I’ve written about the surreal experience of living in a land with two Christmases before, but it wasn’t until this year that I learned to truly appreciate what a weird and serendipitous event the 2-Christmas System truly is. What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been Christmas has always been a weird holiday. Just 200 years ago, it was predominately an end of the year festival … Continue reading The Amazing Benefits of the 2-Christmas System
Recently, a person whom I’ve known for many years asked me about why I haven’t included more entries in the “My Personal Life” category. What can I say? Sometimes, I honestly forget that anything I do might be of interest to anyone else. But since you asked, you shall receive! The Republic of Moldova is officially The Poorest Country in Europe™, but there is one … Continue reading Wine Daze
Sadly, I’m far busier these days than I’d like to be, so I haven’t been able to write about the topics that are on my mind. Today, however, I thought I’d translate a news story from this part of the world just as a reminder that sometimes the big stories are informed by the little ones. Everything between the lines is my translation. He Heard … Continue reading Sounds in the Cellar
One of the most interesting periods of history that very few people on either side of the Prut River remember today is that there was a Soviet Moldovan Republic long before Romania ceded Bessarabia without a fight in 1940. It took several years after the 1917 “October” Revolution in Russia before the Soviet Union was able to exist as a coherent polity. Some of the … Continue reading Yes, MASSR
Last week, I watched live as a commercial airliner heading from Moscow to Chisinau flew in circles inside Hungarian airspace before making an emergency landing in Belarus because an unidentified Romanian official spontaneously decided to ban the flight from crossing Romanian airspace. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, only Russian-language media has written about all the pieces to this strange puzzle, so today I’m … Continue reading Games With Frontiers
All Things Romania 