moldova

from warsaw i started the long trip to get to moldova..it's a LOT cheaper to fly to bucharest (the capital of romania) and take a bus or train to chisenau (the capital of moldova) than it is to fly directly to chisenau..(pronounced kishenau)..so i flew into bucharest, then took a bus into the city, to the main train station..i knew there was an overnight bus to chisenau, but finding out where to get that bus wasn't all that easy..i ended up asking at several different information counters, and using a lot of charades..i ended up taking the metro to a certain stop, then hopping on a bus..all the while i was soooo thankful to complete strangers who helped me find my way..the bus dropped me off at a bus "station" where i was able to find the bus i needed..then, because the bus didn't leave for hours, i had to wait..and wait and wait and wait..but i couldn't wait inside the station, as it was being used as a polling station..late november in romania isn't warm!..i was able to spend the last three hours or so waiting on the bus itself..
my overnight bus arrived in chisenau around 0700, at the central bus station..i had an address, but getting a taxi driver who understood wasn't so easy..
i went to moldova to visit my friend natanya, a teacher i knew in korea..she had recently begun teaching at an international school in chisenau, teaching kindergardeners..one of the first things i learned upon arrival is that moldova isn't the same place as moldavia..(i had previously used the names interchangeably)...moldova is the easternmost (and poorest) country in europe..moldavia is the easternmost province in romania..the two countries have a complicated history, and in many ways are just one country..in moldova itself there are two breakaway republics, they essentially function as independent countries..transdniestr has it's own police force, currency and stamps, but isn't recognized at all internationally..it's not an easy border to cross, natanya and i didn't go there at all..the other breakaway republic is a little more recognized and is basically an autonomous area (gaugaza i think it's called?) in moldova..current borders of moldova were only determined when communism fell, in 1989 i think..
since natanya teaches at an international school, she has a great flat..it's far nicer than the average moldovan..though chisenau itself is FAR better off than the rest of the country..the average moldovan makes approximately $200/month..there are lots of russians in chisenau, they're the ones with any real money in moldova..chisenau itself is pretty much bilingual, russian and moldovan..(moldovan as a language is basically a dialect of romanian)..natanya is paid in cash dollars every month, which she then converts at any of the huge number of currency exchange booths all over the city..the exchange rate varies regularly, being paid in dollars means natanya has a steady income..
the day i arrived, natanya had to go to work, so i hung out in the flat during the day..i mostly slept, and let my family know that i had arrived..when natanya came home, we walked through a nearby park (more about that later) and hopped on a tram to a HUGE market..there are several markets in chisenau, i think this was one of the biggest..tons of vegetables, lots of them pickled..lots of fruits..when i say lots i mean great quantities, not great variety..stands and stands and stands of fruits and veggies..bread too..we wound our way through, and then she took me into a dairy building..WOW..cheese and cheese and cheese...butter and butter and butter...and CHOCOLATE BUTTER!!! i had never heard of such a thing but it was fantastic..it looks like a big block of mud, but it's actually fantastic..after the market we walked into the grocery store part of department store #1..in communist days, that's how many stores were named, just by number..this department store is where only the rich folks shop..there are a number of foreign items available, all at high cost of course..for dinner than night natanya cooked me mamaliga (sp?) a typical moldovan meal..different from anything i'd had previously..
one of the days in chisenau i got to go to natanya's school to show the kids a few of the pictures i've taken over the past couple years of traveling..the kids were great fun, some asking some really entertaining questions..some of them talking just because they wanted to talk..lol, kids..the next couple days natanya had to go to work during the days, so i was rather lazy, and walked around the city just a little..i again walked through the park she had showed me, it's only a few blocks from her flat..there are busts upon busts of moldovans, poets i think..at the entrance to the park is a statue of stefan cel mare, one of the few true moldovan heroes..i saw the national church as well, it's beautiful..the national religion is orthodox christian, which uses a different calendar from the christianity we know in the western world..there are no chairs/pews in an orthodox church..the inside of an orthodox church is wonderfully colourful, with lots of gold too..i don't know how worship happens, but i think it goes more than just an hour a week..
during my stay in chisenau i made several repeat trips to the market, as i got hooked on the chocolate butter, and i loved the cheese:)
on thanksgiving thursday natanya hosted a thanksgiving dinner for her coworkers and a few other random guests..it was a potluck dinner of sorts, and go figure, there was only one traditional thanksgiving food on the table..pumpkin pie from scratch, which natanya made...it was fabulous...other foods included chicken prepared in several different ways, apple pie/turnover, several salads, etc..natanya's flat is so awesome that there was plenty of room for all of us to eat, enjoy good conversation, etc..the last guest to show up arrived after many of us had actually finished eating..
