Sorry the formatting is all messed up
MONDAY:
So today was Monday, first day back to work! It feels so nice to be well rested and reinvigorated (oh wow I was not expecting that to actually be a word!) Today at the orphanage was really great. It is an absolute chicken pox breakout haha so Monster was absolutely miserable to the point he was banging his head on everything he was so itchy. The kids were so happy to see me.. I feel so loved. The moment I walked in I was swarmed.. i just dropped to my knees and they all were hugging me and clamoring for my attention. I found out today that Jello is probably being fostered in January which is such such great news! 2 other kids, Monster and Sidekick are being placed into the apartments which are basically extensions of the orphanage. each apartment only has 6 or so kids and is meant to help integrate the kids into a more normal life so that they can better adjust to foster care. All of this is happening within the month or so that I leave which is so great because it makes me feel like they have progressed to the level that they can move on. THe new girl gets to work with a new crop of kids.
I did not go to the hospital today because it is Mihai’s birthday and Petru’s last night before he leaves for Spain. We went to this really great pizza place called Mama Mia pizza. The pizza here is so incredible. The restaurant was this underground place that looked ghetto from the outside but it was really nice inside. The atmosphere was really cool.. you could tell that it was a favorite place among the university students. It was the most packed I have seen a restaurant here! Afterwards, we went to the mall.. all in all a solid day!TUESDAY:
The orphanage was so incredible today.. it keeps getting better. I saw so much improvement with the kids. I saw Jello tenderly coddle crying Alexandra’s hair saying 'mai mai mai' which people say here meaning like 'my oh my' .. way to say they are beautiful. He tried to kiss her on the cheek too.. it was so adorable. Lumi told me that he was like that because he has a little sister. She went on to tell me how his little sister has big blue eyes. She is in Aubrea’s room in the orphanage. Jello was talking up a storm today! He can only say words here and there but oh my gosh it made me so happy! HE initiated saying my name.. mainly it sounds like ‘Ah-ley!’ but it melts my heart each time! A lot of times when kids misbehave.. or things gets a little crazy the workers say ‘vaiiiii’ like ‘wowww’ Jello was saying it today and the workers got an absolute kick out of it. There are two little plastic irons in the playroom and I gave one each to Sidekick and Jello. I would get out a piece of fabric, a towel or a bib and then help them ‘iron’ it. They loved it!.. almost too much.. they would fight with eachother insisting on having both irons but it was a cute little game. AU has seemed a bit standoffish lately.. even in the computer lab. Today Lumi wanted to take him out of his chair and put him on the floor mat .. The physical therapist came in our room today and had a bit of an argument with Lumi. Lumi wanted to take AU out of his wheel chair and let him lie on the floormat. Sara kept objecting and finally let her. After he left, Lumi went off expressing her frustration. Interesting little scenario. I did well with my goal of making each of the kids smile today! The kids that I cannot usually make smile are Gabby and Princesa. Monster was difficult today because he is so miserable with the chicken pox. Chicken pox has broken out in my room and I have never seen such a bad case as Monster. I could not even crack a smile when I tickled him and he usually caves the minute I start to tickle him. THe kids are all really sick, not just with chicken pox but with a cold too so there is a not of snot floating around. I am really hoping I dont get sick. I really want to see if Cosmin is there. I miss him. He is the closest that I have ever come to a child in the hospital.
Dani and I went to Carrefour for groceries. I was a bit frustrated because I spent about 90 lei on groceries. Thinking about it though, that is only about $30 and I needed the groceries. The only food I had in the apartment was a thing of rice and pasta..some other things I cannot eat like flour, baking soda and salt. You know you need to go grocery shopping when you eat rice for breakfast haha.
The weather here is a miracle. It has been like .. 60's all week and it is so gorgeous. I just hope it stays this way until Dec. 2.. too much to ask for?
WEDNESDAY:
So lets see today was a good day in the orphanage. I was confused at first because my worker, Luminita was in Kala’s room and Kala’s worker Lori was in my room. Lori just got out of the hospital and something strange must have happened because she is NOT the same person. She was all ornery before and today she was smiling all day and was quiet and just smiling at the things kids did. Before I wondered why she worked in the orphanage cause she seems to hate kids! Maybe the hospital experience and being so sick humbled her or something? No complaints though! So let’s see let’s see.. I was able to fulfill my goal in making every child that can smile smile. Jello is saying my name like crazy and it is cute because now he will call everyone ‘Ah-ley’. He also started doing this crazy thing.. when he sees me he will run up to me and start like.. running in place with his mouth open and start panting. It sounds weird but it is seriously so cute and so random! I have no idea what it is supposed to be in his head haha. I am getting so excited about Jello's speech. He said ‘papusa’ today! (means doll). He needed prompting but still I was so enthralled! One thing I really noticed that he has started doing is imitation. This is a huge step. It also shows me that he watches everything I do. If a child will start to cry he will either stroke his or her hair or start to tickle them. Of course, his “tickling” mainly consists of aimless touching and random little noises.. typically the crying child does not know how to react. Monster is still completely miserable with chicken pox so he has been a lot more fussy lately, because he is sick the workers usually have him under close observation which makes my job a little easier, it also has charged a new ferocity of the rivalry between Sidekick and Jello. Seriously it is out of control. I will offer a toy to Jello and he will not want it. I will give it to Sidekick, and then all of a sudden that toy is the one thing in this whole universe that Jello wants. An interesting thing that I noticed, is that when Sidekick or another child runs after Jello to take his toy, Jello will not put up a fight. He will usually hand the toy right over and then sit down and cry. Sometimes he will hand the toy over and then go back after the thief and pull his hair (I say “his” because none of the girls in my room can walk or really interact for that manner).
