"Your going where?" After some pondering, I realized this was really the most fitting name for my blog. After all, it was the most common response from people when I told them where I was headed. The map to the left will give you a better idea of where Moldova is located (highlighted in the countries colors of blue, yellow, and red). The history of Moldova is a complicated roller coaster, marked by a fickle sense of national identity that is only attainable through the rise and fall of contrasting political regimes. Today, the struggle continues as they push for prosperity in a relatively new era of independence.

Below is a brief account of the recent history of Moldova. If you would like to read more about the history of Moldova, please follow this link The History of Moldova. Or you can also check out the Moldova Wiki page by clicking here Wiki Moldova.

Recent History

Most of the territory of Moldova was before World War II the Romanian province of Bessarabia. It was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 and combined with existing Soviet territory - an area on the left bank of the Nistru (Dniester) river, to which Stalin had given the status of autonomous region in 1924. The newly formed State was named the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (MSSR), one of fifteen Soviet republics.
Like all other Soviet republics, the MSSR was governed by the Communist Party leadership in Moscow, through local subordinate party and government structures. The economy was centrally planned, also from Moscow. Moscow decreed that the local language, originally Romanian (a Latin language), was written in Cyrillic script and renamed Moldavian. Russian was obligatory in schools, in administration and of course in dealings with Moscow. Political dissent, nationalist sentiment and any other manifestation of opposition to the one-party, were suppressed by the KGB.
As the political climate began to ease in the late 1980s under Gorbachev, nationalist stirrings began in Moldova as well as in other soviet republics. It became a strong trend by 1989, leading to a declaration of independence in August 1991.

First Post

Hello to all!

Well, I finally made it to Moldova. It was a long trip that took me through two other countries, Italy and Hungary, eventually touching down in the capital city of Chisinau. Stepping off the small prop plane, my feet were greeted by the uneasy feeling of cracked asphalt with a mixture of rocks and dirt filling in the holes. I followed the other passengers to the shuttle that would take me to the terminal. As we pulled in to the terminal that, to say the least, made Harrisburg airport look like JFK International, I thought to myself, “and so it begins”.

After a few minutes, I was picked up by, the man who would also be my boss for the next year, Ghena. He introduced himself and immediately began talking about the political situation in the country as we drove off. He was very welcoming and treated me like an old friend, good thing, because I would be staying with him for the next two weeks until I found an apartment of my own. Currently, I live on the top floor of his home, in a small, but comfortable studio apartment. I had a 3-day weekend to get adjusted to the time difference (+7hrs.) before I had to be at work on Monday. After sleeping until 2 o’clock in the afternoon for those 3 days, it was finally time for my first day of work.

I work for a microfinance institution named Invest Credit. In a nutshell, they provide loans to poor entrepreneurs who do not have any collateral, and therefore, no other means of getting the money to start a business. I am currently working on a project to get Invest Credit more funding from a variety of sources. So far the job is great, the people in the office have all embraced me and are doing their best to communicate. That has been the hardest thing thus far, the language barrier. At work it is not so bad, most of them are well educated, but when I go to the market it is a whole adventure in itself. I have gotten very good at pointing and shaking my head yes or no. Although I am currently studying Russian, it is a very tough language to learn and will undoubtedly take me a few months to get the hang of. All in all my first week has flown by and I am enjoying my time and the people. I have not had much chance to explore the city yet, but I plan on doing that in the upcoming weeks. Tomorrow morning, I am going on a 10 mile bike ride to a lake with some friends I have met at the local church. This will give me the opportunity to see some of the countryside…that is if I can even make it 10 miles.

Please feel free to email me at anytime, my email address is bkbkline@gmail.com. I want to say thank you to everyone who has given me support, whether financially or in thought and prayer.