Sunday, October 31, 2010

UNTITLED

So I decided that when I get home I am going to take up some more painting. I have taken a couple classes and have always loved art. Painting combined with mixed media always looks so cool!



Props for these cute contemporary paintings go to Michele Maule. You can see more of her work at :

WANTED

WANTED

One vintage typewriter
Fully functioning
Under $100 or so
I have found ones online but they are all ranging like $300 which is a complete rip off. I am sure that someone has one laying around.

Does anyone have one lying around or knows someone that does?
I would want to use it sometime next summer and would be interesting in even renting it or borrowing it for a week or so.
Let me know, thanks!

Day 59


Cosmin is my Tiny Tim

Lumi brought in photo albums today .. like 3. One of her son and one of her daughter andrea. Her son is 22 and her daughet I think is 14 or so. They were beautiful children. It was difficult because the word frumos is one of the few adjectives I know. It means handsome, nice and beautiful so you better believe I said frumos a lot! Lumi was so pretty back then. She had pictures of her wedding, her parents.. I really appreciated her sharing her family with me. You could tell that she took a lot of pride in her family. She was also telling me that her husband has had throat cancer for 5 years and has not been able to speak for 2.. they can only communicate by writing. She was saying that it was very difficult, but that she loves these children very much. She had a really old picture with the kids and a past BYU intern. It must have been 10 or so years ago and the orphanage room did not look anything the same. It was so crazy to see just how much renovation has gone into the building.

I brought orange balloons for the kids and some chocolate biscuits (cookies) for the kids for a little Halloween party. After all my excitement in buying flowers for the room, I left them at home. So frustrating! I still wanted to get them something, a. because they have been so generous to me lately, b. Lumi fixed my favorite bag yesterday, and c. I will not be there for a week. I stopped by the fresh pretzel shop on the way to the orphanage and picked up a few. The boy working there sees us come and go every day so he asked me where I was from. I said United States, he goes ‘like united states, UNITED STATES?’ um yes? It was kind of humorous. Can’t you tell by my wonderful Romanian accent?

Anyways back to the Halloween party, it was a bit of a fail because no one had a sharpie for me to draw jackolantern faces on the balloons. They also do not celebrate Halloween, not to mention Halloween is not until Sunday, so it was kind of difficult to explain the gesture. Mihaela tied these soccer scarves around the kids heads in such a way that it looked like they had turbans. We all got a kick out of it as Mihaela kept saying ‘arabe! Arabe!’ I guess that was their Halloween costume! I brought my camera because Lumi keeps saying that she wants a picture with me but I chickened out at the last minute and left the camera in my pocket. There is a strict no picture rule with the orphanage so I did not want her to misunderstand my gesture. I will soon though. Maybe plan a day so that everyone can feel like they look good and they know why I have a camera. I still am so disappointed I cannot take pictures because I will miss these kids so much. I will not post the pictures, but I want them to remember.

I think that by making gestures like, showing my family, bringing treats, strumbling to communicate, helps the workers trust me more. I feel lke I am moving up in the ranks of sorts. They grant me more freedom as well as more responsibility. Today for instance, this gorgeous girl that they often call ‘princesa’ had bitten the side of her tongue so hard that she was bleeding pretty badly. From what the workers have told me, she has shaken baby syndrome, and was heavily abused. Thus far she has seemed very non responsive and she also is nearly completely blind. Today Mihaela said she has epilepsy? I think she had a spastic outburst when she bit her lip. She was just sobbing and sobbing. I unclasped her from her little stroller and picked her up and just held her. I did not ask permission and Mihaela did not say anything. I just held her and she proved us all wrong. I started stroking Princesa’s ear and after a big she stopped crying. This is a response! It was seriously such a happy and precious moment for me that I got chills. I know it seems so small and so normal.. when you hold a child they stop crying. The fact that she has been deemed un responsive but responded to me today was so incredible. Even more so was when I layed her down in bed and I kissed her palm, I could see the tiniest little smile hiding in the corners of her mouth. Her eyes were still distant and moving all around the place, but I know what I saw and it made my day.

