Mireasa Țarului

I went to my first, and definitely not last, opera in Chisinau last night: Mireasa Țarului (The Tsar's Bride) with music by Rimsky-Korsakov. It was very dark and very Russian. The last act was really intense with people being murdered and going insane and all that and overall it was a great show with really cool costumes. My ticket cost about $8, but I actually could have bought a ticket for $5 and sat in the same spot. The cheapest tickets are for the back row of the balcony, but if the theater isn't full you can just go sit wherever you want with those tickets. I might try to do that sometime, but the next shows I'm planning on going to should be really popular (Marriage of Figaro, Madame Butterfly, The Barber of Seville) so it might be more packed. Anyway, I feel incredibly lucky that I live a 5-minute walk from first-rate, crazy inexpensive operas and ballets.

Backtracking a little bit, I went to the opera with a Peace Corps volunteer and a couple of people we met randomly in the botanical gardens earlier in the afternoon. When we were at the entrance, a girl heard us speaking English and asked where we were from. It turned out she's from Edinburgh, Scotland and is currently touring all of Europe doing freelance photography. She has a couple more countries to go before she's been to very country in Europe. Pretty impressive, and she's my age. She was there with a Moldovan girl, Anna, who works in public relations and was serving as her guide in Chisinau. I told Anna about my research and she said I should meet this American guy who works in public relations at the international organization for migration. More contacts! Always a good thing.

It's been a great weekend. The weather is absolutely gorgeous. I'm writing this post now from the park near my house. Free wi-fi. Not bad. Listening to "Despre Tine Cânt" (I Sing About You) by Dan Balan on repeat, thus practicing my Romanian as well. Back to work tomorrow!