I would like to say a special thanks to Boo who has been helping me with ideas for these letters. Excellent work Boo! On a scale of one to ten YOU are eleven!
P is for Palaces- We went on a day long tour our first full day in Istanbul. We were with a group of probably 30 other people. We had a nice tour guide with an interesting accent that came from being raised in Istanbul, going to college in Canada, and then working in England. We took a boat trip on the Bosphorus River. It was a bright sunny day. We sat in the shade, listened to the guide, and watched history pass by us. The river is lined with the palaces of sultans and homes of dignitaries. I enjoyed that trip immensely. As a result of the Soviet era most Moldovan architecture is depressing and gray so I was delighted to see such beautiful buildings. After lunch, which we ate with two girls from Holland and two men from the States, we visited the summer palace of a sultan. I really wish I had pictures to put up. The grounds were beautiful, right up against the river front. There was a lilly pond and bamboo grove. The building its self was stunning but not the sort of place that you would want to live. Every room was grander than the one before. It was so captivating that for just a second, as we stepped out the doors I was surprised to realize we were back in the twenty-first century.
Q is for Quoting- For me the best part of this vacation was that I got to be myself for two whole weeks. No language limitations, no driving myself to distraction trying to be culturally sensitive and, AND people to laugh with. I really don’t have anybody to laugh with here. So, it may not be surprising when I say one of favorite evenings of the trip was the night we got in to Istanbul. It was too late and we were too tired to go out so we sat around and quoted movies until 2:00 in the morning. First we were just matching quotes with movies. For example, where does the quote, “you eel in snake’s clothing!” come from? Then it turned into a competition seeing who could remember the most quotes from a single movie. Nobody actually won but Daddy would have received a special award for remembering the most obscure quotes.
R is for Romania- We had a six hour layover in Bucharest on our way back to Moldova. I could tell we were getting back in familiar territory by the rudeness of the gate attendants. This is one lesson that has been ground into my head these past 10 months. It’s so important to be polite and cheerful even when we don’t feel like it. What a difference it can make in somebody’s day. After getting past the unfriendly gate attendants we exchanged money with a very nice girl in the airport. She was anxious for me to understand that their money has undergone some sort of revaluing and even drew out a little chart to help me understand. Of course anything having to do with numbers is confusing enough for me in English. When it is explained to me in Romanian it takes on a whole new level of complexity. But, fortunately we had honest taxi drivers who didn’t try to take advantage of our currency confusion. After getting our passports stamped we were off to Bucharest. We rode into town with the nicest little taxi driver. He pointed out different important buildings to us and gave us directions to a Romanian restaurant. We ate lunch but didn’t really have time to look around ‘cause we wanted to make it back to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Moldovans in general don’t like Bucharest. They say it doesn’t have enough trees and it’s dirty. But, I wasn’t there long enough to really form an opinion.
S is for Split- Istanbul is split into two continents by the Bosphorus River. Millions of people commute across the river each day, from their homes in Asia to their jobs in Europe and back again. We made the journey as well on our tour bus. Now Boo and I can say we’ve been in Asia. Actually the summer palace we visited was on the Asian side of the river. So, the sultan and his family lived in Europe and vacationed in Asia. Actually what is remarkable about that is that the royal kitchens were on the European side. While the royal family was vacationing at the summer palace, the food was all cooked in those kitchens and shipped across the river for each meal!
T is for Teachers- While we were in Causeni we visited my tutor, Olga. The second we stepped into the apartment her husband, Valerio, was there talking to us about bees. He’s talked to me about bees before but never at this length. He showed us bee books in Romanian and Russian and then they served us cucumbers and honey. Yes, it is a strange combination but not bad. Valerio and Olga are both teachers at one of the Romanian high schools in town. They are acutely invested in the future of Moldova. It makes me proud to know them. While no one in this country is happy with the way it is Olga and Valerio are actually working to make it better. I am going to a “frigare” (cookout) with Julie and Olga, Valerio, and their girls just as soon as I post this. I’ve been instructed to bring a long sleeve shirt for viewing the bees. It’s a party in honor of Julie’s departure. She leaves for Chisinau tomorrow and leaves the country the first of August. Then I will become the only livin’ girl in Causeni city.