Talk about aggression I had a little scare today. Lumi was in Kala’s room and went to take a break outside. She brought in two of the kids from her room Maria and Vali. Vali reminds me a lot of Gita with her mannerisms of putting her fingers in her mouth, shrieking, rocking, and not being very strong muscularily. Anyways… Gita was sitting and pulled Vali’s feet out from under her. She stood up and lunged at his throat, throwing him to the ground. She had her hands on his neck and was strangling him! I yanked her away and Gita just started bawling, more terrified than anything. If Gita is crying, you know that he is either really scared or really hurt. I could not believe what just happened!
Let’s see.. oh so Lumi and I have become pretty good buddies. We are able to communicate better than a lot of the other workers and I. This has to do with my broken Romanian, her few English words, a lot of charades, and a lot of feigned comprehension. I understand a lot of what she is saying, but I think she thinks I understand a lot more than I do. Today, she asked me to come in the room and translate to Kala for her! Luckily she was just telling Kala how to make this dessert called salam cu biscuiti which I already knew so I knew how to explain it even if I did not understand entirely what Lumi was saying. The funny thing is that Lumi had already told Kala how to make it, Kala understood her, but Lumi did not believe her and insisted I translate. It was all just an interesting situation haha. But yeah we had salam cu biscuiti today, SCORE! I freakin love that stuff. I feel like I am stepping up on the totem pole in the orphanage. The workers really lend me more freedom, I can hold any child I want now even if I have to take them out of the crib. I still am courteous and ask persmisison but it is a nice feeling. When I ask if I can have some of the snack they always say ‘sigur!’ like ‘of course!’.. I have become part of the little orphanage worker family!
Things with AU were good today! He has come so far with counting. The past couple days I was getting a little frustrated because he was not being cooperative, he was really standoffish to me and seemed really disinterested. Today though he was in a much better mood. It was funny because in the computer lab I was waiting for him to count and find the correct number on the screen when I started playing with my hair. I put my hair all in one big bun on top of my head and asked him " îţi place?" or "do you like it?" He gave me this incredulous look and shook his head no. It was hilarious. I then proceeded to put my ponytail on my forehead, on the side of my head, on top of my head and each time I asked if he liked it he would shake his head like 'no way are you crazy'. It was a great time. Oh! and he shocked me because I ran to the bathroom and when I got back he had answered a bunch of counting questions right by himself showing that he really likes my help but does not necessarily need it as much as he leads on.
Today I calculated my hours and it is so crazy not only that I have only 3 weeks left, but that I have such few hours left to complete. I know that it is not just about the hours, but it is nice to have more free time at the apartment to breath and really get cracking with my homework. I will have a month to complete it when I get home but I am still really overwhelmed because it will be Christmas time, I am going to Brad’s family’s and then it is winter semester. I would ideally like to finish the majority of my cultural proofs while here and get at least my outlines done for my papers.
Oh I found out that Cosmin is in the hospital! I am going to go visit him tomorrow I am excited but it also really makes me sad that he is still or is back in the hospital because he has been expecting to go home for 2 weeks now. It really breaks my heart. He has no home. Even if he goes home that is not home. Not with the conditions that await him there. If he is put into an orphanage he will get the attention but fall into the tragic patterns of institutionalized children. It goes downhill from here but the good thing is that I can help bring out his incredible smile for a few more days!
So small world, a girl from some of my classes in high school is going to.. or rather.. coming to Romania through the same BYU program next semester! I sent her a huge ole email about what to expect etc. I am so happy!
So Romaine Lettuce in Romania is actually like cabbage. When I bought it I was so stoked to make myself some salad! I am so tired of eating carbs all the time. I cut up the leaves and took a big ole bite only for it to taste like raw uncooked cabbage. Yeah.. that is not going to fly. Soooo I turned lemons into lemonade, or rather, cabbage into cabbage soup! It was actually really really good. I had some water with some chicken bouillon, salt, cabbage stuff, and a whisked egg. SO DELISH and SO EASY!
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