Our Trip Schedule:
Friday – Departure
Saturday and Sunday – Budapest
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday – Krakow
Friday – Budapest
Saturday – Home
DEPARTURE TO BUDAPEST
June 20, 2008 (Friday)
The Lord’s Hand in My Life: Understanding of the word of wisdom…the effects of drugs can easily ruin a person’s life.
This morning we all put our second and hopefully final dosage of the antibiotic cream all over our body. Hopefully it works. Apparently the medication is pretty toxic….it definitely burns when you apply it to certain areas.
The workers were a lot nicer today, but sometimes I wonder whether or not they have much common sense. While the kids were sleeping Christina was cleaning the kids’ rooms and wiping all the walls down with bleach. It is a pretty small and confined room, and I know they don’t like to open windows. Those toxins can’t be too healthy for them.
As for new developments with the kids there weren’t too many today. All the kids faces are looking a lot better. I guess they have been treating them with medicine which is excellent. If the kids get rid of the scabies then we will be able to get rid of them as well. Elisa said that Sera lectured her on how “we need to be careful about giving scabies to the kids.” She replied with “ummm….we got them from the kids – we didn’t have them before we came.” That is definitely true. Romanians reasoning is a bit off and somewhat funny at times.
Most of us weren’t able to go to the hospital in the afternoon because we were all running around like crazy people trying to get ready for our trip to Budapest and Krakow. Annie and I stocked up on lots of chocolate along with the other girls. That is never a good idea, but you can’t go on a long train ride without treats. It’d be no fun!
On the way to the train station we had some random events happen…the first being that we found soft served ice cream. We were stoked about it! It’s almost impossible to find soft served around these parts in Romania. All nine of us ate our chocolate and vanilla twist cone like it was the first time we had ever seen ice cream before. It’s amazing how you miss the small and simple things from home.
The other random event was a guy who was high on paint standing in the middle of a very busy street. He was completely out of it and staggering around. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up getting hit by a car. It’s amazing what drugs do to people. According to some of the videos I’ve watched on street kids in Romania it is a popular drug. They put paint in a bag and sniff it. Apparently it takes away hunger pains. Kids on the street will often use it because they don’t have enough money for food, but they don’t want to feel hungry. Admittedly that was the first person I’ve seen high on it here, but I’ve heard you see kids using it in Bucharest a lot more because it is a more populated and prominent city.
On the way to the train we also saw a drunk guy who had no shirt on and his pants were halfway off. He was showing some major crack. There is nothing more disgusting than a halfway naked, fat, hairy, sweaty, drunk guy staggering around. I think Mary got a picture of him…haha…sick…
The train was a good time until it was time to sleep. We took a sleeper train so the chairs converted to bunk beds. I didn’t sleep real well, but I’m a light sleeper and I rarely sleep well when I’m not laying in a familiar bed with a consistent noise like a fan lulling me to sleep. The bunks were small, but they could have been worse. Sleeping was manageable until a mother, father and child came and took two of the lower bunks, and they demanded that the window be closed. We had the window open when they came in – it was sooooo hot. Needless to say we were all dying of heat for the rest of the night. I kept waking up drenched in sweat. Those cabins are small and with six sleeping bodies and no air circulation it is quite the miserable night’s rest. We couldn’t figure out exactly why they demanded the windows be shut. However, we have heard that you are supposed to keep the windows shut and your luggage close by because otherwise people will try and steal your stuff by jumping in or grabbing through an open window. Only in Europe would you have to worry about that. It’s amazing how prevalent dishonesty is here. The mentality is definitely “survival of the fittest.”
DAY 1 ON VACATION
June 21, 2008 (Saturday)
The Lord’s Hand in My Life:
Not getting kicked off a bus in Budapest.
Overlooking the city of Budapest and intertwining the magnificence of the city with my personal thoughts.
We had to wake up bright and early at 4:15 a.m. so we could switch trains. I was dead tired – I didn’t sleep well the night before. The next train was about a six hour ride so I slept on it for a bit. For the rest of the ride we had fun girl chat. We also did a little singing and dancing. I was dared to do a cartwheel down the middle isle of the train, and I did it without injuring myself or someone else too bad. Elyse tried, but she hurt herself. Why do we do the crazy things we do sometimes? I have no idea. I also had to get ready for the day in their small and quite disgusting bathroom they had to offer. Train bathrooms are absolutely horrid. They are just as bad if not worse as the local port potty one uses in desperation if they are at a local fair. The train restrooms are about the size of an airplane restroom except they are a thousand times dirtier and the often don’t have toilet paper in there. If you go to the restroom and there is toilet paper you’ve hit the jack pot. We quickly learned we have to haul our own around.
When we arrived in Budapest Elisa and Annie had to pick up some more train tickets so the rest of us girls sat in the train station and picked out each other’s future husbands. We all tried to find the grossest men possible. I found a big guy with tattoos and spikes for Mindy. Then the girls picked a tall, lurpy and quite padded guy for me…it’s amazing what we find to amuse ourselves. We were quite content for at least half an hour picking out spouses for each other. We even got a few pics of them as they were walking by.
The first thing we did after we stepped out of the train station was attempt to get to our hostel. We ended up getting on a bus, but apparently you can’t buy tickets when you get on them like you can in Romania. We had looked and looked for a ticket place, but we couldn’t find one - so all nine of us were on the bus without tickets. We were all praying that we didn’t get caught. We weren’t trying to be dishonest, but there wasn’t a lot we could do…we didn’t realize we couldn’t buy them on there until the bus closed its doors and started traveling. Luckily the Lord helped us out. The last thing we needed was to get a ridiculous fine or worse taken to the authorities. We didn’t even know how to say “hello” in Hungarian…Needless to say we quickly jumped off the bus and started walking as soon as we could.
After getting lost several times over to our hostel we went and got out some money. We all agreed that Hungarian money is absolutely ridiculous! $6.25 American dollars is equal to about 1000 Huff, and $31.25 American dollars was equal to 5,000 Huff. Their money had so many zeros it took us a few hours to get used to it. We had no idea what we were spending on things. Then every time we spent money on something we felt like we were spending a ton of money. We grabbed a bite to eat from McDonalds and the meal was about 1000 Huff…I had to keep reminding myself I wasn’t spending American dollars…Another annoyance was that in order to go to the bathroom in McDonald’s we had to show our receipt. Public restrooms in Europe are ridiculous. Not only are they hard to find, but in order to use them you have to buy something for validation or pay for them. I kept laughing at the thought of my Mom Mia surviving in Europe. She wouldn’t last for a second. She has to go to the restroom at least once an hour. She always has her radar up for the closest bathroom…haha…she would be spending a lot of money in Europe if she ever visits.
The Hungarian language is quite interesting. It sounds like someone is mumbling the entire time. I feel bad for missionaries here who have to learn it! Not to mention that the words are ridiculously long…every word looks like it is five American words put together. It’s crazy….
As for Budapest…let’s just say the city of Budapest is gorgeous. I absolutely love Budapest! They have the Danube River that runs down the middle of the city with tons of ornate bridges linking the land masses together. I felt like I was visiting a dream land. Although I haven’t visited too many places in Europe, if I had to live anywhere it would be Budapest. We’ll see if I change my mind by the end of my traveling adventures. While we were walking around the city it was the weirdest feeling, because I had major dejavue. I felt like I had been there before or had a dream about it. The city was strangely familiar to me, and I had no idea why – kind of a weird sensation. I wonder where those feelings come from? Who knows…
During our walk one of the bridges over the Danube River was closed to traffic because a festival that was going on. The bridge was lined with individual vendors selling trinkets, vases, jewelry, purses, etc. It was soo much fun to look at everything. Europeans are very creative and very fashionable people. Each station had a completely unique style of jewelry or craft – which was great because I love jewelry! I ended up buying a couple of necklaces. Two for myself and one for my Mom Mia. She will absolutely love it. Then we ate in a little square with people walking around, and watched a silent theatre show outside. It was so much fun and very relaxing. It was a great way to start our little mid-semester break. I’ve had some concerns on my mind lately that I need to get rid of. Relaxing and running around Budapest was perfect. I’ve realized that I worry too much about the future and don’t live in the present enough. I’m going to try harder to enjoy the events that are happening right then.
To end the day we went and walked along the Danube River at night. Talk about beautiful! The bridges, building and huge castle on the hill were all lit up. For a while us girls just looked at the view and sat in quiet contemplation. I love having moments like that – moments that are peaceful, calm and you have times to gather your thoughts. It’s times like those that everything in life seems perfect and manageable – even if it is just for a few subtle moments… at least we have them every once in a while. Heavenly Father always seems to allow me to have moments like those when I desperately need them. For me it’s the only way I keep my sanity, and he knows me well enough to know that…haha… Then we dipped our feet in the river and chatted. Some of the girls had fun catching minnows….it was a marvelous end to one exhausting day.
DAY 2 ON VACATION
June 22, 2008 (Sunday)
The Lord’s Hand in My Life: Good memories of family members that I love and cherish.
This morning we went and saw the largest Jewish synagogue in Europe – 2nd largest in the world besides the one in New York. The synagogue was beautifully decorated and ornate. What was even more beautiful was the large monument directly outside of the synagogue dedicated to the memorial of all the Hungarian Jews who died in the Holocaust. The memorial was a giant weeping willow tree with the name of someone that died engraved on each leaf. They also had an area that listed the name of all the people who helped save or hide a Jewish family or multiple Jewish families during the Holocaust. It’s insane to think of how many lives were taken for no reason. It’s even more insane to think that an event like that would be allowed to take place. Seeing this memorial was only a portion of what I would see at Auschwitz in a few days…
Poor Kenz had a rough day today. Not only was she not feeling well, but while we were walking around she noticed that her camera screen was broken from when she dropped it the other day. Plus her Mac computer decided to stop working properly. She doesn’t know what’s wrong with it…bad days like that are never ever fun.
After the synagogue we decided to drop by a local LDS church in the area for sacrament meeting. It’s amazing what a small world it is…Whitney Scott ended up running into her friend who was serving a mission there, and I ended up running into a couple of executives from Nu Skin. I saw Scott Schwerdt (President of Americas and Europe) and Truman Hunt (CEO) in sacrament meeting. I definitely didn’t expect to see them at church in Budapest. I didn’t know Truman well – I’ve seen him from a distance, but I went and said hi to Scott who immediately recognized me. He used to be a high council man in my old ward, and he has been very nice and helpful to me as an employee at Nu Skin. We laughed about how ironic it was that I ran into them in Budapest. I got a picture with Truman and Scott because I thought it would be funny to send to Jodi Durrant and Steve Rich (my old bosses at Nu Skin). Apparently Truman and Scott were in Budapest on business, and they decided to drop in for church. Then they asked me about how Romania was going and I told them about some of my latest adventures in Romania and the work that I was doing there. It was great to see someone from Provo. They were both very nice and pleasant to me…and I must admit that I was impressed to see that even on business adventures across the world it is still important for them to make time for church. They are good guys…
After church we went and looked around the main castle that can be seen on every Budapest post card. It was divinely gorgeous. I love the castles in Europe. They look just like the ones I’ve seen in movies. There have beautiful ivory sculptures surrounding the castle along with magnificent waterfalls and fountains. One of the waterfalls was absolutely gorgeous. I got a good video of it on my camera. It was so hot outside though we were all dying. I really wanted to jump in, but I refrained. People might stare. Not that that would matter too much.
After we checked out the castle we found a nice pizza and pasta place for lunch…it felt soooo incredibly good to sit in the air conditioning. To make the situation even better the restaurant had Pina Coladas…I LOVE virgin pina coladas! It was good, but not as good as the pina coladas I get with my Grandma and Grandpa Alexander. One of my favorite memories is going on the boat with my Grandma and Grandpa Alexander to eat at Paradise Cove – then getting the best Strawberry Daqueris and Pina Coladas to drink in the world. Then we will just sit and chat. My grandpa will usually tease me with a twinkle in his eye and my grandma will just laugh at his teasing. I miss and love them The pina colada I got at the restaurant was good, but it didn’t compare with the one I get with them. For some reason drinks in Europe don’t have ice. You couldn’t find a slushy if your life depended on it, and they never put ice in your drinks. It’s weird. The pina colada was more of a drink than an icy drink which was quite disappointing. Oh well….
During the course of lunch we each went around answered the question “If you could do anything you wanted for a day - that was realistic - back at your home (which is now Provo for me) what would you do? I said my ideal day in Utah would be waking up, having all my aunts get baby sitters for the entire day and going four wheeling in the mountains with them. We would all laugh and have a good time playing around. Then we would have a picnic in the mountains and finish the day off with a Café Rio salad and Cake Batter ice cream from Coldstone. I love being with all the girls. We have a blast together…
Right after we ate dinner, we bought a chocolate crepe next door that was amazing and oh soooo good…then we RAN to catch our train to Krakow. When I say ran I mean we ran. We were all sweaty and panting by the time we reached our train. It felt good to run, but I didn’t enjoy the feelings of panic that come from possibly missing our train ride. When we arrived at our cabin all the t-shirts came off and tank tops were thrown in place for the remainder of the ride. It’s bad news if you miss a train in Europe…really bad news…
DAY 3 ON VACATION
June 23, 2008 (Monday)
The Lord’s Hand in My Life: The ability to move on from the past and look towards the future.
