It's football, not soccer

I began my first day of work today! I did not oversleep this time, and arrived at the office at 11:00am after a meeting with American Councils at 10:00. We have not yet established a definite work schedule for me but have agreed that I will be responsible for a new social media approach we will be implementing. Every few days, we will begin to post on the Hospice Angelus Facebook website, facts about palliative care. What it is, who it is meant for, societal views on it, research being done to improve it, and many other interesting troves of information. We are doing this to raise awareness of the necessity of palliative care and hospices and the constant demand for donations. Hospice Angelus is partners with Hospices of Hope in the UK and they receive 25% of their donations from the UK organization. The rest has to come from beneficiaries and other everyday donors. 

The hospice is also running a fundraiser during the month of June by giving these mascots to anyone who sponsors a home visit to someone in need of palliative care. It costs 200 Moldovan Lei, which is about $15. If you would like to donate (and receive 

a mascot!) please take a look at the flyer I posted. 

Well after work I visited a popular coffee shop called Tucano, about five minutes from the office. I ordered a Frozzychino Caramelo, which was similar to a Dunkin’ Donuts’ coolatta in terms of texture, but overall the Frozzychino was much better (and pretty unhealthy)! I stayed there for a few hours with my laptop, just relaxing and enjoying the atmosphere.

At 6:30, I met some coworkers and some new friends at an outdoor convention center, set up especially for the World Cup. These centers are located in many places around Chisinau, and provide locals and visitors with a place to watch the football games. The perimeter of the center is surrounded by beer companies selling cups for around $1 and fast food joints. My one coworker, Tomas, is from Belgium and he came out in full force with a large Belgium flag around his neck like a cape. I loved watching his reaction when they scored and won!

I met some new people last night who have come to Moldova with the European Voluntary Service, which is almost like the internship program I am doing, except the applicants include all of Europe! That’s quite a bit more competition. Tony is from the UK and he is doing service in an animal rescue shelter, which is really helpful because there are thousands of stray dogs and cats here. Lasse is from Germany and he is working with wheelchair accessibility and the infrastructure necessary to make Chisinau more wheelchair-friendly. Tomas is also here with the same program and he is working with the Hospice Angelus. They all have very important jobs and it’s great they are here. 

As we also watched the Mexico vs. Brazil game, I came home around 12am last night, and was thus unable to write this post earlier. Sorry about that! It seems as though I'll be writing everyday. There are simply too many things I experience every day for me not to keep writing!