Pork Shoulder and Bacon

What am I talking about now?  Is this something I'm likely to eat in Moldova?  Well maybe but I'm sure I'll be telling you more about that first hand when I do.  No this is how an author has described the geography of Moldova, as a piece of pork shoulder on Romania.  And the bacon?  Well that's what this blog is about today.  Here's a link to an interesting tidbit of Moldovan political life and world politics that I thought you'd find enlightening.  http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/transnistrian-time-slip/    Thanks and  O Zi Buna!  Have a great day.

Want to know more about Moldova?

Moldova was once part of Romania and throughout history has been fending off wanabee conquerors like the Romans, Hungarians, Turks, and finally ended up as part of the USSR.  When it became an independent Republic in 1991, it had just lived through 50 years of Soviet readjustment.  The link here is to a documentary recently produced that is a first hand telling of its current social/policital development.   http://calamoldova.com/watch-film/   Thanks for being interested, or as they say in Moldova,  multumesc.

Where the heck is Moldova?

When I tell many people that I am soon to leave for Moldova, they scratch their heads and say "Where the heck is Moldova?"  Moldova is in Eastern Europe is the simple answer.  It is part of the Balkan peninsula that makes up Southeastern Europe.  The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains in Bulgaria and Serbia.  But there are no mountains in Moldova.  The country is mostly rolling hills and river valleys.  In the central region there are old forests of oak, elms, and birch trees.  Moldova is a little smaller than Switzerland and is about the same latitude north as Switzerland.  If it were in the North American continent, it would be just north of Wisconsin.  Its a long thin country shaped like Indiana and has four and half million people.  It's neighbor to the west is Romania and to the north and east and south is Ukraine.  It is not far from the Black Sea, but land locked. 

Reservations are Made!

Travel reservations are made and the road to Moldova is starting to come into view.  I'll be leaving out of Madison, WI on June 4th for our Peace Corps staging in Philadelphia.  Delta will take me there via the motor city, Detroit.  On June 6th, I'll be bused to JFK airport in NYC.  Once again Delta airline will be taking us to Istanbul, Turkey.  Once there, we will change planes and after a nine hour lay over, we will be on our way to Chisinau, Moldova via Turkish Airways.  BTW the proper way to say Chisinau is (key-she-now).  That's the capital of the Republic of Moldova.  The weather in Chisinau this week is in the high 70's or low 80's. 

One month to Peace Corps Staging

Just one month before Peace Corps staging in ????  Still in the dark about this one.  Rumor has it that it will be in Philadelphia.  Ah the city of Brotherly Love and home town of one of my favorite patriots, Benjamin Franklin.  I like Ben Franklin a lot since we share a birthday and we both seem to like beer and other things.   I had a great time today at the Returned Peace Corps Volunteer brunch here in Madison.  I met two RPCV's from Moldova and the Ukarain.  It was so nice to get first hand answers about questions I had about my coming 27 months in Moldova.  I am starting this blog today so that I can get the hang of how this works.  In this way I can keep family and friends up to date on my adventures in the Moldovan Way.  If you are a friend or family member, please stay tuned. 

I'd like to give a big shout out to my Moldovan language coach here in Stoughton.... Buna Ziua Natasha!