V Day in Transnistria and first cherries
May. 8th, 2016 04:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
We had fresh cherries straight from the tree of our hosts' neighbours today. First cherries in the village were ready to eat on the 5th of May this year.
We are trying to see if we could go to the self-proclaimed break-away Transnistria Republic for the V Day military parade there on the 9th. It is one of the last "Soviet Union" enclaves and we are told that the V Day celebrations there are done in true Soviet style and are very interesting to see. And I am a sucker for self-proclamed, break-away, closed, frozen in time and weird places of course. The parade in Tiraspol, the Transnistrian capital will be very pro-Russian we are told, in contrast with the official parade in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, which this year will be a joined affair with the US. Pro-Russian protests are expected in Chisinau against the participation of the US in the parade and pro-West protests are expected in Tiraspol against the Russians apparently. The grass is always greener on the other side of Nistru (the river which separates Transnistria from the rest of Moldova) it seems.
We are trying to see if we could go to the self-proclaimed break-away Transnistria Republic for the V Day military parade there on the 9th. It is one of the last "Soviet Union" enclaves and we are told that the V Day celebrations there are done in true Soviet style and are very interesting to see. And I am a sucker for self-proclamed, break-away, closed, frozen in time and weird places of course. The parade in Tiraspol, the Transnistrian capital will be very pro-Russian we are told, in contrast with the official parade in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, which this year will be a joined affair with the US. Pro-Russian protests are expected in Chisinau against the participation of the US in the parade and pro-West protests are expected in Tiraspol against the Russians apparently. The grass is always greener on the other side of Nistru (the river which separates Transnistria from the rest of Moldova) it seems.
no subject
Date: 2016-05-08 02:51 am (UTC)Transnistria sounds interesting.
Athena
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Date: 2016-05-08 11:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-08 01:31 pm (UTC)Ha! I don't know we called them choke cherries. They were tiny red cherries that grew on a tree. They had a pit in them. They were very bitter.
Athena
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Date: 2016-05-08 06:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-08 06:21 pm (UTC)Ah those. They're blue berries. grow on bushes around here. Tastey too and a good antioxidant apparently. They aren't cherries though no pits in them. We also have wild strawberries, Raspberries and black berries here in the summer months.
Athena
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Date: 2016-05-08 06:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-08 09:03 pm (UTC)They look like this
We call them blueberries here. You can buy them in most grocery stores too. They usually sell them by the pint. The wild ones taste better though and make good blueberry pie.
Athena
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Date: 2016-05-08 09:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-08 03:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-08 06:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-08 07:48 am (UTC)Transnistria sounds fascinating. You are definitely educating me about these places! I just looked up whether Moldova is counted as 'Eastern Europe', and was alarmed to discover that a term that you hear used so often has such widely varying definitions!
no subject
Date: 2016-05-08 10:29 am (UTC)As I travel around Eastern Europe more, the term becomes almost meaningless to me. The countries it is supposed to include are really different and share very little by now. Moldova would be better described as ex-USSR I guess. I understand that there has always been quite a difference between the Eastern European countries which were part of the Soviet Union and those that weren't (even though they were "communist" too). So Moldova and Ukraine for example have a lot in common (even though Ukraine is slavic and Moldova is not) and much more so than Ukraine or Moldova have in common with, say Romania or Poland, which were part of the "commi bloc" but still not part of the SU.
no subject
Date: 2016-05-08 04:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-08 10:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-08 10:31 am (UTC)