First day in Chisinau

Brittany is such a good blogger that I can't really top her description of the day. I'll try to add pictures to give you all the full Moldovan experience.

This is breakfast in at a sit down restaurant in Frankfurt, Germany - White sausages with mustard and a pretzel. Very delicious and a much needed coffee after only a few hours of restless sleep on the plane. It was our first introduction to European restaurant meals which are delicious, long, without free refills and the attention normally paid to the customers that US waiters and waitress pride themselves on.

3pm flight from Frankfurt to Chisinau ("Keesh-now")


This was our best flight of the trip - plenty of room, clean and some of the best food! Also, we began to be aware that no matter how hard we could try to blend in we might as well have neon signs following us around that we are Americans. Flight attendants, other passengers, everyone - speak to us in English, if they're not just blatently staring that is. More later.

Food on the flight: smoked lunch meats, cheeses, a fresh roll, "salad" - which is all the good stuff, none of the lettuce, and a dessert that Brittany and I didn't know the name of, but of course ate first because it looked and was so delicious. Lunch was followed by tea - all on a three hour flight! Someone should tell the US this... it's a good policy. :D

After the flight - Green Hills grocery store to exchange money and buy food. We were able to get some snacks, bottled water (we're not supposed to drink the tap) and soap. It was very much like an American grocery store, but smaller and not in English. Oh, and security followed us all around the entire time.
















Moldovan "monopoly money": The exchange rate is about 12 lei to 1 US dollar:

Today we had lunch with the team at Restaurant Giraffe and afterwards went site seeing with Stella (a dental resident) and her sister who is entering dental school in the fall. We went around the main street of Chisinau (Stefan cel Mare - named after Stefan the Great, Moldova's one and only hero) and the downtown to see some monuments:

Brittany and I in front of the National Cathedral

Stella and her sister took us inside (I really wish we could have taken pictures!!!). It was gorgeous - so ornate with every inch hand painted or in gold. We had to cover our heads while inside (Orthodox trandition), but fortunately we had our scarves.

In front of the National Museum - and a statue of two babies sucking on a wolf's teat. I'm sure there's a story behind that...

After some coffee and cake at a French cafe, we said "moltumesc" to our gracious hostesses and went back to our apartment:

And don't worry Mom, there are five dead bolts on the door and the head of US security lives right next door:



Tomorrow trips to the dental school and out to one of the orphanages - Ialoveni!

Zebras and Jeraffes!!!

Day 2: Sunday, February 28th, 2010

Location: Our apartment
A very chill and relaxing morning! Woke up at 6:42 am like I was going to school. Fell back to sleep and woke up around 10am. Elise and I got a little breakfast snack and met Col. Mix at 11:30 am to meet Diana. Got a suprise--we get to ride on the 'maxi-taxi'. These Mercedes buses drive various routes around the city. We tooke one with Diana to the restaurant. Kinda cramped, but not that much different than riding the bus in the morning. Hold on tight...

Location: Jeraffe restaurant
The entire crew met at the Jeraffe restaurant. I guess I should probably introduce everyone:

1. Dr. Horowitz: a pediatric dentist from Raleigh who is supervising us.
2. Caroline: Dr. Horowitz's former hygienist. She's going to start dental school soon!
3. Dr. Garland: A National Guard dentists who works at UNC.
4. Vanessa: I believe she's in the National Guard too--she's an assistant. She's been to Moldova before.
5. Diana Danu: BAO (Bilateral Affairs Office) Project Manager--She's very vivacious and friendly! Native to Moldova, she's 'head diva' on this mission.
6. Col. Mix: Our driver, security, US contact person! He's pretty fantastic too. He's an American that works in Moldova
7. Dr. Diana Uncutsa: She's a local dentist here in Moldova that's closing her office for a week so that we can use it to treat orphans.
8. Oxsana: She just finished her dental residency in Moldova and is now working on her PhD. She teaches at their dental school.
9. Stella and Alina Samson: Stella is a dental resident and her little sister, Alina, is going to dental school next year.

OK, so we eat lunch (courtesy of Dr. Horowitz :-D) and talk about what we've got planned for the week. The restaurant is fantastic--very modern, very 'Western'. Jeraffe restaurant (translates to Giraffe) has sushi, salads, soups, pizza, etc.

The dentists and the BAO team go to check out supplies for our mission while Elise and I get a personal tour of Chisinau from Stella and Alina.

