The Infamous Cheese and Brandy Festival

So, this past weekend the infamous Cheese and Brandy Festival in Rasinari finally took place. Oh, there was drama and excitement, comedy and tears; all in all, a success. The weekend started out rough with a somewhat uncomforable meeting at the County Council office, followed by a minor rear-end collision while driving that resulted in a few flared tempers. Only egos were bruised in the incident. Then off to the Open Air ASTRA Village Museum for a guided tour, followed by finally! returning to our pensiune in the mountains for dinner and a good night's sleep.

Headed down to the festival site Friday night with Amit and Mike, two MBAEC volunteers up from Bucharest for the weekend. Many of the vendors and some of the organizers were taking advantage of the situation and roasting fish and lamb around campfires. We hung around for a little bit, socializing and admiring the Milky Way (it never ceases to leave me speechless, which can be a rarity in itself!) before calling it a night.

The next morning we finished setting up before the Mayor of Rasinari and Bill Seas, Country Director of CHF International gave the welcome speeches. Earlier, Amit, Mike and I headed up into the mountains (they're a lot bigger than they look!) and met a local shepherd with his son, dogs, and flock. The shepherd ended up hanging around during both days of the festival, keeping his flock in full view from the festival; it provided a charming and authentic feel to the festival, as I think all the local cheeses come from sheep's milk.

Saturday afternoon was spent at the organizer's lunch, an event that lasted not one, not two, not three, but four and a half hours! It was insane! We all thought the first course was it, so we filled up on the local bread, meats and cheeses offered. But oh no, then there was Transylvanian pork soup, followed by a selection of grilled vegetables and lamb (freshly slaughtered that morning, of course). Finally, we ended with cheese-filled crepes and ice cream. And, of course, tuica and home-made wine was flowing throughout the course of the meal. Poor Amit and I had to keep taking turns to go outside and walk off the last course, just to make room for more! Overall, a delicious, if figure-flawing experience!

Saturday night was the bonfire...except that they didn't really build it right, so it was just a fire. Our shepherd friend came down from watching his flock with his dogs to say hello and Mike offered to quench his thirst by buying him rounds of beer. His dogs were cute, and a pup decided she would be my buddy for the night and curled up with me in the darkness next to the failing fire. The shepherd either thought he'd have fun with us, or make friends with us (cultural understanding may have failed us at this time of night) but he decided to wrap me up in his wool blanket. Buying him rounds of beer seemed like a good idea at the time!

Sunday morning saw Amit and I inspired to go hiking...for almost four hours. What look like soft green hills are actually thigh-high with dried grass and flies that act as if they've never seen human flesh before. The views were worth it and hey, I always like the challenge. I'm actually surprised that I didn't ache more in the following days, considering how out of breath I was climbing the darn thing!

Looks easy, doesn't it?

Sunday afternoon was spent back at the festival, enjoying Romanian delicacies and the entertainment. Overall the weekend was a success and I had great fun. And now on to other projects on our agenda...