A place to give up? First impressions after arriving in Chisinau, Moldova

29th May 2020

“A place to give up,”(1) these were the words written in an article of a very well known German
newspaper called “Die Welt” in 2011, describing the city of Chisinau. These were the first
words I have read about the tiny Republic located in between Romania and Ukraine when I
applied to my voluntary service in Chisinau. The article mentions its personal travel warning
even right in the headline of the article. But these were also the first words that struck me
very hard – not primarily because of the negative choice of words and the intended negative
wow-effect, but especially because of their self-given right to display the Moldovan capital in
such a negative way, playing the superficial game of clickbaiting combined with ironic tone to
the detriment of the citizens of “Europe’s little unknown”(2), words found to describe Moldova
by Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
I have to admit that these words made me apply to the European Voluntary Service, having
read them before my application. I simply could not believe the bias in the article’s
description of Moldova, feeling a little deceived but also sad. Thus, I had to apply to make it a
personal challenge to explore the little unknown, a country that surely has more to offer than
the simple look of grew Soviet architecture and old Ladas. I did not care about the given lack
of sight seeing attractions, what I did care about were the people and their stories. A country
is so much more than easily written denunciations of a German author staying just for a
weekend trip in Moldova. The daily life makes up the emotions and forms the identity, the
people’s daily life stories will make you learn. It is a good balance to inform oneself by
unbiased books and articles, adding the personal experience and daily life stories. As I got
accepted, I felt grateful for this next chapter.

Of course, some of the negativity which is connected to Moldova does not come from
scratch. It might be true that some problems (such as economic, social and political)
combined might have a negative impact on Moldovan citizens’ everyday life. But what I want
to support is a reification of the debate in such spheres – things have to be based on facts. A
world put in easy words, that is not possible. Especially with regard to the processes going
on in Moldova, be it politically, economically or socially, one needs to bring arguments
without ignoring the another side or party or even hurting it. For example, in political
movements with global impact, right-wing populism tries to put the world in easy phrases.
That would simply not even work for a Republic “in between” the East and the West, with lots
of historic influences and different political landscapes.
What also made me think a lot is that a lot of people I have spoken with before going to
Moldova – apart from the fact some had to ask twice to just get the name of Chisinau right –
did not know a lot about Moldova. And when they brought little more interest once they got
the pronunciation right, when I made them watch some pictures, the negative comments
continued. But undoubtedly in the case of Germany, one has to go beyond this two-sentence
dialogue. Because only a very few do know that Chisinau went through historically very hard
times and that the Nazi regime in WWII in collaboration with the Romanian military fully
destroyed Chisinau, “reduced” the Jewish population from 60,000 to 86 and created a Jewish
ghetto that cannot be described in words as to its inhuman cruelties.(3) By telling that, I would
like to underline that with interest in its people, history and culture, instead of just
pigeonholing whole of Moldova, by going beyond the headlines, Moldova might be even
more interesting than well known tourist countries. And “beautiful” is not just optically, in this
context, beautiful means to be allowed to learn about the little unknown.

With this attitude in mind I arrived in Chisinau. Being impressed from the very beginning on, I
can remember when Andrej picked me up at the airport and mentioning the good times he
had in Moldova so far. Getting off the bus, when staring at the street scene, I felt somewhat
like being in a museum, being full of gratitude and joy. I have already been to Minsk but this
was so different.
What is more is that I felt comfortable in Chisinau from the beginning on because of its
compact infrastructure. Half a year ago, Amman was my home for over four months, which
was chaos, chaos, and chaos. But the tranquillity and one-way Stefan Cel Mare Boulevard
did not demand as much as Amman
from me. This little chaos from the central market brought back the feeling of market culture,
but nobody was screaming or even singing the prices to my surprise.
Chisinau looked so green and marvellous, strolling along the Stefan-Cel-Mare Boulevard,
passing several green parks. I liked the combination of different areas of neighbourhood,
which combined in total, enriches the whole experience. The suburb I was living in was very
authentic, no foreigners at all. Near the Botanica I was told a lot of students also like living
there. In the supermarket even the staff (cashier and meat counter) asked me about where I
am from. Buying the tickets in the trolleybus was also quite an experience, I still do not
understand how the ticket inspector manages his/her way through the masses of bus
passengers. Furthermore, I do still believe in underground seats of Marschrutkas observing
endless amounts of people getting off.
Passing Botanica suburbs and the marvellous Stefan Cel Mare Boulevard, the chaotic
central market of Chisinau offers a neighbourhood with tiny cafes and restaurants in direction
to the university and OSCE Mission office. You pass the little streets and walk along the
OSCE building and Moldova State University down the very long and newly built stairs to the
Valea Morilor lake. After the first working day in the evening sun created a moment of
perfection. After getting to know other volunteers that stayed in Moldova or Chisinau, too, I
have come across the sentence “You won’t find too many Burger Kings or Mc Donalds” - a
fact I love. When you just order something randomly at local cantines such as Galbenus
because you can’t pronounce the meal names in proper Russian yet, you get of course liver
which you pretend to like eating.
But apart from these tiny obstacles my first impressions and moments in Chisinau were
impressive, giving me a feeling that I have made the right decision, the feeling that I am
ready to explore the “little unknown.”

1 https://www.welt.de/reise/staedtereisen/article13499963/Chisinau-moldawische-Zeitreise-in-
Graubraunbeige.html
2 https://www.sueddeutsche.de/reise/chisinau-in-moldau-europas-kleine-unbekannte-1.2051316

3 http://www.thebohemianblog.com/2015/03/abandoned-synagogue-moldova-chisinau-ghetto.html