Did you know that there is an Arc de
Triumph in Chisinau?
It was a pleasure to get a picture of my sister and her friend Ben by
the river.
I am beginning to understand why some
call Chisinau the Paris of Moldova.
|
|
1 April...Spring has come to Chisinau and I am
very much enjoying the ability to roam the around without a coat, a hat,
gloves, long underwear, etc. It is amazing how the town changes
looks when the weather improves. I started going to
places that I was too afraid to go when the ice was everywhere and
have gotten some excellent pictures of the city. For one I never new
that the city was so large! When you spend all your time in the
center, sometimes you forget that there are people living all about you.
There is a river called the Bull (in Russian) that runs through Chisinau
and I understand that it will be lovely in summer. But the
striking resemblances of Chisinau to Paris are worth noting--both cities
have an Arc de Triumf (in Romanian), both have a center dominated by a
cathedral, and both have a tower that stands tall as a major tourist
attraction (though the one here was used to raise water for primitive
plumbing conditions--and now houses the Chisinau city museum).
Now, there is some big news making its way around Chisinau--and that
is that the official language here may be switched to English!
After years of wrangling with Russian and Romanian (as well as
Bulgarian, Ukrainian, and Gaugauzian--a Turkish dialect) there is a
serious effort underway to make English the official language. The
TV and papers are all abuzz because local opinion is that this switch would
make tourism easier and increase business investments here. I was
skeptical at first but the sentiment seems to be growing rapidly which
led to some very interesting questions from my students.
At least some of my students want Moldova to apply to become a U.S.
state! I have reminded them that becoming a state would make EU entry
more difficult to negotiate but they said it is better to become a U.S. state
than a member of the EU. OK says I--but there is also an issue of
geography--Moldova is located in Europe while the rest of the U.S.
states are in North America. My students (and they are quite
clever) said that when California became a state it was separated by
much of the continent from the rest of the states AND it had been an
independent nation before becoming a state (just like Moldova).
Another student pointed to the precedents established by Hawaii and
Alaska for non-contiguous states. All of which are pretty convincing points in my opinion. Some of
my more ambitious students are learning Spanish as well as English to
better fit into the American culture as they understand it. I said
that they ought to start celebrating some U.S. holidays as well to get
better prepared. But then I was reminded that...
they have been celebrating April Fools Day here for some time.
P.S. I spent a lovely long weekend in Paris with my sister Kylie and
her friend Ben last month...took lots of pictures.
P.P.S. There really is an Arc de Triumf in Chisinau. |
