This Moldovan Life

We are truly blessed.

We enjoy not having a beeping alarm clock. The kids wake us up early enough for our days. Chloe is a great little helper in the kitchen making apple pancakes and grape syrup (they don’t have syrup here so we make our own) while Alexander plays in the ‘playpen’. When need be, we barricade the opening in the living room with chairs and cover them with a large blanket to create a whole room for Alexander to play in and not get into anything he shouldn’t. Our apartment has an open floor plan so we can still see him when we are in the kitchen or office area. It works well.

Xander is a great eater and enjoys everything we give him. Brussels sprouts, carrots, peas, corn, green beans, pumpkin, red pepper, squash, rice, beans, buckwheat (kasha), oatmeal, pasta, chicken, apples, pears, bananas, kiwi and grapes.  This is his food list thus far but these are freshly prepared from fresh or frozen. He does not like canned or jarred anything. I pull a bit of what we are having before spices are added. If they are soft enough, I don’t even need to puree or mash. If it is soft, he can mash little bits with his seven teeth. I like knowing what he is eating and knowing that preservatives, additives, processed sugar and unpronounceables are not part of the food equation. Bon Appetite!

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Christmas

It is our family tradition to camp out under the lighted Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. This makes Santa’s delivery extra difficult. Here in Chisinau, there are Christmas decorations everywhere but no wrapping paper to be found anywhere. There are wrapping centers in shopping centers where they use hot glue to artfully assemble present wrapping complete with bow. It is the same cost to buy the paper as it is for them to wrap, ribbon and bow a present. Our largest present needed a box too and cost less than $2.

When Chloe woke up the first thing she saw was a ‘real’ princess dress. She did not want to take her eyes off of it and on her way to the bathroom, she walked backward out of the room so she could keep her eyes on her new dress for fear it would disappear. Here in Moldova there are remarkable seamstresses and elaborately embellished satin and chiffon dresses for girls (complete with corseting satin ribbon up the back) are surprisingly inexpensive.

Notice our tiny tree we found in Chloe’s bedroom cupboard. We decorated with paper chains and cutout snowflakes. The t.v. played a fireplace dvd complete with crackling to which we taped Chloe’s new socks stuffed with trinkets and candy. Alexander was a bit overwhelmed and kept trying to crawl away from the present area. An empty box was his favorite toy of the day.

We had lovely friends over for a Christmas brunch. Two quiche, banana pancakes, cherry syrup, pumpkin cinnamon rolls, doughnut holes, crescent rolls, pomegranate-kiwi-orange fruit salad, cinnamon applesauce, garlic green beans, roasted carrots and pumpkin, potato au gratin, smoked/glazed ham, parmasean-pesto rolls, chocolate chunk cookies, yule log cake with a light carmel frosting, crushed peanuts and toasted natural coconut with a vanilla sponge cake roll and a banana in the center. The chocolate fudge did not turn out due to my lack of a candy thermometer and not cooking it long enough so we used it to make the most delicious hot-chocolate. Everything was homemade and there was way too much but we were well fed for a couple of days afterward too.

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Xander is getting close to his first steps. He looks so grown up in his jeans, turtleneck and hiking boots. His hair wants to curl but just feathers over his forehead. When excited, he squeals like a dolphin. Our neighbors must think we own a parrot or something. He has not played in the snow yet, as every time I take him outside he falls asleep with snowflakes drifting onto his lashes.

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Vacation, round about and home again jiggity jig. We flew to Milan, Italy where we explored, ate and repeated. Milan is a delicious, trendy and modern city in a classically historical package.

Then onto train hopping through the alps in which we had our own cozy cabin for the major leg of the journey and then experienced rides on the ICE trains which are high speed (300km/hr) bullet trains and the smoothest ride imaginable.In Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany we had hearty meals in a quaint walled-in village  all decked out for Christmas. Chloe led the way up all 215 steep stairs of a castle’s top most turret. It was her 4th birthday and climbing a castle was what she wanted to do.

This is the toy store with all handmade toys where Chloe picked out her own birthday present.

It was not a relaxing, eat grapes by the oceanside kind of vacation but it was a true adventure. I must say, it might not have been possible without disposable diapers and jarred babyfood (which I should have introduced before the trip.) We were a sight to see when in transit between hotels with Xander in the baby carrier on my chest, a big pack on my back and Zach with a bigger pack. When on vacation we had our first tinge of homesickness at the thought of going home to a foreign land. Upon returning, we are surprised to feel more at home here in Moldova than before the trip. You could even say we missed it. The kids probably won’t remember this trip but they are all the better travelers for having experienced it. We hope to instill in them a sense of adventure and respect for different customs and cultures. We are very proud of our little travelers for being so remarkable good away from the known comforts of a familiar home. They are happy to be home in Chisinau now and Chloe started packing her minnie mouse backpack with toys for our next big adventure, where ever that may be.

