December 8: Rediscovering Chisinau
I woke up early (jet lag) and had breakfast with Grigore. I can’t imagine myself eating cold bread and cheese in for breakfast in America and being happy with it, but in Moldova it just seemed right. The homemade red blackberry jam was nice too. Lena went to school early to take a test. I checked my email on the family’s home computer. I had forgotten how slow the Internet can be in Moldova.
After emailing, I ventured out onto Strada Ion Creanga (John Creanga Street). Although I remembered the places I wanted to go to—the bookstore with the money exchange, the bazaar, perhaps a restaurant on the same street—in many ways I felt I was seeing Chisinau again for the first time. And sadly, my second first impression was not as positive. The cars and marshrutkas were half-covered with a thick layer dirt. It was slightly sunny but still the sky seemed bleak compared with golden California sunshine. The people looked more hardened and poorer than before.
The trend continued in the evening. When Lena and I went to the market to buy bread and water, I realized I had forgotten how dark the city is at night. In the backyard walking out to the front gate, I felt I could move only by instinct. Plus, inflation in Moldova is terrible. The exchange rate wasn’t too bad (12.83 lei equaled 1 U.S. dollar), but I paid 3 lei for a bottle of water. Hadn’t it been 2 lei the year before? Thank God after being outside in the real world of Chisinau I could come back to the family sanctuary, home of blini with cherries and soup and warmth.
Tags: Chisinau, Eastern Europe, Moldova, Soviet Union, Travel
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