romania, moldova, ukraine

After a restful 10 days in Romania, staying in the countryside with the friend i met in Thailand, we got up early last Monday and drove several hours to meet a SDA printer. He was very kind and showed us his recent works, driving away any remaining fears i had that the quality might not be up to par here. It is amazing to see books printed just 10 years ago that look quite primitive, and see the first-world-class quality they are printing now! He even said that the glue binding was guaranteed by a German company for 50 years.

So now the problem is how to get the Romanian 1858 Great Controversy distributed….

We drove a few more hours to another place, and met a well-known SDA pastor. He talked kindly with us, and then let me stay at his home until the evening. He takes me to the Danube, where we look at the huge river flowing lazily by. His wife comments twice that it is rare to see it so calm. They also remind me how cold it gets here, when they say people come here to ice skate in the winter! They feed me lots of food, then take me to the bus which is parked in front of the Sofil hotel and leaves at 10:30pm for Chisanau, Moldova (costs 30ron – 10usd).

It really looks like the Lord planned it out for me to stay there a while with him and his family, so they could get a feel for what kind of work this is, and be comfortable with supporting this. It took him a while to understand that i just travel around trying to get this one book into the people’s hands, but finally he did understand, and now has agreed to be the main distributor/contact person for this book in all of Romania – praise God!

The bus let me out after a bumpy ride at 5am near the Central Market. I didn’t know anything, and just sat around looking at the pig and cow carcasses being lugged around and dripping on the pavement – pretty gross to see dogs lapping up blood before breakfast.

I had the address for the Moldovan SDA headquarters, but didn’t know quite how to get there. Fortunately a man with a pull-cart shop selling magazines and maps helped me. Actually, he could not figure out how to use the map, but let me look for it, and i found it quickly. Trolley bus number 9 took me there in 15 minutes. The building looks brand new, and includes a seminary.

I had not contacted anyone before arriving, as often i find that people do not understand what i am trying to do, and will not set up an appointment, but if i just arrive, they will take 10-15 minutes to talk with me. After praying, and entering, quickly i find a man who can speak English. He gets the publishing director, and they spend a bit over 5 minutes talking with me out in the lobby. The publishing director asks me twice “so what do you want us to do?” and i explain the same both times – that i’m working at getting this book spread around the world, and it will be printed soon in Romanian, and i just wanted to inform you. He finally seems to understand, and then tells me that the Ukrainian SDA has sent him some of the Russian language ones a few years earlier!

I spend a couple of hours in the toilet trying to sleep, as that was mostly impossible on the bus the nite before, and then take number 9 back to the city center where i stumble around looking like a tourist for a while, eat lunch on a park bench along the “high-fashion” road of Stephen the Great, then walk thru the market again, and down to the Gara de Nord bus center where a bus to Kiev costs around 23usd. There is a big man sitting next to me, and just when i think our legs are going to meld together, he gets up and sits in the back of the bus – whew! But now a new problem presents itself – just across the aisle is a lovely girl wearing not enough clothing. And every time the bus jolts, which is about every 5 nanoseconds, it is a trial. Fortunately, about 2 minutes later, she gets up and goes to the back of the bus too, and i thank God for not allowing me to be tempted above what i’m able 🙂

There is an old tank sitting in front of some bridge, and i think that it is something from some old war, but then see soldiers standing on the bridge with guns – ut oh. Then we go thru lots of border check points. I discover that this is the breakaway region of Moldova, called Trans nitzia or something like that. Ut oh, i read on the internet not to go thru this region, and thot that while the train did pass thru, the bus did not. Not correct. I read that they sometimes ask for large sums of money from foreign travellers, but we go thru lots of checkpoints with no problems.

Finally we enter Ukraine, to nice roads, and then progressively colder, and colder, until we arrive at Kiev around 6am. I sit on a metal bench in the bus station, thanking myself for bringing a quick-dry towel to sit on, as the metal will sap your body heat in about 15 minutes, and make you sick in around 20. I nod on and off for 2 hours, when i get up and ask the guards how to get to the train station. They don’t seem to know, even tho one of them understands English. Then one of the many taxi touts comes up to me, and he cannot tell me either, except to say that it will cost 50 grivna (7usd). This sounds too expensive to me, so i hum and haw a bit, and he calls his wife on his phone, who tells me that perhaps i can get to the Metro and then to the central train station for around 3usd. I thank her, and am about to tell him to just take me to the Metro, when he offers to take me for 5usd. I accept, and we get in a nice Kia suv/van, and i listen to him tell me how he had a good job but lost it, and now is trying to make ends meet for his family. This is a story i will here more of while in Kiev, as the economic crisis has hit here hard.

I eat lunch in a first-world type of train building, on metal benches still tho, then go to the internet cafe where i tell my friend that i’m here and can meet him after he gets off work at 6pm. He replies quickly that he can meet me in 15 minutes, so i quickly leave the internet cafe and find him. It is good to see a familiar face, even if the beard is gone!

