April-May 2004

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Heather M. Hodges:
“My Priority is to Help the Citizens of Moldova Create a Better Future for Themselves and Their Children”
Welcome: Your Excellency, could you please say just a few words about yourself?
I am proud to be a U.S. Foreign Service Officer and have been in the service for twenty-three years. I have spent most of my career in Spain and Latin America, so Moldova is an area of the world that is new and interesting for me. I enjoy being a Foreign Service Officer because it gives me the opportunity to serve my country and learn about peoples and cultures around the world. I also have the opportunity to contribute to improving ties between the U.S. and other countries where I have served. Continued >>>

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The Unhappiest Country In The World
Moldovans are the unhappiest people in the world. That's according to data from the World Values Survey, whose researchers interviewed tens of thousands of people in over 60 countries during the last decade. Only 44% of people in Moldova said they were happy, the lowest proportion of all the countries surveyed. Is Moldova really such an unhappy place, and why? Continued >>>

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Lilia Solomei: A Vocal Career
Lilia Solomei, a young soloist of the National Opera, has recently completed a training course in the Leipzig Higher School of Music and Theatre named after Felix Mendelssohn-Bartoldi. Her charming lyrical coloratura soprano attracted attention during the latest edition of "Va invita Maria Biesu".
Lilia has a wide range of creative interests: from classics to jazz and the newest music of the 20th century. This charming classical Rosina and Gilda freely cooperates with "Improviz-quintet" youth company mastering Spanish ladino, jazz compositions and popular hits, and her participation in the recent Festival of New Music was quite a success. Continued >>>

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Salvador Dali: On The Trail Of A Legend
Not only was he one of the twentieth century's foremost artists, Salvador Dali was also one of its greatest celebrities. Although he is no longer with us, his art lives on, and we can get a glimpse of his world by tracing his footsteps.
Many art enthusiasts seek to get an insight into creation by great artists of the past through their works. They visit museums and peruse thick books filled with glossy reproductions of famous masterpieces. But in order to get a deeper understanding of the artist, one needs to visit the places where he lived and worked, to step into his shoes for a day and attempt to see the world the way he saw it. Continued >>>

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