The tradition I was hoping to never have to experience in Moldova...

Yesterday I went to a funeral. Before you freak out, don't worry, I barely knew her. I am in no way upset. On Friday my host dad's sister died. She had been sick for a long time so it was no big surprise. I had only met her twice and they were very brief meetings. I didn't find out that she died until Saturday night when I got home from a few days in Chisinau. My family was in the village arranging the funeral and i happened to lose my keys and was locked out (thank goodness there are three other volunteers nearby I can rely on). So it wasn't until Sunday that I saw my host brother who brought me a key. My host mom said I could come to the funeral if I wanted. I had no idea what to say or do. What do they say to each other? Should I go to the funeral? What would I do there? I was to scared to ask and decided at the last minute, 10 minutes before they were walking out the door, to go. I figured I could lend support to my family and my counterpart (it was her sister-in-law). I have really only been to one funeral that I really remember and that is what my caparison is based on. We showed up to my old family's house (it was her sister) around 10am. There was a viewing of the body there until around 12. Then they did a ceremony thing with the priest and gave out gifts to people who had come, they gave bowls, towels, scarves, teapots, and colac (a type of ceremonial bread). That lasted about an hour. Then they formed a parade(for lack of a better word) line to walk the body to the church and then to the cemetery. In front of the line was the kids carrying the flower arrangements that people had brought, followed by the religious flag/banner carriers, then the priest, the body with the family, and then the rest of the mourners. We would walk about 50 yards and then stop to pray and sing for a couple a minutes, and we did this all the way to the church. The 15 minute walk took us about an hour. Then at the church they took the body inside for about a half an hour and prayed- I am not really sure because I didn't go in. I didn't want to impose being the outsider and all and because I am not religious at all. They then brought the body back outside and marched to the cemetery. There they laid the coffin next to the grave and gave the family members a chance to say their final goodbyes before they placed the lid on. I would have to say that this was the hardest part of the entire process. The family members were just wailing. A couple of the sister passed out. This all lead to all of us crying of course. I was sad because I saw how upset her sons were, who are my age, and how they had to bury their mother, who was only 43. This made me think of my parents and made me very homesick to be with them. It wasn't until the cemetery that I actually got a good look at her because I didn't view the body at the house or the church and the rest of times it was completely surrounded by people. And not wanting to impose and step on any toes I stood back. But finally seeing the body was really weird because they don't preserve the bodies here like we do. Her skin was very waxy and yellow. And I have heard from other volunteers who go to funerals of car crash victims who look exactly the same way they did when they were pulled from the wreckage. Not only do they not preserve the bodies but they don't put any type of make up on them either for the viewing. It is very strange to see. SO once the body was placed in the ground we went back to the house for a huge masa. There had to be at least 80 people sitting at the extra long table that was overflowing with food. It was weird to sit there eating the food and discussing with the women around me about myself- where I am from, what I am doing here, etc, etc- when we were supposed to be mourning this woman. I still don't know what to say to my host dad. I have just been really quiet around him and have just been staying in my room. I don't know how he is taking it and I am scared to ask. I don't even know the proper way to ask or give condolences. It is all very weird and i really hope to not have to go through it again.