Visa information

Today I had to go and register for my visa. It, as with everything in Moldova, seemed to involve endless amounts of form filling and making copies of everything.

I was on television yesterday. Moldovan television. My organisation organised a flash-mob, along with Amnesty International volunteers, to raise awareness of violence against women. We had to freeze for a few minutes in various violent poses, either as victims or perpetrators. My hosting coordinator said that last night, she saw us on television – on Pro-TV, a channel that has a reputation for being a communist mouthpiece. Not sure if it’s a good or bad thing.

I was going to remark upon a few other observations I’ve noticed – for example the fact that Orange, the mobile phone company, seems to own everything here, along with various members of the Communist Party, like Vladimir Voronin’s son, who owns the Andy’s Pizza chain. So *that’s* why it is still open …

But anyway, everything seems to be sponsored by Orange, like clocks on streets, or even parks etc – they seem to be doing the same sort of job as the government would do in the UK, in the upkeep of the city. Oy vey …

Finally I went to transnistria!

Yesterday it was the moment I had been waiting for. Me and a friend went to Tiraspol by bus. It was a bit nerve wracking at the bus station, first buying the tickets at the ticket office and then finding the right bus to take ß and it has to be the right one at the right time ß and then going. I am writing on a german kezboard so there might be some strange charcters and letters out of place!

We were given these “migration cards” similar to what zou would get if zou were going to a countrz outside the Europena union (although oddly not Moldoca). These could be filled in in either Russian or English. They have realy “formalised” the whole thing and are trzing to behave like a proper country. Which in many ways they are – in a later post I will try and put down my thgoughts of what I think of the political situation there.

We arrived at the notorious “border control” and were quite scared because of all the stories about the Transnistrian border guards and the way that they can behave. We stopped at Bendery, which is the major crossing point for the majority of people and thus the “best” place to cross. The border guards behaved very professionally in my view. However, had there been fewer people ß the passport control office was literally chocka ß the situation would have been very different. We were not made to pay anything and got through without anz problems.

Tiraspol was strange. I thought that the buildings and architecture were nicer than Chisinau. It was a lot less dirty and chaotic, and it seemed as though the Transnistrians cared a lot more about the city. Some familiar shops were there. There are two Andy*’s Pizzas in Tiraspol, which is a pizza chain which is found all over Moldova and tastes absolutely gross. Me and my friend went there for lunch and to be honest every time I go there I wish I went somewhere else.

Tiraspol is nice, it looks nicer, it is on a river which makes a difference but nonetheless there are some very strange things about it.

1) Its size. It is very small, a lot smaller than i was expecting. The city centre is no larger than somewhere like Slough.
2) I thought it was a very sad place. There were not many people on the street, and we went to this square behind the statue of their national hero Suvorov and there were loads of old people with random clothes and other things laid on the market, selling anything they had. Because Transnistria is not recognised by the rest of the world, despite the fact that it is (or at least used to be) richer than the rest of Moldova, it is hard for people to live there.
3) They have some strange “national monuments” there. For example, on the main street there is a tank which was used during the 1992 war with Moldova. We walked past and saw lots of wedding parties and couples getting married there. In Bendery there was another tank and people did the same stuff.
3) They have different money and this should not be that unusual given that it is basically a different country. But no other country, including Moldova, would recognise this money or exchange it. However, despite this, it is actually a stronger currency than the Moldovan Lei. One transnistrian rouble is worth a lot more than one lei.

When I got back I was glad to be in Chisinau again. Transnistrian roads are nicer and a lot about Transnistria is a lot more ordererd and seems to function better than Moldova although this maz just be on the surface. I would like to go to Tiraspol during the week or for a longer period and see some of the museums there and maybe go to a bar, but I was glad to get back to Chisinau yesterdazy.

Today, me and my flatmate Lies went to this “health expo” thing that she#s been helping with. However it was more like a cult/scientology-type thing and tomorrow I will write more about it, because it was a bit crazy and I dont think I can quite do it justice now because mz friend probablz wants his computer back.

I also on MOndaz went to a plaz in a bar called “My Mother’s Pussy”. That was interesting, and I understood more romanian than I expected. I’d like to write about that more tomorrow because that was also verz strange but I will saz that at the end of the play, which is like a monologue about this womanäs life in the Soviet UNion, she stripped off naked and performed pressups. It wasnät that kind of “performance” it was artistic!! But yeah anyway …

Jewish cemetery in Buiucani

I’ve had a really interesting week – kind of mixed to be honest.  I had to say goodbye to some volunteers who are now leaving – Alisa and Julie who I only knew briefly but are very nice people. As a result I’ve been a bit depressed the last few weeks – perhaps it sunk in the fact that I’m actually going to be here for ten months.

Still, I’ve had some good news re: my accommodation and can confirm that I’ll be moving in to a flat in Riscani, on the other side of Chisinau, in two weeks time I’ve been out a lot of times this week and had a really great night last night.
Yesterday me and Ingrid, a girl from Holland, went to a Jewish cemetery not far from my house. I had been getting “cabin fever” and to be honest at some stage really need to get out of Chisinau, which unfortunatley I have not managed this weekend. It was a massive cemetery – I think I have said before that Jews used to make up the majority of Chisinau’s population, before the holocaust. It was a very interesting and for me very moving place, and I think it meant a lot to me to go there. It was sad seeing all the old graves from hundreds of years ago.

There was also an old synagogue in the middle of the cemetery that had obviously been destroyed during either the holocaust or had gone into disuse during the Soviet Union, and a big monument type thing with the ten Commandments on – in Hebrew, which still looked quite well looked after. Many of the graves were very well kept, with fences and decorations around them, and some had pictures and plastic flowers by them – as far as I always heard, this wasn’t allowed in Judaism so maybe they have somewhat different traditions here?

 

I had very mixed feelings going there because I felt quite connected to the people and to Judaism in a way I haven’t for a long long time.

Unfortunately in Moldova, like elsewhere in the former USSR, the last few years since the collapse of Communism have seen a resurgence of the far right and the old synagogue as well as some of the graves had graffiti on them and some of the stones were knocked over.
I have decided that at some stage I will go to the Jewish centre in the centre of the city – I keep meaning to go, but keep having other things to do! It was great that it was so warm otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to go – it was almost hot which is surprising in November.

After that, we went to a park in Buiucani – which was absolutely huge. There is quite a lot of “countryside” here I think – and we even saw two people going over a bridge with a flock of goats, despite the fact that it was the middle of the capital city.

 

Today, I tried to go to Cricova – I went to the Central Market and the bus station by there, which is absolutely chaotic. Unfortunately I think the last buses go back to Chisinau at either 6 or 3, but often 3 and it would have taken me an hour to get there and back. Maybe I’ll go next weekend or something, because it’s somewhere I’d really like to go – I’ve heard the vineyards there are very beautiful.