After a few days of traveling from Romania to Moldova with
our entire squad, all of the teams dispersed to our respective contacts last
Friday morning. Nearly fifty people were
running around a hostel semi-frantically, trying to cram everything back into
the packs that obviously exploded the night before and swapping back things
that had been borrowed in our few days together. “Team RADIANT!” one of my logistical geniuses
yelled at us. “Your contact is here!”
our entire squad, all of the teams dispersed to our respective contacts last
Friday morning. Nearly fifty people were
running around a hostel semi-frantically, trying to cram everything back into
the packs that obviously exploded the night before and swapping back things
that had been borrowed in our few days together. “Team RADIANT!” one of my logistical geniuses
yelled at us. “Your contact is here!”
I led my team outside in time to see an enormous white
creeper van rolling to a stop in front of the hostel (literally, turtle top
roof, rusty sides, one sliding door, bench seats arranged like couches, and
curtains covering the windows…uuuummmmmm….).
The diesel engine puttered and went out, exhausted, and two men crawled
out of the passenger side to greet us. Our
mission contact Andrei and our translator Peter introduced themselves and we
loaded all of our packs into the creepy van and took off for the Moldovan
countryside. Sometimes life on the World
Race looks kind of questionable from the outside – like, everything your
parents ever taught you about not getting into creepy van with strangers? Yeah, we don’t play by those rules
anymore…sorry, Jewels. I’m not going to
lie, though, the creepy van kind of reminded me of home – it smells and sounds
and looks like the inside of my dad’s work truck and I sort of love that. Anyway.
creeper van rolling to a stop in front of the hostel (literally, turtle top
roof, rusty sides, one sliding door, bench seats arranged like couches, and
curtains covering the windows…uuuummmmmm….).
The diesel engine puttered and went out, exhausted, and two men crawled
out of the passenger side to greet us. Our
mission contact Andrei and our translator Peter introduced themselves and we
loaded all of our packs into the creepy van and took off for the Moldovan
countryside. Sometimes life on the World
Race looks kind of questionable from the outside – like, everything your
parents ever taught you about not getting into creepy van with strangers? Yeah, we don’t play by those rules
anymore…sorry, Jewels. I’m not going to
lie, though, the creepy van kind of reminded me of home – it smells and sounds
and looks like the inside of my dad’s work truck and I sort of love that. Anyway.
We were driving through the grey landscape of Moldova and asking questions about where we were going and what we would be doing for the month when Andrei said, “Well, actually, you’re not really going to be in Moldova.” We all laughed, but then he continued. “No really – you’re not technically going to be in Moldova. We’re going to ПриднеÑ�тр�вÑ�каÑ� Молд�вÑ�каÑ� РеÑ�п�блика
.” In English, that would be pronounced “Transnistria.”
Okay. So when my route
switched and I was told that we were going to Moldova instead of Ukraine, I had
to Google it – sorry, little country, but I’d never heard of you before. Now Transnistria? WHAT IS TRANSNISTRIA?
switched and I was told that we were going to Moldova instead of Ukraine, I had
to Google it – sorry, little country, but I’d never heard of you before. Now Transnistria? WHAT IS TRANSNISTRIA?
Andre and Peter tried to explain it to us, but we only got
more confused – were they serious? Where
are we going? Also, imagine native
Russian speakers with fantastic Eastern European accents pronouncing
“Transistria” – it sounded like they were taking us to “Tr-awwwwhns-neeeeest –
streeee-aaauuhh.” Sure, that sounds like
a real place. Not nervous. Don’t worry about it.
more confused – were they serious? Where
are we going? Also, imagine native
Russian speakers with fantastic Eastern European accents pronouncing
“Transistria” – it sounded like they were taking us to “Tr-awwwwhns-neeeeest –
streeee-aaauuhh.” Sure, that sounds like
a real place. Not nervous. Don’t worry about it.
It turns out that Transnistria is actually its own
functioning entity within Moldova. It
lies on the border of Moldova and Ukraine and from what I can gather, it sounds
like a little man with a slight Napoleon complex. Regardless of the fact that the UN refuses to
recognize it as a real country and businesses within its borders still need to
register under Moldovan law, it has gone ahead and developed its own currency,
military, government, borders…everything it needs to be a real country, except
a US embassy (Andre explained this and said, “So you’ll have to be a little bit
quiet for the first couple of days, because you’re a little bit illegal until
we register you,” to which Peter promptly responded, “If it’s even possible for
you six to be quiet.” He knows us so
well.). Therefore, we’ll all be on our
BEST behavior for the month…because, you know…we’re hiding in a fake country
with a real military and that’s normal, because this is the World Race. Sure.
functioning entity within Moldova. It
lies on the border of Moldova and Ukraine and from what I can gather, it sounds
like a little man with a slight Napoleon complex. Regardless of the fact that the UN refuses to
recognize it as a real country and businesses within its borders still need to
register under Moldovan law, it has gone ahead and developed its own currency,
military, government, borders…everything it needs to be a real country, except
a US embassy (Andre explained this and said, “So you’ll have to be a little bit
quiet for the first couple of days, because you’re a little bit illegal until
we register you,” to which Peter promptly responded, “If it’s even possible for
you six to be quiet.” He knows us so
well.). Therefore, we’ll all be on our
BEST behavior for the month…because, you know…we’re hiding in a fake country
with a real military and that’s normal, because this is the World Race. Sure.
The more we figure out about Transnistria, the funnier it
gets. The president’s name is LITERALLY
**Igor Smirnoff – nobody could make that up.
The currency situation is ridiculous – we have to get Moldovan lei out
of an ATM and then cross a security checkpoint and hand over our passports
every time we need groceries, then exchange our lei for Transnistrian rubles –
good luck trying to figure out how much anything costs in USD. It’s just the funniest, weirdest, most
confusing experience of my life.
gets. The president’s name is LITERALLY
**Igor Smirnoff – nobody could make that up.
The currency situation is ridiculous – we have to get Moldovan lei out
of an ATM and then cross a security checkpoint and hand over our passports
every time we need groceries, then exchange our lei for Transnistrian rubles –
good luck trying to figure out how much anything costs in USD. It’s just the funniest, weirdest, most
confusing experience of my life.
I think that Peter summed it up the best on that first ride
away from the hostel. He and Andrei were
laughing at how confused we were and at one point, he just turned around in the
front seat and said, “Basically, welcome to the Matrix.”
away from the hostel. He and Andrei were
laughing at how confused we were and at one point, he just turned around in the
front seat and said, “Basically, welcome to the Matrix.”
Thanks, Peter. It’s good
to be here.
to be here.
**I purposefully misspelled his last name to throw off the Google hounds that may or may not be searching for illegal missionaries in Transnistria (I’m going to say that nobody is doing that…but just in case. I don’t want to blow our cover.), but that is exactly how Igor’s last name is pronounced. Too much.
