Moldova Interview

Yesterday, the 8th of January, we interviewed Mr. Bill and Mrs. Kim about Moldova.

The Cast:

- Izzy: Interviewer (1)

- Tehva:  Interviewer (2)

- Tian: Secretary

- Mr. Bill: Interviewee

- Mrs. Kim: Interviewee


  Izzy: What traditional foods were in Matilda?
 
    Tian: Psst! Moldova!

    Izzy: Oh, I mean Moldova.

    Mrs. Kim: Well, a common food was Mamaliga which is a corn mush that's boiled. It's texture is like grits.

   Mr. Bill: There was also Cultinash which is Ravioli but without tomato sauce.

   Izzy:  What is the traditional outfit in Matilda---- Oh! Moldova!

   Mr. Bill: Well they did have a traditional out fit but it's really difficult to describe.

   Mrs. Kim: But the people in Moldova all wore fur hats. They were circular. What's funny is all of the class rooms had mirrors in them so in the winter when the students come in, they can fix their hair if the hat messed it up. Hey, you know, also at weddings every one dances. Everyone. But Bill and I don't dance. But you see, we went to a wedding and they forced us to dance.

Izzy: So, what's the weather like there?

Mr. Bill: Well, in Balti, where we were staying, the winters were really cold and grey and the summers were super hot. The climate there was like in Virginia in the mountains.

Tehva: What... is Moldova....famous for?

Mr. Bill: Moldova is mostly famous for its wine and champagne. When they were part of the soviet union, they would provide wine and champagne for them.

Izzy: What were you doing in Matilda? Oops, Moldova? Why were you there?

Mrs. Kim: We were teaching at the university and training teachers. We were in Moldova for about 9 months.

Tehva: We know Moldova is poor, but how poor is it?

Mr. Bill: People are not starving. The teachers were not paid for very long periods and everyone went to school because intelligence is very important.

Izzy: What is the most common religion in Moldova?

Mrs. Kim: It's mostly Orthodox Christian. Orthodox Christian is basically the same but with different holidays. Their Christmas was the 7th.

Tehva: Who does Moldova trade with.

Mr. Bill: Well, Moldova was connected to Russia economy, they traded through Russia but when they split, Moldova had no way to trade because they were so used to trading through Russia.

 Izzy: Is Moldova made up of more goat villages, small towns, or big cities like New York?

Mrs Kim: Moldova is made of mostly goat villages and small towns, some kind of big cities but nothing like New York. The country is mostly farmers so there are lots of cows. Lots of cows. Every teacher has a cow for milk.

Tehva: What is the language spoken in Moldova?

Mr. Bill:  There are 2 main languages in Moldova. One is Romanian and one is Russian. Romanian is a romantic language which means it's close to Italian.

Tehva: Do you have any stories from Moldova?

Mrs. Kim: Yeah, actually we do. Well, when we lived in Moldova we lived in an apartment and sometimes they would cut off the electricity and hot water. Now, it gets very cold in Moldova in the winter which is when this happened. So, what we did, was we bought a pickle barrel and an electric coil. Then, we got cold water out of the tap and heated it up with the coil. Finally,we took a bath, a hot bath.

Mr. Bill: Another time, we were at the market and a woman was selling chickens. She had one chicken in each hand. They were alive. She was using them as hand warmers while she sold them.


Later.....
A woman named Felicia came in and told us about Romania, her home. Then she taught us some words in Romanian. She is familiar with Moldovan since Moldova used to be part of Romania. Although Moldova is now its own country, the people there still speak a sort of dialect of Romanian.

You can click on the video link below to hear more from Felicia about Romania and Moldova.