This morning we arrived in Krakow…it is also a beautiful city – in small ways the buildings are similar to those in Budapest, but I still like Budapest better. All the other girls like Krakow better because they say it feels quainter. Budapest is still my favorite though – Annie says its probably because I’m a city girl – except I’ve never thought of myself as a city girl. I lived in Houston, but I was raised in the suburbs. Who knows? There is just something about Budapest that I like... On a random note my hair is starting to return to its original color. It has been a little too reddish-orange for my liking ever since it was dyed. Thank goodness the dye is fading…I’m starting to look more like an American instead of a European. Europeans thrive on awkward and outlandish hair styles and colors.
After we arrived in Krakow we went and looked at Wawel Castle and saw the king’s tombs. They were magnificent. Each tomb had a different color, sculpture and design to the tombstone and casket. They were all each very extravagant – it seemed like each attempted to outdo the previous. When we were walking threw there was the prettiest orange marble color on one of the tomb stones. The girls started laughing when I told them I wanted my future kitchen to be in that color. I was being serious though….
Outside Whitney S. decided that we should each have a little photo shoot against the castle wall – so a few of us girls had fun making weird faces and posing in awkward positions. Let’s just say some great photos came from it, and I’m sure anyone around that was watching was quite amused.
After we wandered around the castle we went and looked at this market place in Medieval Square. They had tons of jewelry and amber at good prices. It was like a flea market. We looked at booth after booth. I didn’t end up getting anything, but I will come back. Amber is the stone that pretty much symbolizes Europe. It is very popular here. I think I might get a necklace or ring or something, but I can’t but it unless I find the perfect one. I have a hard time spending money unless it’s exactly what I’m looking for.
Later on we found a Hungarian restaurant. I was kind of agitated because I couldn’t figure out what anything on the menu was. I felt like throwing a dart at the menu and saying “I want that.” The language is ridiculous! I ended up getting something that I can’t pronounce. It wasn’t the most amazing food in the world…but it was okay. Then to add to the irritation Kenz and I ran to the bathroom at the restaurant (which we had to pay for) and while we were in there some guy started banging on the door loud. I thought he was going to break it down! It was so rude. Then I opened the door – Kenz was still in the toilet stall and I was washing my hands in the sink area – and he practically pushed the door down. Then Kenz had to hurry out because he started yelling at us. I don’t know what his problem was. Maybe he had to go really really bad? Whatever it was he was not happy, and he was extremely rude. I did not like him one bit. I hope he ran out of toilet paper.
In the afternoon we laid around the hostel and relaxed. The Moldova boys met us up here for a few days and hung out with us in Krakow. Jaron played his guitar for a while and serenaded us while we all did our own little thing. Some of us played card games, read, etc. I worked on my lesson for church next Sunday. It’s on repentance – I’m amazed with how much I learn when preparing to teach a lesson to others. Whenever I think about repentance I always think about how we all have our favorite sins that we don’t want to give up. When I say that I mean that there is a characteristic or trait that we each have that we know we shouldn’t possess. However, we don’t want to work on it because in some ways it brings satisfaction. For me it has been holding grudges. I know I shouldn’t, but when someone hurts me bad I have a hard time forgiving them…I’ve come a long way, but I still need to be better.
In the middle of preparing my lesson a huge hail storm passed through Krakow. It was crazy! I’ve never seen hail so big in my life. It was the size of an ice cube! We were all quite grateful we weren’t outside when it happened…it would of hurt pretty ding dang dong bad.
Later on in the evening we decided to eat kebabs for dinner (that were amazing) and do something relaxing so we went to a live Blue’s Club. It was really fun to just sit and relax. The guy that played the saxophone was a little weird though. He kept looking up if anyone talked at all – which people usually do when it is a restaurtant/bar….at one point while they were performing he looked up and stared at this group chatting in the back of the room with complete hatred in his eyes and vocally stated “why don’t you shut the f*** up.” Let’s just say it was an awkward moment for everyone. No one really knew how to respond to the situation. Needless to say we did end up leaving a little early. To entertain ourselves during the break a couple of us girls played “never have I ever.” I was cracking up at some of the ones the girls came up with. In order to get me out Elisa looked at me and was like “never have I ever had scheduled shower times in my apartment.” We have them in our apartment in order to help things run more smooth in the morning. I get teased relentless for my desire to have things planned and organized. Oh well…that’s just the way I am.
DAY 4 ON VACATION
June 24, 2008 (Tuesday)
The Lord’s Hand in My Life: Living a day full of laughter….
I slept amazing with the help of Benadryll. I brought it on the trip because I knew I would have a hard time falling asleep. I hate that I am a picky and light sleeper. It’s so inconvenient when I have to share a room with someone.
Partners was the theme of the day. Instead of Elisa taking us to every historical site she had each of us pick a partner and do whatever we wanted for the day. We all loved it! Freedom is a great thing…My partner was Whitney Scott for the day. The first thing we decided to do was go shopping at H&M. We ended up being there for two and a half hours. It’s an amazing store – good quality, average prices and cute stuff. I think the only one they have in the states is in New York. Mary and MacKenzie decided to come with us as well. We had a blast trying on clothes. We’d try them on, show each other and then the outfit would receive approval or the boot. I was cracking up because Whitney S. found these Aladdin looking pants that she really wanted, but none of us liked them. She kept making excuses like “they’re really comfortable” and “I won’t wear them out.” Finally I was like “Whitney we don’t like them, but if you really want them then buy them.” She made a joking pout face and finally gave up in trying to gain our approval. Those pants weren’t going to get it from us.
In the midst of trying things on Whitney S. and I decided that we needed to eat healthier when we get back from vacation and get in tip top shape before we get home. I want to look as good as possible and so does she…Why is it that whenever it’s vacation we automatically justify our immense consumption of sugar, sweets and fried foods. It’s not so good for our figure. It’s okay though. I will have six weeks before I go home to eat better and workout. We are going to triumph in losing a few pounds and toning up!
Elyse, Mindy and Annie shopped with us in H&M for a few minutes until Elyse said she hates shopping and she gets anxiety when she goes into a store with so many things – so they left. She is a hoot…the rest of us were like “we wish we hated shopping.” As we were trying on clothes all of us girls kept saying “we shouldn’t buy anything, but we’re only in Europe once.” I didn’t spend too much, and I don’t feel bad because I haven’t bought any clothes all summer – plus some of the other girls spent more than me. Should that make me feel better? Probably not. By the end I ended up with a classy yet simple black dress, comfy skirt and two shirts. I was quite proud of myself. After this trip I have a feeling I’m not going to have much left for school in the fall…We haven’t been living in luxury by any means – I mean we’re staying in a hostel that costs about $15 a night – but it’s still expensive to travel. I’ll figure it out somehow though. I hate worrying about money. Mark my word one of these days I will be well off so I don’t have to stress out about it on a regular basis. I’m not trying to sound like I am a lover of money, but I want to have enough money that I don’t have to worry about going out to eat every once in a while, putting my kids in activities or taking a weekend trip with my future husband. Plus I want to be able to help friends and family members out if they ever need anything. My Grandma Rich helped fund over half the amount I needed for Romania which was a great blessing. Then my Grandma and Grandpa Alexander gave me my graduation money to me early. I wouldn’t be here without my grandparents helping me out. It’s amazing how the Lord has cleared up any physical, spiritual, monetary and emotional issues that have been in my life so I could come to Romania in the best shape possible. I’ve experienced so many amazing things, and I still have a month and a half to experience even more.
The four of us girls grabbed a bite to eat at the mall…I got a calzone which was good, but it would have been better with ranch. I asked the lady if she had any and she looked at me blankly. I quickly dismissed the idea. Ranch and peanut butter aren’t popular like they are in the United States…maybe that’s a good thing because they are both fattening, but oh how I love and miss them so!
At 2:00 in the afternoon all us girls met up and seven of us decided that we wanted to go rent bikes and ride around Krakow. That was the best time I’ve had on the vacation by far. We all had a fabulous time. To start the adventure off on a humorous note I haven’t ridden a bicycle in over 10 years, and to finish I got the only bike that was blue with a big horn on it. No one wanted it – so I proudly claimed it. The guy said the leader usually rides the bike with the horn so he/she can honk it to warn people to get out of my way. I figured I could handle that...When we first exited the bike shop and started riding our bikes on narrow sidewalks with mass amounts of people everywhere it was quite interesting. I was wobbling from side to side, and I (along with several other girls – no I was not the only one) almost ran into multiple innocent bystanders. I was in the front so all the girls were laughing at the sight of my biking skills. I’m sure I got a thousand bad looks from locals, but I was laughing so hard at my inability to stabilize myself I didn’t even notice. My excuse for my inability to ride straight for the first couple of minutes was that the bike was high and my feet could barely reach the ground. Then to add to the situation I used my horn quite often at the beginning. The girls eventually told me to only honk it in emergency situations because it was so loud it was scaring people…there was a lot of laughter on that bike ride.
Within a few minutes of riding I was able to balance and ride just fine. I just needed a minute to get comfortable with riding the bike. I forgot how fun riding a bike is…maybe I’ll get one when I go home. After a few minutes I quickly called Whitney S. to lead the way because she is great at navigating. Then I told her that I would stay and honk the horn if we needed it…once again with a smile it was reiterated that I should only use it in emergency situations.
The bike ride was so relaxing…the wind whipped through our hair and once we got off the main streets we were able to ride through the park and along the river. It felt soo good. I don’t think any of us could have been any happier. At one point we all started singing “Do, Re, Mi” from Sound of Music upon Annie’s request. I felt like we were a scene from the movie. We were riding our bikes in a row, around Poland, singing “Do a deer a female deer.” We probably got more weird looks…but we had a great time.
Throughout the two hour biking adventure I had two embarrassing moments. Admittedly the second I got on the bike I knew there was no way to avoid them. It’s okay though – my life is rarely dull. Through the course of the bike ride we went by a restaurant in Medieval Square (which has a ton of people) and someone in front of me stopped suddenly. I put on the breaks so hard that I flew onto the horn. Lucky for me the majority of the people at the restaurant were seated outside and a huge table of guys laughed and applauded at my accidental horn usage. I turned red and all the my girls laughed as hard as ever. It would only happen to me.
Then when I was riding threw the middle of the square there were hundreds of birds on the ground. As I was riding through them the thought came to me “I have a horn” – so you probably can guess…I blew it! It was embarrassing, but quite the amazing site. Hundreds of birds flew up all around me and little kids who had been feeding them started laughing. Poor Whitney S. hates birds…but even she thought it was a cool scene. Sooooo fun! I felt like such a mischievous little kid.
The bike ride soon came to an end, and we were all sad, but quite hungry. We ended up finding a quaint pizza shop to dine at. Our server ended up spilling a drink on Elyse, but besides that it was a great… food is wonderful.
We soon ran to meet Elisa and Melissa at a classical concert at St. Peter and Paul’s Cathedral. It was really neat…there were a few performers playing at the center of the church and the audience sat in the booths. The church was beautiful and when it was combined with beautiful musical it paved the way for a great atmosphere. Elyse scratched MacKenzie and my back. I almost fell asleep…but I didn’t.
With the concert done seven of us decided to get ice cream...that was a bad idea. The ice cream made us quite hyper (or at least that’s our excuse)…but boy did we have fun. The adventure of the night started with us watching a performance in the square by some break dancers. When they were finished the girls decided to dare me to go up to them and just start doing break dancing moves. I was like “I don’t know how to break dance! I tried once and I’m terrible!” They were like “that’s the point.” After I denied the first dare they posed another one. I had to run up to one of the dancers and obnoxiously and excitedly ask him to autograph somewhere on my body. I decided that I could do that, and I practically skipped up to him and asked him to autograph my upper arm. I was being so cheesy I had to keep myself from laughing. I couldn’t believe he bought it. Somehow he ended up inviting me to a party that was going on afterwards instead of thinking I was some crazed and obsessed fan. The girls watched from a far. They had a good time watching. I ended up getting his autograph on a piece of paper – the pen didn’t work when he tried to autograph my arm.
That dare led the pathway for what we did next. Somehow between the group of us we got the bright idea that we would do a street performance and put out a can so people could drop money in it. There are beggars and street performers all over Europe that look ridiculous. We figured we would blend in. For the act Mindy and Elyse did interpretive dance which looked amazing, then MacKenzie sang “Stand By Me” and Whitney S. and I stood on opposite sides of her and sang the “bum, bum, bum” part with coordinated swaying. We were laughing so hard we all almost peed our pants. Annie and Mary were in the distance watching people’s reactions and video taping the performance. My favorite part was this little move that Mindy did on one leg. She hopped across our imaginary stage we made for our self on one foot with her head down. It looked absurd and awkward, but boy was it a good laugh. At first we were all really embarrassed and awkward, but after a few minutes of performing we were used to making fools of ourselves. At one point we ended up drawing a crowd, but our laughter ended up getting the best of us and people would leave once we dropped our character. We were only out for about ten minutes and two guys dropped some change in our water bottle. I have to be honest though – the first guy probably just put money in because he accidentally kicked over our jar and he felt bad– then the second guy gave us money with a bribe. We each had to kiss him. We said we would as long as it was on the cheek. He agreed and all his friends cheered when we were each done kissing him on the cheek. Whitney S. jokingly laughed and was like “Guys! That’s like prostitution! We’re selling our kisses!” Of course we didn’t mean for our act to turn into that…so we decided to quit for the night. Mindy was like “I hope this was not one of those things that I do that I will regret in the morning.” We all laughed the entire way home about the events of the day and night. I couldn’t believe that we were street performers on the streets of Poland for the night and that we actually made a profit doing it. Who ever thought interpretive dance and an unrehearsed song would draw so much attention. Talk about a great story and a good time.
