Word Count: 620 The other day, I took the following photograph of a carrot I bought at Chisinau’s wild and crazy central market: If I told you that I paid 3.5 MLD/kg for it, or less than $0.03/lb (0.16 euro/kg), you’d probably just shrug your shoulders and say, “Eh, that’s Moldova for you”. But I’m not posting this picture to talk about prices in Moldova. … Continue reading The Good, the Delicious, and the Ugly
WORD COUNT: 983 A few years ago, I had the good fortune of reading a book (translated into English) by the Dutch author Geert Mak called In Europe. In it, he attempted to find the dividing line between “Europe” and “non-Europe”, or “Eastern” Europe or “Western” Europe. Certainly, a lot of people use the old Warsaw Pact/NATO alliances as a way to demarcate that border, … Continue reading Koffee Klatch
WORD COUNT: 530 One of the unexpected bonuses of learning Russian is discovering just how how much comedy exists in that language. I was always raised to think of Russia as a dour, dull place, but underneath that grey exterior exists a beating humorous heart. Russians engaged in fighting Ukrainians have come up with an interesting nickname for their opponents: Укропы or “Ukropi”. This comes … Continue reading Dill Heads
Today I woke up to find that the Republic of Moldova has somehow joined the rest of Europe in being blanketed in snow. Some commenters have recently pointed out that, although I have lived in the Republic of Moldova for a long time now, I have yet to talk about RM’s most famous export. It is true. I have only briefly mentioned wine in a … Continue reading Moldova Wine
Well, I’ve been indulging in my logorrheal tendencies recently so let’s keep it short and sweet today and look at a picture that I took at my local supermarket. In case your Russian is a little rusty, the one on the left is the spicy/hot (Ro: iute) version. Also, it’s not just that the labels are in Russian, this ketchup is made in Russia. But … Continue reading From Russia, With Love
All Things Romania 