May 23, 2008 (Friday)

Today was a much better day than yesterday… It started off with us getting poured on while walking to the orphanage. We were absolutely soaked. One of the workers was really sweet to us though – she went and got us a blow dryer and told us to dry our hair. She didn’t want us getting sick. The rest of the morning was pretty hectic. I had to finish my last Brigance Test on Andrei. Whitney Scott and I tried to do the test – he was jumping off the wall. He wouldn’t cooperate with ANYTHING we were doing…I’ve never seen him with as much energy as he had today. WOW. I was so worn out after half an hour of trying to get him to cooperate it was ridiculous. Whitney Scott and I were talking about how frustrating it is that the caretakers discipline tactics are so harsh, because when we try and discipline the kids they don’t respond because we are so much softer. In order to get them to listen it’s almost like we are forced to yell at them, and we don’t want to do that. In the middle of doing the Brigance Test Sera found me…I was trying to control Andrei so I brushed him off. He was trying to put his arm around me…boys…He tries to “woo” a BYU girl every semester. Ha. The girls said he came and talked about me to them. They said they asked how it was going with me and he said that I was “shy” and “scared” of him…haha…They keep teasing me that they are going to tell him I like certain things that are actually my biggest pet peeves. For example, I hate feminine men. They said they are going to tell him I love it when guys act really sensitive and cross their legs. Sick.

After the orphanage we all anticipated talking to Mario. She was going to let us know the results of her meeting with the hospital in the afternoon. To lighten the mood before she came us girls decided to make a list of who we think is going to get married in what order. Out of 9 girls it was predicted that I will be will be the third to get married out of the group. We all spent an hour debating and guessing who we thought would go first and why. We are such girls…but it was kind of fun. I don’t know if marriage is coming soon for me or not, but I do know when it’s time it will happen. I’m not too worried about it though…the Lord will take care of me like he always does.

When Mario got over to the apartment she took a while to tell us the conclusion of the meeting. I think she was trying to build the suspense to remind us of the consequences that could have taken place. Luckily the hospital is going to let us come back, but they were very, very upset. Mario said that she was yelled at for about 15 minutes straight by one of the doctors. Apparently they are going to try and keep it quiet so the doctor in charge of the entire hospital doesn’t hear. She said if he were to find out we would be kicked out forever for sure. She said it would probably be wise to drop off some chocolates at the nurses’ station when we start going again on Monday. We are going to be walking on egg shells for a while…we are already watched so much – we are going to have to be really careful. I’m afraid they are going to look for reasons to get us kicked out. However, I’m SO grateful that we are able to stay…I love going there and visiting the children. I would be so sad if we didn’t get to go back.

After the good news it was time for Annie and I to cook dinner. Of course everything we needed for dinner we couldn’t seem to find at the store. We wanted to make hamburgers, but they were out of hamburger meat. The grocery stores here have random stocks of certain types of food. One day they will have a certain type of meat and the next day there won’t. You just never know. It’s extremely frustrating. After walking around for about an hour and a half we finally figured out something for dinner…

When MacKenzie and Annie got back from the apartments we all took a taxi to a nearby mall. We had a lot of fun. We needed to get out of the apartment after a stressful week. We went into a bunch of different shops and looked at all the different clothes. Everyone here is so fashionable – it’s crazy! The malls are a little different though. They don’t have department stores…we still had a good time though. Oh and I was so excited because I got a camera. I’ve needed one so bad! My mom and Rob said they would pay for half of it because I couldn’t afford it….very nice of them. Then we came home and watched a movie, laughed and ate a bunch of cookies! That’s what I call a Friday night…