-------------------------------------------

Hospital: I played a lot with Cosmin. He has been telling me all week that he is going home at 2pm today, but it was 4 pm and I saw no sign of any family members. He reminded me 3 or so times that he was going home today. We made faces and he took over 150 pictures with my camera of his book, toys, room, bed etc. I had a lot of work deleting the pictures when I got home. He seemed a bit stand offish, distant, and sad. When I was leaving, I asked the nurse if he was going home today. She said ‘no he will be here a while’. I looked at Cosmin and he had heard the whole thing. This look of heart wrenching sorrow came over his face and he said ‘well, in a little I will go home’. He has been fed empty promises all week, he has been looking forward to today and going home all week and his own family ‘stands him up’. It absolutely broke my heart. I also found out today that his dad is an alcoholic.. that his mother abandoned him.. so at home all he really has is the alcoholic father and an 18 year old brother who is going off to school. Sure, he will be home, but he will have no one to give him the love and laughs that he needs.. not to mention the extra attention to his little crippled legs and inability to walk. I just wish there was something I could do. I wish I could take him home or be sure he had a happy home and the care that he needs. He is like my little Tiny Tim. This sweet, loving boy who cannot walk, but you can feel his brightness and hope in life, even though he does not have a promising life. I am going to be gone all next week so I really hope that I get to say goodbye to him. I tried to say goodbye but I did not know how to tell him that this could be goodbye for good. I am glad that I have made friends with Alexandra on that floor, because then at least I have someone I could ask about Cosmin; if he left, who picked him up, etc.

----------------------------------------------

Tonight Dani and I prepared the cupcakes and frosting from scratch for the ward party. It was a lot of work as we have an oven you have to light manually that has no temperature settings. You also have to refill a pan of water at the bottom of the oven so that the temperature can be maintained. The blender would overheat every few minutes. Our muffin tin only had 6 little holes and we had no liners so suffice it to say there was a lot of effort expended. It was so worth it though. The cupcakes turned out so successfully! I don’t mean to boast.. but if Dani and I can bake tasty successful cupcakes in Romania, we can bake tasty successful cupcakes anywhere!

Friday, October 29, 2010

ADJECTIVES!

A picture is worth a thousand words

fii trist!


fii bolnav

unde nasul

fii inteligent


fii .....so darn cute

Fii frumos

Day 58

Today felt like the best day thus far at the orphanage! I showed Lumi pictures of Brad and I yesterday, but today she wanted to see pictures of my family. I did not have any actual photographs so I brought them in on my computer. My laptop is a tiny HP mini so it was not very intrusive at all. I made a folder with pictures of my family including my grandparents. Lumi absolutely loved them! She wanted me to show Mihaela, Viorel and AU too. She kept saying ‘frumos! Beautiful!’ With a picture of my mom she kept saying ‘oh wow oh wow’. I felt so proud haha. With Brittney, I had a copy of her current profile picture on facebook and Lumi was saying that she has really gorgeous teeth. Lumi then pointed to her own teeth and said that they were like a ‘greabla’ or rake! She is so hilarious. Of all things to compare one’s teeth to. Today was so great because I could really feel the effects of practicing so much of the language. I really felt like I could communicate and it was such a great feeling. They all wanted my email and phone numbers and I got theirs. They were so excited to exchange contact info and it was so nice to feel like I am really building relationships. Lumi, without even really asking me, pulled out some pliers and some wax and told me that she was going to fix my purse. The zipper on my messenger bag has been broken for quite a while.. the teeth dont mesh up and the little pull on the actual zipper head came off. She worked her magic and attached a key chain ring ( i think from her own keys) to my bag. It was amazing, it works perfectly now! Mario later told me something to the effect of 'well that is how us Romanians are, we have to know how to fix things ourselves'. My heart was so full today. I feel like I love everyone! haha.. there is a quote that says 'there are two types of people in the world, the ones that you love, and the ones that you do not know'. The more I am here the more I realize that everyone has their dreams, hopes, fears, disappointments. The things that make them proud and smile and the things that get them discouraged. I feel like one thing that this experience has really done is deepen my ability to love people.. whether it is hearing a family member or close friend's voice, or looking into the sad eyes of a father pacing the floor outside of the ICU.. my heart goes out to them. I can feel something really deep inside of me and even if I cannot do anything for this person, I can say a little prayer in my heart for them.

I armwrestled with AU today! He absolutely loved it! I would dramatize it and fake him out before letting him win. Afterwards I would tell him he was ‘puternic’ or strong and he would throw his arms out like he was flexing. It was so much fun. He did not go to school today so we had a lot of time together which was a bittersweet thing. I asked Lumi why he was not at school and she said because they do not have enough money to pay the teachers. This goes along with what I was saying yesterday, but it really breaks my heart that these children are so directly affected by lack of funds. I wish that there was more that I can do. I go to Brasov next week so I will not be able to spend that extra time with AU but when I get back I will be sure to spend extra time and stimulation with him. I am excited because even though it is bad that he is not having school, I can have more time with him and take on the responsibility of ensuring he is still learning and growing. Most importantly, that he is increasing his self trust and ability to choose.