Location: The streets of Chisinau

Stella and Alina are super-friendly! We walk around downtown along blvd. Stefan cel Mare (which is a street named after a famous Romanian leader Stefan the Great)! We visited the cathedral and lit candles and said a prayer. The Orthodox church was absolutely stunning! Everything is gilded and ornate and the walls are hand-painted with all the saints. But there are no pews! Here is Moldova, when you go to church--you stand! Next, we go to 'central park'. There's a statue of Stefan the Great and since we are there taking pictures (and I'm the only Black person in the country) we are dead give-aways for tourists!!! We think it's so funny to see the people stare and wonder what we are here for or if we are celebrities. We walk around the souvenir market, the Parliament (which has apparently been torn apart), the opera house and few other locations. And learned that they call crosswalks-- 'zebras'! There's a little cafe we visit for tea and coffee! We just chatted for an hour and talked of places we've been too and concerts (they know all about Rihanna, P.Diddy, Mary J. Blige, Beyonce). Akon is one of Alina's favorite rappers! We talked about dental school and traveling. They were really excited about Disney World! They've been to one in Paris but it doesn't have 'crushes' (rollercoasters). We had so much fun out and about! Elise and I returned to our apartment to chill out for the rest of the day.

Tomorrow, the real work begins....

Day 1: Saturday Feb 27, 2010
Location: RDU airport
Elise and I left yesterday straight from school after our ortho test. We were so excited it was hard to focus on all 50 questions. But we made it through security flawlessly and waited in the airport for about 2 hours--almost unbearable! Hopped on a quick 38 minute flight to Washington in which we stuffed in there like sardines. After arriving at Washington-Dulles airport we grabbed a few snacks since we only had a few minutes before our flight to Germany boarded.

Location: Somewhere over the Atlantic

The Flight to Frankfurt went surprisingly quick! As we were first taking off, I'll admit I almost cried--just a little nervous on my very first trip across the Atlantic. I sat next to a woman going to Saudi Arabia to work at Woman’s Clinic. Read a little, slept alot.

Location: Frankfurt Airport
"The Passport Fiasco" --As soon as we were exiting the plane, I started looking for my passport and couldn’t find it. I turned my bookbag inside out and after much to do and a little panic—they found it on board the plane in the overhead compartment. Good thing it hadn’t left yet! Dr. Horowitz is calling me 'Passport Brittany' now and I start every sentence with, "I have my passport...". I probably will never live this down!
o Got my very first stamp in my passport!! Clearly, over excited! I was really happy because the guy did it so neatly and you can actually tell where I went. During our six hour layover, we walked around the airport a few times. Dr. Horowitz treated us to brunch at Kaper’s. I even had a bite of Elise's white sausage—very interesting texture! The lines at security and passport control were long, but we finally reached our gate only to find another security check point.
o Finally boarded our last flight. Started taking pictures of our Air Moldova plane!

Location: Closer to Moldova
o Best flight of the day! Less than a 1/3 of the plane was filled. The food was good—they eat lots of cold cut meat and cheese along with chopped vegetables. The best part was the dessert—Elise and I ate that first! We even practiced some Romanian! Multumesc (which means 'Thank You'). I love how as soon as we boarded the plane (before I even spoke) the flight attendants KNEW we were Americans!

Location: Chisinau, Moldova

Welcome to Moldova! Finally arrived in Moldova. Caught the little bus to the building and got another stamp in my passport! Col. Mix and Diana Danu were waiting for us when we arrived. Hugs all around. Boarded the taxi bus to drop off Dr. Horowitz, Dr. Garland, Vanessa, and Caroline off at the hotel. Couldn't take my eyes off the gorgeous chandelier!

I have to admit, there's nothing really beautiful or exotic about Moldova--kind of looks like any ordinary city. Driving is interesting—they don’t really have painted lines so yeah please use caution while walking! We went to the Green Hills grocery store to exchange currency and buy a few snacks.

Location: Our apartment!!!

AWESOME!!! Huge kitchen, dining room, and a sitting area downstairs, a spiral staircase and Elise and I have our own rooms and bathrooms with walk-in closets. It's better than my apartment in NC so I might not come home... Unpacked, showered (Thank God!) and just winding down for the night. We meet the crew at noon tomorrow to go over the itinerary and have lunch. Been a great but tiring day!

Elise
We made it in last night to Chisinau around 6pm local time (+7 hours from EST). Ironically, our best flight of the entire trip was the one into the poorest country - the inflight lunch was delicious and if it was typical of Moldovan food I'm very excited and probably going to gain a lot of weight. We had cold cut lunch meats, cheeses, a "salad" which is pretty much all the good stuff and none of the lettuce, a fresh roll and dessert.
At the airport we were met by the rest of our team and quickly taken to exchange money and buy food at a local grocery store. Brittany and I are staying in embassy housing which is amazing! Pictures to come soon.