A Day in Germany...



Her comes the TGV!

 We are ending our trip by doing some study abroad work for Mercer.  It is delightful way to finish our trip though a little arduous.  

Andy in Heidelberg

We left our apartment in Chisinau at 4:00 am on Saturday March 2 to catch a flight to Bucharest and a connection to Frankfurt then took a train to Mannheim and another to Heidelberg so that we could have a look at a potential study-abroad site for Mercer.  After the end of the eleven hour trek with 6 bags--we were exhausted but still had a wonderful time.  We forgot to take a camera with us when we visited the castle.


Andy with our luggage

The next morning we hopped a train to Strasbourg in France for some more Mercer study-abroad work.  It is nice to be here but we really missed being home for Olivia's 4th birthday.


Leaving Moldova (Again)...


Its really hard to believe that it has been seven years since my Fulbright in Moldova.  So much has changed in my life and not enough has changed in Moldova but there has been progress.  We saw a proliferation of businesses and new apartment buildings--somebody has money in Moldova, now.  The roads were better though still not great.  There were fewer pensioners looking through the trash and asking for money.


Andy doing schoolwork in a café while I am doing an interview.

I long for a day when there are no old people begging for money and all Moldovans have bright futures in their own country.  Progress is taking a long time but it is happening!


 

Never missed a playground!

I was greatly encouraged by the work of those that I interviewed and their passion for making Moldova a better place.  Perhaps, it is that optimism or the random acts of kindness that make me keep heading back to Moldova.  The babushkas worried that Andy did not have his jacket zipped, the attention that he got, and the kind moments when strangers helped us find where we were going.  The there are my old friends--Vicu, Artiom, Corina, Salavat, Nata, Dinu, Gene, Liz, Helen, and Veronica--all who welcomed me with joy and new friends like Olga and Jenn who made my time even better. 


Multiple Happy Meal toys

Over the years, I have brought 23 Americans to Moldova--some to study and some to adventure.  Then I have met more Americans in Moldova and they are all a part of my "Americans to Moldova Club."

 Sala Cu Orga.

...and now, my son, Andy joins the club.  His Moldova is playgrounds, a violin and piano concert at the Sala Cu Orga ( he was enthralled for the first half), Kindereggs, trolley busses, marshrutkye, Vicu's home (guns, chickens, and a cow), Alecsandru, and McNuggets.  I hope these are as good of memories for him as mine are for me.



All of this is what makes Moldova so wonderful for me while still being so hard for so many who live here.

And there are still people driving horses and wagons in Moldova...

 

To the South!

My Project--Comrat

My research project is interviewing leaders of NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) about how they work to help people overcome differences to create civil society.  I have had eight interviews so far with one more tomorrow and I hope one on Friday.  I visited Olanesti to see a group home for children and the elderly, visited with 6 organizations in Chisinau that have national missions, and made a special trip to Cahul and Comrat to meet with two unique organizations that amazed me.  Comrat is in Gauguzia and this is a very different part of Moldova because it is an autonomous region where the primary ethnic group are Turkish Christians that migrated there 400 years ago and speak an archaic Turkish dialect (as well as Russian).  Intergration led by Tatiana Litvinova works to bring a dialog between youth in Central Moldova (Romanian speaking), Gauguzia, and Transdenistria (Russian speaking).  Our former, exchange student Dinu was my translator.  He did a fantastic job!!!  While we were in Comrat we snapped a photo of Dinu, Andy, and Father Lenin.


Gospodina Taitiana, Dinu, and me hard at work.

Dinu, Andy, and Father Lenin.

Cahul

 

Cahul is the only large Moldovan city that I had yet to visit and that was remedied Monday/Tuesday. Cahul is in the far southwestern corner of Moldova and has a large Russian speaking population.  Liz Bibb, a recent Mercer alumna, is a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant there.  I am so proud of her and her work here.  She speaks beautiful Romanian--sorry that her assignment over the summer turned out to be in a Russian speaking city.  I met with Tatiana Coslec, the Executive Director of Ograda Noastra, about her work integrating the Roma population into the normal low of Moldovan life and knowing their rights as citizens of this nation.  She only had a half an hour but our wonderful conversation lasted for two!  Afterwards, Dinu, Andy, Gene, and I made a night trek back to Chisinau.  I was always terrified of driving at night here--another fear now overcome.

Here are Gene and Liz our Mercer Fulbrighters in Cahul (yes they love each other :)...and a pic of Andy behind the wheel of our durable Opal Combi that took us from the Nowrtheast corner to the Southwest corner and back again.

 

To the North!

Soroca...

