April 2003

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Chisinau in Focus
Butter McSandwiches Anyone? Imagine the world’s leading food retailer, with more than 30,000 restaurants in 118 countries, serving more than 46 million customers a day. Image a brand so masterfully popularized that its world famous “golden arches” logo can conjure up the smell of French Fries and trigger an appetite. Imagine a restaurant so much loved by kids from all over the world that it can find a place in seemingly any culture. Is this your picture of McDonald’s? But for this author at least, this once favourite fast food restaurant now finds that the pieces of its advertising jigsaw puzzle no longer fit into place. Continued >>>

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Singing Is Her Destiny
The name of Margareta Ivanus – People’s Artist of the Republic of Moldova, Holder of Grand Prix of the Golden Chrysanthemum Festival – is well known not only in our country but also far abroad. For over thirty years she has proved to be a versatile singer performing successfully both classical music and pop songs. Her natural gift is to join together genres which are typically thought to be unconnected into her own unique style, and with her skill of melding “serious” and “light” music, her performing manner is always original and easy to distinguish. Margareta Ivanus always steps on the stage smiling, bringing the warmth of her soul to the audience, and her beautiful performances guarantee an unforgettable occasion. Continued >>>

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FUGU – THE DEADLY DELICACY!
Japanese maxim: “To throw away life, eat fugu.”
Fugu is the Japanese name for the most delicate, dangerous, and expensive fish in the world that, in spite of being extremely poisonous, continues to be the most stimulating delicacy for special feasts in Japan. Because of its small fins fugu is a very sluggish, clumsy, and fatuous-looking fish, which has developed the peculiar defense mechanism of gulping large amounts of water into its stomach so as to inflate and turn its chubby body into a menacing spiky ball twice its normal size, leaving predators unable to swallow it. The name “fugu” comes from “fuku” (to swell, to blow) as in the Japanese proverb about people who internalize their worries: “If you don’t speak (about your problems), your stomach swells.” Continued >>>

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