On the way home an old homeless man gave MacKenzie a lingering hung. We were all so confused because MacKenzie opened her arms in almost a welcoming manner. Then he wouldn’t let go of her. I stepped in and yelled at him to go away. I’m very protective of my friends, and for some reason I always feel like it’s my duty to take charge and protect the rest of the group. I didn’t think twice about saying something. That could be bad because I might end up getting hurt in the process…oh well…Maybe it’s because I’m the oldest child? Who knows…the old man didn’t listen to anything we had to stay – plus he couldn’t understand because it was in English so we ended up running away from him. We were like “MacKenzie what were you thinking!” She innocently replied “I thought he was just an old man that needed a hug. I didn’t know he wouldn’t let go of me!” We are all so naïve sometimes. I think I’m a lot less naïve than I used to be because of some experiences that have happened to me, but boy we need to be more careful about being so naïve that we put our self in obvious bad situations…
On the way home I noticed that we are all starting to pick up each other’s phrases and mannerism. Because of Mindy everyone sings half of the words they say, and because of Whitney S. everyone says words twice like “snacky snack.” Then Elisa always says “that’s rude” and “see ya.” We have all been around each other way too much and it’s starting to show….
DAY 5 ON VACATION
June 25, 2008 (Wednesday)
The Lord’s Hand in My Life: Being able to understand how lucky I am that I wasn’t one of millions of victims that lived and died in the Holocaust.
Today was one of the most depressing and eye opening days of my life. We went to Auschwitz and Birkenau all day– which were some of the largest and most famous concentration camps during the Holocaust. I don’t think I can capture in words the feelings that came from walking through the various buildings and museums where so many people lived and died. Hundreds of people’s pictures lined the walls of every building. The picture then had the date they arrived and the date they died. Most of them died within three to four months of arriving at the camp. I guess when the people arrived they took mug shots of everyone. Even standing in the middle of Auschwitz it was still hard to believe an event that horrifying took place. About six million people died in the Holocaust total – men, women and children. Between Auschwitz and Birkenau about 1.5 million people were killed – the majority of them being Jews. It felt unreal. How could the Nazi’s rationalize their actions? How could they honestly think what they were doing at that time was okay? I don’t think there is any good answer, but I’m sure Hitler used persuasion, manipulation and keen tactics to get those under his control to believe they were justified in killing so many people. Furthermore, how did the rest of the world not know what was going on until after so many people were killed?! HOW?! So many things ran through my mind as I walked around. Ironically a large cross was displayed at the top of the main entrance to Birkenau. I couldn’t believe the irony. Elisa said they believed what they were doing was sanctified by God. I hate it when people use that as an excuse to start wars and participate in acts of genocide. I mean really? Everything that God stands for is love and kindness. How could anyone think that was okay….
There were several scenes from the day that stuck out in my mind. The first most traumatizing, sickening and startling scene for me was the room filled with thousands of bundles of human hair from victims that had died. The lady told us that the hair was from about 40,000 heads – barely a fraction of the amount of people that were killed. All the hair was behind a glass wall…but it was an entire room full and it was in heaps and heaps… It made me sick to think that all those bundles of hair once belonged to a person. Seeing how much hair filled the room made the number of people that died more realistic. Apparently they sold the human hair and used it in the German textile industry. It’s unbelievable….
The rest of the buildings had rooms filled with graphic pictures, a history of the events that happened in each building and rooms filled with people’s belongings that were taken: shoes, suitcases, glasses, toothbrushes, etc. It was crazy…I found out that most of the people came under the impression that they were being given new land to live and thrive on. Quite the contrary. Immediately after they arrived (if they didn’t die on the train ride over ) they were put through a selection process. Men and women were separated and doctors would evaluate the new arrivals. If they weren’t healthy they were immediately sent to the gas chambers to be killed. In order to avoid panic they didn’t tell them that though…they told them that they had to take off their clothes and stand in the shower chamber so they could become disinfected. They soon found out that they were being killed – then they would burn their bodies and dump their ashes in ponds or use their ashes as fertilizer. Disgusting…
Another horrifying thing I learned and read about while walking through the museum was about the painful experiments doctors would perform on live men, women and children. Many people died because of them. Some of them consisted of placing live humans in frozen water for hours until they died, injecting people with different poisons and bacteria to see how they reacted, performing surgeries without any pain medication, experimenting with different ways to sterilize women and other torturous methods for the sake of “research.” I was sick to my stomach after hearing all the stories and seeing all the pictures. I just can’t comprehend how one human being could do that to another…I don’t understand, and I don’t think I ever will.
After Auschwitz we went to Birkenau that is located a few miles down the street from Auschwitz. Sadly most people only visit Auschwitz, but I was really glad we visited Birkenau. It helped put into perspective how many people were involved. When we arrived it was quite desolate, but the scene was unreal. We went and walked up to the top of the main tower that overlooked everything. All you could see in the distance was barbed wire fence with row after row after row of housing units. I couldn’t believe how many there were. Many of the houses had been blown away, but there were still quite a few left in their original form. At Birkenau the atmosphere was much more relaxed. There weren’t any museums – just the barracks and sites of the blown up crematoriums. Towards the end of World War II the Nazis tried to blow up everything in an effort to cover up all the horrifying acts they participated in – they succeeded to a certain extent…but they definitely had a lot of evidence left….
The barracks had row after row of big wooden shelves where 4 to 5 people were forced to sleep. Then there was a room that had what looked like troughs where people were supposed to go to the restroom… It was no wonder that people died quickly after they arrived.
There was one building at Birkenau that particularly caught my interst...it was the building that those who passed the selection process were taken to first in order to get initiated into the camp. When they arrived they were forced to hand over their belongings, they were then stripped, shaved of all body hair (which was quite humiliating to everyone – especially women because they were usually men that performed the task) then they were showered, disinfected, given a jumpsuit and number. They were no longer to be known by their name – only be their number. It was amazing to see how quickly the Nazis were able to take any sense of dignity away from the people that arrived – which was obviously done on purpose. I kept thinking of how I would react if I was promised land for my family and then I had everything taken away from me – my family, friends, dignity and self respect. As you walked from room to room each had a plaque that would tell what part of the initiation process that had taken place there….living through one of those camps would be worse than any nightmare I could conjure up in my mind….horrifying
By the end of the day we were all exhausted from the events of the day…it was a life changing experience – but definitely emotionally draining.
DAY 6 ON VACATION
June 26, 2008 (Thursday)
The Lord’s Hand in My Life: Being able to see beautiful works of art…
We went and saw an original painting done by Leonardo Da Vinci at a museum this morning. It was beautiful. It was the one with a young girl holding a ferret. That was the only painting in the museum had an entire wall to itself. There were several levels and they all led up to that particular painting. Besides that particular piece my next favorite room was one full of sculptures and ivory. When I walked into the room I instantly loved it. All the sculptures were white and elegant. Some of the sculptures dated back to B.C. and A.D. I didn’t know art that old was still around. The museum also had mummies and mummified animals. The process of mummification is quite fascinating.
I’ve decided that Europeans are really really fashionable. All of us girls were talking about it while we were walking around. We were feeling unattractive and unfashionable with all the skinny and fashionable Europeans walking around. We only had enough room to bring one backpack for a week. We were very limited in what we were allowed to bring…I wore the same jean shorts everyday for a week…gross….but I didn’t have a choice…When I go home I’m going to get ready and straighten my hair…it’s not fun to feel dumpy while on vacation…
In order to make ourselves feel a little more beautiful and feminine we decided to drop by Sephora and give ourselves a make over. We had a blast using their makeup. Mary went all out and did a complete makeover – so did Whitney S. I was a little concerned about the germs…but I put some eye shadow on. We all played with a variety of colors. Whitney S. said whenever she feels like doing something new with her makeup she will go to the mall back home and give herself a makeover. I was cracking up…I asked one of the Sephora ladies what color of eye shadow would look best with my hazel eyes – she said purple…so I went ahead and bought it.
Once we were done with our makeovers we did a little shopping for Amber. I was so excited. I’ve been looking for some amber jewelry everywhere. After looking through over 30 booths I found the perfect amber necklace and an amber ring. I got my best friend Kendall and I matching rings that are really cute…I think she’ll really like it. I love buying gifts for people. I wish I could buy more…maybe in the future. I’ve given up on trying to buy my little brothers and sisters gifts because there are too many. Maybe I should find gifts that are inexpensive for them…at least they will know that I thought about them. Then I bought my roommate Annie a necklace…she never buys anything for herself, and she said she can’t get herself to buy jewelry unless someone buys it for her. I can’t wait to give it to her on her birthday that is coming up in a little over a week. She has no idea I bought it. Keep it a secret...The last thing I bought was a shot glass. I have collected them since I was younger. I remember the first time I saw them I was at a garage sale and I bought them because I thought they were little kid cups for a tea set or something. I’ve liked them ever since. It’s kind of ironic that I collect them and I don’t drink, but I think they are adorable. I’m trying to get one from each country…
For dinner we ate Indian food. It was the first time I’ve ever had it before…I can’t say that it is my favorite, but it was decent. I’m always up for trying something new. During dinner Elyse, Mindy and Annie came up with various awards to give us. I received “most likely to have an extravagant wedding,” “most likely to live the longest,” and “most likely to be the crazy mom that all the kids love.” I’m not sure what to think about any of those awards….
Before we left for the train to go back to Budapest for the day we went and fed the birds in Medieval Square. I bought some bread and it was disgusting so I decided to give it to the birds…while we fed the birds Elisa decided that she is going to join Whitney S. and my attempt to eat healthier when we get home. We made up rules: no eating after dinner, no sweets Monday through Thursday and we are only allowed to have one treat on each weekend day. We thought and thought about a punishment if we break it – Elisa found one that will make all of us stick to it…if we break the rules we have to get a European mullet…I will not be breaking that one…haha…I’m excited to start eating healthier, and I definitely have the motivation to do it. It starts next Monday and ends whenever we leave Romania.
We then swiftly moved to the train station for another over night train ride…I’m starting to get used to them…
DAY 7 ON VACATION
June 27, 2008 (Friday)
The Lord’s Hand in My Life: We had to switch trains in the middle of the night and we barely made our second train. As the last girl jumped on the train it started to move…we were very blessed that we didn’t miss it.
We woke up in Budapest for our last day of vacation. The first agenda was the Turkish baths…The Turkish baths felt amazing. There were three pools with ivory sculptures decorating each one. Each pool had a different level of heat…Jumping into the water was completely refreshing. All of us had major farmer and flip flop tans because there aren’t pools anywhere in Romania, but we still felt decently attractive because the only people that were there were ancient – so we all felt pretty good about ourselves. Most of the old guys were wearing speedos…not the prettiest sight, but at least they weren’t nude like some of the baths. We made sure the bath we went to people were completely clothed.
After the Turkish baths Whitney S. and I signed up for pedicures so we went to get them done, and the girls told us we had missed them. When we bought them the lady didn’t say a word to us about there being an assigned time to get them done. Then we asked for a refund because we didn’t have time to wait for them to find someone to do a pedicure for us. They seemed a little annoyed, but they never told us…we were pretty sad about it. It’s amazing how beat up your feet can get walking around in flip flops 24 hours. I want to get a pedicure with my Mom Mia when I get home…that was the last request I had before I left and it will be the first thing I’d like to do when I get home…besides fixing my hair…
It felt good to get sun at the Turkish baths. It felt like it was summer for the first time this summer. Whitney S. and I usually spend summer time in our swimsuits at the pool or in my case on a boat with my grandparents. However, Romania is pretty void of swimming pools. That is so sad that they go through the summer time without water fun. So weird…I used to live at the pool with my friends. We’d lay out and tan with music playing.
Swimming made us hungry so we stopped and ate a light lunch at a café outside of the Parliament building. While we were eating I started talking about all the things I had to do when we got back and Whitney S. quickly spouted out “Whitney where are you right now?” (Her and I had had a conversation earlier in the trip about how I need to live in the present instead of always looking to the future.) It was good to have a reminder. I replied “in Hungary, eating at a café and enjoying lunch.” Then she looked at me and smiled and continued to eat. I don’t know why I am always making to do lists. It’s so hard for me to relax when I know I have something I have to do…My goal is to start appreciating where I am and what I am doing at that moment in time. I worry too much about the future when the future always takes care of itself. I need to have more trust and faith in the Lord. He always takes care of me. I was talking to my mom about it a few weeks ago and she made the comment “a lady once told me that worrying works because everything she worries about never happens.” I thought that was clever – but it’s easier said than done.
Once we finished our lunch we took our sunburned selves over to the Parliament building. We were going to take a tour of it…the outside was absolutely gorgeous so I was pretty excited to see the inside. To my dismay we had missed the last tour by half an hour. I was pretty sad about it – oh well…I can’t win them all…I was just a bit sad because I don’t think I’m going to be coming to Budapest very often. It’s a bit expensive for a flight…not to mention I rarely – if ever – have spare time to fly to foreign countries. That’s why I’m taking advantage of it now while I can. Once I head home I am going to be in my last semester of school and working full time. No fun…
The last order of business was getting a huge crepe at the shop before we left Budapest for good….it was pretty good…not as good as it could have been – but it involved chocolate and lots of it so I was satisfied.
When we arrived at the train station and got situated we were all exhausted. It had been a fun but crazy week. We had been running around everywhere and sleeping in hostels and on trains…so our lack of sleep was starting to catch up with us. We all crashed until we had to switch trains at 1:00 a.m. Oh and don’t worry we ran to our train…if we would have been 5 seconds late we would of missed it completely, and the idea of sitting at a desolate train stop for the rest of the night would have been quite miserable. Thank goodness the Lord is watching out for us in small and simple ways.
