Moldova

This morning, while waiting for my boss to pick me up, an older woman came up to me and started talking. She was probably about 40 but looked a lot older. Most of her teeth were broken or black. She had ginger-coloured hair and half of her right eye was bloody.

I had no idea what she was talking about. She kept pointing to herself and saying something or other. So I pointed to myself and said 'engleza' (English). She said something again and I offered her my dictionary. She then made a sign which I assume meant that she either couldn't read or couldn't see well enough to read. Then she said 'Moldovia' and I responded with 'Canada'.

A man came out of the store and she said something to him. He gave her the load of bread he was carrying. Then she pointed to her stomach and started rubbing it. Then I realised that she wanted money or food. I opened bag to get my wallet. Inside was my laptop computer, digital camera, minidisc player and USB keychain. Here I was, with probably over $1000 worth of digital equipment on me, and here's a woman who can't even eat. I gave her 10,000 lei (about $0.40) because I didn't have anything else. She thanked me and left.

A few minutes later, a man came by and started trying to talk to me. He knew a few words of French. He explained that this woman was his wife and that they were from Moldova. They came to Romania to find jobs but there's nothing available here. I don't know where they live or what they do. He was dressed in a heavy wool sweater and vest, even though it'll be at least 25 degrees Celcius today.

My boss arrived then. I got up to leave and thanked the man for talking. He kept staring at my tupperware container, which contained my daily supply of watermelon. He almost reminded me of a dog looking at a steak. I should have given it to him. He's starving and I have too much.

I hope I'll see him again. Next time I'll give them more.