It was time to collect all the grapes at our friend's host mother's house, because guys, it's time to make the wine. Thank goodness, right? You guys are all really worried about my consumption levels as of late, I know. It would probably have taken decades had it just been the two of them, so a few of us went over to help. Like a good Moldovan woman, she fed us more than necessary, both before and after picking grapes. Turns out she's adorable as well as an excellent cook, and brought out sweaters and headscarves for Olivia and me to wear while we worked. We tried to say no, but it's difficult to say no here and we were soon thankful as we figured out that leaves and grapes fall on your head (and in your face) and you can get kind of messy.
I wouldn't have thought that climbing ladders and picking grapes for hours, filling bucket after bucket while grapes fall on your head and juice stains your hands would be any fun, but surprisingly, it was. I think that was probably 90% to do with company, 10% to do with actually DOING something. Maybe even 80-20, because at permanent site a lot of us are not yet able to do much. We were able to accomplish something tangible - I can tell you that we filled TONS of buckets of grapes - and that's hard for our sectors throughout service sometimes, but especially so in the beginning, so it was oddly rewarding just to do this simple task.
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| That's not even all of it. |
We worked for a few hours and then Magdacesti had to catch the bus back (okay, then I got tired and quit and THEN we had to catch the bus back), but it was such a great afternoon. Tiring for sure, and we were sore the next day, but worth it. If you had told me a few months ago that I'd be scaling a precarious structure in a stranger's clothes to do manual labor, I would have thought you were crazy. Turns out it's not so crazy after all. This is our Peace Corps.
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