keeping traditions: a trifecta
March 1, 2011 was a trifecta as David wrote on Facebook. 1) It was M?r?i?or, the “spring’s almost here” holiday. (Here’s my post about it from last year.) Claudia told us that it’s also Ziua Barbatilor (Men’s Day). David got coffee and ties and tons of martisoare. I got a few martisoare myself, but this […]
keeping traditions: Valentine’s Day
So the title is a little misleading. I’m not typically one to put much emphasis on Valentine’s Day — it’s overly commercial, too couply and more about gifts than love. But this year in Romania, David and I have been trying to celebrate holidays with a bit more pizazz. As I’ve mentioned, being far from […]
keeping traditions: a holiday quickie
I have been crazy sick recently. I was ordered to bed for DAYS by darling Dr. Dan and so I was out of commission and recuperating most of the Christmas weekend. I did get a few pictures/videos to share. And while I don’t have time to write about all of them now, I shall in […]
keeping traditions: Christmas decorations
As I said in my last post, David and I didn’t do ANYTHING last year along the lines of decorating for Christmas. This year, I’m trying to be better about it — because it keeps me busy, it keeps me creative, and it’ll feel better on Christmas Day for it to look Christmasy around the […]
in the kitchen: celebrating Thanksgiving
After last year’s successful volunteer Thanksgiving here in Moldova, we opted to host our volunteer friends for a crazy weekend of turkey-centered fun. This past weekend, 18 of us gathered together in our town of Targu Neamt to celebrate an American Thanksgiving in Romania. When you’re feeding an army, there are always stressful moments — […]
keeping traditions; in the kitchen: lessons on sarmale
For my final English class with my beginning group, we took a Romanian recipe for sarmale and translated it into English and had some major conversations about food. I used the excuse that I’m becoming a Romanian woman (M? fac românc?) and every Romanian woman needs a good sarmale recipe. Quick aside: Sarmale is traditional […]
keeping traditions: birthdays
So I celebrated my second Romanian birthday this past Friday. I don’t like my birthday. Well, let me clarify — I like my mom making me a spice cake and cooking a tasty dinner; I like my husband waking me up at midnight to tell me happy birthday; I like long rambly poems written by […]
keeping traditions: Weddings, Part 2 (civil & religious ceremonies)
Anda was worried about getting married in May — lots of Orthodox holidays (which means having to give more money to priests to officiate) and lots of rain. But she was clinging to what someone’s bunica (grandmother) told her — Rain is good luck on your wedding day. I asked her what sort of luck. […]
keeping traditions: Weddings, Part 1
There are some quintessential Romanian cultural experiences that can’t be missed: cutting of the pig before Christmas (hopefully Christmas 2010 with the Catholic priest), learning to use a scythe to clear fields (scheduled for August 2010), riding a caruta (still working on it), and celebrating a Romanian wedding. This weekend we had the honor to […]