Viva la Voda!

Stuffed maxi taxi!

A few days ago I agreed on a trip to Vadu lui Voda, a beach on the River Nistru, which runs through Moldova near Chisinau and is a popular attraction for visitors and residents alike due to the fact that Moldova doesn't have direct access to an oceanic beach. One has to pass through Ukraine in order to reach the Black Sea.

Well Angee and I planned to meet at 12 pm on Saturday to catch the 130 or 131 maxi taxi to Vadu lui Voda. We met at 1:30. Also, what we understood, but did not factor into our itinerary, was the fact that Moldova's maxi taxi schedule has no set times for leaving and going from the station. We ended up sitting on the stifling bus for about thirty minutes before actually getting on the road, which is frustrating because that could have been a half hour more at the beach! Well we arrived around 3pm (or 15:00) and during the lengthy ride, a man standing and bracing himself against the jolting of the bus fainted and fell down against the other people. He was right in front of me and immediately people grabbed their water and poured it on him. He came to in a few moments. someone gave him her chair and i offered him my water but he would not accept it. a couple stops later he got off the bus. i really hope he was all right. heat exhaustion should be a significant problem here as it is consistently 85 (30!) degrees for the majority of the day here.

Anyways we finally got to the beach stop (at which we were unsure of whether or not it was the right stop so I asked the driver, "Unde est la plaja?" to which he confirmed that it was the current stop. i'm learning, slowly but surely!

We walked to the beach via a path lined with small eateries nad the cramped conveninece stores that make themselves present in multitudes thorughout Chisinau. Locals were also selling salted fish and crabs that smelled oddly appetizing!

The view of the river is a beautiful one, wiht a calm aura to it -so unlike the beaches of Cape Cod. IT is much quieter and more personal without hte wind and crashing waves overpowering everything eles. Moreover, it was a great temperature. ON a Cape beach  am always the slightest bit cold because of the wind and ocean spray, but at Vadu lui Voda it was perfection! I even went in the water (Nicole, be proud of me!) and eventually worked up the movation to just dive in. As soon as i did the water was so refreshing and i swam up and down the beahc. One way was much harder than the other because of the current!

Angee nad i met a few EVS volunteers there like Matt, Anne and Andrea from Germany, Sofi from Spain, and Rudi from Sweden. I especially enjoyed talking with Rudi, as he is half Swedish, half Malyasian, but was born and raised in Sweden. While he looks Asian, he fully identifies himself as Swedish and frequently experiences frustration upon being asked his "real" ethnicity, much like myself. Our conversation allowed me to view my unique cultural position in a different light.

Overall, it was a great day! We are returning to Vadu lui Voda this Sunday!