ARRIVAL HOME – IASI, ROMANIA
June 28, 2008 (Saturday)
The Lord’s Hand in My Life: Coming home to a familiar place…
The train came to an abrupt halt in Iasi. At least I slept good last night…that was the first time I felt like I had slept well on a train all week. When we stepped off the train we could tell we were home. Trash was everywhere, it smelled funny, and dogs were running wild, but it was home. It’s amazing how a place can become your home even if you aren’t fond of the way it looks. I thought about it for a while and decided that even though Iasi is an ugly city, I love it because it is where I learned to love the kids I work with. Kind of funny… I’ve also decided that stray dogs everywhere is just a Romanian thing – not a European thing. Budapest and Hungary had very few stray dogs. They cover Romania…I wish they’d do something about it.
The rest of the day consisted of cleaning myself up, taking a shower, unpacking writing in my journal and working on my lesson for tomorrow. Our water was turned off again when we got home. It’s really annoying…I was about to cook some pasta, but there was no water. Oh well…it’s not a surprise anymore we just have to learn to roll with the punches.
Later on we went over to the girls’ apartment to check our email. Whitney Scott found out she didn’t make it into the nursing program at BYU. Apparently it’s really competitive. I felt bad for her, but I reassured her that everything happens for a reason – even if we don’t see it at the moment. The Lord always knows the better way for us…I’m confident it will work out for her. I had a guy friend in college who didn’t make it into the advertising program the first time he applied and so he went home for a semester and ended up meeting his wife. Then there was one time I didn’t get an internship I wanted, and a few weeks later I got an even better internship that has led me to meet amazing people and develop great friendships. It didn’t make sense to me at the time, but I soon found out that the Lord was guiding my path the entire time. I hope the Lord is guiding my path towards my future husband…if he cares enough about my internship then I’m pretty sure he’ll care about my eternal spouse. I just pray and pray that my marriage isn’t going to be a huge trial in my life. For some it is and for others its not…I wonder what the secret is? Maybe there isn’t one.
To ease Whitney’s distress some of us girls decided to do pedicures to our self since we weren’t able to get them done at the Turkish baths. In between the pedicures we played a silly game with whip cream. I had never played it before, but we had a lot of fun. You spray whipped cream on your wrist, then you hit your arm with your other hand so the whip cream flies up and you have to catch it in your mouth. For some reason I’m good at catching things in my mouth so I made it in there the first time. Some of the girls weren’t so successful. It ended up going up some of the girls noses and splattering on the walls and floor…oh well – we had fun. The things we do to amuse ourselves…I love it.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
We HAVE SCABIES!
The orphanage was extremely frustrating today. Christina (one of the workers) was in her usual cranky mood. Andrei was sitting in my lap in the lunch room; and we were waiting for them to bring his snack; and she came and very abruptly pulled him out of my arms and slang him over to a chair at a table a few over from where we were sitting. Then she made him sit at a table all by himself, and he hadn’t done anything wrong. She yelled at him to stay there, and he started crying. He kept reaching for me, and there was nothing I could do about it. I was soooooo frustrated with her and confused why she was acting like that. That was the first time I’ve wanted to slap one of the workers. It was so rude and unneeded. Then when we walked them back to their room she looked at me and said “nu in bratz” which means “not in your arms.” I had to keep myself from getting really, really irritated. What’s the problem with loving them?! Christina can be such a jerk sometimes…….AHHH!
Today we found out that some of the girls have scabies which are little red dots on the skin that are caused because bugs crawl under it. It’s quite disgusting to think about. You get them from holding the kids if they have them. I don’t think I have them, but some of the girls in my room do. I guess you have to take antibiotics to get rid of them. If we all end up having them that’s going to stink really bad. It’s not a funny situation, but we were all laughing about it. We come to help and we get scabies. I guess that’s the price we might have to pay. After seeing the red dots that Whitney Scott and Elisa have I think Andrei might have scabies. I don’t know how to tell the difference between scabies and flea bites, but if Andrei has them then I am definitely going to get them.
I saw Marius today, and I haven’t seen him for a while. His skin looked so much better than the last time I saw him. He is healing so fast. He had a t-shirt on which is amazing since his skin was burned so badly. He was so cute today. He wanted to arm wrestle me – so we did…He’s a pretty strong little guy, and boy is he a little tease. He kept telling MacKenzie to tickle me. Then I tried tickling him, and the little stinker wouldn’t let me.
At the hospital Alexandra was kind of cranky. She took a hand full of crayons and decked them across the room. We told her that was not nice…Annie and I were talking about how it was the perfect time for our break. We are leaving tomorrow night to go for our mid semester retreat to
Later in the evening…..
So we found out that even if we don’t think we have scabies we probably do. Apparently it takes two to three weeks to show up even after you have it. Elisa and Whitney Scott went and got us ALL cream. All nine of us had to cover our body from head to toe in a strong antibiotic cream… We had to hit every nook and cranny. What stinks is that even with the medicine we are going to keep getting them until we leave. All the kids have them – so we are going to too unless we don’t touch them and obviously that’s not going to happen because that’s the reason we are here….lovely
There were some new developments today. Valentina jumped with me holding her. Normally she keeps her legs stick straight. I have been trying to get her to understand how to bend her legs and jump for the past month, and she finally understands the motion of jumping! I was ecstatic! She definitely can’t jump on her own, but with a little more practice she will be able to soon. I kept hugging her and telling her how proud I was of her. It was amazing to see her attempt to do something that I have been teaching her.
Andrei was really clingy today – more so than usual. He would barely wander more than a foot away from me, and I had to hold him as tight as possible in my arms at all times. I don’t know why he was so clingy. Every once in a while he will get that way. I’m positive he has attachment disorders. Poor thing – he cares about me and just like all the other people in his life I’m going to leave him in a month and a half. I’m going to feel like the worst person in the world when I do. It’s going to be really hard – really, really hard.
We had a visitor at the orphanage today. His name is Mihai, and he was adopted by Doamna Maria’s daughter. Doamna Maria is a worker at the orphanage, and she is usually in the Mickey Mouse room with us. She is the nicest worker in the world. She is our little grandma who loves each child and is so patient and gentle with everyone. I’ve never once seen her raise her voice or treat the children unkindly. All the BYU girls adore her. Anyways back to the story, Mihai is about 15-years-old, and he has fetal alcohol syndrome and was adopted by Doamna Maria’s daughter. Mihai lived in the orphanage until a year ago. It’s nice to see a happy ending. They don’t happen very often around here. When Mihai came into the room it was the cutest thing ever, because he started kissing Irina’s hand and stroking her face. Apparently they were friends when he was at the orphanage. I was fascinated that they remembered one another even though it’s been a while since they’ve seen one another – not to mention the fact that Irina can’t talk and Mihai is only able to mumble a few phrases. Friendship is an amazing thing – it doesn’t even require words.
Nothing too exciting happened at the hospital today. Poor Claudio looked horrible when we walked into his room. He had snot pouring down his nose so bad that it was running into his mouth. Then when I picked him up to clean him off he spit up what looked like a mixture of snot and vomit. It was lovely…
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
June 17, 2008 (Tuesday)
The Lord’s Hand In My Life: I have been praying that any feelings of tension between girls in our group would somehow be alleviated…today everyone was happy and peaceful…Plus I received a package in the mail that my mom sent – that’s a miracle in itself.
We were outside all morning which means I had ample amounts of time to spend with my Andrei. He participated in his usual routine of running around the playground to every toy. He will point at an object on the playground, look at me for approval and then run over to it. He’s a cutie. Today something interesting happened with Andrei. A sister and brother about 4 and 2 years old were playing on the playground. It was the first time I had seen them before. Andrei was climbing up the ladder when they first came outside, and the second he saw them playing he stopped and stared. He stood there watching them from across the playground in mid-climb for at least a minute. I don’t know what he was thinking about, but he looked like he was in deep thought – like he was remembering something. While he was thinking he was calm and had a serious and almost sad look on his face. I wanted to know what he was thinking about so badly. I wanted to grab him and kiss him and tell him everything would be okay. What frustrated me with that thought was that I couldn’t promise everything was going to be okay. I couldn’t promise that he would go to a family that loved and adored him the way he should be. It made me really, really sad. After he got done pondering he looked at them and pointed. I could tell he wanted to go over and say “hi” to this little boy and girl so he held my hand, and we walked over to them. When we got over to them he pointed and grunted at them as if he was trying to invite them to play. I could tell he wanted to play with them desperately. The little boy and girl just stood there, looked at him, and pretty much ignored him. It absolutely broke my heart. They just stared at him like “you’re weird.” He can’t speak because he can’t hear and because he can’t hear he makes grunting noises which can sound strange at times. The whole situation made me really upset. If children act this way towards him now I can’t imagine how they are going to act towards him in the future. Kids can be so cruel to children who have disabilities. He is such a bright and intelligent little boy. All he wanted to do was to play with them. It killed me to see them brush Andrei off the way they did. I wanted to yell at them and say “be friends with him!” That must be how a parent feels when their children has been rejected or hurt by someone else. I wanted to take the hurt he felt and any future hurt he would experience because of his inability to hear away from him. It’s so frustrating that I can’t. It makes me sad that there is nothing else I can do but sit there and love him. AHHHH! I guess all I can do is pray that the Lord will find a way to take care of him. I just wish I could adopt him…at least then I’d know he would be loved. Please add Andrei to your prayers. He is a beautiful little boy who needs to go to a loving family that will appreciate his sweet spirit, and help him reach his potential.
The Lord’s Hand In My Life: I have been praying that any feelings of tension between girls in our group would somehow be alleviated…today everyone was happy and peaceful…Plus I received a package in the mail that my mom sent – that’s a miracle in itself.
We were outside all morning which means I had ample amounts of time to spend with my Andrei. He participated in his usual routine of running around the playground to every toy. He will point at an object on the playground, look at me for approval and then run over to it. He’s a cutie. Today something interesting happened with Andrei. A sister and brother about 4 and 2 years old were playing on the playground. It was the first time I had seen them before. Andrei was climbing up the ladder when they first came outside, and the second he saw them playing he stopped and stared. He stood there watching them from across the playground in mid-climb for at least a minute. I don’t know what he was thinking about, but he looked like he was in deep thought – like he was remembering something. While he was thinking he was calm and had a serious and almost sad look on his face. I wanted to know what he was thinking about so badly. I wanted to grab him and kiss him and tell him everything would be okay. What frustrated me with that thought was that I couldn’t promise everything was going to be okay. I couldn’t promise that he would go to a family that loved and adored him the way he should be. It made me really, really sad. After he got done pondering he looked at them and pointed. I could tell he wanted to go over and say “hi” to this little boy and girl so he held my hand, and we walked over to them. When we got over to them he pointed and grunted at them as if he was trying to invite them to play. I could tell he wanted to play with them desperately. The little boy and girl just stood there, looked at him, and pretty much ignored him. It absolutely broke my heart. They just stared at him like “you’re weird.” He can’t speak because he can’t hear and because he can’t hear he makes grunting noises which can sound strange at times. The whole situation made me really upset. If children act this way towards him now I can’t imagine how they are going to act towards him in the future. Kids can be so cruel to children who have disabilities. He is such a bright and intelligent little boy. All he wanted to do was to play with them. It killed me to see them brush Andrei off the way they did. I wanted to yell at them and say “be friends with him!” That must be how a parent feels when their children has been rejected or hurt by someone else. I wanted to take the hurt he felt and any future hurt he would experience because of his inability to hear away from him. It’s so frustrating that I can’t. It makes me sad that there is nothing else I can do but sit there and love him. AHHHH! I guess all I can do is pray that the Lord will find a way to take care of him. I just wish I could adopt him…at least then I’d know he would be loved. Please add Andrei to your prayers. He is a beautiful little boy who needs to go to a loving family that will appreciate his sweet spirit, and help him reach his potential.
After the orphanage I got my package from my mom. I was so excited to get a new workout tape. TaeBo is getting really old. Hopefully it will give me a good workout. It says that it guarantees visible results after 10 workouts….we’ll see about that.
At the hospital I saw Claudio. I think his stomach is getting bigger every day. I tried asking one of the nurses what was wrong with him. She didn’t know…Mary and I found a boy on the 8th floor. He is probably about 4 years-old, and he was severely handicapped. He was the skinniest thing I’ve ever seen that was alive. The poor thing looked like a skeleton with a thin layer of skin over his bones. His legs were probably the width of two of my fingers combined. I couldn’t tell if he had been neglected or if he was simply sick. When I picked him up he seemed scared instead of comforted by the concept of touch which is unusual for children. He kept shaking at first until he realized he was safe. Then Mary and I started singing primary songs to him. He immediately calmed down. The other moms and kids in the room smiled and listened while we sang. I don’t know why – neither of our voices are amazing and we kept messing up on the words…haha…maybe it’s because they are songs that bring the spirit. Whatever it was he really liked our singing. Then the second we stopped singing the boy started crying and freaking out. We had to leave and so I quickly patted his back and “shhhed” him. He calmed down and we left without him crying…
I didn’t get to visit Florine for long today, but we found out the diapers we’ve been giving him he has been selling….that kid is such a stinker. It was hard not to laugh about it, but none of us are going to give pampers directly to him anymore. We’re going to give them to the nurses. What are we going to do with that boy?
