The only constant in life is change

I have lived in Cahul for less than 4 months, and already in that time I have seen so much change. Most of the main streets in town have been repaved and crosswalks and parking spaces have been added. New street lights have been installed, flower pots were added in the center of town, and gold shingles have been added to the domes on the church in the park. There are also billboards advertising new apartments that are being built. The stage in the community square is being demolished, presumably so it can be updated. Schools are being remodeled. A new theater building is being built. The piața, or market was renovated and repaved. Not long before I arrived here, the plaza in front of the university was also redone. The rapid changes I have witnessed here remind me of the breakneck pace of change in the hometown I left. As I was preparing to move to Moldova, Seattle had 68 major construction projects going on between SoDo and South Lake Union. It was mind boggling and extremely disorienting to watch my hometown evolve seemingly overnight. Now I find myself in a town that is also changing daily. But my feeling about the constant change is different here. I'm even involved in the planning of a project to do more renovations in town.

So I have been thinking about why I feel so differently about the change I am observing in Cahul. Maybe because it's not my hometown. Maybe because the changes feel like helpful and necessary improvements, rather than change for the sake of change, and money for real estate developers. Maybe because the reason I actually came here is to help enact change, albeit it in a more human capacity-building way than an infrastructural way. Certainly, I appreciate that the infrastructure is improving for those who will live here long after I leave. But it does make me wonder how the locals feel. I definitely understand what it's like for your hometown to feel like it's becoming unrecognizable. Already I have heard a rumor that the reason one of the cafes I liked closed was because the rent was increased. Having experienced it myself, I am very sensitive to the issue of people being priced out of their homes by economic factors. So far, I've heard a lot of good feedback about the improvements around town, but it's definitely something I will be paying attention to over the coming months. It makes me wonder how long the few remaining remnants of the USSR around town (a few monuments and murals) will last.

Stage in the community square being demolished

Gold shingles being added to the church domes

The renovated plaza in front of the university

30th anniversary celebration in the construction site of the new theater building

Unrenovated plaza outside the culture house building

Closeup of crumbling concrete tiles outside culture house

Soviet mural on the outside of the culture house building. 

The mural is dated 1986, only a few years before Moldova left the USSR.