings because it was actually bombed by Russia in the recent war

More discoveries coming up, as they come to me.

Moldova Days 1 and 2 photos

Bell tower in Chisinau

Chisinau's Arc de Triomphe

Chisinau City Hall

Puppies we found in a field in Hincesti

View towards Katie's house, near her work

Decorated well

Katie's work

The room outside of Katie's work (her office was too small to take a picture of)

The park and lake

Outiside the awkward restaurant

Sheep crossing the main road in Hincesti

Katie's cat Marquis

Katie's dog Dasha

Me and the chicken

Katie's yard

Yuliya and Marquis

Bees in Katie's yard

View of Katie's house from the yard. The chicken coop is on teh left and the well is to the right of the main house

Homemade plant tea

Katie's basement

Red and white wine in Katie's basement

Puppies!

Chickens!

Katie's hometown!

A Moldovan specialty: pizza with mayonnaise. It was nor nearly as gross as I expected.


Jesus and Neptune behind him


In Katie's hometown of Hincesti, the Casa de Cultura (sort of the primary perfomance complex) is decorated with giant mosaics that scream Soviet.


The refrigerator in Katie's house. Almost everything they eat comes from their garden.




Katie is demostrating the proper use of the family/computer room.


I am really digging the awesomely furry stuffed animal.


Katie and Amy demonstrating Katie's bed in the couch position. It pulls out and becomes a bed, like most Eastern European furniture. For a detailed tour of Katie's house check out the video imbedded in Amy's post (somewhere near this one)

Chisinau pics

Delicious cherry vareniki in Chisinau.


The Olivier salad, a Russian mainstay.



Rabbit stew. Oddly good.


We accidentally ordered beers that matched our hair colors at a medieval-themed Chisinau brewery. The theme ran as far a full suits of armor decorating the corners and floor-to-ceiling murals of the Middle Ages. An aside: being a trio of one brunette, redhead, and blonde seems to attract a lot of attention. The Charlie's Angels syndrome?


In front of the city council of Chisinau we stumbled upon the mayor's announcement of his candidacy for another term. Elections are in two months. Thankfully we had our Romanian speaker, Katie, to translate what was going on (we also stumbled upon a full marching band in another part of the city. Sadly no pictures)



Fancy coffees here always come with a small sweet. Fantastic tradition. Let's export it to the U.S.



Katie ordered a bona fide molten chocolate cake at a French bakery in Chisinau. It has apparently been her first since arriving in Moldova ten months ago.


Filled crepes (or, honestly, blintzes) are a hot trend in Moldova right now. Also in San Francisco.


A Russian yeasty fermented non-alcoholic drink called kvas. It tastes terrible.


Stefan cel Mare is a very important figure in Moldovan history. Possibly the only important figure because every monument appears to be him.

More of Hincesti

How else can you eat a pizza if not with a pizza knife? The three of us went all the way up to northeast Moldova to a town called Soroca, famous for its fortress. While hanging out with Katie's Peace Corps friend, we had this awesome pizza. Although it tooks us no less than four or five marshrutkas (route taxis that are essentially vans with standing room and seats) to get there, the ride back to Chisinau was a brisk two hours. So from one corner of the country to its center takes about two hours.


Borsch, of course. With sour cream, of course.


The fortress of Soroca is over six hundred years old. Actually everything in Moldova is pretty old. Katie's hometown of only 20,000 people just turned 510 years old.


This is butter. Weird.


We went to see what is billed as the top tourist attraction of Moldova: Orheiul Vechi. It is a cave monastery that monks carved out of the stone hundreds of years ago. This is the altar within it. We explored its (very small) cave dwellings too.


Katie decided to straighten my hair with her flat-iron. This has never happened to me before.


Katie's family's dog just had puppies!

pictures from Brasov, Romania (Transylvania)

Brasov is full of German-named streets and German bakeries because this part of Romania, Transylvania, used to be part of the Astro-Hungarian empire. We had a chocolate croissant and a fruit turnover. Also, we are advertising Lonely Planet in this pic.



Our final Romanian meal: pizza and a latte.




One definitely awesome Romanian (/German) invention -- fresh-baked pretzels. They come on a string and have many possible toppings including poppies, sesame, sunflower seeds, sugar and salt.


Decorated eggs are an Eastern European tradition for Easter. These are enclosed in colorful crocheted casings (left and right) and painted (center).



A Dracula's castle, these inexplicable furry masks were for sale. I didn't ask how much.