U is for Unidentified Flying Object Landing Site- While we were up on St. George’s hill (that story is coming up) Daddy discovered what he believed to be a UFO landing site. It was a big glowing crater in the top of the hill next to the one we were standing on. I suggested it could be a baseball field but that idea was scoffed at. Daddy’s reasoning was, “Why would they cut away the top of a mountain to build a baseball field when they could make a UFO landing site?” Hmm… we stared at it. Finally, after much analyzing we realized it was an amphitheatre. From our angle it was impossible to see the stage but I did eventually make out the light rigging. What a cool place to go to an outdoor concert.
V is for Vin- Vin, the Romanian word for wine, is pronounced “veen.” We had all sorts of vin on this trip. Homemade wine, red wine, white wine, champagne, strange Greek wine, Turkish wine…. But, the most interesting type of wine came from Galia. She gave the parents a bottle of her own award winning wine. Really, her wine won at least one (I think more) European contests. Pretty cool stuff. I have not tasted it so can’t much more than that except that Galia is the type of person who can do anything well.
W is for World Cup- The night of the World Cup final we went for a walk down along the sea side? river side? The water in Istanbul is a bit confusing. I never knew if I was looking at the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, or the Bosphorus River. Anyway, we walked down to the fish market where the stalls appeared to be quieting down for the night but where the restaurants were just getting going. We went through a gauntlet of restaurateurs all telling us that they had the best fish and each of them had the only restaurant where we could go in and see the chefs cooking. Boo and I decided that the key would be finding a place with a TV. After all, the World Cup doesn’t happen every day. But, by the time we’d walked the gauntlet we hated to pick any of them over the others. So, we strolled along the waterfront for a while watching people fishing off the gigantic rocks on one side and picnicking under trees on the other. Eventually we ate in another restaurant district where we ended up on the second floor balcony which, though lacking in a TV, did give us a nice view of the square below. There was a TV outside at one of the restaurants across the way and I peered at it from time to time but basically I could only tell that they were still playing. Then I got distracted watching some of the restaurant’s patrons dance with the musicians who had planted themselves at their table. I did notice a lot of World Cup t-shirts in Athens. I guess a lot of people came Europe for the Cup and then decided to do some more traveling after that.
X is for Xmas- I really hope I don’t have to spend this Christmas in Moldova. It’s just too depressing. Trying to keep all that Christmas joy alive by myself is rough. I have a friend *cough
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kpinyorkcough* who has many frequent flyer miles as well as a nice scholarship that should allow her to travel during the holidays without guilt. The question is will she take advantage of this great opportunity to experience Christmas in Western Europe, honing her travel reporting skills for our future NPR program/travel journal? Or will she leave me lonely, without even a Mt. Dew to cheer me up?
Yigytop is for Yigytop. Daddy insists that once everyone hears the name they are going to want to sing, “Once I had a room in Yigytop…” to the tune of “Rockytop.” I said it was only him, but the next day I couldn’t get the tune out of my head. Yigytop was our four star hotel in Istanbul. It was very nice. They sent somebody to pick us up from and take us back to the airport. We had two rooms and they brought a complementary fruit basket and bottle of wine to both. But perhaps more thrilling than that were the bathrobes, big, fat, cozy bathrobes. Unfortunately it was really too hot to get the full enjoyment out of them. That didn’t stop Mogie, Boo, and me from lounging around in them for a while though. Yigytop also offered breakfast, including lots of cheese, an assortment of rolls, cereal, different kinds of olives, all quite yummy. The milk for the cereal tasted a bit different. Mogie thought it was yak milk. But, we never asked anyone about it so it remains a mystery.
Z is for Zeal- Our first night in Athens we tried without success to find St. George’s hill. The second night daddy was zealously determined not to let the hill beat us again. This particular hill is the tallest in Athens and we had heard that the view from the zenith was worth seeing. So, while Boo, who wasn’t feeling well, stayed in the hotel room and watched “The Truman Show” the parents and I went off on an adventure. We took the metro to the center of town where there was an orchestral concert going on. Then we wandered in a very zig-zaggy way through a zone full of embassies and upper scale boutiques. Eventually we found a long flight of stairs rose up in a nice tree lined path between rows of pleasant looking apartments. At the top of the stairs we found the incline car that would zip us to the top. The tram actually runs up inside the hill because it is too steep to be put on the outside. The top of the hill barely contains a tiny church and a restaurant where patrons are treated to a sparkling view of the city. Looking out across Athens we could see the Acropolis with it's golden minuture Parthenon. It was a beautiful night.
Quote of the Day (on the plaque placed in the rock at the top of St. George’s hill)-
Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? Revelation 15:3-4
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