Top of the Morning

This morning might have been my favorite morning so far working in the orphanage. The professors are in town, so they came to visit our apartment for a little while this morning. Of course, the kids did not behave in their normal manner in front of the professors. Danny was way more ADHD than normal, running from toy to toy in a split second. The others were not too far off of the way they normally behave, but they were still confused by the 5 visitors (Aislynn, Mario, and a professor's husband were there, too).
But Angela and I came prepared with questions for the professors. They were very helpful with answering our questions about how to deal with certain misbehaviors and certain teaching styles. It was really helpful, since they only stayed for about half an hour, we were able to implement some of their recommendations already this morning. It will take some time, but I think that it will really improve the help we can provide for these kids and prevent them from hurting one another as well as other people.
The rest of the morning, the kids behaved well, too. Maybe it is because we were already doing what the professors told us to do. We also had our favorite workers at the apartment this morning. It was just a great day overall. The kids in the afternoon were great, too! One of them was a little out of control, but he just got home from a week in the hospital, so we couldn't censure him too much. I would be crazy if I were stuck in the hospital, too.
When we got home for lunch, I got to eat some leftover chili and 2 Cremosso yogurts (oops). I'm also e-mailing Dannon today to tell them that they need to sell Cremosso yogurt in the United States. It's the most delicious yogurt in the world. Mmmmmm....I really want to eat another one right now, too.
The chilli is left over from our big group dinner on Tuesday night. We made dinner for ourselves, the professors, Mario, and Robby. We made Kelsey's amazingly delicious Georgia chili recipe and got delightful Romanian bread and Podu Ros made gogosi (like donuts.) Basically it was fantastic even though we didn't get to eat it for an hour since the professors were late. We then had a long meeting with the professors. They were shocked that only 5 girls out of the 14 of us have our own beds. I don't know how this wasn't known at BYU. Some girls have had to share beds since the program got a second apartment and now we have 3. Really I think that BYU just needs to buy a house out here, or at least outright buy an apartment. I think it would be more fiscally responsible in the long run. The program has already been running for 13 years. I can't imagine it's going to end anytime soon.
We went to visit 2 monasteries with the professors. They are from the 13th century and have somehow survived all this time (with paint renovations and such.) They were beautiful. I'll have to put pictures of them up once the professor downloads them.

I Broke a World Record!

Friday was great at the apartment. It was Children’s Day in Romania, so the older kids got to go to a theater show. Angela and I just had *Danny and *Gary for the day. It was also the first day of Chris’ month long vacation, so it was just us while some other workers cooked in the kitchen. Chris being gone means we will no longer have anyone to translate or explain how things run to us. Luckily we had him for a while so we have a schedule set. Angela and I take turns taking each kid out of the room to work with him on the Brigance. They are much more willing to work when they are one on one. It also doesn’t hurt that we give them stickers when they are good (although I’m not sure if they quite grasp that correlation yet.) We’re working with Gary right now on not pulling other people’s hair. It’s not working. That child has a grip of iron. 

Anyway, on Friday, Gary and Danny were little angels almost the whole time! This is quite unusual. They absolutely love music, so we sang to them a bit. (Angela has a fantastic voice, though we will miss Chris’ guitar.) Danny hums Twinkle Twinkle Little Star all the time. He kept doing this thing on Friday where he would be standing across the room from me doing his little swaying dance, I would look up and beam at him, and he would suddenly smile and run over to me for a hug.

Friday at the hospital we found yet another child who I fell in love with. She doesn’t have a first name since she was abandoned at some center (I don’t understand how any of the kids have last names when they’re abandoned. She had a last name. I tried to ask Chris once, but he didn’t really understand my English.) So I took the liberty of dubbing her Cassie. She is a beautiful Aryan baby with blue eyes and a heart-melting smile and very gross poop. I told her that she can marry Scotty, the first baby who I held in the hospital. Speaking of Scotty, I’m worried about him, they moved him back to the ICU for some reason. Aaaaah!

Last night we joined in this lantern lighting festival near our apartment. We were trying to get into the Guinness book of World Records for the most floating lanterns and we made it (12,700)! 

all the girls

Aislynn, Camille, Kelsey, Chelsea, Me

Chameleon and Me

Pretty much I single handedly made history. I’m still a little in shock that nothing lit on fire, though. There were a lot of wires and trees where we lit them. Some of them were stuck on telephone poles burning for a while and one was on one of the Cultural Palace spires for a while. We only saw one that they had to use a fire extinguisher on, though.

