Funeral (part 2)

After experiencing the big long process of the funeral here on Monday I was told the next day, Tuesday, that there would be another big meal that evening. The meals that celebrate the dead are called praznik (not sure about spelling). My host dad told me that they have these on the third day after the death (which was yesterday), the ninth day, the 40th day, at half a year, and then at a year. After that they can do it has often as they want. I think they all do it after 10 years. So after work I headed over to my old host family's house where the super long picknick table was still set up and we ate all the left over food from the previous day. My host dad's drunken dad cornered me at one point and talked my ear off about who knows what. There is a dialect of Romanian that we call Moldovan that is really hard to understand, especially from old village folk. It sounds like they are speaking an entire different language. But he made me promise that I would come for a masa at his house when my parents came to visit- so beware mom, dad, and Jenni. I met some other old, old woman who was very surprised I was American. She told me I had eyes like hers, a nose, and cheeks. She was baffled how similar I looked to a Moldovan. I guess her idea of an American is how we think aliens must look. It was amusing and I made a joke out of it telling her I had legs and arms like they did also. We had a good laugh together. So the next praznik will be Saturday. Another huge masa where I will probably stuff myself full of delicious food. It is funny that I am running 35 miles a week yet not losing any of my "Moldovan burta" (gut). The food here is just too good to eat a normal size portion. Plus I always have people telling me "eat, eat" so thats what I do. No complaints here though!