Ceâdar Lînga
Church
March 7, 2004
After two hours of waiting in Comrat we got a bus to Ceadar-Linga. The bus was coming
from Tiraspol and the driver was excited to have Americans so had us sit in the
front by him. He had a big Soviet hammer and sickle pin and told me he’s from Tiraspol
with a smile stretching from ear to ear below his broad mustache.
Soon after our trip began he asked me to pass something over to him; I thought he
said "oil" so I questioned him and he said "yes" as he pointed
to a tank at my feet. I passed it over to him, at which point his focus shifted
from the road ahead of us to a hole in the floor. He glanced up at the road,
looked down at what he was pouring, looked up again, then turned to me and said
"the oil leaks." A couple times during the trip I passed him the oil and
he poured it into the hole in the floor between his feet. Next to this hole, was
another hole, perhaps for gas, but I’m not sure because he never used it. He told
me with his broad smile that the bus was Chinese made and that American cars are
much better. I think this was a compliment, so I accepted it and we continued our
conversation.
We arrived in Ceadar-Linga, which magnifies the land without manhole covers. Manhole
covers are made with valuable metals, which sell well on the scrap metal market
so rarely can you find a manhole cover anywhere in Moldova. Ceadar-Linga has a long
sidewalk from the bus station, which we followed past the numerous manhole-coverless
holes to no where. This sidewalk went on as far as I could see, but there didn’t
seen to be anything to which it leads, so we turned around, saw another statue of
Lenin and then headed up the hill to the church.
The church in town is pretty impressive and the sun broke the clouds with a large
ray reaching down as if touching the church. The area was very dirty, run-down,
and falling apart. Only one man-hole cover was in place that I found and the streets
almost seemed desolate.
Outhouse