Blogs from Chisinau, Centre, Moldova, Europe
January 8th 2012
I’m not as worldly as Jonathan Swift’s Mr. Lemuel Gulliver. I’ve never been to Blefuscu, Brobdingnag, Glubbdubrib or Japan. There was an occasion in 2002 however when I sort of made it as far as Lilliput. The journey began in April, in that Soviet apartment in Sviatoshyn on the northern outskirts of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. It was suitable accommodation for the one-month teaching methodology course in which I’d enrolled. I was destined to share the apartment with another out of town teacher attending the course, and after some time the doorbell rang. With a fluster of red hair by choice rather than design, forty-ish Alex bustled in with her luggage, hastily telling something to the driver who’d brought her there. It was all in Russian, which she subsequently tried on me. She’d been led to ... read more
August 28th 2011
Ah, Finally came to the conclusion that it is good to share and I have much to share about Moldova. Yesterday was our 20th anniversary of Moldavian independence and in the next few days a celebration for our national language, Romanian. It is a big deal after many decades of Soviet control, so the next few days of holiday time away from work is a great and relaxing pleasure. I know my wife and son are excited to have me home (as he is excited to be home from kindergarten) and we will get out and about in the city and perhaps a few of our wonderful parks, for we have many.... read more
June 23rd 2011
As we come to the end of our time here in Moldova, it is difficult to put into words the way we feel about this place we have called home for the past 11 months. Of course we have grown to love this country and it's people, and saying good bye will be bittersweet. After a loooong winter, we were delighted as the first signs of spring came and the days began to lengthen. It was like a procession of blooming, starting with the apple and cherry trees. Then came the lilacs, tulips, daffodils, peonies, and now that summer is here...the roses! As the days grow hot and long we have been like two bears coming out of hibernation and rediscovering our surroundings all over again. In these last months, we are spending as much time ... read more
Accommodation Nightmare Chisinau; Vlaicu Pîrcălab Str.
Published: November 3rd 2010Europe » Moldova » Centre » Chisinau
November 3rd 2010
I am writing to tell about an unfortunate experience myself and family endured during a recent visit to Moldova. We recently travelled to Moldova for a wedding, the visit was tarnished by some very nasty people seeing our happy weekend as a means to exploit us by assuming we would pay large amounts of money to prevent them from spoiling our happy time. Below I write a long, quite detailed account of the situation. I apologise for posting such a long version, but I thought it would be better to provide too much detail rather than too little. The story below relates to problems we had with a lady by the name of Galia and her daughter, their business is property rental aimed at tourists / visitors to Chisinau. The property in question is located just ... read more
September 26th 2010
We have been teaching for about one month, and the theme of our cultural studies unit is Moldovan culture. Kelsey set up a field trip to the Monastery of Capriana, and I brought my Intensive English students along also. Our bus arrived at school at 9am and we loaded up the kids and headed to the Village of Capriana which is approximately 40km north of Chisinau. We were very fortunate to have clear blue skies. The ride was very pretty passing vineyard after vineyard and drove into the forest which used to have bears, wolves, and deer, but they are no longer around. I have yet to find out if it is from over-hunting or some other reason. Heading into the village is a narrow road with a steep grade I was hoping that our bus ... read more
Chisinau, Moldova - A Quick Visit to this Forgotten Outpost of Europe
Published: July 14th 2010Europe » Moldova » Centre » Chisinau
July 8th 2010
The Romanian Airlines flight from Bucharest to Chisinau only took one hour, bringing us into the capital of Moldova in relative darkness. As Michael and I sat in the car bumping along the uneven road we couldn’t help but notice the distinct lack of street lighting. “Is Moldova the poorest country in Europe?” He nodded. The Hotel Cosmos had seen better days. It was an ugly grey tower block with a large reception area and a dingy bar at one end. Men sat around drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. After depositing the suitcases in our room, we joined them, delighted to discover that the local brew, Beer Chisinau, only cost 60p. “Cheers!” I said as we took a slurp. “Welcome to Moldova!” Moldova, a tiny country in Eastern Europe bordered by Romania and Ukraine, was ... read more
May 17th 2010
I hereby declare this day to have been a total and massive waste of my time and energy. Tomorrow, on to Galati.... read more
May 16th 2010
So many 'private comments' to my entries! At least the log shows there are some readers. But I sense the problem may arise that now the people I know have heard my stories and I can't really tell them as fresh even once now, much less repeatedly. Breakfast was a rather maudlin affair. So mediocre as to not even warrant much comment to management. In (at least) East Europe the concept of hot coffee and food is catch as catch can, at best. I washed some socks and hung them with hopes they will dry before I leave. The rain came and went intermittently all day. RAIN IS THE ENEMY OF TOURISTS! I headed to the History Museum, but only made it as far as a park near it when I was attracted to a big ... read more
May 15th 2010
When I woke up I determined to just 'wing it' for my path to Chisinau. I had two problems to solve. One was to be sure my phone had roaming and the other was to make a confirmation with the hotel. My trolley was falling apart. The repair 'took,' but the quality of the contraption was really not up to such constant use. A taxi took me to the proper place and I quickly sussed-out that a bus left for Chisinau in about an hour. The road across the border was quite rough, which surprised me because I would have taken this to be a major border crossing between the two countries. But even on the map it shows as a secondary road. I knew I was in a foreign country by the cyrillic letters on ... read more
Car Crashes, Weddings and Twin Toilets
Published: August 11th 2009Europe » Moldova » Centre » Chisinau
August 10th 2009
Since we have done very little in the last two days of our trip to Moldova (what with the first two being eventful enough) this posting will probably be more observational about Moldova.... Anyway, picking up where we left off: After a team doctor (Vicky) and nurse (Fiona) effort on the dutch boys - due to the shoddy quality of Chisinau hospital care - we dropped them off at the station late in the day. This was good for us because it meant we had a free taxi ride to get our train tickets for the following day and also we were fairly knackered due to the fact that we had got in at 6am and then spent most of the day fixing them up. We then walked back from the station, which was rather horrific ... read more