So we went north this last weekend and visited the Fortress at Soroca dating back to 1499 (though rebuilt between 1543 and 1546).  It was well worth the almost three hour drive on pot-hole filled old Soviet roads because the place is magnificent!  We had an outstanding discussion with Domnul Nicolae--who is the historian/director/awesome host who is in charge of the fortress.  It is about to undergo a major reconstruction and will close in April.

  

Doi Haiduci and Snow

My favorite restaurant in Moldova is located out in the country north of Chisinau.  Its called Doi Haiduci (which means the two Robin Hoods in Romanian) and serves hearty Moldovan soups, fresh grilled meats, and all other kinds of yumminess.  Since we were on the road North, we went ahead and indulged with a great meal by the warm fireplace and then Andy was able to play in some snow that was left over from before we got here. 

 

 

He also got to have a snow fight with Vicu in a field we found on the way home.

 

 

More Moldovan Adventure

Andy and the Language(s)

Like all Americans, Andy is finding that in Moldova language is a quagmire.  A majority of the population are Romanian speakers and many of those consider themselves to be Romanian.  About 35% of the population does not speak Romanian a s a first language (and many of those speak no Romanian)--they are ethnically Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, or Gauguzian (a Christian-Turkish ethnicity) and they speak Russian.  So in trying to say thank you, Andy is trying to figure out when to say the Romanian, multumesc, or the Russian, спасибо.  If he figures this out, he will be way ahead of me.

I am also teaching him to count in Romanian:

unu--două--trei--patru--cinci--șase--șapte--opt--nouă--zece

oonoo--dougha--patrue--chinch--shasea--shaptea--opt--noah--zechea

He is doing well...

My Progress

I have completed 3 interviews with 2 more scheduled for tomorrow and 5 for next week.  I have given three talks for different colleges and universities around Chișinău.  So I will make my goals.  

As we have meandered around the city we have had numerous opportunities to see the ubiquitous Andy's Pizza restaurants--a local chain.  Yesterday we also saw the monument to the cosmonauts!

  

My Andy at various locations of "his" pizza chain...

 

The Cosmonaut memorial...

The Village View

Olanesti

Yesterday, I completed my second interview with a fantastic NGO called Generatia Pro that meets the needs of at-risk children and the elderly by providing short term housing, day programs, and family interventions to prevent abandonment.  I was in awe of the energy and the hard work that these committed people put into solving the social neglect that has resulted from poverty and the Soviet legacy.  

Olanesti is in the far South of Moldova--a 2 hour drive from Chisinau.  My friend, Victor Luca, translated for me and arranged transportation with his brother-in-law, Andreii--who brought his son, Alecsandru, along.  The on the way back we stopped in his home village of Tanatari for lunch.

Tanatari

This was my second trip to Tanatari as Vicu had hosted Lee and I for Easter in 2006 and I adore his parents.  Mama Tamara (Vicu's mother) put out quite a spread! 

The boys did a mock toast with homemade Moldovan wine while we discussed how much they looked like each other.  Andy has some Polish heritage and it turns out so does Mama Tamara--so who knows? 

 

After lunch, we fed the chickens.  Andy asked Vicu what their names were and Vicu explained that they do not name the chickens since they plan to eat them.  Andy seemed to be OK with that and later we joked that their names were breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Though we did not wait around to watch Mama Tamara use her surgical precision with the chickens (she is the village physician).

But undoubtedly the highlight of the trip for Andy was getting to see the family shotgun.  Vicu's Dad even fired it for us.  Other events of the trip included using the outhouse, seeing a cow, and being presented with a large bottle of homemade wine--not for Andy, mind you!

   

Wednesday the 13th

Still no snow...

It is tough being a little boy having been sold on a grand adventure involving tons and tons of snow and only filthy melting dregs exist.  We have hope that there will be snow next week!

In our apartment there is a piano that we use to put Andy's music on when he practices the violin. He has been desperate to "play" it.  Yesterday during his violin practice he started on the keyboard and as I turned around to refocus him, I realized he was picking out a tune.  Never having played before!!!

I will start interviews later this week with a trip to Olanesti--way in the south and then a stop in the village of Tanatari to visit Vicu's house.

We have been able to meet up with a number of my favorite people here (although being in Chisinau without my ex-Soviet sister, Irina Nicorici, is very weird).  On Monday, we had dinner with Artiom who works at GenderDoc, an advocacy group for LGBT issues.  He and Andy had a cute dialog that went like this...

Andy: Do you have a girlfriend?

Chris: He is like Daddy and Poppy

Andy: Do you have a boyfriend, then?

Artiom: No, I have not found the right one.

Andy: Everybody needs to have a boyfriend or girlfriend.

Totally unphased, my little man marches through life.  I like that.