Oh, cool! ... Where is that?

"Oh, cool! ... Where is that?"

That's probably the most common response I have gotten when people find out I am going to Moldova. To be fair, there's not a lot of reason the people around me should have heard of Moldova. When I was in school learning geography, Moldova was still part of the USSR and we didn't necessarily learn about the individual Soviet republics. And most of us didn't study the geography of the breakup of the USSR. And also, Eastern Europe is really really far away from Seattle, and frankly doesn't really impact our daily lives here. Before learning that I would be going to Moldova, I only knew of it because I have previously visited Romania and Ukraine (so I had been warned about the breakaway region of Transnistria), and because there were two brothers from Moldova who worked for my previous employer. So I knew the location, and I knew that people in Moldova speak both Russian and Romanian. But other than that...

So, where is Moldova? It's a small country surrounded by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. It's landlocked (what is this coastal girl going to do?!), but has rivers and not-too-difficult access (I think!) to the Black Sea. (I hope to have a chance to find out!)

What I have learned about Moldova so far is that it has beautiful natural scenery, Soviet architecture, good food (I discovered my love of mămăligă when I visited Romania a decade ago), an appreciation of ballet and badminton (my faves!). I'm looking forward to learning a lot more about Moldova in the coming months.

The second most common response I have heard from friends who find out I am going to Moldova is, "I'm going to come visit you!" Please do! I would love to be able to share my experience with you there in person, as well as via this blog.

Photos found via Google search