A homeland visit to Balti, Moldova after almost 25 years

I found myself in an unplanned trip back to the city of Balti after not visiting since I left as a child. Read into my flashback to childhood

I have been born in Moldova, in the city of Balti. My parents decided to move when I was 8 years old, and I never came back until now. This post will not be a traveling post, but more a description of a young man going back into his childhood.

Why now?

Technically speaking, I was born in the Soviet Union, but as the world likes it, documents from the Soviet Union are not accepted anywhere so my birth certificate needed an update.

This is not how I imagined my first visit back to the place I was born. I imagined a travel plan, a month or two of going around the country along with my partner in crime, showing her around everywhere and speaking some languages she does not speak to try to impress her even after years of being together.

What I got instead is a rushed last-minute flight visit to get a document.

The arrival

Fortunately, my parents still have friends living in Moldova, so I could arrange everything last minute. I got picked up in the Chisinau airport, and went straight to Balti. The driver was a friend of my dad and the father of my best friend until the age of 8, which like me, had moved out long time ago. Although I haven't seen him for almost 25 years, I recognized him almost immediately. As I was exiting the airport, a familiar man in his early seventies was standing there, and once I looked at him he smiled and said "You look just like your dad". "I believe you are waiting for me then" I answered.

In the two and a half hour ride we caught up on what happened in the last 25 years, how is his son, and how are my parents. It was already late evening and there was a storm brewing so I mostly saw a dark road until we arrived to their house. Somehow, without seeing anything, I felt right at home.

The forgotten

I realized that as a child I haven't seen much of the city, and even though I had forgotten how to speak Romanian since we moved I felt that I belong. After I went to the registry to get my document I went to discover the city, which was the first time I am aware I was doing that. The city felt like a village to me, big but small, old but modern (or at least more modern than I remember)... I, of course, found the only brewery in town and spent some time having local beers.

A side note:

To avoid confusion if you are using Google Maps, on the same street you can find: Beermaster Brewery - The brewery itself, they make the beer there

Beermaster Pub - A shop where you can buy bottles of draft beer from the brewery

Beshop - The pub of the brewery, where you can actually sit and try some beers

Back to the story. After roaming around the city for a few hours I went back home, where some homemade food that I haven't tasted for a while waited for me. Even though I did not remember anything, I felt right at home.

The remembered

I only remember some specific places from my childhood. To start with the memories, I went to the graveyard to find the graves of my grandparents to report to my father that I was there. As before, I did not remember any of it. Even when we reached the graveyard, I've had to call my aunt to explain from memory how to find the place they were buried in. But once I saw the graves the flashback begun. I remembered going there as a child with my parents, always putting a rock on the grave and having a shot of vodka, as per tradition. I did not have vodka with me, but I did pay my respects.

The next stop was the neighborhood where we were living. Once I arrived there the real flashback begun. The scenery has changed a bit, but I could close my eyes and walk around remembering where is everything located. I felt like I have never left!

I walked around and then went to the apartment my hosts were living 25 years ago, where I spent a lot of my time visiting my best friend. The apartment looked just the same. Once we opened the door, I remembered when everything is and got automatically oriented to the kitchen and my friend's former room, the two rooms I spent the most time in. After the pleasant memories I decided to try my luck and see if anyone lives in the apartment we used to live in. The building felt familiar, I went up the stairs and met an older man going slowly up the stairs. I asked him if he knows who lives in the apartment I was looking for, and he told me that the apartment is empty and locked - he turned out to be the neighbor from the apartment across the hall, the same one that was living there when we were. A quick selfie of proof to trigger my dad's memory and I went on my way, no childhood apartment this time.

The last stop of my memory lane was the school where I went for first grade, and my mother used to work in as a teacher.

Other than the obvious aging of matter, with a few cracks on the walls, the place looked exactly the same. The same classrooms I studied in and my mother taught in, with some class photos from 30 years ago with my mom as the teacher. Outside of the school there is a road that we used to slide with our sleighs in the winter when the road was frozen, exactly where I remembered.

Final thoughts

Even though I discovered that I actually know nothing about the city where I was born, and saw only a fraction of it as a child, the feeling was that i am from there. Every child reminded me of me at that age, every person my age was like a mirror to what I am now, every older person was an exact copy of my parents. The way people walk, the way they talk, the way they smile, all seems too familiar.

I have spent here 2 very busy days of a last-minute unplanned visit and I'm writing this post from the airport full of impressions. Have I missed it? I'm not sure. Does it feel like home? 100%!

Those were my feelings, if you have similar stories, or you see yourself between these lines, feel free to share!