Hello,
Greetings from Moldova. Before I talk about life here, I have to back
up and say that my road trip around the Eastern U.S. was
fantastic. Most people would shudder at the idea of driving 2000 miles in a
week (especially with U.S.
gas prices the way they are right now).
But I’m hoping to do it again next summer. It was great seeing friends and family in the
different places I stopped, as well as seeing parts of the country I’d never
seen. It turns out Asheville, North Carolina
is a beautiful and hip city not far from the Smoky
Mountains of Tennessee. While there my friend Lisa took me to the
Biltmore House and gardens, a former home of the very rich Vanderbilt family.
In my opinion it is on par in design and décor with many of the castles I’ve
seen in Europe. Frankfort,
Kentucky is also a charming city with a
small downtown but two state capitol buildings, old and new. Plenty there for my inner
Washingtonian to enjoy. My friend
Peg took me to the grave of famous pioneer Daniel Boone, where I also had a
lovely view of the Kentucky river and the hills around Frankfort. We also went for a scenic drive through the
countryside (while listening to bluegrass music at my insistence, because it
seemed appropriate). We saw gated
pastures and thoroughbred horse barns that looked like mansions. Someday I’ll
get the pictures online.
I survived the flight on Air Moldova
from Vienna to Chisinau, though it
was my first time on a twin-engine plane. At least it was an Embraer and not a Soviet-era plane. Passport control and customs were a breeze.
A teacher asked me yesterday what impressed me first about Moldova. I had to say that the people did. This same
teacher said that Moldova
is a country of poor people but rich souls. I had to agree this is true. The teachers I’ve met so far are very
bright, knowledgeable, ethical, and optimistic.
The resource center coordinator at the university is fantastic. She has already made my seminar schedule. She is careful to warn me about which
teachers will ask too much of me, and will not let me get overworked. I also found out she likes spicy food, which
makes it all the more tragic that my jars of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce and homemade
salsa broke enroute to Moldova.
Anyway, I’ll have four groups of teachers from the
university I’m at, two groups from a school of foreign languages, one group of
elementary and secondary teachers, and one group of teachers from other
universities. But I’ll only meet with
each group once or twice a month, so each week I’ll have 4-5 seminars plus
weekly “office hours” when people can come and chat with me.
Home life is good as well. My landlord and landlady are
doctors with three children—a 23 year old son, a 16 year old daughter, and a 3
year old son. The landlord and landlady are very caring and attentive. The
first day they gave me filtered water, matches for the stove, and blinds for
the living room. They gave me a cordless
phone which worked the next day after the landlord tinkered with things with a
knife. I got internet access at home;
the mother called the son and told him to leave work immediately to take me to
the offices of the provider. I told her
later she didn’t have to do that, but she insisted it was important. The Internet access is very reliable so far,
and cost me only $6 a month (prepaid) plus phone charges of 7 bani a minute. 40
minutes on line, I calculate, costs me 20 U.S. cents in phone charges. The TV has cable, and I found five English
language channels: 1) CNN Europe
edition; 2) Deutsche Welle (a German world news
service that is half German, half English) 3) National Geographic
(occasionally); 4) CNBC Europe (financial news only), and 5) PRO TV, a Moldovan
station which shows English language programs with Romanian subtitles. So far I’ve just seen a bad Luke Perry movie
and “Married with Children”, but the upcoming movie schedule looks more
promising.
A few people have suggested that I write a book about my
experiences. I just found out that a
book has already been written about this corner of the world. There is a well-known British comedian named
Tony Hawks who made a bet with a friend that he could play tennis with the
entire Moldovan national soccer team.
Since the loser had to stand naked in London
and sing the Moldovan national anthem, Tony was determined to succeed. According to Helen (the 16 year old
daughter), he stayed at the house where I’m living, and the house and the
family are mentioned in his book *Playing the Moldovans
at Tennis*. Helen told me that I am
required to read this book and then I will be part of the family. I’m looking forward to that as well as reading his previous work,
*Round Ireland with a Fridge*.
That’s all for now. Time to walk to the market
and by provisions for the next several days. Gotta get my
veggies while they’re still in season! Then
Svetlana (the resource center coordinator) is taking me around the city at 3:00 today.
Take care.
Bridget
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