On the way out of the hospital we found Annie talking with a student who is studying to be a nurse. We were all about to leave and so the girls participated in the regular routine of pulling their scrub top off displaying their cotton t-shirts underneath. (We aren’t allowed to walk around with them on outside the hospital because it draws too much attention.) As Annie was pulling hers off the nurse guy tried to help her, and she quickly pulled away and said “nu” (no). Then he asked if anyone else needed help. The men here are such perverts. A few seconds later he looked at me and shook his head, because I had already taken my scrub top off before I had walked outside and he wasn’t going to get to watch me. As we were walking away Annie said he told her that he watches us change. Elisa added to the comment with “I don’t get it. Why do they get such a thrill of watching us take off a baggy t-shirt to display another baggy t-shirt underneath?” Maybe it’s just the concept that we are taking something off… Who knows. That’s the question of the day.
The last adventure of the day happened on our way to use the internet at the other apartment. MacKenzie and Mary needed to send a quick email and they wanted me to go with them. I grabbed my stuff and we headed out the door. On the way to the apartment these two dogs in front of us were wrestling and playing with each other aggressively. We all started freaking out and you can probably guess – they followed us….MacKenzie, Mary and I tried to remain calm, but boy were we frightened. They would stop and wrestle and then run and catch up with us. They’d walk right next to us just to intimidate us. I think they could sense we were scared. Out of everyone to follow…the irony. At one point I decided to run across the street hoping they wouldn’t follow. That was a dumb idea. They chased after me. MacKenzie and Mary were like “I thought they were going to bite you!” Then by the time we got to the other girls apartment MacKenzie, Mary and I were laughing so hard we were crying. The laughter was out of fear and irony…. Once we arrived at their building we thought the dogs would go away. Wrong again. The dogs ended up following us up more than four flights of stairs to their apartment door. When we arrived at the door I shooed them and they finally went back down. After knocking for several minutes we discovered no one was home, so we decided to head back. When we walked out of the building we looked around cautiously for the dogs and didn’t see them. Within five seconds they had found us again and they walked by us the entire way home. We had to run into our building and shut the door. We were freaking out….we were so afraid they were going to end up biting one of us. One of the sister missionaries got bit by a dog around here a few weeks ago, and she had to fly to Germany to get her shots. Not fun. Dogs are EVERYWHERE here…I wonder if they have a Humane Society?
June 16, 2008 (Monday)
The Lord’s Hand In My Life: I was reminded of how precious each and every child is when we took hand and foot prints of our orphan kids today. It was the Lord’s way of reminding me how lucky I am to be working with some of his most beloved sons and daughters.
It was definitely a Monday today. I don’t think I’ve ever liked Mondays…but that’s okay. I got to play with all my kids except Andrei today. That always makes me sad if I don’t get to see him, but I did get to see him sleeping which was adorable. Today we started a new little project. We are going to be taking hand and foot prints of all the kids so we can remember them when we leave. It was so cute. They all have such small little hands and feet. It reminded me of how precious each child is in the eyes of the Lord – whether or not they have handicaps. I am so blessed to be able to work with them everyday.
There weren’t too many new developments with any of the kids today. I’m still trying to get Valentina to jump. I took her to the physical therapy room again…she still doesn’t understand…It’s frustrating because it would only take one time for her to jump on her own and she would understand the concept. However, I can’t make her do it. Maybe that’s the way the Lord feels about our weaknesses - if we would only try and overcome them then we would understand how…that thought may not make sense to anyone else, but it does to me…
No one said too much about my hair. It’s different, but it’s still light. Some of the workers asked if I dyed my hair. That’s about it. Then Sera walked in and said “hi.” He did a double take at my hair, but I tried to ignore any reaction. If people don’t like it…I don’t want to hear about. Not to mention I don’t care. It’s going to have to stay this way for the next two months. I’m not going to try and do anything else with it until I get home.
MacKenzie stayed home today. She has been feeling miserable. She got the cold I’ve had. Then Annie said she was starting to feel sick. I hope she doesn’t get it as well….it was not a fun sickness…The only problem is that since we all live together – we all tend to catch each other’s sicknesses. No good.
I went with Mary to the apartments since MacKenzie stayed home, and she can’t go by herself. It was a lot of fun. I’m sad I rarely get to go there anymore. The first apartment I brought this Egyptian mummy book that has pop-up pictures for the kids to play with. It’s really neat…however, Sergio loves to rip up anything he can get his hands on. So the entire time we were there Illena was trying to look at the book, and Sergio was trying to get to the book so he could rip it up. That boy would not give up…he tried for about 20 minutes straight. Illena thought it was so funny that he was trying to get the book. Then Cosmina is a little chubbster, but she is so cute. She will just flop into your arms and cuddle with you, but boy is she a solid little girl. She weighs a ton…
At the second apartment Catalina and Laura decided to do our hair. It was a little painful at times, but at least they had fun. By the end I had three ponytails on my head and every butterfly clip they could find. The worker there thought it was hilarious – so did Mary. I don’t know why little kids love doing hair so much – but they do.
Right after the apartments we met Sister Padoru at her apartment. She decided to show us how to make chocolate gogosi. It was quite the process, but we had a fun time making and eating them. She is such a sweet lady and so is her husband. Apparently he was baptized along with her, but he doesn’t go anymore because he has problems with the word of wisdom. That’s not a surprise considering it’s Romania. He’s such a sweet man though. He was such a jokster. Sister Padoru met us and showed us where her apartment was and on the way up her husband jumped out of the stairwell and scared us. Then while we were eating he had his grandson wrap up this little toy that jumps out when you open it. He thought it was hilarious. I hope I marry someone who has a good sense of humor…
Throughout the evening I kept thinking how impressed I was with Sister Padoru. Her and her husband live in a dumpy, one bedroom apartment, and she was still more than willing to invite us over to her house and make food for us. It’s amazing how often people who have so little are so willing to give, and people who have so much aren’t. That’s not always the case, but I’ve seen many situations where that is true. By the end of the night we ended up sneaking her some money, but she didn’t want us to. The fact that she didn’t want anything in return amazed me….
As we were leaving Sister Padoru offered us a skirt that she had made. It was quite homely. Luckily the only person it would have possibly fit was MacKenzie. It ended up being too small for MacKenzie so we told her we would give it to Mindy to try. She is tiny as well. We all knew Mindy would love that surprise…muhahaha…On the way home we ran into Mindy and showed her the dress. We told Mindy that we told Sister Padoru she would wear it on Sunday. Mindy just laughed…I don’t know how she’s going to get out of this one.
To end the evening I talked to my mom for over an hour. It’s always good to hear a familiar voice. She told me about how much fun she had on her vacation last week with all her sisters (who are like my sisters). Then she told me the funny stories that happened while they went about on their various adventures. I was kind of sad I didn’t get to join in the fun, but I’m really glad they all had such a fun time…I miss and love them all very much!
P.S. I’ve decided I don’t like my hair very much…It’s a little bright and a little too red looking for my comfort...I’ll just have to fix it when I get home I guess…
The Lord’s Hand In My Life: I was reminded of how precious each and every child is when we took hand and foot prints of our orphan kids today. It was the Lord’s way of reminding me how lucky I am to be working with some of his most beloved sons and daughters.
It was definitely a Monday today. I don’t think I’ve ever liked Mondays…but that’s okay. I got to play with all my kids except Andrei today. That always makes me sad if I don’t get to see him, but I did get to see him sleeping which was adorable. Today we started a new little project. We are going to be taking hand and foot prints of all the kids so we can remember them when we leave. It was so cute. They all have such small little hands and feet. It reminded me of how precious each child is in the eyes of the Lord – whether or not they have handicaps. I am so blessed to be able to work with them everyday.
There weren’t too many new developments with any of the kids today. I’m still trying to get Valentina to jump. I took her to the physical therapy room again…she still doesn’t understand…It’s frustrating because it would only take one time for her to jump on her own and she would understand the concept. However, I can’t make her do it. Maybe that’s the way the Lord feels about our weaknesses - if we would only try and overcome them then we would understand how…that thought may not make sense to anyone else, but it does to me…
No one said too much about my hair. It’s different, but it’s still light. Some of the workers asked if I dyed my hair. That’s about it. Then Sera walked in and said “hi.” He did a double take at my hair, but I tried to ignore any reaction. If people don’t like it…I don’t want to hear about. Not to mention I don’t care. It’s going to have to stay this way for the next two months. I’m not going to try and do anything else with it until I get home.
MacKenzie stayed home today. She has been feeling miserable. She got the cold I’ve had. Then Annie said she was starting to feel sick. I hope she doesn’t get it as well….it was not a fun sickness…The only problem is that since we all live together – we all tend to catch each other’s sicknesses. No good.
I went with Mary to the apartments since MacKenzie stayed home, and she can’t go by herself. It was a lot of fun. I’m sad I rarely get to go there anymore. The first apartment I brought this Egyptian mummy book that has pop-up pictures for the kids to play with. It’s really neat…however, Sergio loves to rip up anything he can get his hands on. So the entire time we were there Illena was trying to look at the book, and Sergio was trying to get to the book so he could rip it up. That boy would not give up…he tried for about 20 minutes straight. Illena thought it was so funny that he was trying to get the book. Then Cosmina is a little chubbster, but she is so cute. She will just flop into your arms and cuddle with you, but boy is she a solid little girl. She weighs a ton…
At the second apartment Catalina and Laura decided to do our hair. It was a little painful at times, but at least they had fun. By the end I had three ponytails on my head and every butterfly clip they could find. The worker there thought it was hilarious – so did Mary. I don’t know why little kids love doing hair so much – but they do.
Right after the apartments we met Sister Padoru at her apartment. She decided to show us how to make chocolate gogosi. It was quite the process, but we had a fun time making and eating them. She is such a sweet lady and so is her husband. Apparently he was baptized along with her, but he doesn’t go anymore because he has problems with the word of wisdom. That’s not a surprise considering it’s Romania. He’s such a sweet man though. He was such a jokster. Sister Padoru met us and showed us where her apartment was and on the way up her husband jumped out of the stairwell and scared us. Then while we were eating he had his grandson wrap up this little toy that jumps out when you open it. He thought it was hilarious. I hope I marry someone who has a good sense of humor…
Throughout the evening I kept thinking how impressed I was with Sister Padoru. Her and her husband live in a dumpy, one bedroom apartment, and she was still more than willing to invite us over to her house and make food for us. It’s amazing how often people who have so little are so willing to give, and people who have so much aren’t. That’s not always the case, but I’ve seen many situations where that is true. By the end of the night we ended up sneaking her some money, but she didn’t want us to. The fact that she didn’t want anything in return amazed me….
As we were leaving Sister Padoru offered us a skirt that she had made. It was quite homely. Luckily the only person it would have possibly fit was MacKenzie. It ended up being too small for MacKenzie so we told her we would give it to Mindy to try. She is tiny as well. We all knew Mindy would love that surprise…muhahaha…On the way home we ran into Mindy and showed her the dress. We told Mindy that we told Sister Padoru she would wear it on Sunday. Mindy just laughed…I don’t know how she’s going to get out of this one.
To end the evening I talked to my mom for over an hour. It’s always good to hear a familiar voice. She told me about how much fun she had on her vacation last week with all her sisters (who are like my sisters). Then she told me the funny stories that happened while they went about on their various adventures. I was kind of sad I didn’t get to join in the fun, but I’m really glad they all had such a fun time…I miss and love them all very much!
P.S. I’ve decided I don’t like my hair very much…It’s a little bright and a little too red looking for my comfort...I’ll just have to fix it when I get home I guess…
June 15, 2008 (Sunday)
The Lord’s Hand In My Life: I dyed my hair from a box and it doesn’t look bad enough that I have to wear a bag over my head when I go outside….
This morning Annie and I attempted to go to a Greek Orthodox service for the third time. Once again we got there bright and early – there was no service. I wanted to cry. So we walked down the street to another church – no service. Then we walked to another church – there was finally a service going on…I was about to give up on this assignment. The church service was interesting. The men stood on the right and the women on the left. All the women had their heads covered with some type of scarf or handkerchief to show their respect. Then a man read out of a book and random spurts of singing would occur. I didn’t understand one thing that was said, but it was still amusing. During the service people in attendance would go up and cross themselves and kiss the paintings of the saint or get blessed by the priest. That was about all that happened.
Church was a little long at first. In the first hour we listened to talks in Romanian, but for some reason the elders didn’t translate for us like they usually do. We were all struggling to stay awake. That’s when President Popovici publicly asked the elders to translate for us. They looked a little embarrassed and quickly jumped up and started translating. We were cracking up. He just stopped in the middle of his talk…good times.
After church Annie and I ended up cooking dinner for everyone. It was our apartments turn but MacKenzie got sick and Mary decided to go to the hospital last minute. So we were the only two left to do the dirty work. We were a bit frustrated because we didn’t know we would be cooking all afternoon, but we made it work. We made homemake lasagna and homemade bread (without a breadmaker) and had veggies to go with it. It ended up turning out okay luckily. We ran into a few problems with the bread…like not having a pan to cook it in. We only had one pan and it was the pan with the lasagna. We do a lot of improvising over here.
After dinner the attention was turned to me…the girls started chanting my name. I was confused for a second, and then I remembered – I was going to dye my hair. I was really, really nervous, and I kept praying that it wouldn’t turn out bad enough that I would never go outside. My worst nightmare is coloring my hair out of a box – I’ve never done it before…so my nightmare was becoming a reality. The color I picked was a carmel blonde. I went over and they did it. It’s not my favorite, but it didn’t turn out bad enough that I’ll have to hide my face. Plus it’s still pretty light, so when I go back home I can just have my hair dresser fix it back to the normal blonde color I’m used to…at least my roots are gone and the cover went over evenly…it will do until I come back home.
