| | Every six months it seems I yearn for a break from the second hand smoke and surroundings, not to mention a pause helps put things in perspective for me. Greece and Moldova, here I come!
Chisinau despite the being the capital of Europe's poorest country is quite fashionable. Victoria and I went window shopping to stores comparable to America. But unlike America, more similar to Romania public transportation basically consists of zooming maxitaxis. The drivers are entertaining and impatient. As soon as we opened the door to hop in, the driver takes off. It took me some time to adjust to swinging the door open and immediately getting my balance before falling over others. Once, in a very crowded maxitaxi, 25ish passengers, the driver suddenly comes to a complete stop to ask who didn't pay. (How do they keep track, when they never see who actually hands them money, and bills sit on the dashboard???) We just wait, and wait. When no one confessed the driver yelled he was going home and we could find our own way to our destinations. Another time a driver, especially in a rush, barely let people open the door before taking off. Why the hurry? Apparently he was searching for girls. That's the fastest I've ever been between point A and point B was with that driver.
That said, one of my favorite things there was cereal. Grocery stores had actual rows of variety to choose from. Amazing! In Romania I can get (on two small shelves): bad chocolate cereal, ok chocolate cereal, or heavily overpriced fitness cereal. I smiled every time we walked down that aisle. Well let me be honest, a few times I purposely walked down the cereal aisle just to admire it! How dare the manager who tried to kick Victoria and I out before I was fully content looking at the aisle.
A visit to Moldova is not complete without traveling to the country which doesn't exist. In short, a small region of the already tiny country of Moldova decided to fight for independence. The government denied them that request and so the people took matters into their own hands. Minus citizenship Transdniestrians are independent: their own currency, security, border guards, 'national' museum, parliament, etc. Basically it is a blast into the past: communist style. Lonely Planet describes it as the last bastion of communism...indeed! After arriving in the capital city, Tiraspol we got stopped by two intimidating policemen for jaywalking. I was quite worried while they took us their little guard house (size of two phone booths). Adding to my skepticism was the fact Transdniester uses the Russian language, not Romanian so for the entire day I was completely lost in verbal communication. Thanks to my friend schmoozing with policemen for some time we got off scotch free. Next we walked past the parliament building, standard communist block building, where a statue stands impossible to miss. Any guesses for who it is? Vladimir Lenin stands proudly there, 30 feet at least! A huge block of concrete and then him.The google picture I saw before hand doesn't do it justice. It is just massive staring right at you. I particularly liked the poster joining the Transdniester president with Vladimir Putin and Ce Guevara and right next to it was one advertising the Communist Youth Group. Like I said, a blast from the past! The National museum was pretty good, especially considering Trandsniester is poorer than Moldova. One can’t forget where they are because in the room dedicated to the civil war back in 1992 against Moldova, it says: "these men fought boldly against the aggressor." Nothing wrong with that statement except when remembering that Transdniestrians are technically Moldovans, thereby calling their country of citizenship an aggressor.
After leaving the country that has a mix of Romanian and Russian, famous wines, and two autonomous regions I headed to a country slightly more touristy: Greece! Like falling in love with cereal in Moldova, I fell in love with the Athens metro. Perhaps a strange thing to admire but come to Bucharest and you'll understand. It's funny I get used to Romania, the Bucharest metro, stray dogs, smoke, and so on and then I go to a place like Greece which throws me off guard. Night and day, my friends.
Both Romania and Greece have their share of stray dogs but unlike in Romania where they are shaggy, aggressive and in general a sad situation, Athens' stray dogs are huge; I am talking St. Bernard size! Not only that, they are clean and friendly, what a pleasant surprise! I didn't have to worry about fierce barking or sprinting away from them.
Twice I had the feeling Greece is not Romania. I didn't see any one toast their friends with their glasses of champagne in public at the main square for New Year's whereas in Romania people laugh at my mention of America's open container laws and tell me how weird my country is. On a full train to Athens from Thessaloniki we had two seats for four people (fellow PCV friends Mara, Julia, and Tatiana). While in Romania I wouldn't think twice about securing a spot on the floor to sit/sleep but on this train there was no one in the aisles! Craziness, I say.
New Year's eve, we wandered around Athens and came upon a concert. However, we represented 50% of female population. There were about 8 women out of 300-400 men! We never figure out who the signer was and why it was such a huge attraction to just men. After that we decided to enjoy champagne and beer by ourselves. It was nice until a man (perhaps the equivalent of Samantha in Sex and City) asked me to be his girlfriend. Straight to the point, not even a hello!
Seeing the ancient monuments was amazing in the sense of reflection. The next time I go Greece I’ll be hiking up Mt. Olympus and enjoying lunch where it is said the gods resided.
To cap off the vacation we headed to the coast on a tour to Nafplio (Southwest of Athens). A small quaint town, I liked it. There I learned more than I ever need to know about a fortress, potato stealing, and a murder located at the steps of a church. Of course being from Wisconsin I had to represent the Polar Bear club (running in a body of water on January 1st). Proudly my friends, Mara, and Julia joined me in running into the Aegean sea. Burr.
Returning to Romania we found that winter had finally arrived. The entire country was blanketed in snow and cold temperatures. Excellent. The slow bus ride home, I stared out at the picturesque landscape of hills and mountains covered in snow hoping my last stretch in Romania is filled with adventurous tales breaking up my on and off work routine.
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| | Posted 1/18/2008 3:27 AM - 73 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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