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Buna ziua!

I redeemed a gift card to purchase books to prepare for my trip. It was like Christmas when the box arrived, complete with several Romanian language CDs, travel guides for Eastern Europe, and comparative judicial process texts. (This was in addition to the books/CDs/DVDs/cassettes I borrowed from the Pinellas County Library System (thanks Gulf Beaches ILL!)

The shipment included (but was not limited to)

Romanian Dictionary and Phrasesbook
Eastern Europe Phrasebook
The Moldovans: Romania, Russia, and the Politics of Culture
Lonely Planet's Eastern Europe
Rick Steves' Eastern Europe
Teach Yourself Romanian (CD/book)
Pimsleur's Conversational Romanian (CDs)
Mark Tushnet's Weak Courts, Strong Rights: Judicial Review and Social Welfare Rights in Comparative Constitutional Law

In future posts, I will share interesting tidbits from these materials.

There is a dearth of travel information out there about Moldova, but I must say that I do appreciate the Lonely Planet's section on Moldova.

For each country, the guide has a bullet point for "Famous for." According to LP, Moldova is famous for

wine
folk art
breakaway regions

I am making progress with the (1st set of) Romanian CDs. I will be starting Lesson 7 tomorrow. (I still find it somewhat amusing/troubling that often these lessons tend to instruct using a man propositioning a woman. E.g., today I learned how to invite someone to diner over at my place. This is my first time trying to learn a foreign language via audio program, so I don't know if this is typical - or if it is unique to Romanian. I have 3 more sets of Romanian CDs/cassettes, so I can compare soon enough)

La revedere