It has been raining here and it is warm, which means it mushroom time in Moldova. On my way to my daily run my neighbor screamed at me, "come to the woods with us." After five minutes of saying "another time, I don't want to, I want to go run, etc..." I gave in and climbed in the car after convincing my host mom an 3 yr old niece to join in on the fungus fun. I was a little nervous about the adventure, thinking hunting for mushrooms in random forests was illegal...I was wrong. We arrive in the supposedly "frumos" woods and I instantly and swatting at mosquitos. We begin to crawl through the woods, stepping over tree branches and pulling leaves from our faces. After about 20 minutes we exit the woods with empty pails. Guess it isn't the right time. What to do now? Go home, right? Nope. It is time to camp outside of the car to drink goat milk from a jar, tear chunks from bread and down vodka. I did not partake, but managed to pass a drop of goat milk past my lips. Not too bad. It would be even better if it were pasteurized. Our journey ends at home, but not before going to the store for some famous Chisinau beer.
Once at home, the mushroom search party convenes at my house and we enjoy some pig fat, banana bread that I made the day before, beer, and hot cognac liquor stuff. I did not enjoy it and after one go around I switched to beer. The neighbor man tried to convince me that the Russian equivalent to "f*ck you" was not a bad phrase, rather a verb that you can use in your everyday conversations. I knew better and just shook my finger at him. It was a relaxing time and the day concluded with a 50-something year old man putting a 30-something year old woman into a headlock. Good times.