Moldova Independence Day, Moldova Exchange Day 2, WTRD 18

Today is our second day in Moldova.  It has been incredibly busy, starting early and ending late.  Moldova celebrates 25 years of Independence from Russia.

We started the day by meeting up with our Friendship Force group at 9:15 at the central park downtown.  Since our host does not have a car, we rode the bus.

Catalina and Marianna

Most of the streets were closed off because of the Independence Day parade so we walked several blocks to get to the meet up point.   Our host and her daughter had an out of town wedding to attend in the evening, and Marianna had many things she had to do before the wedding, so she and Catalina continued on their way.

We watched the Moldovan Independence Day Parade, consisting mostly of Romanian military regiments and those of nearby countries, also liberated from the USSR about the same time, in 1991. This day marks 25 years of Independence.  Unlike American parades filled with school marching bands, clowns, service clubs, car clubs, and bands, the Moldova style parade is still reminiscent of Russian strong men military with somber music and lots of marching men and women carrying arms.

We did see many people in traditional Moldovan and nearby countries traditional dress as their were several dance troupes in town performing for the celebration.  They did not walk in the parade however, and neither did the military band.

Not a Happy Camper!

Policemen stood shoulder to shoulder on the curb facing the spectators, lined up the length of parade route.

Often there was a double row of policemen.  There was some anticipation of a socialist protest...and apparently there was but not in the location we were.  Apparently, the police had to use tear gas when it got out of hand.  But with so many policemen, it was difficult to take photos of the parade.

After the parade where we stood for nearly and hour and half, we walked to the National Museum where we walked around some more, enjoyed seeing 4th and 5th century BC artifacts of the Greek and Roman Empire.  By the end of the museum time, we were ready to sit down.

Large collection of 4th-5th century BC Pre-Roman and Roman Artifacts.

1935 Moldovan School Photo

The Moldovan Welcome Tradition of Sharing Bread and Salt

We had a wonderful lunch giving us energy for the rest of the day.  We participated in an activity called City Quest, where we were divided into 4 groups with a Moldovan Guide, who would give us photos of Chisineau landmarks.

 Our job was to find the the landmarks and have our picture taken in front of them.

Our guide would only interpret for us, but not give us any hints.  

Our mission was to interact with Moldavians to ask directions. Many speak some English.  So we would approach people on the street and ask them first if they spoke English.  If they did, it was usually no problem.  If they didn't, we would show them the photo and ask them in English " do  you know where this is?"  Most of them understood what we wanted and were quite friendly trying to give us directions.  Our guide, did not interpret unless we asked him to do so.  We had a good time walking through the city streets and finding the locations.

Russ gets a Moldovan Pin for His Hat

We stopped a handsome young man on the street and asked if he spoke English. "No" he shook his head.  So at least he understood a little.  We showed him the photo and asked if he knew the place of the photo.  He said Romanian Consulate and he pointed in a general direction and started giving us directions in Romanian.  

Our guide was watching this unfold without interacting.  The young man flagged down a pretty young woman and asked if she spoke English?  She did.  He asked her to translate.  They started a lively conversation of which we did not understand.  There seemed to be some disagreement about the directions.  We finally got the gist of what we were told,  Thanked them and they walked off together in the opposite direction from where we were going.

Our guide then explained what had occurred.  This young man had hailed down the pretty woman, he suggested to her that they could guide us to the consulate together, charge a small fee and split it.  Haha!  He was getting to know her and was trying to come on to her while he was helping us.  Anyway, they walked off together.  Perhaps our interaction triggered a new relationship.  

The interaction was a good reminder how important understanding another language is or you miss the finer nuance of the conversation.  Eventually we found the Romanian Consulate. There are two consulates, a new one and an old one, both still operating.  After Moldova's Independence, the citizens were told they could hold two citizenships in any country that would grant them a second.  Most of them chose Romania.  There was such an influx of activity of people seeking second citizenships, Moldova opened a second consulate to process all of the requests.

Unlucky for us, our group surely had the longest route to walk.  We must have walked 6 miles on the Quest alone.  By the time we returned for dinner at 5:00 pm. our group was exhausted. We as a group all took taxies to where we were going to dinner by the train station because it was too far to walk. Turns out we took the same route by taxi that we walked on the city quest and were only a few blocks short of the restaurant and train station!   When we got to the restaurant, I drank a liter of water, and could barely bring myself to pickup my fork.

The spread of food for our Moldovan welcome dinner was wonderful.  Fresh and sautéed vegetables, cheeses, potato pancakes with cheese, stuffed cabbage rolls, polenta, sour creams grilled beef and chicken, red wine, white wine, and cherry and apple pastries for dessert.  Our hosts provided us with some lovely folk music and traditional songs.

Before Marianna left for the wedding, she came to the dinner for a little bit to drop off the key to her apartment.  She looked lovely and promised to tell us about the wedding the following day.

We optioned out of staying for the fireworks and returned to our host home by 9:00 pm, took showers, and at 9;55 we could hear, but not see the fireworks.  They lasted 5 minutes.  Not a very long presentation, but I am sure it was delightful for the free Moldovan citizens.

The people here are wonderful and we are enjoying our time. Tomorrow we are driving out of the city to visit some old Roman ruins.

All is Well  With the Worrall Travel Rs in Chisinau Moldova.