Trivia Night!

Oof I have got to work on my updating skills! It's been a while...

On Wednesday night Hospice Angelus hosted Trivia Night at Gallo Pub. This event has been happening every second Wednesday of the month and is a great night for everyone who attends. We created eight rounds of trivia questions, with categories such as geography, local knowledge, history, music, a connections round (with Netherlands for the connection), top 10 movies, etc. During "intermission," we had a raffle for various prizes like restaurant vouchers and gift cards. We drew after all the rounds before the winner of the trivia was announced. Participants were allowed to have teams of up to six people. This month we had 28 teams register, which is pretty good apparently! We raised 378 euros (about $515)!

Origami!!!!

The night before I found the origami I brought with me in my suitcase and showed Amelia how to make a crane. She was fascinated and a day later had made a dozen of them, all beautifully done, after learning with me only twice! Most adults would never be able to manage that!

I also began teaching English to four of the Hospice medical team on Tuesday! To be honest, I was so nervous beforehand, but I arrived about fifteen minutes early to the office, and Diana, one of the women I am teaching, was also early. She had learned enough conversation English for me to understand her so we talked easily until the person with the key came. That conversation really helped me to relax and feel comfortable before the lesson so I am grateful to her. Once the class began, I got to know my three other coworkers. As this was their first lesson not taught by Raluca, they were a little off-put by the fact that I couldn't speak and translate to Romanian. I was not sure they enjoyed the lesson but strangely enough I had loved it and went to American Councils the next day to borrow some teaching materials which I'll now use for the rest of the time I am here.

That first day I had prepared a lesson around the simple past tense with regular verbs, but I also spontaneously included prepositions, as they were desperate for definitions and examples of them. My lessons will continue every Tuesday and Thursday for the rest of my time here. I am going to try to integrate a lot more speaking and listening, as I believe that is the only way to truly become fluent. I am excited to continue! I also promised them that after I leave I will try to find them a native-speaking teacher from American Councils so I hope that works out, as they were dismayed to hear today that I would be leaving so soon!

To wrap up the weekday's events, we held a volunteer party at the office on Friday night. But because the sky decided to downpour and thunderstorm for the entire duration of the party, and the fact that maxi taxis (the most widely used transportation) were not running, only about eight to ten people were at the party! But it was definitely an a great way to bond with the people who worked there!

Just a side note on why the maxi taxis were not running: the government recently decided to increase the transportation fee from 3 lei to 5 lei, and the residents of Chisinau were not too happy about it. The government then shut down most of the marshrutkas, as they're called. It has been quite peaceful without scary white Mercedes-Benz trucks trying to run you over every other second! Finally today they signed an agreement that decreased the number of marshrutkas that will run throughout the city, in an attempt to increase the safety of pedestrians. The people also win as the fee will remain 3 lei!

Some work and some disappointment...

This week is busy for the Hospice! On Monday night we had our Tune My June wrap-up party in order to thank all the sponsors and beneficiaries. Hosted by the Austrian Embassy just down the road, we went to set up our banners, pamphlets, and HOS-Mascots.  We had a great cover band playing as well as the bartender from Buffalo Steakhouse making a green martini for us, to represent the HOS-Mascots. We also had catering providing a great dinner including many Moldovan foods, like sarmale, cladita, whole roasted fish, many roasted vegetables, and chicken kebobs. The champagne was also very good.

At the party I met many people, such as more hospice workers and volunteers, people from embassies, and notably the lead actor from Pretty in Pink, the play we received a portion of funds from. I also met Tim, an embassy worker who is half Philippine and Chinese. We reminisced on the lack of Chinese food and Asian food in general! I came home that night around 10pm and exhausted! I didn’t realize how much I had been standing in my heels until I tried to walk home. My feet hated me!

The next day was the highly anticipated football game between Brazil and Germany. Of course, you all know what happened. I was walking a bit late to the viewing center when Germany scored their first goal, about 10 minutes into the first half. At the time, I was so happy for them!! The underdogs coming out to make the match interesting! When I arrived at the Opera House viewing center, I couldn’t find my friends as it was absolutely packed so while I waited for Tony to come meet me, I distractedly watched, and then Germany scored their second goal! People went nuts. I couldn’t believe it!! How was it happening!?

By halftime, I was watching the dejected Brazilian fans on the screen and couldn’t help but sympathize deeply with them. My freshman year at Lehigh, when Gravity (Lehigh Women’s Ultimate team) competed at the Sectionals tournament in April, we began the tournament with a confident mindset and of the belief that we would win our game against Messiah to advance to Regionals. We came in behind Messiah right behind the last team to qualify for Regionals. Heartbroken, I broke down in tears alongside my captains. Luckily, we were able to attend Regionals as Bucknell withdrew. I don’t think that is going to happen with Germany in the World Cup.