------------------------------------

Mario came over for a bit after the orphanage to visit. She said she had a package and I was so excited that I asked if we could go to the post office right then. Mario said we could but that I would have to walk home. Dani was sweet enough to come with me so that I did not have to walk home alone. Sure enough I had a package from the incredible Brad Sturgill! He got me some turquoise indian jewelry a.k.a my favorite! Everything was perfect (a picture of the ring is up above). He has sent me a package every week. He is so thoughtful it seriously makes my day. Last week for instance, I forgot to mention, he had pressed and 'laminated' a sunflower for me! Inside the lamination was this cute little note. He knows that it is my favorite flower! He also sent me my favorite gum, green stride. He has sent me so many thoughtful things.. so many thoughtful letters. He blows me away each and every day and I am so grateful to have him in my life. Packages aside:) I love him so much.

---------------------------------------------

My dad has been sending me voice recordings and it is so great to hear his voice inflections and funny stories. I am so sad that I am missing Halloween at my parents' house. My dad absolutely loves halloween and it feels like everything just keeps getting bigger, better, and more creative each year. I do not know how my mom feels about it but us kids, friends, coworkers and especially neighborhood kids are always excited to see what my dad will do this year. I cannot wait to see pictures of everyone all dressed up!

Oh! one more thing.. today I went to get some flowers for Lumi and my room at the orphanage to thank her for fixing my bag. The flowers were only 3 lei so I had to get myself some as well! p.s I have had a recent obsession with photoshop... and fonts. The icon on the top is one that I made in photoshop with a picture of the flowers I got, a couple different color filters, noise filter and some crop shapes. It is a work in progress (photoshop skills that is).

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Day 57

Wednesday: I will not see Diana again for a few weeks which is a bit of a bummer but at least Lumi was working today! It was Lumi and Gabi. One thing I forgot to mention yesterday was how big of a difference making a little effort is.. also the language barrier. Yesterday Diana was working with Mihaela. Mihaela is not always the friendliest to me and she never tries to speak to me except when she needs something or I am doing something wrong. With Diana’s translation, I was able to speak to Mihaela and communicate a little. She snapped right out of it and she was so nice yesterday to me. She said that she actually can understand a lot of English but to speak is hard. Anyways, I figured that Lumi was working today so I brought my romana-enlgeza dictionary along with a picture of Brad and I to show her. She loved it! It is funny because at the orphanage, I wear my glasses, pull my hair up, no make up, and wear scrubs. In the picture I am on a date with Brad so I am all done up. I look like an entirely different person haha. It was a good day today and since I talked to Robby, I was able to tweak a few things with my approach with AU even in the computer lab. I feel like my eyes have really been opened with him. Teo said that Robby had told her that I wanted to do more with AU. Teo told me that they are organizing a big conference and she will not be able to in the next couple weeks. I am disappointed because I know that if there were more resources, AU could have so much more help. The lack of resources directly affects his progression. It seems that it is this way with every child here, I just especially have to deal with it in AU’s case.

I had a wonderful day with Cosmin today. We watched Aladdin in Romanian on my laptop. I was trying to get him to sit up next to me on the bed but he would not do it. I then smelled his diaper and realized that he did not want to because he was self conscious. While this was such a sad and tender moment, it was a good thing because to have self reflective thoughts is such a good sign with cognitive and social development. He was insisting that he stand but he can barely walk let alone stand for 48 minutes so I pulled up a chair and he was ok with that. He got so bored so fast with the movie, which makes sense I guess if he is used to playing actual games all the time. 48 minutes is a while to just sit in one place. I still had the tape player but this time I had a blank tape and would record us and then play it back for him. I told him to sing and he just started rapping really fast in Romanian for a good 15 seconds or so! Last night I had looked up a lot of different adjectives like ‘tall’, ‘short’, ‘brave’, ‘handsome’, ‘fat’, ‘skinny’, ‘naughty’, ‘still’, ‘happy’, ‘sad’, ‘distressed’, ‘tired’… and I would say Fii…inalt! Or ‘be tall!’ Robby actually gave me this idea in his write up back from 2006 I believe. Cosmin loved it! We had so much fun and I ran out of adjectives pretty quickly. An idea popped into my head with the word scurt or short.. I got on my knees and put my shoes on my knees and started hobbling around. A couple times I broke into a dance and he was laughing so hard he was almost crying. It was the hardest I have ever seen him laugh! Man I love this kid so much! Alexandra was saying that he goes home on Friday. I was shocked. I wonder what changed? When did his Dad or brother decide they wanted him? I am so happy for him but at the same time it makes me so nervous for him because I want him to be in a safe, supportive and loving home. Another thing that Megan brought to my attention, is that when Cosmin was asked ‘where do you want to go’ he said ‘with my brother’ not ‘with my dad’. His brother cannot completely care for Cosmin because he is 17 or so.. the father though, could, but for whatever reason does not wish to. I am not in a position to judge, but it just makes me so worried because over the past couple weeks I have truly grown to love Cosmin. I will miss him so much. He is the closest that I have become with a child here at the hospital. He is so excited every time I tell him I will come tomorrow. He will ask a couple more times ‘you are coming tomorrow right?’. I cannot wait to bring him some Halloween treats and a jackolantern balloon on Friday!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Tonight we made pizza at the branch building! Petru and the whole gang came. The pizza was absolutely amazing. The sauce was a little different than the kind we make in the states.. for example.. there were carrots in it! It was so good. We made one pizza with cheese and mushrooms, one with peppers and turkey, one with just cheese and tomatoes and another with whatever was left over. The crust was so delicious, Petru did a great job making the dough from scratch too.

