Rusmanian or Romussian?

Привет!Как дела? This time I will have to write some now, and write the rest later. I am going on some on-arrival training tomorrow, and I am sure I will have lots to tell when I get back!

But I can tell you a bit about what has been going down:)
I have started my Russian lessons, so hopefully I´ll be a proper Gogol soon.

Getting around: The best thing about Moldova is that it is so cheap to travel. I went to Gagauzia (not sure how it is spelt but I´ll tjeck  later), and it was only 15 d.kr. You never have to be scared of not being able to get on a bus here, because the max limit here usually means that you can fit 17 more people in a in. They just get  small chairs to sit in the ile in the middle (and then Danmark is so concerned about wearing a seatbelt - who needs it, when you can´t even move an inch;) Gagauzia is a autonomous provins in the south of Moldova. They have their own language (similar to Tyrkish) and Garguzians originates from Christian Tyrks. This is an amazing place, and actually very different from Chisinau. This is the special thing about Moldova. All the different parts are very unique.

Love these cars!So I just had to show you a photo.

@ Work: there are two sentences you have to get use to, if you want to work in Eastern Europe: "I will think about it..." and "We will see". I am beginning to understand the difference: I will see usually means: " I am not sure what you are on about, but I´ll read the 5 emails you have sent on the subject and then I will probably answer you" and "we will see" usually means "this is not how we do it here, so maybe if I ignore you long enough you will go away". Both sentences are used when people are trying to postpone doing things: Why do things now, when you might not have to do them, because people forget about it;) But as most of you already know: I will not go away, just because you ignore me - so eventually I get some things done anyways:)

For Valentines day a couple of volunteers organised a kiss-in which was a cover-up for a demonstration pro gay-rights. It went well - a lot of local people showed up, and I had my first public humiliation on national TV. The guy on the photo was a cranky old man, who kept telling us that we were worse than terrorists. I was dressed as cupid and was handing out hearts where it said: love is diverse. An interesting job when I couldn´t really speak with people. We had gathered Amnesty and other organisations just in case. The next day there was a anti-demonstration and some religious programs went crazy about our flash-mob!
If you are interested here is a link about it: http://curaj.tv/reportaj/cultural/dragostea-este-diferita-flashmob-la-stefan/

Here ya go:)

Someone has decided that it is un-cool for me to use their internet, so I have had a bit of a struggle going online. Hopefully this will be solved in the nearest future – but you never know☺
Now I have to been here a bit over a week, and things are grand(I am not eating as much cabbage anymore though) The first culture shock has been the French. Is there some invasion going on from both France and Germany that the rest of Europe just doesn’t know anything about? I am telling you Denmark - get on it! Moldova is obviously the new black! As a treat I get to improve my French though, so it is all good.
I have started work and it has been an interesting week for me. Most interesting is the fact that we work 5 people at the office, and that we only have 2.5 computers to work with. That is to say 1 and 0.5 - depending on how bad your Russian is that day (the 2nd comp. is only in Russian). The picture below is the ADVIT office.

Another big event was celebrating my birthday in Chisinau. It actually started around 23 am on the 1st when Clem, the French girl who lives here popped by with some cake. So that was a nice start. After work on the 2nd I meet with Clem and another girl for some beers (Chisinau local draft - gotta love ´em!) before heading off to my Couchsurfing meeting. Off cause I got lost on my way there, but met some nice people on the way, whom I am actually meeting up with again. This lack of orientation seems to have become my way of creating a network. It was a fun night, entailing some killer bloody marys and my first hangover in Moldova.

This is Clem with birthday cake:)

This is Oxana, a girl I met through CS.

This weekend I went to a winery called Purcari. It was started in 1827 and internationally recognised in 1847 in France. I am not sure about the facts since that is what I thought I understood from the Russian documentary. For those of you who has an actual interest in wine and wineries I am sure google will help ( I have been told this is a good place for random information). The wine was good and they let us finish the bottle which was very nice of them.

The view from the winery. Pretty wicked although it was very cold.

Me trying to be creative.

I like wine:)

Random church.

So does Daria ( A girl I work with)

the country of cabbage and squat toilets

Norok, Спасиба and hallo.

The first couple of days in Moldova has been a roller coaster of fun and learning. The adventure started on the plane coming to Chisinau. It was the smallest plane I have ever seen - I think it could only fit 16 people, and I felt really bad abt. my excess luggage.
My host family: They speak Romanian and Russian - no english at all, so my mini dictionary has become my best friend. You gotta love the lack of communication skills - for me it ment taking an icecold shower thinking this was the Moldovan way. When I finally got around to ask Fedor (the host-`dad´) he laught and showed me this little handle. So hot showers here I come (depending on the degrees outside).
1st picture: a church - got no idea which, since I was not able to read the sign.
2nd: Fedor holding a Реба (reba) a fish they eat, not sure what the word is for it in danish or english - apparently my dictionary doesn´t cover fish... When I came home that day, I found a live fish in the bathtub.
3rd: Food (yes, I actually cooked). A traditional Moldovian soup, and some pastry things with cheese and pumpkin. The best thing was the glas of  homemade Moldovian wine. Mmm I could get use to that.

First day at work today, if I manage to get into town. I´ll probably try one of the `mini-buses´( a van-like car, where the driver drives like the busdriver on 5a in CPH). So no complaining abt. danish traffic anymore.

Found a place to stay for the first couple of months

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Alecu+Russo,+Sectorul+Ciocana,+Chisinau,+Moldova&aq=&sll=37.926868,-95.712891&sspn=34.903719,68.115234&ie=UTF8&geocode=FSTBzQIdW7i4AQ&split=0&hq=&hnear=Alecu+Russo,+Sectorul+Ciocana,+Chisinau,+Moldova&ll=47.038756,28.883035&spn=0.029656,0.066519&z=14


So this is where I am going to live to start with. The address is str. Aleccu Russo 55/4, ap. 3,  with a family called Furdui. Doesn´t seem like a Russian surname, so maybe they are Romanian. Who knows. Got lots of time to find out.

A friend showed me this link abt. this part of town, not sure it means much to anyone - but still: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xfxNQiEGlM

Leaving on the 27 of Jan

Tickets have been booked!

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=chisinau+moldova&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Chisinau,+Moldova&ll=47.026859,28.841551&spn=3.984334,8.712158&z=7

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