By Matthew Suppelsa from USA.  

9th of May: A Divisive Celebration

The 9th of May is a very important day in most CIS countries, as it is a day of recognition of the Allied forces’ defeat of Germany following the Red Army’s invasion of Berlin.

Although the largest celebrations are of course held in Moscow, the Russian Embassy sponsored a sizeable celebration in Chisinau as well, which took place in the center of the city, on Stefan cel Mare street.

This was my first time experiencing first-hand the 9th of May celebrations, since this day is not recognized in the United States. The day certainly marks an important event -- one that changed the course of history, and prevented the spread of a certain evil, Fascism, throughout the European continent. Since the USSR suffered by far the largest number of casualties in World War II, their contribution in the defeat of the Axis forces is of great significance.

Before heading to the celebrations in the center of the city, I visited the Eternal Flame, where there is a large memorial commemorating those who died in the war. There were multiple war veterans, all of whom were welcomed as heroes. Those in attendance distributed flowers to the veterans to show their respect.

Although the event that the 9th of May celebrations commemorates is of great importance, and one that I certainly support, I was struck by the divisions that the 9th of May celebrations brought upon Moldovan society. It was my observation that the majority of people who attended the celebrations were primarily Russian speakers, and reminisced about the Soviet Union. At the Eternal Flame, there was even a banner which read “Our Homeland, USSR”. Almost every Romanian-speaker that I talked to ...

By Eugenia Doros. Projects Abroad Moldova supervisor.

Such an insignificant and usual thing at the first sight, ceramics are  in fact some of the most important “messengers” of ancient civilizations. Besides practical functions, it is considered to be one of the earliest domestic industries, and still survives today. The processing of clay, as well as wood, stone, textile and plants has had a remarkable evolution over time, and led to the formation of traditional folk civilization dating from the Neolithic period.

Though pottery has a primarily practical function, ceramics are still used in decorative purposes, both in construction, and in certain rituals. A “traditional” house  contains many clay pots -- including pitchers, cups, bowls, and plates, as well as pots for milk keeping,  large pots in which food is prepared for religious holidays, flower vases, statues, whistles, and toys, among others.

Before firing, the clay should be prepared through cleaning, fermentation, kneading, shaping, drying, and ornamentation. These are the stages that transform the simple clay into true pieces of art. From the beginning the clay of the best quality is brought into court and left for “leavening" for several weeks. During this process, the clay is crumbled and sprinkled with water from time to time. Then clay is cut into large pieces, beaten and watered. The next stage takes place in the potter’s workshop, where the pieces of clay, occasionally called “cakes”, are placed on a wooden platform, mixed with legs cley, and then with hands until it has a greasy appearance. Afterwards, the clay is sliced with a large knife and mixed again to give it a smooth paste, which is then divided into round equal-sized pieces. When ...

By Matt Suppelsa from USA. Journalism project. (перевод тоже Матта)

Перед началом моей работе в офисе газете Труд в Молдове, я путешествовал около два месяца. Я провел большую часть своего времени в Балканском регионе. Я посетил Хорватию, Боснию и Герцеговинию, Черногориe, Македонию, Болгарию и Сербию. Я был особенно заинтересован в этом регионе из-за недавних исторических событиях, в том числе и за войне в 1990-х годах после распада Югославии, а также потому что Балканы еще "неоткрытый" регион Европы.

Мой первый опыт на Балканах был в Хорватию. Я прибыл в столице Загреб, на австрийском поезде из Вены. Поезд  прибыл в полночь на час позже. Кроме того, проводник в поезде сообщил нам, что главная станция ("Glavi Kolodvor" на хорватском языке) было закрыта для строительства. В результате, последняя станция на поезде прекращалась на вокзале в Севере города, где не было никаких  банкоматов чтобы я смог взять хорватские деньги для такси. Я должен был идти пешком около трех километров в полночь, прежде чем ...

By Ana Zaiat, student and collaborator with Projects Abroad Moldova.

The museum is located within a building which is outstanding due to its architecture and history. It was rebuilt after the earthquake which took place in 1977.

The museum was founded in 1983 based on funds provided by the State Museum of the Region and by the Republican Museum of Military Glory. After 1991 the museum took the possession of the collections of the abolished museums such as: Republican Museum “G.I. Kotovski and S. Laso” (established in 1948), The Museum of Peoples’ Friendship (1970), the Museum of History of Communist Party of the SSRM (1970), the Soviet Museum of Scientific Atheism(1970).

Within the museum patrimony there are over 250.000 exhibits and collections, the permanent exhibition occupies 6 halls with an area of about 200 m2.

Within archaeological exhibition there are showpieces of undeniable value. These are: the Thracian Sward made of bronze (11th-10th century BC), Cimmerian boiler, the thesaurus from Olanesti village (helmets, lamps etc) dating to 4th century BC, coins belonging to geto-dacian, Engolpion Crosses of Byzantine which date as far as to 11th -13th century.

Among showpieces of national patrimony there are: the book “Apostol”, book-manuscripts based on the original of the chronicler N. Milescu Spataru from the Vagov monastery (1742), Dmitrie Cantemir’s books, History of Ottoman Empire (Hamburg 1745), Map of Moldova drawn by Bawr (Amsterdam, 1971).

Due to the permanent exhibition one can notice the history of Moldova beginning with ancient times up to 50s of the 20th century. Other two permanent exhibitions are smaller and specially arranged. These are “Thesaurus” exhibition (numismatic showpieces, medals, objects ...

By Matthew Suppelsa from USA. Journalism project 2 months in Moldova.

An international accounting conference was held at the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova (ASEM) in Chisinau on April 5, with a focus on European integration from both an academic and professional context.

The conference was hosted jointly by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the international governing body of the profession, the Association of Professional Accountants and Auditors of Moldova (ACAP), as well as ASEM. There were a total of four panels, each working with a certain aspect of European integration and standardization for the profession in Moldova.

The first panel dealt with the transition to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), which have been introduced in Moldova in two phases: credit institutions began implementation in the beginning of 2012, and the second and final phase was launched in the beginning of 2013.

Alexandru Nederita, professor at ASEM, highlighted some of the challenges facing Moldova in implementing the IFRS standard. One of such issues was that there are still three different methods of financial reporting: the IFRS standard, simplified financial reports, and complete financial reports completed in the old fashion. Dr Nederita also noted that since IFRS has been implemented in Moldova, reports can be up to 6,000 pages long, including over 3,000 different data points. This, Dr Nederita lamented, is too much for a small organization to handle. In addition to the length of reporting, he also lamented that the National Standards of Accounting (SNC) for 2014 have been formulated without consulting a committee of professional accountants; instead, the State Tax Service (FISC) formed the new standards.

The first panel also heard ...