Thanksgiving: The day after

Thanksgiving was very nice for the Fulbrighters here in Moldova. The turkey was sourced by Fulbright student David Jesse, who has a friend who has an uncle with a farm in the north, who traded a few rabbits for a turkey. He slaughtered it, cleaned it and sent it down to us in Chisinau the next day. When David, a vegetarian, brought it over on Tuesday, he could not even look at it. I did -- by American standards this was a skrawny, wirely little turkey. Looking more like a goose than a Turkey.


I thought to myself (yes in prose I thought to myself):

Where's that American turkey?
where's the full blown, hormone, lots of meat, and no bone
big breasted, brine infested, FDA approved and tested?
What's with this Moldavian turkey so thin and lean it looks like jerky?
In dismay it makes me feel
this bird looks like something real, not bred for a Fulbright meal.


Of course I was completely wrong to doubt this bird. I took it and brined it overnight in a bucket, and we added six turkey legs from the local market so that there would be enough for everyone, and some leftovers to send folks home with (especially those poor hungry Fulbright students). It was absolutely delicious. Now it was nothing like my usual Turduken (Have I ever told you about my Turduken!? "Yes Trusty, ... you have." Hmm, well... ok.) With the turkey, we had mushroom ragout, spicy thai pumkin soup, stuffing, corn pudding, squash casserole, gravy, mashed potatoes, cauliflower stir fry, spinach and cheese dip, cranberry bread, Waldorf salad, apple pie with crumblies on top, chocolate chip cookies, white wine, red wine, sweet wine, dry wine, and who knows what some of that other stuff was. The combination of aroma, plenty, friends, and noise almost made us feel we were at home. All we were missing was a family argument, some old unsettled grudges and football on the television.


Every Fulbrighter was able to attend this celebration reception at the Meckler's apartment. The students: David Jesse (and friend), Sean Golden, Carly Blanchard and her husband, Nils Kauffman (and wife, infant son and brother-in-law). The Professors: Mark Meckler and his wife Chrisna (us), Norma Hervey; Valery Mock, and Kim Taylor. We were also joined by some of the friends we've made who live here, who were born and raised in Chisinau: Liliana (local program director for the Peace Corps), Dimitri (doctor and a trainer at the health club, with his wife and daughter). I probably missed someone, but it was a very nice gathering.


One thing that is especially nice about the day after Thanksgiving in Moldova: The day after Thanksgiving is not a major shopping frenzy day. It is not "Black Friday" here. It's just Friday. There are no hoards of people frantically shopping for Christmas gifts. Even better news, that frenzy will not occur at all. The escalation of commitment to Christmas gift buying and giving has not hit Moldova. Businesses do not depend upon it to save the economy. Citizens do not depend upon buying large quantities of gifts to satisfy their psychological needs. Friends, families and lovers do not depend upon large quantities or qualities of gifts to validate their friendship, kinship or love. Christmas will occur Jan 7th in this part of the world, and families will spend the time together, and may exchange some gifts: and that's it for the consumer bit. This could change as local economics change, and as sales people figure out how to get folks to believe they need something they don't even really want. What a coup that would be -- what a challenge! Getting folks to spend money they don't have to spare on something they don't want or need. Sad to say I'm sure this will get done here as it has gotten done all over. For now, it's just a time where normal folks are doing normal things to live and have some fun.