Opera tickets for $2.50? Thanks Chisinau.

Last night I went to the opera Evgeni Onegin which is based on the novel in verse written by Pushkin, known as the Shakespeare of Russian literature. I had to read the novel in college both in English and Russian so I knew the story well and this made the opera very enjoyable. Not to mention you just can’t beat a Pushkin/Tchaikovsky combo. The Russian was pretty understandable too except when some of the ladies were singing super high and the words weren’t articulated very clearly. I went with a couple of Fulbrighters and my friend Olga who is Aliona’s cousin. So far I’ve only hung out with her in Congaz during Christmas and at the wedding but she lives in Chisinau and is about my age. We get along well so hopefully we’ll see each other more. Before the opera I met up with another Fulbright scholar and a lawyer who works at IOM and studied at George Washington University in DC through a Muskie grant. I had gone to the IOM office last week as well to talk to a lady who works with their counter trafficking program and she said she would help me set up a visit to the shelter for domestic violence and trafficking victims that is run by IOM in coordination with the Moldovan government. She also said that I could probably start volunteering at their office and that would be great because I would learn a great deal from that experience since I would have more access to case studies and recent information.

On Saturday night I arranged a dinner with most of the Fulbright recipients who are in Moldova now so that everyone could meet and share experiences and welcome the two new Fulbright scholars who will be teaching in Chisinau this semester. I think I’m going to help the law professor with a negotiations course he is going to teach so we’ll see how that goes. The other professor is from New Mexico and he and his wife know of Tesuque Glassworks where my future sister-in-law works. He’ll be teaching at the technical university.

In other news, prices across the board in Moldova are going to be going up. I met with a Moldovan friend last week and he was telling me about this. He said that people are starting to come up to him on the street or in cafes asking for a cigarette which is a sign that times are getting tougher. He told me that gas prices in Moldova are over $5/gallon which was pretty surprising. We were also talking about weddings and he said that when you get invited to one it’s considered a black mark or something because it means you’re going to have to give a gift of at least 100 euros to the bride and groom. My Romanian teacher was telling me that she’s heard of people selling their houses just to have enough money to put on a wedding. Needless to say, this is a very, very important event in Moldova. The priorities in Moldovan society tend to differ quite a bit from those in American society in general. Men will spend all their money on a fancy car and live in a tiny dingy apartment because more people will be judging them on the kind of car they drive. Just like how women will save up money for months to spend it all on really nice shoes and makeup.