The rest of the evening we all relaxed and swapped pictures. Mindy was hysterically laughing at the video of Kenz and I making faces. Mindy was supposed to be taking pictures of us making faces, and instead she did a video….nice…then I emailed my dad.
Today I decided that at the top of every journal entry I’m going to write something that happened in the day that showed the Lord’s hand in my life…whether it’s small or big things.
The Lord’s Hand In My Life: I dyed my hair from a box and it doesn’t look bad enough that I have to wear a bag over my head when I go outside….
This morning Annie and I attempted to go to a Greek Orthodox service for the third time. Once again we got there bright and early – there was no service. I wanted to cry. So we walked down the street to another church – no service. Then we walked to another church – there was finally a service going on…I was about to give up on this assignment. The church service was interesting. The men stood on the right and the women on the left. All the women had their heads covered with some type of scarf or handkerchief to show their respect. Then a man read out of a book and random spurts of singing would occur. I didn’t understand one thing that was said, but it was still amusing. During the service people in attendance would go up and cross themselves and kiss the paintings of the saint or get blessed by the priest. That was about all that happened.
Church was a little long at first. In the first hour we listened to talks in Romanian, but for some reason the elders didn’t translate for us like they usually do. We were all struggling to stay awake. That’s when President Popovici publicly asked the elders to translate for us. They looked a little embarrassed and quickly jumped up and started translating. We were cracking up. He just stopped in the middle of his talk…good times.
After church Annie and I ended up cooking dinner for everyone. It was our apartments turn but MacKenzie got sick and Mary decided to go to the hospital last minute. So we were the only two left to do the dirty work. We were a bit frustrated because we didn’t know we would be cooking all afternoon, but we made it work. We made homemake lasagna and homemade bread (without a breadmaker) and had veggies to go with it. It ended up turning out okay luckily. We ran into a few problems with the bread…like not having a pan to cook it in. We only had one pan and it was the pan with the lasagna. We do a lot of improvising over here.
After dinner the attention was turned to me…the girls started chanting my name. I was confused for a second, and then I remembered – I was going to dye my hair. I was really, really nervous, and I kept praying that it wouldn’t turn out bad enough that I would never go outside. My worst nightmare is coloring my hair out of a box – I’ve never done it before…so my nightmare was becoming a reality. The color I picked was a carmel blonde. I went over and they did it. It’s not my favorite, but it didn’t turn out bad enough that I’ll have to hide my face. Plus it’s still pretty light, so when I go back home I can just have my hair dresser fix it back to the normal blonde color I’m used to…at least my roots are gone and the cover went over evenly…it will do until I come back home.
The rest of the evening we all relaxed and swapped pictures. Mindy was hysterically laughing at the video of Kenz and I making faces. Mindy was supposed to be taking pictures of us making faces, and instead she did a video….nice…then I emailed my dad.
Today I decided that at the top of every journal entry I’m going to write something that happened in the day that showed the Lord’s hand in my life…whether it’s small or big things.
June 14, 2008 (Saturday)
Annie and I woke up at 6:20 a.m. on a Saturday morning. We were planning on attending a Greek Orthodox church service at 7:30 a.m. for one of our cultural proof assignments. We made some French toast, got ready, ran to the church and there was no service. I was a little agitated. After all that is our only day to sleep in. Apparently we read the schedule wrong again…I guess the church was open for people to come worship, but there was no service going on. Annie and I just smiled at each other and walked home. I’ve noticed we do that a lot. Just smile at crappy situations without saying a word. I attempted to look at the bright side of the situation. At least I was ready early on so I could get a lot accomplished? No, honestly I would have rather slept in….I need to get rid of this sickness.
Soon after we came home and worked on a little homework. It did feel good to get that done with. Then we ran to the church for our Relief Society activity. The sisters were showing us how to make traditional sarmale. We ended up having a lot of fun, and luckily it didn’t taste too bad. Sarmale has beef, rice, tomato paste, sarmale flavoring, etc. Then you wrap it in cabbage and grape leaves or put it in peppers and eat it. Poor Annie got sick after eating sarmales one day and tried to hide when they were done so she didn’t have to eat them. Oh the sisters still found her. Poor thing. Later she was like “I don’t think I’m going to be able to survive for another two months of eating them.” The workers like to serve her and Melissa them when they go to the apartments. I told her to tell them she was feeling sick. She was like “I don’t think that’s going to work everyday.” Then we laughed…that’s all you can do in situations like those.
The most amusing part of the cooking experience was while everything was cooking. We decided to have fun with our cameras. We would all decided on a theme and each make that face. Our first theme was to make your face as small as possible…we had lots of laughs. Mindy won that one. Her picture looked like she only had one tooth in her mouth. I don’t know how she managed that. We were dying. Then Mindy told MacKenzie and I to start doing a ton of silly faces so she could randomly take silly photos. Right after I was done I found out she did a video! Mindy thought she was soooo funny….so there is now a video in existence that has MacKenzie and I stupidly making faces for a couple of minutes. It’s lovely.
The cooking lasted most of the day. After that our apartment did a little homework and internet fun. I emailed my dad for Father’s Day. I hope he gets it. Then I bought another phone card in an attempt to call him tomorrow, but that one doesn’t work either. I was so frustrated. I kept trying it over and over. I don’t understand why it’s so difficult to call someone. AHHH! I want to call and talk to a few family members and close friends! Then the girls kept bugging me about dying my hair. We’ve decided to do it tomorrow. I’m freaking out…I keep praying that it won’t look horrible. Maybe that’s a dumb thing to pray about, but a girl’s hair is important to her. If it looks bad I’ll just have to fix it later.
To end the day right a couple of us girls decided that we needed to find a pastry shop. We started roaming around…to our immense sadness all the pastry shops were closed. Everything closes early around here. So we were forced to get some candy at the G-Market. Once again we just smiled and laughed…then we all sat outside and ate our goodies.
The second we walked in from our failed pastry adventure we got a call from the other apartment saying that we needed to come pick up MacKenzie from their apartment. MacKenzie had gone to an activity earlier, and she couldn’t walk home by herself. It had been a really, really long day and the last thing the three of us wanted to do was to go walk and get her …However, Annie found a way to make it fun – even humorous. We were about to walk out the door and Annie suddenly stopped and said “Guys we NEED to find something really cool to put on our heads when we pick up MacKenzie” and ran inside without a pause. Mary and I looked at each other really confused and laughed. Within seconds Annie came pouncing out with a package of glow sticks. She was like “if we have to do something we don’t want to do we mine as well make it fun!” We were cracking up. We wore the glow sticks proud on our way to pick up Kenz. Annie wore hers on her head, and Mary and I wore ours around our neck. People looked at us like we were crazy….oh well…maybe we are, but at least we are having fun doing it! It made for a nice story and great pictures. Best of all it made a dreaded activity fun.
Annie and I woke up at 6:20 a.m. on a Saturday morning. We were planning on attending a Greek Orthodox church service at 7:30 a.m. for one of our cultural proof assignments. We made some French toast, got ready, ran to the church and there was no service. I was a little agitated. After all that is our only day to sleep in. Apparently we read the schedule wrong again…I guess the church was open for people to come worship, but there was no service going on. Annie and I just smiled at each other and walked home. I’ve noticed we do that a lot. Just smile at crappy situations without saying a word. I attempted to look at the bright side of the situation. At least I was ready early on so I could get a lot accomplished? No, honestly I would have rather slept in….I need to get rid of this sickness.
Soon after we came home and worked on a little homework. It did feel good to get that done with. Then we ran to the church for our Relief Society activity. The sisters were showing us how to make traditional sarmale. We ended up having a lot of fun, and luckily it didn’t taste too bad. Sarmale has beef, rice, tomato paste, sarmale flavoring, etc. Then you wrap it in cabbage and grape leaves or put it in peppers and eat it. Poor Annie got sick after eating sarmales one day and tried to hide when they were done so she didn’t have to eat them. Oh the sisters still found her. Poor thing. Later she was like “I don’t think I’m going to be able to survive for another two months of eating them.” The workers like to serve her and Melissa them when they go to the apartments. I told her to tell them she was feeling sick. She was like “I don’t think that’s going to work everyday.” Then we laughed…that’s all you can do in situations like those.
The most amusing part of the cooking experience was while everything was cooking. We decided to have fun with our cameras. We would all decided on a theme and each make that face. Our first theme was to make your face as small as possible…we had lots of laughs. Mindy won that one. Her picture looked like she only had one tooth in her mouth. I don’t know how she managed that. We were dying. Then Mindy told MacKenzie and I to start doing a ton of silly faces so she could randomly take silly photos. Right after I was done I found out she did a video! Mindy thought she was soooo funny….so there is now a video in existence that has MacKenzie and I stupidly making faces for a couple of minutes. It’s lovely.
The cooking lasted most of the day. After that our apartment did a little homework and internet fun. I emailed my dad for Father’s Day. I hope he gets it. Then I bought another phone card in an attempt to call him tomorrow, but that one doesn’t work either. I was so frustrated. I kept trying it over and over. I don’t understand why it’s so difficult to call someone. AHHH! I want to call and talk to a few family members and close friends! Then the girls kept bugging me about dying my hair. We’ve decided to do it tomorrow. I’m freaking out…I keep praying that it won’t look horrible. Maybe that’s a dumb thing to pray about, but a girl’s hair is important to her. If it looks bad I’ll just have to fix it later.
To end the day right a couple of us girls decided that we needed to find a pastry shop. We started roaming around…to our immense sadness all the pastry shops were closed. Everything closes early around here. So we were forced to get some candy at the G-Market. Once again we just smiled and laughed…then we all sat outside and ate our goodies.
The second we walked in from our failed pastry adventure we got a call from the other apartment saying that we needed to come pick up MacKenzie from their apartment. MacKenzie had gone to an activity earlier, and she couldn’t walk home by herself. It had been a really, really long day and the last thing the three of us wanted to do was to go walk and get her …However, Annie found a way to make it fun – even humorous. We were about to walk out the door and Annie suddenly stopped and said “Guys we NEED to find something really cool to put on our heads when we pick up MacKenzie” and ran inside without a pause. Mary and I looked at each other really confused and laughed. Within seconds Annie came pouncing out with a package of glow sticks. She was like “if we have to do something we don’t want to do we mine as well make it fun!” We were cracking up. We wore the glow sticks proud on our way to pick up Kenz. Annie wore hers on her head, and Mary and I wore ours around our neck. People looked at us like we were crazy….oh well…maybe we are, but at least we are having fun doing it! It made for a nice story and great pictures. Best of all it made a dreaded activity fun.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
June 13, 2008 (Friday)
I got to see my kids today! I have dearly missed them – even though it has only been two days since I’ve played with them. I wish I were back to feeling like myself, but I still didn’t feel well so my energy was low. The situation with me being sick and still taking care of kids made me think about mothers. Even when they are sick they still have to take care of things and chase kids around. They never get a break. That’s exactly what happened to me today. I felt terrible, but I still chased Andrei around for the majority of the time outside. He was a ball of energy. He kept going down the slide the wrong way. He went head first on his stomach, head first on his back. He tried to stand and go down the slide, but I definitely wouldn’t let him do that. He is mister monkey/adventure boy. Nothing fazes him. He is always attempting to do things that could easily hurt him. Sometimes he succeeds. Today he probably fell over himself five times today. At one point he fell and scraped his knee. I kissed it better so he was quickly okay. Then he repeated please in sign language several times when he wanted something. I was so proud of him.
After chasing Andrei around for a while I sat on a blanket where the other girls were sitting under a tree and held Maria. She just chilled with us. She would randomly flail her legs and kick the other kids so I’d have to switch the position she was in at times. She’s such a sweetheart though. We had a lot of fun outside. All the BYU girls sat on a blanket and held the children that couldn’t run around. Even though some of the kids couldn’t frolic and play they still loved being outside. There is something about being outside with nature that makes everyone happy and content. Maybe it’s because we are so close to God’s creations.
I saw Sera outside today. Once again awkward. We did manage to say “hi” to one another though. That’s an improvement. Then Florine came outside after everyone went inside and made small talk with me. He asked me about how I was doing and told me his plans for the weekend. Apparently there is a huge “football” (soccer) game he is watching with a bunch of his friends tonight. It’s apparently a big deal. He’s a sweet guy. I can tell he loves the kids, and he is genuinely nice and respectful to everyone around him.
I’m still trying to figure out my Iulia. Iulia is extremely emotional. Every day I will run her around in circles in her wheel chair because she loves it. However, the second I stop she cries and cries. I’m trying to figure out how to handle her…It’s harder for me to figure her out than my other kids.
At the hospital there weren’t as many kids to visit as normal. However, I did see my Claudio. His stomach is still huge and swollen. His diapers even fall off because his stomach is so large. I’m really curious about what he has. I want to ask the nurse, but even if I could figure out how to ask the question I wouldn’t understand the response. When I walked in he got a huge smile on his face. There is nothing better than when their face light up when you walk into the room. It’s some proof that you are improving their life and doing some good. Even if it is only something as simple as a smile. It means the world to me…and to be honest it’s nice to know my efforts aren’t completely in vain.
After Claudio we visited this little five-year-old boy names Sebby. We brought him some Legos to play with. He really enjoyed them. Then Annie and I played the game “Where is Sebby hiding?” It’s amazing how fascinated little kids are with that game. Obviously we knew exactly where he was, but for some reason pretending that we don’t was a complete riot to him. I don’t understand. Maybe it’s because I haven’t been a kid for such a long time…I can’t believe I’m turning 22 soon. I feel so old.