People were beside themselves with joy at the center, but all I could feel was compassion. I don’t think anyone else understood what Brazil was feeling and had any pity for them. I enjoyed my early morning walk home to contemplate on thoughts feely feels…

Mirjam (from Germany) was happy that night!

Anyhow, I felt as though I was reliving that game I played and the aftermath that night, and it was a struggle! I went home and even wrote a poem about my experience! Which will not be making it onto this blog, as I’m not that ready to share my most nerdy side. Keeping this blog is enough!

Purpuriu

Last Saturday Angee, Marina, and I went to visit a couple of churches here in the city, including the cathedral in Parcul Catedral. The interiors were beautiful, all gilded, making the church reflect the soft yellow light of the prayer candles through the rooms.

Next we went to the Natural History museum (on 31 August 1989!) and walked through a timeline exhibit of Moldova’s turmoil of a history. We learned about Stefan cel Mare, Bessarabia, and finally gaining independence by becoming Moldova.

We went to dinner at Circiuma, a small traditional restaurant that had mannequins dressed in Ies, the Moldovan blouses. Inside we sampled zeama soup, more placinte, cladita (little crepes with cheese inside) and orez cum legumes (rice with vegetables).  Yumyum!

Marina then took us to this giant shopping center that looks like several separate stores from the outside but is all connected on the inside, with little tiny cubicles that have a variety of goods being sold. Everything from shoes to prom dresses to notebooks and pens! I bought a schedule notebook for work and three 0.6 width pens. They write so prettily I love them! And one of them is purple!!

So little ketchup...It makes me sad

Belated Happy 4^th from Moldova!!! I have to admit I did not celebrate as much as I intended to. My grand plan for Independence Day was to leave the Hospice at 1pm, get on a maxi taxi and go to the American Councils celebration around 1:30, then attend the US Marines party after. None of those plans bore any fruit. What actually happened: I ate lunch with Raluca, Marina, and Diana, the two new interns, at Buffalo Steakhouse. The highlight of my celebration was the burger and fries I ordered!

I proceeded to get on a maxi taxi, number 103, which I then rode all the way to the headquarters. Being the only one left on the taxi, the driver attempted to communicate with me where I needed to go, and pointed me onto the right taxi. I then rode around for another thirty minutes before beginning to recognize road names again. Being fed up with those taxis, I got off and subsequently went to Tucano’s and ordered a nice iced coffee to soothe my frustration.

I ended up going to an outdoor bar right next to my house called Paluba which had the football match on. There were about fifty US Peace Corps volunteers celebrating the 4^th in true American fashion: drinking, eating, and disrupting the peace! They definitely did not fall short of identifying themselves and the occasion for celebration as all of them were wearing some wild combination of red, white, and blue. Although I could have joined them I wasn’t feeling the same sense of national pride so I sat with some EVS friends on the side and learned how to play Gobb It!

It certainly is much more difficult to celebrate one’s holiday when the vast majority of people around you don’t acknowledge it!

Good Game, Belgium!

Unfortunately my tediously painted nails did not bring much luck to the USA soccer team competing in the world cup. I spent three hours on them on Monday, and for what??? Luckily, July 4^th was right around the corner so they sufficed for both!

The game versus Belgium was the first USA game I watched because all the other ones were at 1am in Moldova. I wasn’t about to stay out till 3:30 to watch a sport I don’t care all that much about…so as a result, I was adamant about watching this one! I contacted Matt, the Peace Corps volunteer from NJ, and we all went to the opera house fan-viewing center. At first it was Matt and myself with a number of Europeans from the EVS, but then a bunch of other Peace Corps volunteers showed up and we had a whole table of us! That night I met Ethan from Maine, Quinn, Chris, and a couple others. We did a pretty good job representing USMNT in my opinion. We had an “I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN” cheer (to no avail) and a “Howard” cheer going from our table. We were the only USA fans there; everyone else was representing their continental neighbor.

In the end, we held our own against Belgium. Meaning Tim Howard carried the team on his shoulders. I have some newfound respect for that man. Ah well, we did our best, and that’s what counts!!

The best thing that resulted from our loss... --> 

La Multi Ani!

I’m officially two decades old as of yesterday. The word “decade” sounds ancient, does it not? And I’m not only one decade old, have TWO decades under my belt now!