Mormons at the Beerfest

Today was unbelievably fun! In the morning, I went to the apartment. The boys didn’t misbehave any more than usual and the English speaking worker was there to help out even though we thought he was going to be gone today. I rode a different tram home by myself today. This messed everyone else up so we all had to be alone, but it also split my travel time from an hour to a half hour, so…yeah…

The man who sells the tickets recognizes me. Actually he recognized me the second day I bought some. We’re pals now. I always wave at him as he glowers at me. It’s a mutual friendship. I think the only English he knows is to count to four, which he does for me in counting out the tickets when it pleases him. I find this humorous since I ask for the tickets in Romanian and clearly say '4' in Romanian. Also, he only does it half of the time.

We took the afternoon kids to a nearby field today to play outside in. I felt terrible for a little boy in a wheelchair who just had to watch the other boys running around. So naturally I grabbed him and put him on my back and ran around with him. It’s the first time I’ve seen him react to anything, and it was with a smile and laughter! But then of course we had to give all of the other boys piggyback rides (the worker got very nervous when I picked up the youngest, so I just walked him around). And then they all decided to pee in the field. I guess I would have too if I were their age and male.

All these shenanigans made Rachel and I miss our bus. Luckily one came pretty quickly, but when we tried to get on in the front, no one else was on and the driver started speaking to us very quickly in Romanian. So then we tried to go in the middle door. Then he started speaking very swiftly again and looked frustrated. We just looked really confused and told him we didn’t speak Romanian. We finally got the impression that another bus was coming and we would have to get on that. We’re still not sure why. I think he was taking a break.

We finally got on the right bus and my apartment and one of the other apartments decided to go to the beerfest for dinner. It was really just a festival that was sponsored by a beer company, so don't worry. (At least that's what we think since there actually didn't seem to be that much beer.) It was quite family friendly.

We were trying to figure out how to ask for a kebab in Romanian and were puzzling over it for quite some time. One of the girls went up to order by just pointing at a kebab. Then the worker started speaking to her in English. Nice. We drank out of our delightful, water filled bottles while all the people who were drinking beer stared at us.

We walked by a bread shop and I mentioned to the girls that one of the workers was rather cute. A bus drove by and all of the girls went to one side of the road while Rylie and I went to the other side (near the bread shop). She loudly remarked “You just want to be by the worker you thought was cute!” I was really embarrassed because enough people here speak English that—yep, he just waved, smiled, and winked at me.

Chelsea bought some cotton candy and was stuck with the stick that it came on after we finished all of the cotton candy. Then she was fortunate enough to spot a little boy holding the same stick! A sword fight must ensue! It was pretty humorous for about thirty seconds until she accidentally knocked his stick out of his hands and he looked up to see 13 American girls and his parents laughing hysterically. He wouldn’t perform again after that, though his dad tired to talk him into being a man or some such thing.

We then decided to go join the crowd watching performers rap on stage. (Romanian rappers are HIGHLY amusing). But NO ONE WAS DANCING. It was weird. We also discovered that if you get near people at concerts here, they actually move! It was spectacular. At one point, I tried to get on Chelsea’s shoulders, but she flatteringly couldn’t stand up with me on her back, so we gave up while the boys behind us died of laughter.

I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of boys trying to get into our group until two guys creeped us out enough that we decided it was time to go home. And that was the end of the Mormons at the beerfest.

Busy as a BYU intern

This week we finally got our assignments. We put our top three choices for the morning and for the afternoon on a note card and Aislynn, our facilitator, assigned us to different places. I’m actually not working in the orphanage at all. The orphanage has satellite apartments that they send the higher functioning kids to so they can live in a more “normal” environment. I work at one of these every morning with Angela Monday through Friday. Then MWF afternoons, I work in the hospital with 7 other BYU girls. And TTH afternoons, I work in another satellite apartment with Rachel.

We got super lost on the way there on Monday morning. It was traumatic. I repeated this thought about 17 times to Angela while we were lost. I'm sure it helped her peace of mind.

I love all of my kids so much. I’m already catching on to some of their mannerisms. It also really helps that one of the workers in my morning apartment speaks English (EXTREMELY well). It is actually rather intimidating because I think he expects our Romanian to be a lot better than it is because his English is so amazing. Oops.

The morning apartment only has 6 little boys, but only 4 of them are there in the mornings (one goes to school and the other goes to the orphanage in the mornings).

