The Chiatura Mini-Documentary Series

Nothing quite portrays life in another country like a video clip does. Yessir, it's that special blend of audio, video and subtitles that shines a new light on all aspects of a situation, while simultaneously scaring off blog visitors who'd rather not waste their bandwidth on that kind of multimedia crap. If you find yourself reading this using a broadband connection, however, maybe you'd like to watch one of the clips below from Chiatura (see this post and this post), none of which runs more than a minute and a half. If you only choose one, go with the first.



This is a clip of what it's like to ride the air gondolas in Chiatura, a town which is situated in a gorge and whose angular setup necessitates this skilift-esque transportation option. This particular gondola is the manganese miners' gondola, which is the rustiest, creepiest, and steepest one. Mom, you may want to wait and watch this one after I'm safe at home.



Here's a short introduction to the Pioneer Palace. I talked more about it in one of the posts linked above, but 90% of you were not yet reading this blog when that was up. Complete with cliffside view of Chiatura and the charred, crumbling echo of communist idealism!



And lastly, an illustration of how far volunteers' health standards have fallen. I'll give you a hint: it involves spaghetti and bathwater.