Post # 10: Chisinau

After a long week in Odessa I was starting to get way too comfortable there (thus, time to go). My roommate Kevin was great, and his girlfriend had even tried to set me up with a few of her friends. The language barrier was too great to overcome so I packed up my things and hit the road. Getting out of there wasn't that easy however. After deciding that I wanted to go to Bucharest, the easiest way was to take a bus to Chisinau, then fly to Bucharest. I had heard a lot of good things about Chisinau, some info here, and decided I should go and check it out. For those of you that know me well, my entrepreneurial mindset never really shuts off. Moldova, as it was explained to me, has a very young and hungry English speaking workforce. The average monthly salary there is only $230, unreal. So, by having an American business, employing the people of Moldova, (customer service, tech support, etc), one can really do some damage.
Anyhow, I quickly found an apartment to rent for a few days and off I went. Five hours on a circa 1960 bus with nothing but farms as far as the eye could see, I ended up at the Chisinau bus station. Here was one of the first sites:
Gotta love the yellow shoes. So, it turns out Chisinau is a booming city, buildings being erected (giggle) at an alarming pace. The Italians seem to have discovered this place as a fertile ground for cheap labor and are seen everywhere wheeling and dealing. There are beautiful little parks everywhere, and, just like Odessa, one of the most popular restaurants in town is....yep, you guessed it; McDonalds. I'm talking about PACKED, all day and night...these Eastern Europeans love their MickeyD's.
During the days, I found myself reading in a few of the parks as well as hopping on and off the $0.10 tram rides that took me from one end of the city to the other. I went by the main university and got some contacts in the guidance counselors office in case I decided to build a nice little business at a later date (by the way, the same holds true of Odessa, only the English there is not nearly as prevalent). At night, I visited some of the more popular lounges and a few American type bars/mini-discos. I didn't hit any night clubs mostly because the people I had met at these lounges said they weren't any good. I left the camera at the apartment most of the time because I was tired of looking like a tourist but couldn't resist bringing it out one night. It must have been after the 19th email from friends saying "enough with the apartment videos, show us the girls!!" that convinced me to bring the camera out and about.
I had become a regular in this little American-friendly bar that turns into a mini-disco at midnight. The bartender and I had become friends and should I come back for business, she promised to get me to the right people in town. Here she is (the blonde with the tongue ring) and here's a photo of Massimo and his lady friend.


He's an Italian banking guy I met who was in town with some high-up Italian politicians setting up more business between the 2 countries.
Here's a video of my bartender friend (Oksana) dancing behind the bar...so cute...and a photo of the 2 girls she sat next me...this place sucks:





And finally, a video of one of the Italian banking guys (probably about 50 years old) that got caught walking by the shot girl...big mistake.




Did you happen to notice the very hungry girl seated to my right? I swear I thought she was going to eat me...too bad she was so shy.


So, the rest of my stay in Chisinau, I took a few tours of the city and visited a museum or two...tourist-ish things that I had all but avoided until now. It wasn't until I walked outside the last museum that I started to get homesick...and this was the culprit:


It was right there, at that moment where it all hit me square in the face...I miss home. WTF am I doing traveling around Europe, by myself, in the middle of summer, when everything I know and have ever known is waiting for me back in the states? Was I running from something? Was I looking for something? Was I looking to just get outta dodge and break free? The questions just kept coming; I had no answers other than a resounding "NO" to every one of them.

Believe me, the last thing I would have ever expected in my life was to wake up one day...40 and single...and in Chisinau?? Am I tired of being alone? That's one question I'm starting to have to answer with a Yes. Maybe that is what's eating me and prompted this trip. I was too busy working and living to realize that I was truly alone. I was too busy planning to see the forest for the trees (whatever the hell that means). Didn't someone once say that life is what happens while you're busy making other plans? All this is probably going to sound sappy as all hell and I'm sure I'll hear it from the boys via email, but it just has to be said. Maybe Christopher McCandless was right, although he realized it too late; Happiness is isn't real unless it is shared. Or maybe I just simply missed Bond Street sushi?


It was then that I decided it was time to leave and head at least in the general direction of home...and planned my trip to Bucharest in hopes the questions would subside.