Before we left we went and said hi to Marion and Florine. On our way we saw the Elders. They came to the hospital to give Marius and his aunt a blessing. Even though neither of them are members of our church they were extremely open to being blessed. I spoke with Elder Armstrong later, and he said he said he taught Marius a lesson on God and Christ and how he will have a perfect body when the resurrection comes. This especially appealed to Marius because his entire body and face were burned in a fire. The elder also said that it was amazing because in the blessing he felt inspired to say that Marius would heal quicker than anyone. He said some would say his rate of recovery would be a miracle. I have no doubt in my mind that that won’t happen. I’ve seen the Lords hand in my life too many times. The blessings that have been given to friends and family members by worthy priesthood holders have happened. Elder Armstrong also said that our little Florine wants the elders to bring a Book of Mormon for him to read. I’m amazed that he is interested at such a young age. It’s awesome. The Book of Mormon has truly been a light in a dark tunnel for me in my life. It’s amazing the strength, insight and additional help and guidance I receive by reading it daily and applying the principles to my life.
Annie, Mindy and I had to leave the hospital a few minutes early because we had to meet one of the sisters from church at the piata. We needed to go shopping with her because she is going to show us how to make some traditional Romanian dishes for an activity tomorrow. We had a lot of fun shopping, but boy did we walk a lot. It ended up taking us several hours and the majority of that was spent walking to different stores. Romanians walk almost everywhere they go. It’s crazy. I was excited about one of the stores we went to. It was a special American grocery store that was huge. I felt like I was home. It was amazing. It was air conditioned and everything. It felt so cool, so refreshing after running around all day.
After walking around and being in Romania for over a month I’ve realized that Romanian men love their liquor. At the piata men would be standing behind their food stand holding a bottle of liquor upside down in an effort to get every last drop. I kept thinking how any sales they made from the day probably totaled how much the one bottle of liquor cost. How selfish would that be if the family wasn’t able to have anything to eat because the husband had to maintain his liquor habits? It’s so sad what alcohol can do to people. There are so many drunks around here. It’s ridiculous.
By the time we got home all the other girls had gone out to see a movie. The only movie that was playing was Bratz. I wasn’t real sad I missed it. Then before we went back to our apartment we ran to the G-Market. I decided to get hair dye – my dark blonde roots are growing out. I’m scared to death how the color is going to turn out, but there isn’t a lot I can do out here. I’m going to have to suck it up or have really bad roots. I decided to go with a carmel blonde color. I’m just praying that it won’t turn out horribly ugly. There isn’t a lot I can do to fix it if it does. If it ends up looking bad I’ll just have to fix it when I get back home. I’m probably going to dye it sometime this weekend…yikes! Then Annie, Mindy and I ended up watching Patch Adams at our apartment. I forgot how amazing that movie was. There are a ton of amazing messages. I really liked when they talked about how in order to fix a problem you have to look past the problem and focus on the solution. That’s a really interesting concept. That makes sense when you think about it though. Too many times we waste time worrying about the problem when we should be spending our time on what we can do to fix it. Talk about a bunch of energy wasted.
P.S. Our water was randomly turned off again for the 3rd time since being here. I love it…
I got to see my kids today! I have dearly missed them – even though it has only been two days since I’ve played with them. I wish I were back to feeling like myself, but I still didn’t feel well so my energy was low. The situation with me being sick and still taking care of kids made me think about mothers. Even when they are sick they still have to take care of things and chase kids around. They never get a break. That’s exactly what happened to me today. I felt terrible, but I still chased Andrei around for the majority of the time outside. He was a ball of energy. He kept going down the slide the wrong way. He went head first on his stomach, head first on his back. He tried to stand and go down the slide, but I definitely wouldn’t let him do that. He is mister monkey/adventure boy. Nothing fazes him. He is always attempting to do things that could easily hurt him. Sometimes he succeeds. Today he probably fell over himself five times today. At one point he fell and scraped his knee. I kissed it better so he was quickly okay. Then he repeated please in sign language several times when he wanted something. I was so proud of him.
After chasing Andrei around for a while I sat on a blanket where the other girls were sitting under a tree and held Maria. She just chilled with us. She would randomly flail her legs and kick the other kids so I’d have to switch the position she was in at times. She’s such a sweetheart though. We had a lot of fun outside. All the BYU girls sat on a blanket and held the children that couldn’t run around. Even though some of the kids couldn’t frolic and play they still loved being outside. There is something about being outside with nature that makes everyone happy and content. Maybe it’s because we are so close to God’s creations.
I saw Sera outside today. Once again awkward. We did manage to say “hi” to one another though. That’s an improvement. Then Florine came outside after everyone went inside and made small talk with me. He asked me about how I was doing and told me his plans for the weekend. Apparently there is a huge “football” (soccer) game he is watching with a bunch of his friends tonight. It’s apparently a big deal. He’s a sweet guy. I can tell he loves the kids, and he is genuinely nice and respectful to everyone around him.
I’m still trying to figure out my Iulia. Iulia is extremely emotional. Every day I will run her around in circles in her wheel chair because she loves it. However, the second I stop she cries and cries. I’m trying to figure out how to handle her…It’s harder for me to figure her out than my other kids.
At the hospital there weren’t as many kids to visit as normal. However, I did see my Claudio. His stomach is still huge and swollen. His diapers even fall off because his stomach is so large. I’m really curious about what he has. I want to ask the nurse, but even if I could figure out how to ask the question I wouldn’t understand the response. When I walked in he got a huge smile on his face. There is nothing better than when their face light up when you walk into the room. It’s some proof that you are improving their life and doing some good. Even if it is only something as simple as a smile. It means the world to me…and to be honest it’s nice to know my efforts aren’t completely in vain.
After Claudio we visited this little five-year-old boy names Sebby. We brought him some Legos to play with. He really enjoyed them. Then Annie and I played the game “Where is Sebby hiding?” It’s amazing how fascinated little kids are with that game. Obviously we knew exactly where he was, but for some reason pretending that we don’t was a complete riot to him. I don’t understand. Maybe it’s because I haven’t been a kid for such a long time…I can’t believe I’m turning 22 soon. I feel so old.
Before we left we went and said hi to Marion and Florine. On our way we saw the Elders. They came to the hospital to give Marius and his aunt a blessing. Even though neither of them are members of our church they were extremely open to being blessed. I spoke with Elder Armstrong later, and he said he said he taught Marius a lesson on God and Christ and how he will have a perfect body when the resurrection comes. This especially appealed to Marius because his entire body and face were burned in a fire. The elder also said that it was amazing because in the blessing he felt inspired to say that Marius would heal quicker than anyone. He said some would say his rate of recovery would be a miracle. I have no doubt in my mind that that won’t happen. I’ve seen the Lords hand in my life too many times. The blessings that have been given to friends and family members by worthy priesthood holders have happened. Elder Armstrong also said that our little Florine wants the elders to bring a Book of Mormon for him to read. I’m amazed that he is interested at such a young age. It’s awesome. The Book of Mormon has truly been a light in a dark tunnel for me in my life. It’s amazing the strength, insight and additional help and guidance I receive by reading it daily and applying the principles to my life.
Annie, Mindy and I had to leave the hospital a few minutes early because we had to meet one of the sisters from church at the piata. We needed to go shopping with her because she is going to show us how to make some traditional Romanian dishes for an activity tomorrow. We had a lot of fun shopping, but boy did we walk a lot. It ended up taking us several hours and the majority of that was spent walking to different stores. Romanians walk almost everywhere they go. It’s crazy. I was excited about one of the stores we went to. It was a special American grocery store that was huge. I felt like I was home. It was amazing. It was air conditioned and everything. It felt so cool, so refreshing after running around all day.
After walking around and being in Romania for over a month I’ve realized that Romanian men love their liquor. At the piata men would be standing behind their food stand holding a bottle of liquor upside down in an effort to get every last drop. I kept thinking how any sales they made from the day probably totaled how much the one bottle of liquor cost. How selfish would that be if the family wasn’t able to have anything to eat because the husband had to maintain his liquor habits? It’s so sad what alcohol can do to people. There are so many drunks around here. It’s ridiculous.
By the time we got home all the other girls had gone out to see a movie. The only movie that was playing was Bratz. I wasn’t real sad I missed it. Then before we went back to our apartment we ran to the G-Market. I decided to get hair dye – my dark blonde roots are growing out. I’m scared to death how the color is going to turn out, but there isn’t a lot I can do out here. I’m going to have to suck it up or have really bad roots. I decided to go with a carmel blonde color. I’m just praying that it won’t turn out horribly ugly. There isn’t a lot I can do to fix it if it does. If it ends up looking bad I’ll just have to fix it when I get back home. I’m probably going to dye it sometime this weekend…yikes! Then Annie, Mindy and I ended up watching Patch Adams at our apartment. I forgot how amazing that movie was. There are a ton of amazing messages. I really liked when they talked about how in order to fix a problem you have to look past the problem and focus on the solution. That’s a really interesting concept. That makes sense when you think about it though. Too many times we waste time worrying about the problem when we should be spending our time on what we can do to fix it. Talk about a bunch of energy wasted.
P.S. Our water was randomly turned off again for the 3rd time since being here. I love it…
The Most Intriguing Day In Romania By Far
June 12, 2008 (Thursday)
Elisa, MacKenzie, Mindy, Melissa and I had the opportunity to attend a funeral in the countryside for one of our orphans - Marian Cojocariu. He has been in a catatonic state his entire life and at 11-years-old he finally passed away. He has been in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital for 6 months. He is in a much better place now – no longer limited by his physical body. Five BYU girls were asked to attend. We were grateful to be a part of the service. We helped fund part of the funeral with some of the money that was raised by various girls in our group.
The plan for the day was to meet at the orphanage and take a two hour car ride to Marian’s hometown named Andrieseni for the funeral. All the BYU girls wore black, except me of course. For some reason I didn’t think about that. I wore a dark green shirt.. I was afraid I was going to offend someone. Luckily, no one else wore black in attendance besides the other girls in my group. Phew!
The countryside on the way to Andrieseni was gorgeous. Romania is absolutely beautiful outside the city. It’s so fascinating to see farmers working the land and people driving buggies with horses. I felt like I was in a car driving through another time zone to a far off land. It was amazing. The only thing that wasn’t real pleasant was Doamna Silvia’s chain smoking habits. We were wondering how she was going to make the car ride without smoking – oh she still smoked. She was sitting in the front seat of the van and it all came back and hit us in the face. We were laughing so hard at the situation. Crazy Doamna Silvia.
When we first arrived at the cemetery we started unloading all the items for the funeral. Doamna Silvia from the orphanage had it all planned out, and she did an excellent job. The funeral service was very different from one in America. Sadly the only family that showed up for Marian’s funeral was his little brother, two uncles and his bunica (grandmother). Apparently the mother and father didn’t care – so they didn’t show up….Even if you had a child that was in a catatonic state I would think that you would at least want to attend your child’s funeral. Once again I don’t understand, but I guess they have their reasons. What was amazing about the funeral was that even though there were only a few family members in attendance, a class of children, neighbors and random people passing by stopped to pay respect at the service. You could tell that it was a very close knit town. We were afraid that it was only going to be us at the service. We were happy when a decent amount of people showed up.
The service was performed by a large priest, outside, next to a beautiful wooden pavilion that stood at the entrance of the cemetery. The priest’s appearance fit the stereotype. He was dressed in a long, thick, black cloak, and he held a wooden cross in his hand. His daughter Teo was there as well – she did the majority of the singing at the funeral. She was very helpful and friendly towards us. She spoke a little bit of English and happily explained the symbolism for the various decorations that were present. The first items we noticed were three cakes that were beautifully decorated with various colorful candies. Each cake carefully had a cross decorated on the top of the cake. The three cakes represented each person in the Godhead.
During the service a few younger boys stood and held large poles that had painted crosses at the top while the priest read out of the “Evanghelia.” Attached to the poles were covrigs and a towel. Covrigs are braided bread in the shape of a circle. They are very popular here. When I asked Teo what they were for she said that they were gifts to Marian. At a funeral the people attending will give something they like to the person that is dead to represent their friendship and love. As for the towel, they believe he will need it in the afterlife. They said it will provide a clean place for him to sleep. In between the priest reading scriptures his daughter and another man would sing songs from the book. Then throughout the entire ceremony people would cross themselves when it was appropriate. This was their way of praying for Marian’s soul. In the Greek Orthodox religion they believe that you travel for 40 days after you die. Within that time you are shown everything you do throughout your life. Then on the 40th day you are judged on whether you go to heaven or hell. In the Greek Orthodox religion you can help the dead obtain a better chance at going to heaven if you pray for them which is why people in attendance were constantly crossing themselves. I occasionally would participate in praying for his soul to show my respect as well. It was a fascinating scene to behold.
Towards the middle of the service they handed out thin, malleable candles to everyone. The candle represented Marian’s soul. All the candles were lit from the same flame. Then the priest went around with incense (represented the Holy Spirit) and shook it towards the crowd while people crossed themselves. While everyone held the lighted candles some of the children and family closest to Marian went and kissed a picture of Christ that was placed on top of his coffin.
After everyone paid their respects we were soon whisked away in an orderly fashion to the grave spot. On the way the priest would randomly stop, the men holding the casket would put the casket down and he would sing. Kenz and I thought they were going to stop every couple of feet, which would of taken quite a while, but they only ended up doing it two or three times. At the site there was a neatly dug grave spot that was fairly shallow. They lowered the casket in and at one point everyone placed one hand on a person located around them and shook their other hand in a continuous circular motion. We didn’t know what it meant, but we followed their lead. We found out later that this act symbolizes that we are all connected in the continuous cycle of life. Then they opened the casket while it was in the ground. It wasn’t the most pretty sight. Marian’s body was mangled, and his eyes and mouth were jolted open. They simply put his body in the casket. They didn’t embalm him, put makeup on him or sew his eyes and mouth shut like they do in funerals in America. He was left as is… that’s just the way they do things here. Death is a natural part of life and it isn’t shocking to see the gruesome decaying details All I have to say is that I never want an open casket at my funeral – even if they do put makeup on me and make me look nice. I don’t want people to remember me like that. I want them to remember me with a huge smile across my face.
