Every year, the Unity Community Center celebrates Children’s Day, which is on June 1st in Moldova. This year was a special event as the center received a sponsorship to take the children from grades 2-5 from the center on an excursion into Chisinau. It was such a delightful day, starting with watching the children’s eyes as we passed through some villages. Some of the children had never left the village before.
We stopped for placinta (a Moldovan pastry) and then at the airport to check out the airplane on display. The day was then filled with activities including a show performed by elementary and high school students from Chisinau, a visit to The National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History and a stop at a festival for children at the Chisinau Expo center.
Our final stop was the Chisinau Zoo. While there is controversy over zoos and the treatment of animals, I still find it to be a magical place. It is pretty amazing to watch children and adults see an animal for the first time, camels, lions, leopards, peacocks, and wolfs. My favorite part was the beautiful murals painted on the walls outside the zoo.
Rebecca's Field Notes 