1. The priest is coming!

    Another one of those ‘only in Moldova’ moments.

    I’m sitting having my usual post-lunch chat with my family, digesting my food and working up the motivation to do some lesson plans for the next day.  Oxana’s phone rings.  She’s on the phone for just a second but her facial expression becomes one of horror.  She hangs up and screams, ‘The priest is coming!  HURRY!  CLEAN!’

    Everyone jumps up and begins to run around the house.  It was the fastest cleaning I’ve ever seen.  In less than five minutes we had cleaned up all of lunch preparation, swept the floors of all the rooms, and left the house sparkling, with me all the while wondering what priest is coming and why.

    As we settled down to wait for his arrival, my family explained.  Every once in a while, the priest goes around the village to bless everyone’s homes.  I guess there’s some sort of phone chain set up so that the priest would not walk in on a dirty house or some sort of revelry or who knows what else.

    The priest was in and out in even less time than it took us to clean.  He entered with a bucket of water and a small brush fashioned from sticks. He dipped the brush into the bucket in each room and blessed each room while making the shape of a cross, all the while singing, ‘Doamne, doamne, doamne (God, God, God)’ over and over again under his breath.  We offered him food and wine, but he insisted he had many more houses to cover today and practically ran out the door.

    And that was our visit from the priest.





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