Saturday, June 28, 2014

The Things I Do For Ultimate

I went from having little to write about to having essays to complete!!

Over the past few days I frequented a couple more restaurants and coffee shops and met new people. I wandered into a sweetshop called Delice D‘ange. Does the name itself not make you want to bake a cake and let the rich, bittersweet flavor melt smoothly over your taste buds? I tried a strawberry shortcake slice and it was joyous. Look at the beauty of unhealthy amounts of sugar.


On Thursday night, I met with Daniela, a Lehigh Global Village alum at Eli Pili Restaurant. She was very engaging and we talked at length about schooling, the differences in drive of people who live in respective countries, and many other topics.

Later in the night I met with Raluca at the Rodrigo restaurant. It was Hispanic Thursday so many Latinos and Spaniards who live in Moldova were watching the USA vs. Germany game there. We had appetizers with a bottle of wine with whoever came to chat with us. Raluca knows everybody in town. That is how you fundraise! Later we went to Eli Pili (again!) and had a couple drinks with her neighbors. One being from Canada had an “American” accent. For some reason it felt great to hear English unmarred by other accents, but in no way am I trying to be offensive to anyone who has does have one! I have loved meeting everyone here, and am grateful to those who can converse in English with me!

AAAANNNNDDDDD…..highlight of the week…..

I FOUND AN ULTIMATE TEAM IN MOLDOVA!!!!!!!!! I JUST THREW A DISC FOR THE FIRST TIME IN TWO WEEKS.

I found the Flying Mamaligas’ Facebook page a couple days ago and contacted them. They told me they were practicing last night at 6:30. By the time I got home it already was 6:30 so I dropped everything and rushed out the door in a dress (I was meeting someone afterwards).  It took me about an hour and a half to get to the Parcul Dendrarrium where they practice. WHO creates a park with only one entrance located ON THE FAR SIDE OF CHISINAU?? That being said, the park is HUGE so once I had walked the full length of it to get to the entrance, I spent about 30 minutes inside weaving through all sorts of trees and flowers and bushes and streams trying to find their practice! It was all worth it, though, when I saw the familiar setup of orange cones (on the less than mediocre field, of course). I met the team who welcomed me immediately. On the sideline, I talked with Natalia for a long time. She injured her knee a couple months ago and in order to play again she would need surgery, which is too expensive. That is such a bummer. Well I threw with her for a few minutes and feeling a disc fly off my fingers was the best feeling in the world.

Following the practice, I took the minibus for the first time by myself! Minibuses are the public transportation in Chisinau, but I don’t really fancy their system. There are a multiple buses labeled with numbers that drive around the city all day and pick up/drop off people. But they are inefficient in that they will pick people up wherever and drop people off wherever! There are no bus stops so a bus could end up stopping five times in two hundred yards. The buses are also unlabeled by the routes the take, so I have no idea which bus I need to get on to get to my house, or the Hospice. It’s crazy, but it is part of the culture here! Anyway, I successfully flagged on down and dropped myself off right next to my house. A small personal glory!


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