Coming from the west, it will take you time to realize what life is like in a post-soviet country.
You won’t notice it immediately and visiting is not enough - the depth of collective trauma and it’s consequences on the local culture land slowly.
The way I most deeply feel it is in the relationship to water.
In olden times and still in villages, water was taken from underground springs. Special wells were made for them, mysterious protection spells were cast upon the echoing holes, painted with a specific blue and covered with tiny, Chappel-like roofs, they are still functional in the rural villages of Moldova.
The cities however draw their water from the rivers.
This is water that has scoured the surface, that connect Ukraine, Transnistria and Moldova, and that express any oil spill, chemical waste or sewage leaks.
Leaving the filtering station this water is safe to drink yet the city pipes are so old that by the time they reach most homes, that water is again not drinkable and must be filtered and re-mineralized.
Moldova is the poorest country in Europe, there is almost no room for art or culture. I never saw a gay couple. It’s a conservative country. The one freedom it offers is that almost nothing is regulated.
I don’t know how long i’ll stay here, and if I can reach the indigenous knowledge of plants, water, spirits, and the secrets of this land before I have to go.
I only know that as long as I am here, clean water is my one and only prayer.
Anything else is changing as we speak.
