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It was kind of a memorial trip. My friends and I used to visit Ladoga lake many times a long time ago and we loved the lake and nearby forest. The Ladoga lake was favorite place of my friend LG, who recently died from cancer. It was on Ladoga where he broke his toe during soccer game, and broke my nose with his head during another rough soccer game. We were pretty reckless. It was not just our group habit, it was generally accepted approach to life in Russia and still is. If you put a safety belt in car for example, the driver will feel insulted. Once our recklessness resulted in tragic death, on Ladoga lake also. We took abandoned boat and tried to sail on it to the city of Priozersk. Boat sunk and one guy, VM, drowned.

Trip to Russia 2004

Alex Mumzhiu
2006-03-22 19:00:59

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Russian government.

It was people of different nationalities between emigrants. Last name of my grandfather fits to the pattern of last names of Gagauzas, a small ethnic group.

http://www.jmu.edu/orgs/wrni/gagauzia24.htm

See for comparison other Gagauz last names:

Mum-zhi (candle maker, mum is candle)
Gaidar-zhi (Flute player, gaidar is flute)
Kuind-zhi (Jeweler, kuind is jewelry)

I found several people with name Mumzhiev there. Mumzhiev is obviously Russified version of Mumzhi. Last name Mumzhiu is not as common but also exists.

I visited also city Komrat, the capitol of Gaguzian autonomic region in Moldavia and learned a lot about Gagauz national character. Gagauzas are freedom loving people, who are not easy manageable. They are also known for their short temper. These Gagauz national character features were recognized even by authorities. Gagauzas are not drafted to army! This trip to the history helped me to understand my own character better. I have 1/4 of Gagauzian blood from my grandfather.

Alex Mumzhiu
Bucharest, Romania
Sept 21 2004 8pm

Last trip report from summer 2004 trip

My dear readers,

I would like to remind you that my last trip report was from my grandfather hometown Bolgrad on the border of Ukraine and Moldavia. From the Bolgrad I went to Moldova, then to Rumania's capitol Bucharest. I was in Bucharest in the summer of 2000. According to my observation at that time, the Bucharest was plagued by the gypsies who attacked the pass-byers, the wild street dogs and wild prostitutes who also attack pass-byers, but unlike dogs they attacked males only. Times changed. I did not noticed any of above mentioned spices, but pollution became terrible now, too many cars. This is probably the sign of progress.

From Bucharest I went to the Belgrade the capitol of former Yugoslavia, now what ...