How about Dracula's Castle?


So even though we do not get to trick or treat or dress up for a lot of bashin halloween parties, we do get to go to the real Transylvania and the real Dracula's castle. I seriously am so excited. What a once in a life time experience.

We Draculs have a right to be proud…
I am the last of my kind
– Dracula, from Bram Stoker’s Dracula

"Some say that Transylvania sits on one of Earth's strongest magnetic fields and its people have extra-sensory perception. Vampires are believed to hang around crossroads on St. George's Day, April 23, and the eve of St. Andrew, November 29. The area is also home to Bram Stoker's Dracula, and it's easy to get caught up in the tale while driving along winding roads through dense, dark, ancient forests and over mountain passes.

Tales of the supernatural had been circulating in Romanian folklore for centuries when Irish writer Bram Stoker picked up the thread and spun it into a golden tale of ghoulishness that has never been out of print since its first publication in 1897. To research his immortal tale, Stoker immersed himself in the history, lore and legends of Transylvania, which he called a “whirlpool for the imagination.”

Count Dracula, a fictional character in the Dracula novel, was inspired by one of the best-known figures of Romanian history, Vlad Dracula, nicknamed Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler), who was the ruler of Walachia at various times from 1456-1462. Born in 1431 in Sighisoara, he resided all his adult life in Walachia, except for periods of imprisonment at Pest and Visegrad (in Hungary)"

This website has a lot of cool information about the legend of Count Dracula and who Vlad Dracula really was! I am not swearing by it's accuracy but here it is nonetheless


Day 56

So lets see lets see.. Today is Tuesday! The orphanage was very good (when is it not). Diana was there but today were able to talk quite a bit! The kids were not as rowdy today so I think that is why. We talked a lot about relationships, Romania, jobs, the economy, our families.. it was good! I told her I was going to visit Brasov next week and I guess that is where she had her honeymoon! She gave me a link to her website where all of her photoalbums are (kind of like a flickr or photobucket account). She was telling me how her husband and her traveled around visiting different friends around western Europe last year. They went to Paris, Germany, Venice, the Black Sea. She was saying that her husband was a city engineer and it was so interesting hearing her opinion on how Romania and Romania’s economy is handled. I find a lot of satisfaction in building relationships so this was a really good day for me.

I was not able to go to the hospital because by the time Mario left after our language class, it was very late. I had to go to Carrefour (Romania style costco) with the girls around 5:30pm anyways. At Carrefour, Dani and I were getting ingredients to make cupcakes for the branch Halloween activity and man was it interesting. We thought it would be really easy to find things but it was a little hectic. The powdered sugar was in these little boxes (everything here is little!) and we had to get like 5 boxes. The vanilla was in a tiny bottle too.. forget the food coloring. Extra forget cupcake liners! It all worked out though. We were thinking of having the branch members decorate their own cupcakes but instead we are going to do chocolate frosting with dirt and worms! Chocolate cookies and gummy worms. I really hope it works out with an oven the size of a shoebox a 6 cupcake tin (we have to make 50) and no cupcake liners. Pray for us!

Tonight I was able to speak to Robby on the phone and it was so incredibly helpful. He said that I could maybe start going back to work with AU at 3pm. I think this would be so great as I think that Alex is one of the most important reasons that I am here. I told Robby a couple stories about AU and Robby would bust up. I could tell just how much he loves AU. This was so inspiring to me. AU is such a special boy, not just in the serious sense. He is such a smart boy and he also has such a sense of humor. I love learning more about him, and talking to Robby really opened the doors in just how I can better aid AU’s development and also how to become better friends with him. A big thing that Robby talked about was helping build AU’s trust and ability to choose. Helping increase his agency and have him be capable of choosing for himself. I have so many ideas now in ways that I can help give AU options while ensuring he stays on task and on course. How to approach the times that AU gives me the puppy dog face because he wants to play ‘Canta cu noi’ haha and how to actually use this to encourage learning.

I learned some helpful phrases!

