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Miss Footloose has news: She’s leaving the USA and moving to Moldova with her man for a new expat life. Moldova, yes, that is a country. A small country tucked in cozily between Ukraine and Romania in Eastern Europe. A former Soviet Republic, now independent. Click on Moldova and you’ll find a map. The capital is Chisinau, pronounced Kee-shee-now. I think. Will update.
A quick search through my favorite photo site Flickr.com reveals that . . . . moving to Moldova will not be a hardship!
Chisinau is a very leafy city
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Photo by pskologic | Flickr | CC
They’ve got open air markets!
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They’ve got cheese!
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There’s art!
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And wine! Lots of it. Good too, I hear.
Greenery, markets, cheese, art and wine.
I ask you, what more does a girl need? Okay, a house.
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Tell me about your moving experiences. Were you excited? Did you dread it? Horror stories welcome.
The name is written “Chişinău,” with diacritics and “Chisinau” (as you wrote it) is also correct. The pronunciation was close enough, except that “see” should be “shee.” This is at least how Romanians pronounce the city name, their language being strikingly similar to Moldova’s Romanian language.
Yes, you are right. I’ve lived here now for a year and have been educated 😉 I’ve edited/corrected the pronunciation. I hope you have found some entertainment reading my stories.
wow! Exciting and challenging! I’m sure you’ll have lots of great stories to tell us. Can’t wait!
p.s. I just realized recently that I have read quite a few of your Harlequin novels when I was a teenager and in my twenties. I was racking my brain because your name seemed so familiar and I started doing a search on you and found that I had read your books. I’m so chuffed! Thanks Karen!
Good luck on your move!
How exciting! It is funny that you mention not many people know where Moldova is…funny story…this summer, on our one day in Helsinki, there was a tolerance exhibit…have yet to blog about it, anyway…Life-size bears from all diffferent countries were displayed. They were painted and decorated…the US one was like the Statue of Liberty, the Cuban one was smoking a cigar…and there was a bear from Moldova…It was decorated with a cartoon on it belly with a Moldvian(sp?) man using a pointer on a world map to show a tourist just were Moldova is located…tee hee…look for the blog post… Read more »
Gosh , that sounds interesting. Can’t get the photos to load – sorry. I hope you are going to blog from there and tell us all about it!
Will certainly blog from there. See if I can come up with stories.
Wow, exciting news! Sounds amazing – looking forward to reading all about it!
We were ready for another adventure. We’d been hoping for a project in Africa (again), but this will be a change too. I love reading your stories about life in Botswana!
Finally something to write about again, no need to dig into old memories! How fun!! Interesting place it seems 🙂
Another former Soviet Union republic, like Armenia. Much will be familiar, including the cheese …
Oh I can’t wait to hear all about it! I don’t exactly miss my adventures yet (only in the US for 6 months so far, still so very sick of moving) but I know by the 3 year mark I will! And I love reading about others’ moves and I love your writing, so win-win for me 🙂
Looking forward to a pic of that “art” on your own walls 🙂
We’ll see about the art on my wall. It may be there already actually since we’ll be renting a furnished place. So looking forward to the fun of that!
Wow, you’ll be there for at least two years, maybe five? We just might have to come visit… 😉 Good luck packing up, and I look forward to hearing about your adventures—I love how fellow travelers and expats continue to introduce me to places I knew very little about (already I know more about Moldova than I did yesterday!).
Moldova is very far from Argentina! But visitors are always welcome!
Well you certainly can’t complain about any place that has cheese, wine and art! Best of luck in your new adventure. 🙂
Both the art and cheese are a bit iffy 😉
Oh, lucky you — I’m so envious! Just the other day, believe it or not, a friend of mine said she was considering a job in Moldova. I think it fell through, but I was envious of her too. I had a student from Moldova last year. She was a very sweet person, but she had the most amazing lack of affect I’ve ever seen — nothing fazed or disturbed her! I had the feeling I could have dropped a lead weight on her toes and she wouldn’t have said boo. She gave me a tiny window into Moldova, but… Read more »
I’m hoping to have some more fun there. I’ll be learning Romanian, which is the language there along with Russian (from former Soviet times). I’m hoping there’s a bit of English as well to help along in the beginning.
Ah, but the snow looks beautiful…
…I say from the sunny tropics
hee hee
Tintin! I remember Moldova from Tintin.
It’s so beautiful there, I’ve met people from that part of the world, from places near there. I hope you have many wonderful, positive adventures. That you’ll share with us 🙂
I’ll keep sharing!
We’re happy to have you coming! Bring some of your books? I have just read five novels last week and I only brought ten… Maybe we can have some adventures together?
Glad to meet you, Claudia! yes, I’ll put some extra books in right now! I hope there is a book club in Chisinau!
Moldova? Well, that’s nearly home isn’t it? As in home being the Netherlands of course! Good luck and I’m looking forward to many great stories about your new life.
Closer to the4 Netherlands, but no straight flights, so still a trip, flying via Munich or Vienna.
It looks very very cold, lol. But I expect you’ll have a great time and give us some wonderful stories. Can’t wait for you to get over there and start sharing!
Cold in the winter, warm in the summer. Not too extreme. I’m hoping to come up with Moldovan stories, but will keep up with others as well! Back to packing now.
So when do you take off, Miss Footloose? For how long? Paul says they have very good sweet wine so I hope that is to your liking. I loved Ian’s comment. That puts a good spin on things. When we moved to Mexico, we had three give-away parties to get rid of the stuff and then packed our 1989 Ford Econoline with two trunks, two dogs, and the two of us. Oh and an Italian expresso machine. Hope you have a good internet connection so you can keep us all posted on your new adventures. Saludos and all the best.… Read more »
Will pack my espresso coffee maker for sure! Will leave first week of April. The project is for 5 years, but my dh only committed for 2, but if we like it there, who knows, we’ll be there for 5. Italy is not too far, as is the rest of Western Europe, which is a big plus.
PS, yes we will have an internet connection, or I’ll leave! Oh, no, sweet wine is not my cup of tea 😉
I can visualize you moving to Mexico in your car with dogs and trunks, the minimalist way! I’m trying to do it the minimalist way as well. A little bit of sea freight and that’s it.
Can’t wait for the stories! You really live the life!!
Living the life, well we’ll see! 😉 Moldova is a FSU (former soviet union) country and these are not usually known for a lot of exotic or sophisticated excitement, but I may just try and find some anyway. Look at that photo that Ian sent, shame on him trying to depress me (which he didn’t since I am quite familiar with these horrors of Soviet apartment buildings. Rest assured I will not be living in one.
So selfish of me, I know, but I can’t wait to hear all about it.
Be selfish, read my blog 😉
We Scots love Moldova.
They’re one of the few countries we ever beat at football.
Thanks for the laugh! I’ll let you know other reasons to love Molddova. I’m sure there are some!
Ooooh, exciting indeed, congratulations! The photos very much remind me of Baku in Azerbaijan, our first expat posting. I hope you have as much fun as we did there. When will you be moving? Have you found any contacts there yet?
Contacts? The International Women’s Club! Of course. And yes, we have others. Already have a dinner invitation and we’re not even there yet. I lived in Armenia for 6 years, so much will be familiar, especially the Soviet apartment buildings of which Ian so kindly sent me a picture along with his comment. You’ll recognize it for sure!
Wow, how exciting. We’re looking forward to reading more about Moldova! You really do have many expat adventures, don’t you! 🙂
Julia
The last three years I lived in the US and didn’t have a single adventure 😉 so now I am ready for something new. Will keep up the story telling.