Overland with Kids

(more photos to follow shortly - we are having difficulty loading on our slow connection)

Jessica says:

“Dear Folks,

We went to Burlacu in Moldova, a small village that our school in the UK sponsors. We’ve seen the main school and Kindergarten and how much it’s changed since the last photos we’ve seen. We stayed in Mrs Smith’s (our UK teacher) friend’s house. We visited inside the school and sat in the classroom. The children asked us lots of questions about our names, ages, our country and where we live. We saw our friend John Law who works for the charity organisation Ceem. We stroked and held baby bunny rabbits which had very sharp and tiny little claws. We did some work in the fields. We went to the Church”.

AJ says:

“We rode a donkey and helped package and plant seeds. I helped plant a tree for John. We met lots of people who were very kind to us. We saw lots of animals like sheep and baby geese”.

Jessica says:

“We rode bikes that were sent to Burlacu all the way from England. We saw the tables and chairs sent from the UK too. They are being used in the school and the Church.”

AJ says:

“I liked playing with Andrei and Eugenia’s four children and riding their bikes the best.”

Andrew and Anne say:

We loved the experience of our very short stay in the village of Burlacu, Moldova. Arriving at 6am after driving through the night from Bran, Romania, Jessica and AJ recognised the main school we had come to visit immediately from photos they had seen via their teacher and school back in the UK. Visiting the school Burlacu was the main reason for our visit following our fundraising efforts last year toward Educational Aid there (see Fundraising page for more info). We arrived early enough to hear an army of cockerels and dogs arising and coming to life like alarm clocks all over the place and to see a hive of activity - workers - men and women alike, walking to work/waiting for buses/lifts and children of all ages walking to school. The area all around Burlacu and the South West of Moldova is a sea of nothing but agricultural land. People here work hard and are very dependant on the land to make a living and to help get them through the harsh winters. The village of Burlacu is small, yet large and seemingly more richer and cultivated than the other smaller villages we passed. The school is the largest building and main focal point - it looked very pretty with spring flowers and tulips in abundance - but we were made aware it that it is a very different matter in winter with temperatures reaching -30 degress+.  During our stay, we noticed remants from the Iron Curtain era - for example, old Soviet tank tracks with concrete used to re-inforce the tank base and old style cars.

We experienced glorious weather during our stay but were advised that it changes dramatically from either very cold in winter to very hot in Summer with no real Spring (approx 1 week) or Autumn in between. During Spring, the temperature rises on average 2 degrees per day. Flocks of sheep have been culled in the past due to lack of rainfall and grass.

Before reaching Burlacu, we had been concerned about what to expect at the Moldova border checkpoint controls due to what we had read and heard regarding corruption of past travellers. But, arriving in the very early hours of the morning at Orancea (Romania) and then the adjoining checkpoint Cahul (Moldova), we experienced no real issues at all. We crossed from the Romanian side at Orancea and through the Moldovan checkpoint at Cahul in approx 1 hour. The 1-hour delay being largely down to the time of night and the lack of any paperwork for the caravan which was questioned. Checks were made to determine if we were allowed to cross with the caravan - an unusual sight at the border and we later learned, for Moldova in general. The chassis number was subsequently searched and taken and prior to our final entry into Moldova proper and we were also required to pay approx 2 Euros at the border for which we received an official stamped receipt. Returning back through the same checkpoint controls around midday on our return journey, we were subject to a caravan search (all vehicles we saw were searched as standard) but the whole process took only 15 minutes in total to clear both frontiers with no additional costs or issues. Our transit both ways being completely smooth.

The roads in Moldova where we entered are in very bad condition with uncovered manholes you could fall into, huge potholes you could boil a kettle and uncovered surfaces that shake you to the core - making driving feel like a game of dizzying dodgems. Add to this a lack of a local map, non-existent road signs and unfamiliar territory, it took us no time at all to get merrily lost in the maze of country back roads leading us through all manner of un-marked villages. On our way out of Moldova we had to use the difflock to get us and the caravan up the final incline into customs control.

Our vehicles were very much a spectacle of interest throughout our stay and we were told that while many people in Moldova have seen a Land Rover Defender like ours on television, no-one had actually ever seen one in the flesh before. The concept of a caravan was even more baffling - no-one where we stayed had come across such a contraption - and ours being an off road Jurgens Xplorer just added more to the curiosity. We’re not sure if this was simply because we were in a farming community as Cahul itself is quite modern with Westernised influences - though we noted many buildings, like the roads are in a bad state of dis-repair.

After a cup of tea on our Coleman’s stove at the edge of town (we were like aliens to the many passing villagers who were a little bit unsure of us),  we decided to park up right outside the school where, by chance, one of the teachers called Eugenia (also to become one of our hosts during our stay) recognised us and invited Jessica and AJ into school to meet the children of her class. Our additional hosts - John Law of Ceem, our contact back in the UK and Eugenia’s husband Andrei who is the Pastor of the village soon joined us and took us on a tour of the main school, Kindergarten, Medical Centre, Mayor’s office and the Church. We found Jessica and AJ during our tour of the school, sitting in a classroom surrounded by the children asking lots of questions in Moldovan with questions/answers kindly being translated by Eugenia.

The school itself is much nicer than we imagined - very brightly coloured and comfortable despite lacking the modern conveniences we enjoy in the West. The school is well organised and equipped with a small gym and special area for disabled children. Every small piece of equipment provided that we could see is very much valued and utilised. We could see evidence of the furniture and equipment aid sent via previous lorry deliveries from the UK. The Kindegarten and grounds are really nice and much effort has been spent to ensure it is maintained and the children well looked after.