‘you found it’: ai gasito (feminine), il ai gasit (lai gasit) (masculine)

‘you did it’ ai facuto (feminine), lai facut (masculine)

‘clever’: Este destept

‘count’ : numera

I have also been developing an addiction to cashews. Help!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Day 55


I love Monday’s at the orphanage. It makes me realize just how much I love these kids because I miss them just in a couple days. Today I met a new worker. This morning she came up to me and was like ‘Hi are you Ashley? I have been gone for the past month because I just got married!’ in english! She is so nice. She did not talk too much to me today but it is so nice to feel like I will be able to communicate with the other workers when she is there. I was able to hold Petra in my lap this morning. Every moment with her is so precious. Gabby had school and drew a lot with the kids today which always helps subdue the mood a little bit. Jello has been biting like crazy and he hit me in the face today. It is hard for me because either this is merely a stage, or the other children/ institution is having a negative effect on him. Either way it is hard to see the behavioral digression because I feel like regardless of what I do, this will happen. Today flew by, and before I knew it, it was 11am. I was so happy when A.U got back from school early at 11:05! We went to the computer lab and he was absolutely ecstatic. I love how when he gets really happy he just has this laugh, ecstatic shriek! We did a lot of work on his numbers and counting today. We played a count the pictures game, but he struggled quite a bit. He knew numbers 1, 4 and 8 so I think that he knows his numbers but for some reason, the knowledge is not being applied. I got out a foam numbers board to help enforce the numbers with something more concrete than a computer screen. A few times I would count the pictures with him and then let him find the number on his own. When I would do this, he would keep asking for help. If I asked ‘Nu stii?’ he would shake his head no. I want to ask Teo if he is asking for help because it is easier, because he has gotten rusty, or because he genuinely does not know. A strength that Alex has is persistence; he will keep trying and trying and trying. Even though this game was difficult for him, he kept at it and he loved it! I can tell that he really enjoys learning. There has been a lot of research carried out and a lot of work put into AU. A past intern, Robby, has done an incredible amount of work with AU, Teo said he came here 4 times to work w
ith him. I cannot wait to hear back from him and get some helpful input and advice. While I am no expert on cerebral palsy, this software or on AU as an individual, I think that there is so much more that I can be doing to help stimulate AU in ways much more important than knowing his numbers or coordinating the CrossScanner software

----------------------------------------

At the hospital I spent the majority of the time with Cosmin. I did not even realize that it was 5:00 time absolutely flew by. There is another mom and her baby in the same room, her baby was recently released from the ICU. When I first got to the room, the baby was just screaming and screaming. I was afraid to pick her up because she has an IV in her head, some other things attached to her, and I was not sure how the mother would feel about it. I sat on the bed and rocked her a little with my hand (she is very tiny). She immediately stopped crying and I could see how gorgeous her big blue eyes are. She is so precious. Cosmin loves to play with my camera but the battery was dead so he got a little frustrated with me. I was able to quickly divert his attention to a tape player and some Disney tapes that I brought. He seemed to really like it .. he really enjoys music in general. Last week I had him listening to my ipod

but it is funny because he loves hip hop. I think this is from the influence of his older brother. I have not seen his older brother since last week which is interesting because I am usually with him for a couple hours every day. New food and toys keep appearing though so I assume someone is visiting him before I get there. So I do not remember if I have mentioned this, but there are two older girls on the same floor, Carmen and Alexandra. They both speak English so it has been cool being able to talk to them and just build relationships. They are

both 17 or so and it is very sad because Alexandra was saying that she loves sports but cannot play soccer because she has heart problems. She also says that she has been a smoker for 5 years? She left 2 or 3 times for a smoke break in the time I was there. So sad. Carmen asked how the United States was different than Romania. Basically everything is different. We get asked things like this a lot and oftentimes I just tone it down like… talk about how the Romanian people are SO generous once you get to know them, or something like that. I felt bad for Cosmin today though because the nurse came in to change his diaper and he was just sitting there while I was in the room. I think he was really embarrassed to have me there. Some activities we did.. lets see.. we did a care bears puzzle, played around with a tape player, I made him a ton of different things out of pipe cleaners! I made a man, a girl, a horse and I attempted to make a helicopter but failed quite terribly. I just turned it into a pumpkin and he was happy. At the end of the day I was helping him write his and my name. He then starting spouting off Romanian names and we would write them for the next half hour. A lot of names I know from the kids in the orphanage, but a lot I did not know and had no idea how to spell them! Luckily the other mom in the room was there to help, and even more luckily I know the Romanian alfabetul now! He was cuddling up to me a lot today. I absolutely love this boy and it breaks my heart that he is not wanted anywhere. I want to take him home with me.

