Moldovan Language (as told by the Soviets)

It is commonly agreed that Romanian is a Roman language and throughout the history it made sense that its written form has to be based on the Latin alphabet. It is pretty easy to argue that in Moldova we speak Romanian, due to the shared history, and the fact that in the XIXth century this was the official narrative. However when in 1940, Moldova became a part of the Soviet Union the officials tried to change this narrative to impact ideas of identity in the country. Instead of Romanian in Latin script, Moldovan in Cyrillic became the official language for administrative communication and education. While the two languages are virtually the same, in Moldova we just pronounce everything softer, the idea promoted by the politician in Moscow was that the Romanian for Moldova is nothing but an imposed imperialistic language. Proof for that, many argued, was the fact that Cyrillic alphabet better mirrored the sounds of the spoken language. Spoiler alert: it did not.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, we have reverted to the Latin based alphabet. However, pro-Russian politicians still try to promote the narrative of a non-existing Moldovan language in Cyrillic script. 

Bibliography:  https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-languages-are-spoken-in-moldova.html

Marshrutka

Marshrutkas are privately /publicly owned buses that travel between cities. While we did not invent inter-urban transportation, we are extensively using it as a mean of communication that long ago expanded beyond Moldovan borders. It all started in the XXth century, when we actually got a system of inter-urban transportation, with open borders within the Soviet Union, many choose to study/work in the  countries or bigger cities. This meant that at age 17 many young people left their villages to pursue degrees in different locations. Many of the students were not working and bank transfers were not yet available. To cheat the system and help their kids, parents often reached out to the drivers of this buses. For a small fee, they were happy to transport: money, food, clothing that was to be collected by the receiver at a designated bus station.

Today, bank transfers are commonly used, but this system did not become obsolete, rather expanded in magnitude. Moldovans living abroad often use this to send parcels to their loved ones for lower prices (around 1-2 USD for 1 kg).