We were a bit apprehensive before arriving as we didn’t know what to expect but the small village of Burlacu, just outside of Cahul in the South West of Moldova could not have been more warm and welcoming. The visit very much marked a high point for us.

We were able to park our vehicles outside of Eugenia and Andrei’s already full house consisting of the Ceem team (Mike, Chris, John and Igor) and slept securely in our caravan at night time. Our days consisted of eating beautiful food, a little work in the fields and finding out more about the Agricultural side of the aid, support and efforts provided by Ceem. More eating followed by meeting some of the villager’s. Eating agin, visiting the Church for a special agricultural presentation, observing Mike interviewing villagers who trialled varieties of newly introduced vegetable seed grown the previous year to see how they got on and if they would be able to sell the produce in the cities. It was interesting to learn that as new vegetables had been introduced in the trials that while some worked really well and others didn’t grow at all, that many couldn’t get on with lettuce and had tried to boil it while others had broken up and fed the raw cauliflower florets to the ducks and geese. We also learned that many villagers will buy wheat and have this ground into flour to make their own breadwhile others simply buy. Having a westernised indoor toilet and hot running water is a real luxury for many but there are several westernised influences around with people committed to working hard and getting on. But, many still have baths in the outhouse which they will fill with water plus an outdoor toilet. The community is largely a Baptist faith and the ladies singing in Church is hauntingly beautiful to listen to.

Jessica and AJ got to play with Andrei and Eugenia’s four children as well as with several other children in the village once school was finished for the day. In between times, they got the chance to ride a donkey, hold baby rabbits, see baby geese, pigs and piglets, hens, chickens, sheep and dogs. There was nothing Jessica, AJ or ourselves wanted for during our stay and they even got to watch some cartoons on TV for the first time since leaving the UK.

We had the pleasure of meeting some really nice people, were made to feel very welcome and received unreserved hospitality. The food was something else - everything freshly picked and homemade . Some examples of what we ate included delicious sweet pancakes with cheese and and sour cream, varieties of soup based dishes, plajintas stuffed with cheeses or apple, real fruit drink - real fruit boiled with water and sugar, slowly cooled and left sealed for freshness. Not to mention lovely fresh salads. We will be the most obese travellers ever and would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who made our stay such an unforgettable experience. We are very grateful and our time in Burlacu and the experience will be etched in our minds for a long time to come!

One off Thoughts

Jessica and AJ thought it was very unfair that we could visit Moldova and come and go as we pleased while Moldovans do not have the same freedoms to do the same. We were told that it is very difficult to get a visa to go to places like the UK, France and America and that to do a trip like ours is really unheard of.

Jessica and AJ decided that following a nice meal in a nice restaurant in Calasari, Romania yesterday that we’re going to have a meal like this at the end of every month.

Many people speak English but Cyrillics is the common language in the latter countries we have passed through - makes it difficult to understand map/directions.

Jessica: “Why can’t we give animals like cats and dogs and sheep a bit of respect and give them some clothes? Wouldn’t you feel embarrassed if all your dangly bits were on show?”

We don’t hear much of the news - the last we heard was regarding the volcanoe causing air traffic groundings in Europe while we were in Austria

Education

It has been difficult this past week to get any real structure in place with education due to the amount of travel and activities we have undertaken. We did manage to do a little bit as follows:

Jessica’s new word of the week is ‘circulatory’ following some learning together with AJ about how the human body works in terms of revision of the skeleton, major body organs, circulation, lungs and breathing, muscles, ligaments and tendons. Jessica has done some work on this previously at school but we covered with AJ (and with difficulty in getting him to concentrate due to too much going on around him in Moldova). AJ spent some time learning the days of the week - ie how to spell - but despite 2-3 attempts we’re not quite there yet. AJ also covered more subraction, this time using fun pictures and puzzles and stickers to provide more fun. Jessica did a little more work measuring wind speed with her anomometer. Both caught up with journal writing.but have yet to write about their time in Moldova.

Tips we’ve learned along the way

Being able to climb into the caravan to use a bucket provides so much more privacy
Pitch as far away from the campsite toilets as possible - it’s could be the only exercise you get on lazy days
Blue tack has 1,000s of uses

Mileage to Date since leaving the UK

3,031

Number of days on the Road

Our first month (30 nights if you count tonight) and our travels so far have taken us through 8 countries - the Netherlands (4 nights), Belgium (literally just a toe inside the border and then back again just so Andrew could say he’d been!), Germany (9 nights), Austria (5 nights), Hungary (2 nights), Romania (5 nights), Moldova (2 nights) and Bulgaria (where we are entering our 2nd night’s stay).

On the Road Costs

2,864.70 Euros since leaving the front door of our house in the UK including all ferries, road taxes (Vignettes), site entrance fees, public transport, postcards, stamps, shoes for the children, indestructible boots for AJ!, footballs, toys, campsite fees, diesel, alcohol, food, cigarettes - everything. We are currently averaging 95.49 Euros per day with Diesel (27%/average 25.78 Euros per day), Campsite (23%/average 28.63 Euros per day - based on 23 out of 30 nights as the remainder have either been home stays or rough camping) and Food (22%/average 20.87 Euros per day) making up the bulk of the costs.

Next Planned Location

Staying in Bulgaria for the moment

Bye for now!

Lots of love

A, A, J and AJ

xxxx 

Diary (Blog)