-----------------------------------------

Oh and one more quick thing.. I got an email back from Robby who has been working a lot with Alex. He gave so many helpful tips but more so, such an inspirational perspective. Robby spoke a lot about the importance of helping Alex increase his agency and ultimately self trust and independence. What a cool concept. I do not know why I have not thought about it before. Yes numbers are important to learn, but not nearly as important as Alex’s independence, ability to express and social capacities. I have so many questions still though so I am excited to talk to Robby more and ultimately utilize these new ideas (well new to me) in my work with Alex.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Adelina

This post is dedicated to the precious Adelina. To read about the first time I met her see my entry after Day 46 (http://ajungepentrustele.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html)
I found out that precious Adelina passed away over the weekend. It makes so much sense now why I had such a special experience with her on Friday. I felt so strongly that I should stay with her and now I am so glad that I followed the prompting and stood by her bedside singing songs and holding her frail fingers on Friday. I think the reason death is sad for us is because we are sad that the person is no longer in our lives more so that the fact that they have passed away. Death is not a sad thing, in fact, if you have perspective, it is often a blessing for that person. This baby had no one here on this earth to love her. She was in physical agony and so death was not only a release from the physical bonds, but she is now in the full love and grace of Heavenly Father. She can be with loved ones and feel the love there that she never could feel here in this world. It is so crazy to think that my hand was the last hand that she held before she passed away. At first I thought, wow, she did not even get a chance to live her life, but her life here would not have been one of happiness, she is in a much better place now. She has a much fuller purpose now.

Relevant talk given by
Elder Merlin R. Lybbert:
The Special Status of Children

Day 50

Petro was really happy today and kept breaking into random occasional giggles even when she was by herself.

Second day in a row that I have not been able to take A.U to the computer lab.. I think that he has a schedule change cause he is never back from school in time

Maria was working again as was the other angry worker. The two workers that I really like are Gabby and Lumi. They are both very good with the kids. Maria and Mihaela have tempers with the kids and do not work as much with their individual needs. They yell a lot, stomp feet a lot, and have really hard shells. The only time Maria and Mihaela talk to me is when they are reprimanding me. They watch me a lot too when I play with the kids which can be a little intimidating. Mihaela today though had a jar with this homemade spread. It was like a cooked pasta sauce almost.. tomatoes, vegetables, ground meat. They put it on bread and ate it.. she offered some to me and it was really tasty!

Maria was laughing a lot more today than yesterday.. still firm but would giggle here and there. The workers today were really ahhh frustrating but the kids were good so I am able to handle the stress from the workers.

At 'masa' or snacktime, they had this thing that looked like a sausage except it was light brown with a dark brown filling. It looked like it had a soft but solid consistency and I had no idea what it was. The kids seemed to love it though so I figured it could not be all that bad. Mihaela offered me some so I tentatively broke one piece in half and took a hesitant bite. It was absolutely delicious. It tasted like refrigerated cookie dough on the outside and brownie batter on the inside. I later asked Mario what it was and she said it was called salam de biscuiti cu ciocolata.. basically like chocolate cookie sausage.

Here is a link to some pictures and a recipe:

http://dobrinisabela.blogspot.com/2010/07/salam-de-biscuiti-si-ciocolata.html

High of the day: Darius can walk now!! Still a bit weak but he will walk on his own now. Today was the first day that he has walked around the room on his own! I was absolutely shocked and ecstatic. This is probably the biggest success I have seen so far and it is so encouraging! There are two more kids who are on the turning point that I really want to practice and work with so that they to can get to where Darius is.

I learned out to say clap from one of the workers today, să bată. I was teaching the kids to clap so that I could teach them pat-a-cake. Did not go over so well haha they just wanted to watch me clap. They thought my holding their hands and making them clap was hilarious so that is as far as we got but that was a little success in and of itself.

There is a girl from Kala's room, Missy, who has down syndrome and she is the cutest little girl. She can be a bit aggressive with the other kids but she is so fun to have around. She was in my room a lot of the day today and it was cool to see the creativity and interaction that she brought. My kids do not interact or play pretend much.. they mainly do their own thing. Today for example, Jello was sitting in a chair and Missy came up behind him with a big plastic spoon. She started to pretend to brush his hair with it and babbling little directions and commands to him when he would wiggle. She carried on for a good few minutes and he started to lose his patience. He tried to get down and she got feisty with him, hit his head with the spoon and he quickly sat back up. On his second attempt though, she grabbed him to put him back up and he clamped down on her arm. He has recently started biting which is really frustrating. Just this week I have been bitten twice by him already.


Day 49

Today was a good day, not because of the workers, but because of the kids. The longer I am here the more I realize that the kids are seriously my little angels. They lift me, they make me smile when I feel down, they teach me so much without saying anything at all. Everything else in Romania is pretty challenging, from the living conditions, to the food, to the culture, to the language... but the kids make everything worth it.