pan, the last guest, is a peace corps volunteer...she was late to dinner because she was just coming back from a trip to istanbul..she stayed the night in chisenau because it was too late to take public transport back to the village in which she is living..the next day, pan and i hung out waiting for natanya to come back from work..she works at an international school, which normally works on an american calendar, but her particular school doesn't..so she didn't get thursday and friday off, like most americans do..anywho, after she came home, the three of us rented a car, and started driving to the village where pan lives..it took about four hours to get there, and believe me, the roads in moldova leave something to be desired..remnants of communism i suppose, when roads weren't always kept in great condition because regular people didn't travel around much..the signage on the roads was also awful..you have to know where you're going, cause you'll miss the turnoffs if you don't..thankfully, even though she usually takes the bus, pan knew exactly where we were going..she also knew the rough patches of road, which was helpful..it was sooooooo foggy, at times we couldn't see more than a couple meters in front of the car..if pan hadn't known the roads, and where we needed to turn off, we never would've made it..as we turned off the main highway toward her village we realized exactly how harsh/big some of the potholes in moldova can be..especially when they come out of the fog as a total surprise..we arrived at her house pretty late, but her house mother was still home..pereskova..pereskova's sister was visiting, which was awesome..pereskova loves to talk, and the fact that natanya and i didn't really understand didn't bother her in the least..pan was able to translate and we were offered more food than we could handle..nearly all food is cooked/baked in the soba (i think that's the name?) which is basically an oven in a wall..a wood heated oven..the soba also functions as the household heater..pereskova's bedroom is on one side, pan's bedroom is on the other side..pereskova is what most of you would imagine as a typical russian babushka..scarf over the head and everything..she's 74 or so, (or is it 84?) maybe older..she isn't certain..her older sister is old enough that she actually speaks, understands and reads some russian from her early schooling, in addition to moldovan..both natanya and i had brought sleeping bags with us, and when pereskova saw how we intended to sleep, she insisted on having us sleep on and under really think blankety quilty sort of things..i slept next to the soba, and between that and my sleeping bag i was toasty, despite the freezing temperatures outside..before going to bed pan showed us the outhouse (there is no running water in the house) and the rest of the house..pereskova makes her own wine, she has a vineyard in the yard of the house, pan and natanya both like the wine..apparently people in the village do as well, they stop in at buy it by the glass..in the morning the three of us got up and pan gave us a tour of the village, such that it is..some of the houses are quite colourful, green, blue, purple and yellow..we also saw the graveyard, which was also quite colourful..blue crosses everywhere!! lots of plastic flowers and pictures on the graves too..
around noon the three of us started driving to cahul..cahul is the biggest town in the area, population 60,000 or so..one of the peace corps volunteers lives in cahul, and she wanted to throw a thanksgiving dinner for all the volunteers in the area..before going to the dinner, pan showed us around the town market..every sort of winter clothing was available, most of it used..because it wasn't exactly warm, everyone was bundled up..my feet were so cold, even though i was wearing two pairs of socks..lunch was at a pizza place, most of the volunteers in the area eat there when they are in cahul..anywho, we dropped pan off at the volunteer's flat, then started making our way back to chisenau..when we arrived back in chisenau, we went straight to a grocery store, as natanya wasnted to take advantage of the car to stock up on heavier groceries..hee hee..
since the next day was still the weekend (sunday) we elected to take another day trip..this time to a more northern city..(town)..(cahul is in the far south of moldova)..soroca is in the northeast of the country..it used to be a fortress town, and the fortress still stands..it's small, but pretty nifty..we climbed all over it, looking out over the town from the top..soroca is a town where a number of really well off roma live..they've got some really nice houses, which we wanted to see, but didn't find..we found another small market and walked through that but saw nothing of interest..driving back to chisenau didn't take very long, we returned the car after filling the petrol tank..
the next day, while natanya was at work, i walked around town a bit again and picked up a few items at the market to take with me on the bus..i walked to the bus station with my stuff in the evening, and hopped on a bus back to bucharest..from the main train station i took the bus back to the airport, and started on the first of three flights to my next destination..
a couple notes about moldova..as i mentioned earlier, it's the poorest country in europe..it won't be admitted to the EU anytime in the foreseeable future..back in the days of the USSR, moldova was the vineyard of the country..there are supposed to be several good wines, i wish i had been able to try them..the mindset of the country hasn't changed much since communism fell..customer service hasn't improved beyond what it was during communism...that is, effort isn't always made to get you to buy what they're selling..there is an incredible amount of corruption in the government, i don't think most moldovans think the government has any real interest in the people..the corruption also spreads to the police..twice on our way back to chisenau from our short trips we were pulled over by police, though we knew we hadn't done anything wrong..we figured out the police simply wanted a bribe, but they weren't able to communicate that, so we pretended ignorance, and were let go..i enjoyed moldova, but it certainly doesn't have much tourist infrastructure..the lonely planet section on moldova isn't long, and only covers 5 or 6 towns..i have a feeling most of the information comes from peace corps volunteers..