So today I got a taste of real old-fashioned Romanian hospitality! And when I say taste....I mean taste!
Scott took me to the village where the Solid Rock Ranch is going to be built. We went with Gabi, Scott's Romanian ministry partner, and Nick, a friend from England. The village is about a 90 minute drive from Arad. Gabi was raised in this village by his grandparents. When they died, their property became his. And he wants to use it for the ranch to help the young people.
His grandparents owned two houses next to each other.....the house they lived in, and a guest house. They also had shelters for animals. All of this is in a very small compound. The buildings are extremely old, and one of them is still virtually untouched since Gabi's grandparents lived there. The plan is to fix up both houses so that mission teams have a place to stay when they come to help with the ranch.
So this morning, the guys did some work on the house and the grounds. I got to be the weed killer with a canister of poison water....(insert evil laughter). Scott was planning to take me up to the hill where they want to build the ranch house later on in the afternoon.
Around lunch time, Scott asked me if I'd like to take a quick trip next door, because I might be interested to see the neighbor's animals. So we go in and meet this 50ish Romanian man, and he is really happy to show us around his property. The guys visited him the day before, and he was showing them his guns; he does a lot of hunting. Right away he invites us into his house, where he is making goat cheese....he makes it from the fresh milk every day and sells it. I wish I had taken my camera...he has the cheese in these bags and he squeezes out all the whey and feeds it to his pigs. It takes about 36 hours until the cheese is ready. Then we go outside to look at the animals. He owns several pigs and a small herd of goats. He starts calling this boar, by his name I suppose, and the boar is inside a little shed. This is a really smart boar; he can open the shed door inward and come out! Then he gets all the goats to come out so we can get a good look and proceeds to explain to us that each year, at Christmastime, he kills one pig and three goats, mixes the meat together, and makes carnate, which is a Romanian sausage. He then takes us over to see his barn where he has stalls for the sows when they give birth, and he's showing us the hill up behind the barn where he leaves food for the wild boars, so they keep on coming back, and one day he will have a stakeout behind the barred door on the end of the barn and shoot them.
We were fascinated by all of this and he is more than happy to explain what he does....apparently he doesn't get many visitors. This is a pretty remote village. The guy speaks Romanian, which of course I don't, so Scott asks him lots of questions and tells me what he's saying. After all this, the man cajoles us to come back into his house and sit down....it's obvious he wants to show hospitality by offering us food. This is a very important part of Romanian culture. Okay, the first thing he brings out...tuica (pronounced sweeka). Homemade Romanian moonshine. Made from plums. He starts pouring it out into three little shot glasses. Scott gives me this dubious look. "It's really strong," he says. Have I ever had anything alcoholic? Nope. Unless a little cooking wine counts. He told me I didn't have to drink it. But I realize that in many cultures, it is a great offense to your host if you refuse what is offered. So I thought, why not just try it? I've never had a desire for alcohol and I choose not to partake because of all the negative connotations, but this is an interesting situation. I've heard the stories....people have been offered much nastier things in foreign countries. At least it is not fish eyeballs or insects or some kind of animal guts.....
So I took a teensy swallow. Gotta have a sense of adventure. Not everyone can say they've had Romanian moonshine! It didn't taste as bad as I expected....but strong....yes, definitely. Burns all the way down. The guy kept telling us it was "medicinal". Not having any ambitions to find out what it's like to be slightly intoxicated, I was not going to drink the whole glass. Scott finished his, trying not to outright choke, and then when I waved off the rest of mine, our gracious host told Scott to finish mine too! Poor guy....I kept trying not to laugh too much at the faces he was making while he put it down. Meanwhile, our host brings out a hunk of goat cheese for us, which was pretty good, and some walnuts, and he wanted to offer me something else to drink, like wine....um, no. Pepsi? Ok, I can do Pepsi. And then, get this, he fills up Scott's shot glass again....despite protests! Scott very nearly lost it on that one. Oh, but we're not done! He brings out a container of some dubious looking orange stuff and starts spooning it into a pan....and Scott is making really horrible faces at this point. Faces like, "Oh no, what did we get ourselves into....this is really bad." Out comes a carton of little sausages in their congealed grease...presumably the guy's homemade carnate. How are we to know what is in this meat and if it's really safe to eat? Does he even refrigerate it? I am not too grossed out....I'm just watching Scott and wondering if there is a way to graciously refuse the offering, but I still think it's all rather funny, and Scott is just fervently hoping that we're not both going to end up sick! So when our host leaves the room, he breathes a prayer, "Lord, sanctify this food!" After the sausage gets a cursory "heating" on the stove, it is served to us with bread. Two pieces each. He insists! So we eat. And it is good! First time eating goat meat for me. Why stop with one first in the day, after all? I have to force myself to finish both pieces of carnate, but I do. This whole time, the guy keeps talking, going on about his family and how he makes the moonshine, showing us the machine that grinds up the meat for the sausage, giving me hunting magazines in Romanian because I think he just really wants to give me something to take home.
At last we graciously extracted ourselves to get back to working on Gabi's house. We thanked our host and left with the goat cheese that Scott decided to buy....and the man gave him two for the price of one! We get back next door, giggling over what has just occurred, and poor Scott is feeling the effects of three shots of tuica. He had to sit down for awhile, so the rest of ended up talking while Gabi worked, until Scott was ready to take me for a hike up to the ranch hill. But I'll save that for the next post.
All in all, it was quite a unique experience and a wonderful day, plus it makes for a great story, and every writer loves to have a story to tell! So I just have to say....Thanks, Scott, for showing me a great time in a Romanian village. And thanks for drinking all the tuica.
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