He is manager of a building near the train station, and takes me to a room that is used for their orphanage charity work, and i get to lay down flat for the first time in around 58 hours. It feels good, and before i know it, an hour has gone by 🙂 We go to the market for lunch, where i see that prices of things are on a par with America, and some prices are similar to what i saw in Switzerland! How can the people survive?

The Metro going to his flat in the evening is really crowded, and typical Soviet style – dank, dirty, long escalators going pretty fast, cheap, and really tall ceilings. We walk around 20 minutes thru rows of 10-25 story flats, to his. It was built just two years ago, but the construction still looks third world on the inside. How can anyone design a building with the main water pipes for the whole building going thru each unit’s toilet? So it is really noisy at nite when everyone is flushing and taking showers. Then too, why the vent from the toilet directly into the kitchen?!?! And no vent at all for the bathroom? The cost was 650usd/month for this largish 2BR LR apt, but after the economic crisis hit, my friend negotiated it down to 450.

Yesterday my friend took me to the SDA headquarters here in Kiev. After saying goodbye, i was shown the office of someone who took me somewhere else who took me somewhere else. Finally arriving at the President’s office, the secretary talked with me a while in the typical Soviet fashion, with all that implies. Fortunately, there was another lady there who was very friendly, and got he information across to the publishing director, who was out of town, what i was there for. I learned later that this helpful lady was just there to teach English, and not even SDA!

We had a good talk for over an hour, and then the publishing director came in. He was bubbling over with enthusiasm, showing me three kinds of 1858 Great Controversy books they’ve printed (Russian, Ukrainian, and a new Ukrainian), and said that after their initial press run was all distributed, they printed 25,000 more books with their own funds – wow!! I’m impressed, and giving thanks to God. After a wonderful, typical lunch in the cafeteria which costs about 1/5 of what it would outside in a restaurant, i show the two ladies lots of pics from India and Myanmar, Japan etc. They both wish to travel abroad, but say it is almost impossible to do so. I saw clearly how important the internet is to some people, helping them fulfill dreams to go beyond the physical borders created beyond their control. They both tell me stories of “the old days” when good were rationed, health care was free, everyone had a job, and the govt just sometimes took all your money!

After that, the English teacher spends a few hours walking around showing me the historical quarter. I still don’t have an idea of how Kiev is laid out, but there are hills, and a big river, and lots and lots of schools and churches. This city is said to be the most expensive in Eastern Europe, and i believe it instantly. Moscow is said to be the most expensive city in the world, and Ukraine is tied in quite closely with the Russian economy. It is good to know tho, that they enjoy much more freedom of religion here.

So i’m counting my blessings, enjoying being with my friend and his family with kids, and wondering the best way to get back to my friend’s place in southern Romania now. The train is relatively expensive i’m told – around 140usd, so am thinking of taking several buses instead. I need to get caught up on my sleep first tho!

Thank you Jesus for sending your angels to guard over me, and to give me lots of encouragement on this trip 🙂

1 thought on “romania, moldova, ukraine”

  1. I’m commmenting this from Gara de Nord train station, the central train station for Bucharest. I came by bus from Suceava (Su.cha.va) last nite, and am terribly sleepy here at 8am.
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    The time spent in Ukraine was very nice, and i think i had a good influence on the family i was with. I caught the 6:30 train from Kiev to Chernivtsi (80grivna=13usd), and after sleeping quite well (if a little hot), arrived 30 minutes late at 10am.
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    A taxi driver tried to mess with me, telling me that the bus to Romania was gone for the day, and that i should take his taxi – for 200grivna! What a rot. Then he took me to the marshrutka (minivan), that i kept telling him to take me to, and he shook hands warmly with the driver showing that they knew each other, and then went away. So i went to Suceava for 10usd.
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    It took about 2 hours to cross the border and get to Suceava in our 3 passenger/cigarette smuggling rig. I saw the driver pay underhanded money to 2 people at the border.
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    The bus to Bucharest leaves at 7, 9, 12, and 9pm. It is 1:30 now, so i’m stuck – or – i take a taxi to the train station for 5usd which i learn is very high, only to find out that the train fare is 80ron (27usd), and arrives at midnite, which is what i want to avoid, so i walk the 4 or 5km back to the bus station where the ticket price is exactly half that.
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    The ride to Bucharest is uneventful, thankfully i get an empty seat next to mine, so can sprawl out a bit. But we arrive at 3:45am, which is prime dog-time in Bucharest. I walk the 150m to the Gara Obor train station unmolested, right up to the front door where i’m turned back by 2 dogs. OK, i go around a back corner and into a little room where i listen to an old man snore loudly for 2 hours before i catch a bus to where i am now.
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    God is good. Please continue to send your angels to protect me 🙂

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