Gripa

Well, inevitability, it has come to Moldova. The pandemic A H1N1 has reached this remote part of the world and has already infected 630+ people and has taken five lives. Last week I decided to watch the movie 28 Days Later, and because I had nothing else to do, followed it up by watching 28 Weeks Later. After that I got online and read an email Peace Corps had sent us saying that the swine flu had breached Moldova’s borders and that extreme caution was to be taken. Needless to say, it was a strange feeling to have just spent 3 and a half hours watching movies about a deadly virus and then get this email.

Schools were out on fall break for the first week of November, and because of the gripa (swine flu), schools were closed for an additional week. Everyone you talk to now seems to be concerned about the swine flu, and many are taking quite drastic prevention methods. As for the scientific accuracy of these Moldovan anti-gripa methods, I can’t say, but they are quite amusing.

Moldovan flu prevention methods:
* Wear masks when in big cities
* Tie cloth soaked in alcohol on every doorknob
* Wipe your feet on towels soaked in alcohol at the entrance of the schools
And the most important-
*Eat lots of garlic, onions, spicy food, and lemons
As my sister pointed out to me yesterday on the phone, the ingredients sound like the essentials for a crawfish boil. At my gym yesterday I had to inquire at the reasoning of 50 raw onions placed around the room, and was told “Pentru gripa” –For the flu, in an almost mocking manner suggesting a “Duh, you stupid American” was to be followed. Other possible answers that I probably would have taken more serious would have been “Vampires” and “Werewolves”.

This past weekend I had friends come in town and we ended up staying in the village next to mine where I helped kill the pig last week (If you haven’t checked out the pictures already, check out the entry from last Friday the 13th and follow the link. The album is pretty much a chronicle of the entire event; needless to say it gets a little gory). Last night while at a masa we met the richest guy in the village and he promised to bring us to his sand factory this morning to check out a dinosaur fossil they found fifteen meters underground. He also promised me to go wild boar hunting, but I’m not sure if that’s going to happen since he got loaded last night and didn’t wake up in time to show us the factory before my friends had to leave. All in all the weekend was great. I’m glad I had a chance to catch up with good friends. We got to check out the discotec, a tobacco factory, a new water tower project that another PCV implemented, and had several masas with Moldovans. Good times.

Tonight at 11:30 is the peak of a meteor shower that I’m going to try to check out, but after the three days of entertaining and running off minimal sleep I’m feeling pretty rundown. My host mother told me that we are going to be having garlic and onion mashed potatoes for dinner just in case I’m coming down with the gripa. Sounds delicious da? Hai devii.