The afternoon apartment I have only gone to once and it was only for about an hour and a half, so I don’t know those kids as well yet, but they are adorable and one of them is extremely talkative, so I better learn to understand him soon.

I have dubbed one of the little boys in the hospital Scotty because I don’t know his name. He is the first one I held in the hospital a week or so ago. He is doing much better now than he was when I first held him in the ICU. He is still a little blue, but his rash looks much better and his breathing is slightly better, though still very odd sounding. We also went to visit a boy from the orphanage. He is easily the most popular kid in the hospital. There is always a crowd of people in his room, especially when all 6 to 8 of the BYU girls in the hospital go in to visit him and bring tons of toys. On Monday he asked that all of the BYU girls give him a kiss and beckoned each of us while presenting his cheek. He is so presumptuous. Today I said ‘pup’ (yes, that means kiss) and he said ‘nu!’ and wouldn’t give me one. So offensive.

I changed 2 diapers today. The first time in about 4 years and probably the 3^rd and 4^th diapers I have ever changed. I would say I done good. We played with one of our favorite babies for a while. He is an unbelievably attractive and content baby. The same mom and little girl were in the room with him. I gave the little girl a small toy dog, which she loved. The poor girl must be so bored being in there all day everyday, but with our language barrier, I came to the conclusion that she is leaving tomorrow.

I get to see the boys at the afternoon apartment again tomorrow! I’m so excited.

At FHE on Monday, we played a surprisingly fun game with dice and writing numbers. Apparently it's really popular at BYU. I guess I'm not very popular at BYU since I haven't played it in years. It got pretty loud in there with almost all girls in the room.
We all are fans of this boy who is taking discussions from the missionaries (and speaks english) and we're all generally very friendly. So when he walked into institute on Tuesday, he grinned while looking around and said "buna," knowing what the response would be. The loud chorus of "BUNA ZIUA" from 15 girls clearly did not disappoint him.
There was also a new boy at institute on Tuesday, he looked delighted with the room full of girls and walked around introducing himself to all of us. (Background: we have certain phrases that all of us have memorized and say all the time some of these include "my name is," "what is your name?" "I love you," "nice to meet you," and "how are you?") One of the girls, clearly meaning to ask the boy what his name was, said: te iubesc (I love you). We all stared at her...and then she repeated herself. We then drew attention to her mistake. I'm sure the boy was very flattered, though. At least his smile said so.

Ais says I need more emotion in this. It's already outrageously long.

Răzbunătorii

Friday night, we went to see the Avengers. The movie was in English with Romanian subtitles. I can’t believe people pay to go to the movie theatre to read subtitles. It was a good movie. We had to see it in 3D since it was the only option, but it wasn’t very 3D-esque. The Romanians were VERY excited about the reference to shaorma at the end of the movie. (I had some on Thursday and it was DELICIOUS, though not as good as a doner).

Yesterday was Kelsey’s birthday. We went to Iasi’s Botanical gardens. They are the largest in Romania and definitely deserve the title. They’re HUGE! We got lost and may have wandered out of the park at some point, but we still don’t even know. Camille and Kelsey whined the whole time when I led them on a grass covered, albeit slightly muddy, path to get back to the park. I have to say, though, it really was a hike. We were trying to avoid walking up the macho pichu stairs of death, but ended up in Nauvoo swampyness instead. It was awesome, though. There was an entire section full of roses. They weren’t in bloom yet, though, so we’ll have to go back again later. They have flowers that are native to Romania as well as plants from all over the world. Mom would have a hay-day in there.

Kelsey and me at the gardens

We came home and chilled until dinner time when we went to the pizza hut across the street. It’s way more upscale here and is a sit-down restaurant with waiters and menus. One of the apartments made Kelsey a cake that we ate before the pizza arrived because we’re impatient and do what we want.

Fancy Pizza Hut

We came home and attempted to make some chocolate chip cookies in our horrible oven. They were rather black on the bottom. But we had them with delicious ice cream while watching Kelsey’s favorite movie (A Knight’s Tale) so it was okay. 

I was planning on not having church translated today, so Chelsea and I sat in a random row. As soon as the 1^st councilor got up to say the announcements, we realized didn’t understand anything…so we snuck to the back and had one of the missionaries translate for us. We were also sitting by an investigator who was shocked to learn that church was three hours long.We tried to reassure him that it wasn't too bad. He was not convinced.

The adorable RS president got Kelsey flowers for her birthday today, so that was awesome. 

