Sunday 28 August 2016

Protests and Ziua de Independenție

August 28 2016, Had a 2 week break with no posts, just did not have any pictures from the previous week, mainly because camera was forgotten on a couple of occasions. It continues to be hot and no rain. The country is very dry and could really use some rain, but apparently this is a normal, hot summer for the country. People get a little more grouchy in the heat. We watched a man this week in the bank, where we pay our utilities, try to get ahead of others waiting. He got severely yelled at and almost saw a fight. People driving are less patient, although that is a tough difference to see. Did see a dead motorcyclist this week, they are absolutely insane and it is no surprise.  We got yelled at for parking on the sidewalk, apparently there is a law, who knew? The person asked us to wait for the police to come give us a ticket, we politely declined. We had a frisbee dodgeball night last week for FHE. It was great fun, at a public park and many joined in. Reason I mention it, besides a great missionary finding tool, is the food. We bought fruit, 3 kg of grapes, 2 kg of plums- delicious, and 2 kg of nectarines. So 7 kg of fresh fruit, all for under $4. Nuts, eh? The Cooleys bought a watermelon at 15 cents a kg. So we are very spoiled with fresh, delicious fruit, different kinds each week. Winter will be tough. This week we had a treasure hunt all over the streets and in a park, had about 25 take part. We showed a video on Luke 12 prior to the hunt, look it up. While we were setting it up, we found ourselves in the middle of a Socialist party demonstration, pro-Russian. Rather interesting and we were in no danger. Then Saturday was the Moldovan Independence day, with hundreds of riot police to keep the 2 sides apart. It , the celebration, was very interesting, but so were the protesters and police in riot gear. My, we are just protected at home in Canada. I have begun teaching prenatal and medical classes, rather interesting and a small turn out in the summer. We will continue it. This week was rather quiet, but the next will not be quiet at all. Then in 9 days we get a special visit, it will be posted when it occurs. Let us just say we will hear some celestial language. We continue to wonder at the difficulties people here face, financial, family, etc. We count our blessings each day and ask our family to do the same. We have no idea how blessed we are to live in a country of mostly honest politicians, safety, and prosperity. We have been incredibly blessed.
The start of the demonstration. The major streets were closed off  and this was a pro Russian protest

Police were all along the route, this banner talks of 72 years, that were not bad. Memories change over time.

Flags were Moldovan, red and then the party flags. They were shouting, all in Russian. No Romania words were used.

It was peaceful, but no one looked happy to be there. Apparently many of these are paid for by outside sources, guess who?

This is an orphanage, for handicapped children. Orphanages here have a different meaning as many kids go home for the weekend. These pictures are very Moldovan, drawn by a very nice American guy.

His name was Philip Martin, he got high school students to paint after he drew.

Lots of things on sale on August 27, Independence day. This was a stall for Moldovan shirts.

2 ladies with home made blankets.

The stage in the back had many native dancers and performers. See the police to keep the peace. They have riot gear on.

The next few pictures are all people in costume, waiting to perform. Beautiful costumes.

This group was just stunning , beautiful girls and costumes.


Smiles are often rare here, but we got a few.

The street was lined with 3 flags, Moldovan crest, Moldovan flag and the European union flag. That was the one the pro Russian group was very opposed to .
So we finally saw and were in a demonstration, which we were told to avoid. It was an accident, but a seriously interesting one and an interesting week. This week has another holiday, August 31, the language freedom day where Romanian or Moldovan was declared the language. We expect more protests.

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