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Holiday Bazaar and Santa. As many babies are, Xander was horrified by Santa. I like to think this is an early display of being able to discern character. ‘Mom, get me away from this strange man and his fake beard.’  Chloe was polite and then astonished to the point of dropping her jaw and staring when Santa dropped his beard for a beer and smoke. A phrase I recently learned from by friend Donna, ‘Santa is a representation of the spirit of Christmas.’ is a good way to go. Chloe decided on her own that “that is not the real Santa, he didn’t even know my name.”

Santa on break.

Zach, the ever attentive father.

Chloe is performing a dance on stage to a 200 person audience at the Winter Charity Bazaar in between performances.

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Thanksgiving was enjoyable despite having ‘zero turkeys on the table’ as Chloe was saying. We had friends over and feasted on brined-roasted chickens, smoked-glazed ham, garlicky green beans, sauteed mushrooms, mashed potatoes, corn, honey roasted carrots, ‘Sweet potatoes’ (made of potatoes and roasted pumpkin),  parmesan breadstick twists, dinner rolls, jellied cranberry like the can shape ( red currants with cherry gelatin- from gelatin sheets) and cranberry sauce (red currant orange chutney). The substitutions were hardly noticeable and it was a great meal. The only thing missing was family gathered in Michigan.

Alexander is full and sleepy after his first Thanksgiving feast.

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Bundled and cozy.

Chloe thought it would be funny to pretend to be a baby with a pacifier and ‘moving into Xander’s crib. She then said that they are twins. Their baby pictures are identical.

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Our security guard/maintenance/ building manager gave me these roses from the courtyard after we brought him a piece of my birthday cake. We have a tendency to make too much dinner and then bring him food. He is a young man away from his family in the village and cooking on a hot plate in his small house attached to the security gate. Sometimes we charge his ipod for him and will share music too. When he presented these flowers he drew a heart in the air with his fingers and sang this to the Happy Birthday melody, “Happy da da da da, da da da da da da, da da da da da Dzamie da da da da da da” It was great. It made me feel special like the time when we first moved in and he asked Zach if I was a movie star on television. I am sure I do not give off the movie star vibe, but we are the first Americans he has met and something was lost in translation in explaining we are here to make a documentary about Moldova.

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This is Dangerbaby. Alexander has been crawling for a few weeks now and is super fast. His cloth diapers (artfully embroidered by dear friend Paulette http://www.prioritypro.com) are easy to clean and don’t leak. Even with air-drying we are able to keep up on a constant rotation only supplementing with disposables when we are on a trip or out for a long time.

Alexander grunts instead of cries when he is upset. This is good for us. He really only cries when he wakes up in the middle of the night with his emerging teeth. He loves music and bounces to the beat. Zach’s guitar is a constant target. Xander smiles and squeals with delight but laughs are a rare treat. He  is loved.

Everyday Chloe has a few hours of Home Preschool. We brought workbooks with us but we are also writing our own little books where she writes the sentences (with spelling help) we draw the pictures together. We are working on one with a snowman and a fat bat. This picture is of Chloe’s work table (and crystal lamp.) She loves this space.

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Happy Halloween!

Halloween is not celebrated here in Moldova. I have had a couple of interesting conversations with people in trying to explain the American Halloween Holiday. As I explain it, it sounds strange even to me. We went to the most organized and well secured trick-or-treating event. From the starting point we walked to several International school, Embassy  or US military affiliated houses and Chloe collected treats all while we were guarded by Marines. The destination point was the Marine house which was fantastically decorated by the wives of the Marines. There was a buffet of food, treats, games, prizes, shrunken apple heads on sticks, creepy music, a smoke machine and great little sweet and scary costumes. We were surrounded by the English language and it was easy to forget we are not in the states. There were many organizers who all did a great deal of work. As one new friend put it, people will go to great lengths to keep their culture alive.

Chloe is the Princess of the Pumpkin Faeries. We brought the costume with us from the States. Fly little wings, fly.

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Chloe age 3 (“and three quarters” she says)

I told Chloe to take a shower the other morning and she said “No, I’m playing right now” to which i replied “You will take a shower now to get ready for the day.” She blew me away with “I can take one later. Daddy said there’s a chance for showers all day today.” I was so amused with her misunderstanding of the weather report that she actually got out of the shower.

Xander is more interested in Chloe’s ring than having his picture taken. He cut his first tooth today Saturday, 24 October, 2009. Upper right incisor. We didn’t even know until he chomped on my thumb. What a champ, he is not whining or anything. This does explain the drool. Chomp chomp.

This blog is written and maintained by Jamie Sands, living in Chisinau, Moldova 2009-2010.