16 February 2006: frozen lake in Chisinau replete with ice fishermen and sportsmen. Hopefully, the Winter Wonderland is almost over!

16 February2006--Missing manhole cover--one of the few that I found! Irish comedian Tony Hawkes makes much light of the dangers of Moldovan pedestrian life in his book, "Playing the Moldovans at Tennis." At one time the removal of manhole covers was rampant in Chisinau (not so much anymore). In Howkes' book, he takes up a bet that he can beat the entire Moldovan national soccer team at tennis (this is the same guy that carried a refrigerator all over Ireland). He takes the bet, come the Chisinau, and begins his quest...its funny but not a terribly accurate account of my Moldovan experience. We were actually warned about them in our embassy safety briefing.

Source: Economist Intelligence Unit Data Service (thanks, Pete--I stole it from you)!

18 February 2006--Fulbrighters meet Peace Corps at El Paso Mexican Restaurant in Chisinau (from left to right: Tricia, me, Dan , Fern, Geoff, Josh, Malise, and Pete)

20 Feb...Moldovan Economics 101...Some folks have written having read or seen something about Moldova in the media and asked me if it is really all that bad. First let me say: My living experience in Moldova is not bad, quite the contrary, I am living as well, if not better, than I do in Macon. Moldovans are lovely people and I have been extended wonderful and warm hospitality (some shopping experiences, aside). There are challenges to life here that make it hard for Americans to fully understand the forces that affect life here. I get bits and pieces of Moldova but the whole picture is complex.

An example being that when I came here I expected to find that there were no manhole covers (Tony Hawkes would have you to believe that they are all stolen and melted for cash). This may have once been true but for the most part they have been replaced and sealed shut. If one is missing, there is usually a tree limb sticking out to warn pedestrians. The fact that there are few missing probably speaks to some improvement in the economic circumstances of Moldova (or more savvy law enforcement) and the tree limbs to the general courteousness of the Moldovan people to work around adverse circumstances.

On to the broader Moldovan economy--officially, Moldova is the poorest country in Europe. Moreover, the average Moldovan has lost some affluence over the last 20 years. One economist researching Moldova and other former Soviet Republics has come to the conclusion that Moldovans have about 45% of per capita GDP as they had at the collapse of the Soviet Union. Three other former Soviet Republics (Ukraine, Tajikistan, and Georgia) have experienced similar declines. One Moldovan explained that Moldova went from being the richest of the Soviet Republics to being the poorest in just under 20 years. Another Moldovan said that statistics can be deceiving since there is a large influx of capital from outside the country that is sent in from ex-pats working abroad.

If you look to the graph (on the left) you can see that the years 1999 and 2000 represent the most significant dip. I recently said to a Moldovan that the worst years were 1999 and 2000--to which they replied "What are you talking about? We had electricity, we had heat in 1999 and 2000--those years were a lot better than 1992 and 1993 when we had none." The truth is that the statistics tell only part of the story. In Chisinau, signs of economic vitality abound but even here poverty is undeniably a real issue with pensioners picking through garbage. Trying to put together all of the Moldovan puzzle is difficult for an American--well at least, this American.

On Saturday night, I had my regular dinner with fellow Fulbrighters (Dan and Fern), this time we were joined by some new faces. Fern's husband Geoff joined us (he is fresh back from Rwanda where he is working on a survey of health indicators for USAID). We also had Patricia Fogarty with us. Tricia is a Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology at Emory whose research is on Moldovan identity. Tricia is here on a Fulbright scholarship and we should have been inviting her ages ago.

Three Peace Corps volunteers (Pete, Malise, and Josh) joined us as well. For several months, I have been lurking on Pete's blog (Pete has a real blog, BTW). I am utterly fascinated by his experiences teaching English in a village about 30 miles outside of Chisinau. I e-mailed him and we got together for dinner--very fun eating Mexican food in Chisinau! Fern and Geoff spent time in Africa in the Peace Corps. The more I met active and returned volunteers, I am impressed by them all (Dr. Dee too).

Pete's blog is well worth a read: www.bbqbacon.com/moldova/

All three of them are teaching English outside of Chisinau and their stories are useful in putting together a more complete picture of the country. For instance, where Pete is, there is no regular running water. Their safety issues are different from ours, etc. I hoping to visit some of the volunteers to see for myself what goes on outside of the big city.