Chelsea just told me I look like Dory from Finding Nemo. I’ve never been more offended in my life. She specifically pointed out this picture from 2008:

Getting to know the kids

This post isn't funny, though Megan was rather crazy today.

We went to the orphanage again today. But this time we actually got to work with some kids. We got assigned to a room since we’re going to be cycling through all of the rooms. My group got assigned to room 1. After meeting *Bob*, who we had dedicated almost an entire class period to, I was still extremely impressed with his intelligence and ability to communicate. Though he is older than most of the other kids in the room, he has little control over his limbs due to his condition. He expresses everything with his eyes, especially where he wants to go.  He's EXTREMELY inteligente. I played with him for a while, pretending to run Chelsea over with his wheelchair, which he LOVED.

I also spread myself out amongst the younger kids. I had fun with them, but I wasn’t overly attached to any particular one (well, to the extent that you can not be attached to such adorable children without families). Then we went back inside and had lunch and I ended up with *Julia* (who has legs, but they are paralyzed). I discovered how much she loves to be tickled. We would play a game where I would tickle her and then she would pull her legs up (with her hands) and I would stop with a serious expression. Then she would put them down and I would tickle her again, smiling. She thought it was the funniest thing! She loved me! Later on, she grabbed my face and kissed me on the cheek a few times. I felt terrible when we had to leave. She gave me the most reproachful look when I set her back in her playpen. I love her.

We came back to the apartment for lunch. I smoked up the whole thing making French toast. I had to eat it with our fake nutella because they don’t make syrup here!!! I was traumatized when I learned this horrific information.

We went shopping with the girls from Poda Ros (Megan, Michelle, Cortlandt, Rachel (Angela didn't go)). We went to a super cute purse vendor, but she didn’t have the purse anymore that I wanted. But she did have a beautiful satchel that I might go back and buy. I also fell in love with a bunch of shoes at a nearby magazin.

 We saw a couple walk by with an H & M bag and Megan ran after them and motioned to the bag and tried to ask them where the store was. They finally got what she was saying and told her it was at a nearby mall. She ran back to tell us excitedly. After looking like a crazy person to everyone on the street. But really. EVERYONE was staring at her.

We’re about to go to institute. I don’t feel like walking all the way to the church. Bah Humbug.

Chelsea is Crazy

While we were in the grocery store here, Kaufland, Kelsey decided to take a picture of some weird cheese. Some random guy was a few feet away from us in normal clothes talking on a cell phone. As soon as the picture was taken, he flipped a lid! He ran over to us and started speaking really quickly in Romanian. Kelsey just spoke in English and said: "Sorry, I didn't know. I'll delete it right now." He didn't speak English, but he pointedly looked over her shoulder as she deleted the picture. We have dubbed him the Kaufland Gestapo.

"Sometimes I think I have a brain tumor because the wrong things come out of my mouth." -Kelsey F.


All Chelsea:

"Are you going to show us those one things? The ones you said we were going to get on the way to that one place?"

Perfectly serious: "Guys, I'm just book smart."

"I have a really bad problem with speaking. I need to get that fixed."

About an American kid's weird name: "What? Do they want their kid thrown in a trashcan afterschool?? If you hate your kids, don't have them."

After a panicked look as we were about to go in the apartment for the evening: "GUYS! for a second there, I thought my bra was on the outside of my shirt!...I was going to say, 'you guys didn't even tell me!'"

"When I'm in an old folks home, I will be running around with my pants off."

"And my butt's name is Sheila...but I never named my stomach before this."

Not funny:
Today we attempted to play a combination between soccer and volleyball with some random guys outside of the church building. After about 2 minutes, they told us to stand to the side and watch (clearly because we were terrible and didn't really know the rules. It was rather humorous.

We finally went to the orphanage today. For the next week we're going to work in all of the rooms so that we can figure out which room we want to work in for the rest of the summer. We also went to the hospital for the first time today.
I was placed with a little orphan boy who had had surgery on his heart. His skin was all rashy and his breath was extremely raspy. I picked him up for a little bit, but I was so hot and sweaty, I was afraid I was making him uncomfortable. So I set him back in his crib and played with him. Then one of the nurses came in (who was super nice and understanding about me not knowing Romanian). She let me feed him (with a bottle obviously) but then she communicated to me that I shouldn't pick him up because then he would start crying when I set him back down to leave...okay...

We had an exciting FHE today. We played pictionary in Romanian, which was exciting since 90% of us were American. But we had a native speaker investigator on our side, so we were the best, obviously. Though I called out quite a few on my own. Props to myself.