Chisinau, Moldova

I know that my announcement of a trip to Chisinau, Moldova has raised some eyebrows. What do I do that requires me to travel to Eastern Europe? Why Moldova? Good questions, but the answers are far more boring than the mystery they inspire. It is like learning the secrets of magic tricks – weren’t you happier not knowing? For those that like truth with a capital “T” here is the answer…I am a spy.

Not really, but I wanted to see if anyone would believe me for even just a second. I work for a software company. That is it. Boring, no spy stuff required. My company makes a suite of software used by law enforcement, intelligence, and military analysts to find patterns and commonalities in data sets. The boredom increases. If you think of an episode of “Law & Order” or “Without a Trace” where they are running suspects phone or financial records to look for anything interesting; that is the kind of stuff I help analysts with. I like it, but I realize that I am getting paid, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Now for the Chisinau, Moldova part of the story. Moldova is located in Eastern Europe between Romania and the Ukraine. If you have never heard of Moldova, no worries, I hadn’t either until I was assigned the trip. According to the CIA World Factbook, Moldova has several issues impeding its progress as a world player:
•It is the poorest country in Europe.
•Moldova is no where near being admitted to the European Union because of corruption and a troublesome break away region known as the “Transnistria Republic." Transnistria has attempted to seperate from Moldova and has its own currency and ruling government. This seperation is helped by the occupying Russian forces, so think of Transnistria as a Basque or Northern Ireland type region that would like to break free from the ruling government due to ethnic ties.
•Moldova is still reeling from the fall of the Soviet Union, as they were a former Eastern Bloc country. Although Moldova is a republic, their leadership is from the new Communist Party.
They have a lot going on there, and while the country may be in hard times, there are some wonderful people in Chisinau trying to make a difference.

My trip to Chisinau was sponsored by the SECI Center (Southeast European Cooperative Initiative), which is a coalition of 13 countries to help fight crime that crosses borders. One of the big issues that SECI is trying to fight is human trafficking. I won’t get into human trafficking much here, but just know that it is a real problem, especially in poorer countries like Moldova. To that end, my co-worker Kevin and I went to Chisinau to conduct a training session for Moldovan and Romanian crime analysts at the Center to Combat Trafficking in Persons.

There are very few travel books about Moldova, making it hard to plan a trip. One reason is that Moldova is not really a country ready for tourism. If you are interested in Moldova, I would recommend reading, Playing the Moldovans at Tennis by Tony Hawks. It is a hilarious travel biography and absolutely spot on when it comes to life in Moldova.

When Kevin and I arrived in Moldova it was raining and gray. It stayed gray most of the time I was there. My hope is that Chisinau improves a bit in the sunshine as the city is bleak and overcast. Tony Hawks describes Chisinau best, to paraphrase “You look to the left and there are gray concrete buildings. You look to the right and there are gray concrete buildings. You look in front of you and behind you and there are gray concrete buildings.” That is Chisinau in a nutshell. Kevin and I stayed at a hotel that was not all gray and concrete, the Leogrand Hotel. It was nice and had an excellent restaurant. Kevin and I ate there more than once and the beef was very, very good.

The US Embassy in Chisinau provided our transportation, which consisted of a big van driven by a surly Russian named Sasha. On the first day, Sasha dropped us off at the Center, but didn’t tell us which entrance to use. That was the beginning of our adventure. I don’t think I had ever felt that afraid to be traveling abroad. I was in a country where I didn’t speak the language, no one spoke my language, my cell phone wasn’t working and I had no idea where I was or how to get back to my hotel. I suffered a good 30 minutes of panic – but it all worked out in the end.

Kevin and I entered the building which was sort of creepy with dark, dank halls and florescent lights that flickered on and off. Later in the week I found out that the building was typical of Soviet-style architecture. The woman at the front door kept asking where we were going in Romanian and all I could answer back was “human trafficking” in English (sadly, the phrase “human trafficking” was not covered in my English-Romanian dictionary). The woman called someone and determined that we should go to the 7th floor. Kevin and I eased into an elevator the size of a coffin and made our way to the 7th floor. Turns out our office was not on the 7th floor. I kept wandering around the halls saying “human trafficking” as if I was making offers. Since no one spoke English it was hard to find help. Someone suggested the 5th floor so off Kevin and I went to the 5th floor. No such luck there either. I continued to wander the halls like Lady Macbeth and found an office that had the word Oxford in the title. With the hopes that someone British worked out of the office, I knocked on the door. No Brit worked there, but they were able, through a lot of hand signals, to show us to the right floor.

The Center’s office was so nice. It wasn’t like any of the offices I had seen on the other floors. Once we got to the Center, everything went smoothly. It was interesting to have to work through interpreters as very few of our students spoke English. At the end of the week the interpreters said I was very easy to translate for, which I took as a compliment. I think it goes back to my mission when I had to translate for people and I know how hard it can be. I think the class was very successful and the students were so much more attentive and interested than probably any class I have ever taught here in the US. Kevin and I were very impressed.

The highlights of the trip were:

The Romanians – they all spoke English and stayed in our hotel. Kevin and I loved hanging out with them. The Romanians were excellent students and take their job very seriously. I hope to go to Bucharest and work with them again. I am truly honored to have them as friends.

Wandering through Chisinau – The pollution is tough on the lungs so we didn’t spend too much time outside. Kevin and I went to Central Park and walked up and down the main street, “Stefan cel Mare.” Stefan cel Mare was a very powerful king that won a lot of battles and kept the Ottomans out of the areas that are currently Romania and Moldova. In 1991 when Moldova became its own republic, all the streets that referenced Lenin, Stalin or anything Soviet were changed to something more Moldovan. The street “Stefan cel Mare” is a prime example.

Milestii Mici – This is a very cool winery. There are miles and miles underground tunnels just to house wine. To give you an idea, we drove our minivan round in the tunnels. Milestii Mici has the world’s largest wine collection. My group wonderful dinner and wine tasting in a huge, underground hall that made me feel like royalty. Since I don’t drink, Kevin took one for the team and drank my glasses of wine for me. He is a true friend.

Dinner at Symposium – Danny, our FBI liaison, his wife Jane, Kevin, Dorina, our US Embassy contact, her boyfriend Oleg, and I all had dinner at this fantastic restaurant. I had a traditional Moldovan dinner of chicken and potatoes that I totally enjoyed. Symposium is a great restaurant that wasn’t listed in my guide book. I would highly recommend it to westerners as the food is high quality. At some places in Chisinau you just don’t know what you might get when it comes to ingredients and quality.

Appreciating America, especially our sanitation system – I didn’t realize that toilet paper is not customary in some countries. Thank heavens I brought a travel size package of Cottonelle with me. I just came home realizing how lucky I am, how good I have it and how I really take 2-ply TP for granted.

I have a lot of stories that I won’t share here since this is getting so very long. I am glad to be home and a bit stronger and wiser for the journey.

Next trip - Yellowstone