When I arrived
in Chişinău, I was naturally terrified by the
state of the roads and the recklessness of the taxi driver as well as being
amazed at the state of the many buildings that had been left to rot and the
so-called 'green spaces' that had gone a pale shade of yellow from the dry
heat. I remember the taxi driver asking me how far behind I thought Moldova was
compared to the UK. My British politeness (and foreigner's fear) caused me to
lie and say "Oh, not too far... maybe 10 years!" but as the days
turned into weeks and weeks turned into months I found myself realising that
saying Moldova was 10 years behind Britain was an understatement: try 40 years.
Allow me to explain. I'm from a country
that is regarded as 'tolerant'. Until recently, I took this observation for
granted: the fact that being gay isn't an issue; the belief that women have
every right to want to have a career before having a family or not having a
family at all; the declining importance of marriage; the rising emphasis on
individuality... I took all of this for granted until I came here. I had no
idea that being a left-wing, liberal, atheist, bisexual, ambitious feminist was
regarded as something of an abnormality here as I was so used to not really
being noticed in my home town of Edinburgh.