Maria was working again today and was in a fitful mood. She always brings brownies (thick Romanian style brownies called ‘negreses’)… I had my eye on them for a while. Haha she gave all the other workers massive chunks and gave me this little pinch of a brownie. I think she gave me one out of pity and obligation but hey.. a brownie is a brownie. She got mad at me for not cupping my other hand under the brownie… man oh man. I was able to spend some time with Petro which is always such special time. Even though she is not the most responsive, I am starting to feel like I am becoming closer to her. She acknowledges me now.. almost like she can recognize me somehow. It was a pretty normal day today.. let’s see… Today Maria asked me to feed the babies in the nap room so I took a couple bottles back and starting feeding them. She came in, yelled at me for doing something wrong that I did not really understand, and told me to leave. So I went back into the play room “camera de joaca". Today was a crazy day so the kids were fighting and being noisy. I found this big monster puppet and started talking in this like sesame street/grover voice with it.. I talking to the kids and pretending to eat their hands. They attention was captured! It was so funny though because Jr. was super scared of the puppet but intrigued at the same time. He would inch forward only for me to say something with the puppet and he’d scream and run away or fall backwards onto his butt. Maria came in and was like ‘Bravo Ashley Bravo!’ … so that was good. I was not able to play with Alex today because he did not come back from school until 11:50 or so and I leave at noon. When he got back to the room though, 4 of the kids were trying to run away and Maria grabbed them one by one and forcefully sat them down on the ground. Maria was all ‘Pa ashley. Pa pa. PA ASHLEY!’ waving in my face meaning like… bye bye bye get the freak out of here already… haha.. I waited in the hall for Kala and she came out all aflame yelling ‘PA ASHLEY’ … simmer! So I left a few minutes early. Motive of the story: I really do not think that Maria likes me too much.

Hospital… I spent some time playing with this adorable boy named Cosmin. He was probably 5 years old and is this cute little blondie. He talks like crazy though which leads me to believe that he is older than 5. I then spent some time with a baby up on the 8th floor who was tiny and did not seem to really like being held. He will not hold my hand and bucks a bit when I hold him. He actually cried the first time I helped him. He does not cry when I leave which is really interesting. Raresh is a baby that has been in the ICU on and off since May. His mom and him are still hanging in there. She speaks english and Megan has really formed a relationship with her. Today she was saying that Raresh had had a really bad night. It is so heartbreaking to see her in so much emotional pain. She looks like she was on the verge of tears with each thing that she says. It is so incredible to see her strength. When I told her that she was strong, she laughed and told me that what else was she to do.. she said..‘well I am his mother. It gives me hope that while we see so many sad stories day in and day out.. there are mothers like her too who know that no matter what happens, they will stay by their child's side. Even if the child is too sick to acknowledge their mother's presence, still the mothers stay because this is their child. What a powerful thing maternal love can be.

Went to Carrefour tonight with Kala.. It is a massive store kind of like a Romanian version of Costco. I got some much needed items like leggings and an umbrella. I also got some salted cashews that I cannot wait to eat! I want to start eating really healthy here. I do not eat poorly, but I mainly eat carbs because living with very little means and very poor water greatly limits the fresh produce and cooking means that you have. Not to mention completely different food and everything is labeled in Romanian. I bought the cashews as a step in the right direction. Because we walk so so so much all day I find myself always hungry. I think that getting more healthy stocked up snacks will prevent me from just wanting to grab some crackers or something.

Anyways.. over and out until tomorrow!

Friday, October 22, 2010

My new buddy


this entry is dedicated to Cosmin.
Cosmin is a cute little boy on the 8th floor. His mother abandoned him but he still has a dad and brother. His brother has visited a couple times but it is really sad because some of the older kids on the floor were saying that he will probably go to an orphanage because his father cannot take care of him. The most heartbreaking thing was when one of the older kids, ALexandra was asking Cosmin where he wanted to go. He kept saying 'with my brother'... she asked where,home, outside, the orphanage, where? and he said ' i dont know just with my brother'. He is adorable and on Friday it was so cute becuase he just kept hugging me and asking when I would come back. I really hope that I get to see him again. I hope even more so that he does not get put into the Sfant Andrei orphanage.

One of these videos is of him and I playing with a car.. the other is him listening to my music. If you listen to him close enough you can hear him singing along to 'I love the way you lie'.. he also knew that song 'im only going to break break your break break your heart'.


