My Life

My House 1

Earlier this year I decided to move from my euro remont apartment on Blvd Stefan cel Mare to something more Moldovan. (Euro remont is what they call overly designed, newly renovated apartments.) While my apartment was nice and comfortable and had every convenience one could wish for (except for that they turned off the water for a few hours now and then), I never felt really at home in it. Above all, I felt like I could be anywhere in Europe or in the US and not necessarily in Moldova. I did after all come here to learn about this country and to better understand how Moldovans and people in Eastern Europe and the CIS live, but I felt like I would never fully be a part of today’s Moldova in that apartment. So with a little help from Great Valeriu, I found a small house on Str. Veronica Micle, which since my first month in Moldova has been one of my favourite streets in Chisinau. (For those of you who are not familiar with Moldovan literature, Veronica Micle was a poet and the great love of Romani/Moldova’s most famous poet Mihai Eminescu. Symbolically enough Str. Veronica Micle and Str. Mihai Eminescu cross not too far from my house.) On the same opening from the street as my favourite bar, “513”, my house is the first of a small group of houses in a small alley that probably dates back to the beginning of last century. During the Soviet Union, this small neighbourhood was inhabited by Jewish families, but after independence, they all left Moldova and their small houses. It is right next door to Teatrul Luceafărul, which is one of Chisinau’s most famous theatres my little alley seems to be inhabited by some quite arty people. Above all, it is really a small neighbourhood and everyone seems to know each other go over to each other, which suits me perfectly.