We celebrated my birthday at the Tbilisi restaurant on Stefan cel Mare Boulevard. It serves Georgian cuisine, which I’ve never had before but all the food was mouth-watering! We had Khinkali, a huge dumpling with meat and juice inside. The right way to eat them is to bite a small hole in the dumpling then suck out all the juice and then eat the meat and rest of the dumpling. We also had Khachapuri, which was basically pizza without tomato sauce. Surprisingly delicious! Finally we had a couple plates of hot grilled meats, like pork and beef. The wine they served with dinner might be one of the best wines I’ve tried so far here as well. Unfortunately, it is hand made in their restaurant. I wonder if they sell it…

Raluca actually initiated the planning for the dinner, her being the excellent fundraising coordinator that she is, and she began planning it right away. I’m grateful to her for it; otherwise I would probably have not gotten around to it myself! It was Raluca, myself, Vera and Amelia, Gero, Christina (my coworker) and her boyfriend Igor, Angee, and Tony. I was bummed Tomas and Elena couldn’t make it but they’ll be here next week!

Afterward we went out to the 513 Bar and had a bit of champagne. It was a great night and I’m so glad everyone came and celebrated with me! I loved the gifts I received, which were totally unexpected. Vera, the bag was perfect, just what I needed. The scarf is also very beautiful. Amelia's bracelets I have worn a few times now. Angee's scarf/shawl is vibrant and I plan to hang it on my wall at Lehigh next year to brighten my room! And American Councils, thank you for the Moldova shirt! Then everyone will ask me what Moldova is and I will educate them! And thank you so much to Gero and Raluca, who so generously paid for the dinner. Finally, thank you Tony for walking me back so I didn’t have to take a taxi! Taxis will always be sketchy.

Pale Gold, With a Pear Aroma, and a Bubbly Splash of Peaches

I’ve developed a bad habit of waking up two hours before I actually need to leave and simply lying in bed for the rest of the time I could be dreaming through my REM phase. Instead, the night before, I set my alarm for 6:30 when we have to leave at 9. Why???

Anyway, Vera, Amelia (who returned from camp last night!) and I all went to the US Embassy this morning to board a bus that would take us to the Curchi Monastery in Orhei, another city near Chisinau. The day before, in order to get to Ultimate practice, I had to pass by the embassy. Being unaware of the restriction on photographing the embassy, I snapped a photo of the building with its guards and gates. I noticed a couple moments later that the guards had all gathered and were pointing at me. Woops. I just kept on walking. I got the picture!

After everyone had arrived we set off for the monastery. It took about forty-five minutes to get there by a contracted minibus that kept on stalling out and giving me little heart attacks. We made it eventually, driving through many farm fields with corn, grapes, and lots of other fruits and vegetables. Many of the farms we passed owned goats, cows, and horses. Some of the goats were relaxing (jchillin’) only a couple yards away from the highway! While the picture doesn’t show the country’s true beauty, the green and yellow of the farmland sprawls over the ground for miles and is just picturesque.

When arriving at the monastery, us women had to cover our heads with scarves we had brought with us, out of respect to the building and customs. Unfortunately we were not allowed to photograph the inside of the building, for it was stunning. Built from a light wood that was glossed over, the walls and ceiling of the building were gilded and the candlelight illuminated the church, reflecting of the gold. All the writing being in Russian, I couldn’t read the words on the walls or descriptions of artifacts but I recognized pictures of the Virgin Mary with Jesus and a few other disciples.

After visiting the gift shop, we boarded the bus again and this time headed to Chateau Vartely Winery! The winery was handsomely built with a tourist-like appearance but simultaneous authentic wine factory aura. The surrounding scenery was also amazing as the winery was built on one of the hills in the area. Our tour guide led us through the distillery and storage buildings, showing us the enormous metal tanks that held the wine. We ended the tour in the cellars holding the newest wines. Countless barrels filled the room, each labeled with the sample and vintage.

We proceeded to the wine tasting in the lower level of the basement. Each placemat at the table held four glasses, a smaller one for white wines, the regular red wine glass, and an extra glass. The fourth glass held still water. Between every few placemats, a wine bottle that was tempered into an appetizers tray was filled with cheese, walnuts, crackers, and dried apricots and grapes. Included at each placemat was a pamphlet for scoring each wine by color, bouquet (smell), and taste. I scored each of them, and my favorite was a white wine, which, of course, I didn’t catch the name of. Everyone was just a little tipsy by the time we went to lunch!

The lunch banquet was outside in the shade with a warm breeze blowing. We had a huge meal for only about $20, which is great, and my meal was delicious! It was way too much food, but I got to try a bit of everything. My first course was a game meat soup, which I had with placinte. Then I had mamaliga with cream-and-chicken. For dessert there was sweet placinte with some type of berry in it, maybe sour cherry, and powdered sugar sprinkled on top.  I was so stuffed!  A nice perk was that we got to finish the wines that were opened from the tasting so whichever was your favorite you could sample a little more of. The wine, sun, and excess of food made for a great car nap on the way home. When we got back to Chisinau I was exhausted but I had had an amazing day!

 

To top it off, I woke up this morning and had a two-hour Skype session with the best big brother in the world! <3