Monday, October 18, 2010

THANK YOU BRAD


I got a package I got a package I got a package hey hey hey hey!


he makes me the happiest girl in the whole world

Day 48 (not even halfway yet!)

i absolutely love refreshingly clever ideas.. here are some photos that i really enjoy




So I decided that when I get home I want to look into getting my scuba diving license. Scuba diving seems like it would be the experience of a life time. I mean, look at these photos! : http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/23fRfI/www.abelic.net/

I must have slept pretty poorly last night because I woke up absolutely exhausted at 8:40 am and had to run out the door by 8:45 am. A felt a migraine coming on on the way to the orphanage but luckily it did not kick in until after the orphanage. What a blessing. So I am staying home from the hospital which is better than staying home from the orphanage because I feel like I have more responsibilities there. Maria was working in my room today, and I have not seen her in a couple weeks. She is pretty confrontational and drills me with romanian questions but today she was typically busy doing other things and I only had a run in a couple times. I realized today that I am really starting to get attached to my kids. I realized that I had missed them over the weekend so even though everyone was a little rambunctious today, it was endearing.
Maria does not seem to like me much though.. she knows I do not speak romanian so she will talk about me openly to the other workers. The name "Ashley" sticks out like a sore thumb when speaking romanian. Today I was trying to tidy up the playroom while Maria was putting the younger kids to bed. Every time I put a toy away, "Jr" would climb up on a chair, grab the toy and throw it back onto the floor. I would say 'Jr! noei voie' or you are not allowed.. and lift him off the chair only for him to run back and climb back onto the chair. Any time I try and discipline him, he giggles like crazy. After this had happened 5 or 6 times, Maria came out all ablaze, grabbed Jr, snapped him into one of the high chairs and put him in the back room. He was screaming bloody murder. Another worker poked her head in the room to ask what was going on. Maria reenacted the story, including an imitation of me, to the other woman. I mean, you just have to take these things with a grain of salt. Yes, the kids laugh at me when I discipline them which frustrates the workers as well as myself. Firstly though, I do not speak romanian so it makes communication difficult. Secondly, my discipline methods do not include screaming and force and thirdly, I am not here to enforce strict discipline with the children. I am here to play with them and love them. They get their fair share of discipline from the workers.
The computer lab with AU went really well today. I was worried that we would not be able to come because Maria yelled something at AU when he was trying to ask her if we could go to the computer lab. By 11:30 though we were able to go and he was just shrieking with joy. He did not push my buttons or push any boundaries today which was so great.. in fact, he wanted to do the more instructional games today! He asked (with his eyes) once if we could play the music game and I only had to say no once! There is one game called Labyrinth which he loves. He leads a snail through a maze by clicking on the numbers 1-10 in successive order. He always does really well with this game so I assumed that he knew his numbers. We then played a counting game and he kept asking for my help in identifying the numbers. This leads me to believe that he may know the numbers in successive order really well, but needs more practice identifying the numbers by themselves. A goal for this week is to work with him to practice counting in his head. I know that he can do it, I think that he just needs more enforcement. The computer lab is the perfect place for this enforcement because he absolutely loves the computer lab.
Tonight the plan is FHE (if my migraine gets feeling better) and homework. For the first time in my experience I cannot wait to go to the hospital tomorrow so that I can check up on Adelina. I want to make sure that she is doing ok and maybe bring a flower to the Mom Dana and her daughter Ana Maria!

one more for kicks.. hahaha

p.s as recommended by my fellow bostonian friend Tim Semple, check out this new EP.. it's really good!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Day 47


astazi este o zi în alb şi negru


you know it is wet when there is a frog in the middle of the street downtown

So church today was good, not as good as last week though. We walked to church in the pouring rain and were pretty late. I brought my old boots to Romania, but they are really worn on the heels to the point that water floods in. By the time we got to church my feet were just swimming in my boots haha.. I had to throw those socks away when we got home! Because we were late, we did not have someone translating for sacrament meeting. We did not have much translation at all today which was a bit frustrating but I guess it means the teachers are able to get more of their lesson in.

relief society!

It is interesting here, some weeks at church there are only a few people that we know, other weeks there are a ton of people that we do not know. Church always lifts my spirits though, I love Sundays and always look forward to them. This definitely makes me appreciate having church be in English and being able to be taught not just by the spirit but by people’s words. It is also hard to sing hymns in Romanian, but I am always so impressed by the power that can still be felt, I think a big contributor is just feeling how dedicated the church members are and the sacrifices that they make to come to church every Sunday.

Sora Lydia gave us some purple daisies!

When I got home I washed my feet in hot water, put on some cozy socks, romanian slippers, Brad's hoodie and spent the rest of the day reading and studying. I made the most tasty dinner with mashed potatoes, peas and chicken..mmmm so delicious! even better is that I have leftovers for tomorrow's lunch. I love leftovers. All in all a satisfying day. I dont quite feel ready for monday but isnt that how it always is.