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| On our way to City Hall, we see citizen sweeping up the street |
After yesterday's marathon of activity and many miles on a bus, today has been physically more relaxing, but perhaps mentally more challenging. Our first stop this morning was Chisinau City Hall, where we had the opportunity to meet Mayor Dorian Kirtoaca. His office is a little more formal than the village mayor we met yesterday.
We waited for nearly 40 minutes for the mayor in this lovely circular conference room. He apologized when he arrived and told us his father was not well and he had to take care of a few things. Unfortunately for us, the remaining time allotted for this meeting was shortened
considerably.
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| Somebody looks good sitting in an important position. |
Mayor Kirtoaca spent most of his time explaining the past history of Moldova and three generations of his family, being deposed of their farm land by the Soviets, being rebellious, and all serving time in Siberia, and his high regard for the USA, despite the diplomatic faux pas of our Ambassador yesterday in a comment. I am not exactly sure what the "flap" is about so will refrain from discussing here. The mayor seemed knowledgable and articulate, but it wasn't toward the end of our time that we got to ask some questions where we tried to direct his comments toward the present and the future. He spoke about his hopes and aspirations for Chisinau, turning it into a green city and articulating about recycling, insulating homes, buying new trolly cars and converting them all eventually to electric batteries.
It sounded pretty impressive, but much of what he articulated has not happened, and we have spoken with several folks here who are unhappy that little has happened or seems to be happening in his 8 year term here. City streets and sidewalks are in dire need of repair,
as are many buildings. According to one of the Moldavians I spoke with, Moldova is a parliamentary republic. Citizens vote for parties, and party seats are given out by percentage of votes received. The majority party chooses the president (that will change in the next election). The mayor is also chosen in Chisinau by party and not elected directly.
There is a real contrast between the two mayors we have met yesterday and today. Granted one is in a village where basic needs are paramount to a fairly small number of people, and the other is a large city of a million people with complex needs. The biggest difference, is that change int he village although slower than the mayor and people would want is happening. It's observable. In Chisinau, the people are not seeing anything changing and they have been waiting for 8 years.
Tomorrow is Language Day in Moldova. Our Friendship Force was invited to participate by saying "not singing" the lyrics of their national anthem. Their anthem is focused on the beauty of their language and how it unites the people and reflects the traditions. There are five short verses, all in Romanian (Moldavians and Romanians both speak the same language) that we were charged with learning and saying on TV. Our four groups each took a verse, and we all choral read the last first together. Hopefully, the TV station will have an opportunity to edit our attempt at Romanian. Russ was pretty relaxed about it, but I was nervous about it. First I am much more comfortable behind the camera than in front of the camera. Second, we are ambassadors of America people, and we wanted to do a good job representing ourselves and our country.
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| Our Group Did a Fine Job! |
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| Reading the Last Verse |
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| Interviews about Friendship Force |
So we hope to see what we sound like on the morning show tomorrow.
After our recitations and interviews we headed to the Smokehouse Bar and Grill owned by an American ex pat where our club hosted our hosts, guides, and interpreters for dinner. We had a fun time eating pork ribs and spicy chicken. Enjoy the photos below:
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| Roz and Creative Development Association Director, Meg |
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| Helen and Hosts |
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| Kathy finds a quiet place to call Bill. |
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| Young Men in the American Alumni Association |
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| Our host Marianna and her daughter Catalina. |
After the American party, our Host Marianna took us for a walk in central park and back down to the Public Affairs Office of the US Embassy where we had been earlier and the day. We came this way because we wanted to introduce Marianna and Catalina to Geocaching. and YES, we found it.
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| Having an Ice Cream in Central Park |
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