The country is officially the Republic of Moldova (Republica Moldova) is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south. The time difference between California and Moldova is 10 hours ahead during standa
rd time and 11 hours ahead during day light savings.Capital: Chisinau (pronounced: kish-i-now)
Moldova is 33,843 sq kilometers (notice I am using kilometers, yes I have to learn the metric system haha), which is slightly larger than Maryland. For a frame of reference for those of us who have not been to Maryland - California is 423,970 sq kilometers. In other words, 12 Moldovas can fit in 1 California!! The total population is a little over 4.3 million and yes, that is for the whole country - Sacramento alone has 1.3 million (a little over a quarter of Moldova’s population).
It has moderate winters (snow) and warm summers (with the occasional rain storm). The terrain is mostly rolling plains and gradually slopes south to the Black Sea
The main religion is Eastern Orthodox making up about 98% of the population.
The official language is Moldovan (which is virtually the same as the Romanian language). People also speak Russian and Gagauz (a Turkish dialect). I am learning Romanian/Moldovan, but there is a chance that I will have to learn Russian instead-depends on where I am sent for my assignment after training.
Moldova is relies primarily on agriculture and the main products are: vegetables, fruits, wine, grain, sugar beets, sunflower seed (sunflowers are EVERYWHERE), tobacco, beef, milk
Biggest industries: sugar, vegetable oil, food processing, agricultural machinery; foundry equipment, refrigerators and freezers, washing machines; hosiery, shoes, textiles
Moldova is famous for its wines. For many years viticulture and wine making in Moldova were the general occupation of the population. The country has a well-established wine industry. It has a vineyard area of 147,000 hectares (360,000 acres), of which 102,500 ha (253,000 acres) are used for commercial production. Most of the country's wine production is made for export. Highlight: Many families have their own recipes and strands of grapes that have been passed down through the generations.
Originally part of Romania during the interwar period, Moldova was incorporated into the Soviet Union at the close of World War II. Although independent from the USSR since 1991, Russian forces have remained on Moldovan territory east of the Dniester River supporting the Slavic majority population, mostly Ukrainians and Russians, who have proclaimed a "Transnistria" republic. One of the poorest nations in Europe, Moldova became the first former Soviet state to elect a Communist as its president in 2001 (CIA, 2009)-look at that correct APA formatting even for my blog!!!
One last thing for Tyler and Desiree..."Te iubesc, să facă copii" that is how you say the phrase you wanted me to learn. Don't ask me to pronounce it though, I'll get to that later!
Here are some websites it you want to check them out:
http://peacecorpswiki.org/Moldova
http://www.travellerspoint.com/guide/Moldova/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldova
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/md.html#top
http://calamoldova.com/about-moldova/
Cool documentary on Moldova (about 1 hr): http://calamoldova.com/watch-film/