Before they closed the casket the priest threw wine on his body. Then after the service they gave away Marian’s belonging to other children in attendance as a gift from Marian. Once again it was a representation that we are all connected and that the cycle of life is a continuous round. Even our belongings are passed on to others. In essence we all help each other fulfill one another’s needs both physical, temporal and spiritual. There was also a huge cart of braided homemade bread and fruit. The priest gave it away to family members and other people in attendance. Then he gave some to each of us. I felt bad – I think we got more food than anyone else there and we needed it the least. However, we didn’t want to offend anyone so we kept it. The mayor of the town and priest talked to us for a while after the funeral. They both seemed fascinated and excited to have “American girls” in their town. We all felt like royalty. The mayor even wanted a picture with us. It was so cute. I’ve never felt so welcomed and loved by random strangers. It was a pretty amazing feeling.
We were about to leave and head home when the priest asked us to come see his house and church. We agreed and he led us to a magical little church that was hidden between cherry and peach trees. I felt like I was in a movie. They showed us into their quaint church. The construction of the building was a little beat up, but it was still beautiful inside. They had pictures of Saints and shrines all over that could be worshipped. Then to remember that we came there the priest’s daughter Teo let us each pick a bracelet that held a cross on it. They were all beautiful.
After we looked at the church we went outside and all of a sudden they pulled a random bench out and told us to sit on the bench under the cherry tree. We thought they just pulled it out so we could look at the scenery. Nope. Then they pulled out two tables and another bench. Then they brought out a tablecloth and course after course of food. We had no idea we were going to be fed but it was so nice of them. Us girls were laughing in amazement at the situation. We were in Romania; sitting under a cherry tree; outside a traditional Greek Orthodox church; in perfect weather; and eating traditional Romanian food with a Greek Orthodox Priest, his family and the mayor of the town. We were treated like royalty. The mayor even asked us to pose in a picture with him.
Once we were situated at the table the first thing they brought out was wine. The priest poured wine in a cup and motioned that we were each supposed to take a sip of it. MacKenzie was the one sitting closest to him, and she had panic written all over her face. Obviously we don’t drink, but I could tell she had no idea how to tell him that we don’t drink alcohol. Plus we didn’t want to offend anyone in the process. We quickly motioned for his daughter Teo to translate for us that in our religion we don’t drink alcohol, but we wanted to thank him for his generosity. He teased us about it for a minute and then he respected our wishes. Shortly after that they brought out whiskey. The priest kept pouring Doamna Silvia more and more. She probably had about 5 glasses. We were all laughing. We kept thinking “this is going to be a fun car ride home – she is going to be so drunk.” In Romania everyone drinks, even young kids…in fact I don’t even know if there are any laws or regulations for drinking.
The food they served us was really good with a few exceptions. The first thing they brought out was fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, bread and goat cheese made from their goats. I’ve decided that the only type of cheese I like is normal cheese. I never knew so many cheeses existed until I came to Romania. Then they brought out fried eggs and lamb. I was a little nervous about the lamb, but it was delicious. Very flavorful and tender – I just had to remind myself not to think about eating a poor, innocent lamb. Then they brought out yogurt. Right before they pulled it out Doamna Silvia was like “They don’t have anything like this in America.” After one taste of it I realized she was right, and I was glad she was right. It tasted like sour milk. I was so grateful that Elisa only gave me a small amount. It made me want to hurl after one taste. The meal was finished with cherries and some type of cake. All of the sweets look so good, but they never taste very good. Almost all the sweets in Romania are very bland….
Through the course of conversation the mayor said Mindy looked like the local mail ladies sister. Ironically the mail lady walked up right after he said that to deliver the mail and Mindy got a picture with her. It was one funny thing after another. However, I must admit that I was sincerely impressed when the priest invited the mail lady to eat with us. He was so friendly, warm and inviting to a stranger. I wonder what it would be like in America if everyone were so inviting. Needless to say we were having the time of our lives. The conversation quickly evolved into the Priest talking about how people “could come and find a friend at the church always.” Then the mayor started talking about how we were going to go back to America and tell people of the good experience we had in Romania. I wonder if that was their motives to being so nice to us. Regardless, we had an amazing time. It was sincerely one of the best days of my life. A fantasy to say the least. Completely far away from the normal activities of my life.
After a couple hours of relaxing outside and leisurely eating our party was starting to get antsy. They had to get back to work at the orphanage and we had been gone all day. After a few minutes of attempting to get out the door the priest finally decided to let us leave, but he wouldn’t let us leave without inviting us back to visit again. He kept asking if we could come on specific dates…We finally told him we would check our schedule and get back to him. We are going to plan a trip in a month. The mayor said that we could come back and help with his horses and sheep. Then we are going to see if we can camp outside in one of the fields. It would be a lot of fun….
As we left the priest blessed us and gave us little cross key chains. Then the priest, his wife and the mayor all kissed us on each cheek to tell us goodbye. MacKenzie and I were laughing because we both almost kissed the mayor right on the lips. It’s hard to figure out which side they are going to kiss first. That could have been very embarrassing if we actually missed. Then we took a few more pictures and we were out the door. In the car all of us couldn’t stop talking about how nice everyone had been and how we wanted to plan a trip back so all the girls could meet him. I genuinely had the time of my life today…and I’ve never felt more treated like royalty than I did this afternoon. I want to make all the guests I have enter my home feel as special as they made me feel…I left feeling completely exhilarated and high on life.
After the event happened I was so grateful I was able to go. The experience was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
When they dropped us back off at the orphanage Elisa and I peaked our heads in at our kids. I hadn’t seen them in about two days since I was sick yesterday. I missed them a ton. Sadly they were all sleeping, but it was the cutest thing ever. They were all in their cribs, and they looked like little angels. Alex and Andrei were absolutely adorable….I don’t think I’ve ever seen Andrei so calm.
In the evening we had Outreach and while we were all playing Skip-Bo Ionut decided to tell us what animal we each looked like. He started saying we looked like random animals to make us laugh. He told MacKenzie she looked like a rat/mouse, Mary she looked like a Lion, then he kept changing his mind about me. He said I looked like a beaver, giraffe, rhino. He was full of it. Then he said Annie looked like a buffalo and a bird. We were all laughing hysterically…oh brother…the things that amuse us.
Then Ionut said I seem like I am harsh on guys. He said my expectations are too high. He thinks I should give Sera a chance because he is “a very handsome Romanian man.” I can’t believe another man would be comfortable with saying that about another man. Anyways the answer was “no.” I told him my expectations are just where I want them to be. If I don’t find anyone so be it, but I’m not going to be with someone for eternity unless I know it’s right.
After Outreach the four of us went and ate Pizza at a little shop outside on the side of the street. It was so nice and relaxing. We sat and chatted about the time era we would like to live in if we could live in any. Annie and I said the 1930s. I’m not sure why, but it stuck out to me. Then we talked about boys and relationships… that topic always seems to come up. For some reason there is always something to talk about in that department. We also randomly talked about where we were on September 11th. I remember I was in my 9th grade biology class when I first saw the plane crash into the Twin Towers. When I saw it on television I didn’t understand the severity of the situation or the history that would be made as a result of the events. However, it was definitely one of those memories that everyone will remember exactly where they were and what they’re doing when they first heard the news. To continue the random topics of conversation we talked about the second coming and if we would want to be alive when it happened. I really want to be alive. I want to be able to help with any situations that arise. Obviously it won’t be the most pleasant time, but I think it would be amazing to be a part of the events that take place.
When we got home it was time for bed. Poor Kenz slept on the couch because she is worried Mary has pink eye. If she does that would be really bad for all of us…
Elisa, MacKenzie, Mindy, Melissa and I had the opportunity to attend a funeral in the countryside for one of our orphans - Marian Cojocariu. He has been in a catatonic state his entire life and at 11-years-old he finally passed away. He has been in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital for 6 months. He is in a much better place now – no longer limited by his physical body. Five BYU girls were asked to attend. We were grateful to be a part of the service. We helped fund part of the funeral with some of the money that was raised by various girls in our group.
The plan for the day was to meet at the orphanage and take a two hour car ride to Marian’s hometown named Andrieseni for the funeral. All the BYU girls wore black, except me of course. For some reason I didn’t think about that. I wore a dark green shirt.. I was afraid I was going to offend someone. Luckily, no one else wore black in attendance besides the other girls in my group. Phew!
The countryside on the way to Andrieseni was gorgeous. Romania is absolutely beautiful outside the city. It’s so fascinating to see farmers working the land and people driving buggies with horses. I felt like I was in a car driving through another time zone to a far off land. It was amazing. The only thing that wasn’t real pleasant was Doamna Silvia’s chain smoking habits. We were wondering how she was going to make the car ride without smoking – oh she still smoked. She was sitting in the front seat of the van and it all came back and hit us in the face. We were laughing so hard at the situation. Crazy Doamna Silvia.
When we first arrived at the cemetery we started unloading all the items for the funeral. Doamna Silvia from the orphanage had it all planned out, and she did an excellent job. The funeral service was very different from one in America. Sadly the only family that showed up for Marian’s funeral was his little brother, two uncles and his bunica (grandmother). Apparently the mother and father didn’t care – so they didn’t show up….Even if you had a child that was in a catatonic state I would think that you would at least want to attend your child’s funeral. Once again I don’t understand, but I guess they have their reasons. What was amazing about the funeral was that even though there were only a few family members in attendance, a class of children, neighbors and random people passing by stopped to pay respect at the service. You could tell that it was a very close knit town. We were afraid that it was only going to be us at the service. We were happy when a decent amount of people showed up.
The service was performed by a large priest, outside, next to a beautiful wooden pavilion that stood at the entrance of the cemetery. The priest’s appearance fit the stereotype. He was dressed in a long, thick, black cloak, and he held a wooden cross in his hand. His daughter Teo was there as well – she did the majority of the singing at the funeral. She was very helpful and friendly towards us. She spoke a little bit of English and happily explained the symbolism for the various decorations that were present. The first items we noticed were three cakes that were beautifully decorated with various colorful candies. Each cake carefully had a cross decorated on the top of the cake. The three cakes represented each person in the Godhead.
During the service a few younger boys stood and held large poles that had painted crosses at the top while the priest read out of the “Evanghelia.” Attached to the poles were covrigs and a towel. Covrigs are braided bread in the shape of a circle. They are very popular here. When I asked Teo what they were for she said that they were gifts to Marian. At a funeral the people attending will give something they like to the person that is dead to represent their friendship and love. As for the towel, they believe he will need it in the afterlife. They said it will provide a clean place for him to sleep. In between the priest reading scriptures his daughter and another man would sing songs from the book. Then throughout the entire ceremony people would cross themselves when it was appropriate. This was their way of praying for Marian’s soul. In the Greek Orthodox religion they believe that you travel for 40 days after you die. Within that time you are shown everything you do throughout your life. Then on the 40th day you are judged on whether you go to heaven or hell. In the Greek Orthodox religion you can help the dead obtain a better chance at going to heaven if you pray for them which is why people in attendance were constantly crossing themselves. I occasionally would participate in praying for his soul to show my respect as well. It was a fascinating scene to behold.
Towards the middle of the service they handed out thin, malleable candles to everyone. The candle represented Marian’s soul. All the candles were lit from the same flame. Then the priest went around with incense (represented the Holy Spirit) and shook it towards the crowd while people crossed themselves. While everyone held the lighted candles some of the children and family closest to Marian went and kissed a picture of Christ that was placed on top of his coffin.
After everyone paid their respects we were soon whisked away in an orderly fashion to the grave spot. On the way the priest would randomly stop, the men holding the casket would put the casket down and he would sing. Kenz and I thought they were going to stop every couple of feet, which would of taken quite a while, but they only ended up doing it two or three times. At the site there was a neatly dug grave spot that was fairly shallow. They lowered the casket in and at one point everyone placed one hand on a person located around them and shook their other hand in a continuous circular motion. We didn’t know what it meant, but we followed their lead. We found out later that this act symbolizes that we are all connected in the continuous cycle of life. Then they opened the casket while it was in the ground. It wasn’t the most pretty sight. Marian’s body was mangled, and his eyes and mouth were jolted open. They simply put his body in the casket. They didn’t embalm him, put makeup on him or sew his eyes and mouth shut like they do in funerals in America. He was left as is… that’s just the way they do things here. Death is a natural part of life and it isn’t shocking to see the gruesome decaying details All I have to say is that I never want an open casket at my funeral – even if they do put makeup on me and make me look nice. I don’t want people to remember me like that. I want them to remember me with a huge smile across my face.
Before they closed the casket the priest threw wine on his body. Then after the service they gave away Marian’s belonging to other children in attendance as a gift from Marian. Once again it was a representation that we are all connected and that the cycle of life is a continuous round. Even our belongings are passed on to others. In essence we all help each other fulfill one another’s needs both physical, temporal and spiritual. There was also a huge cart of braided homemade bread and fruit. The priest gave it away to family members and other people in attendance. Then he gave some to each of us. I felt bad – I think we got more food than anyone else there and we needed it the least. However, we didn’t want to offend anyone so we kept it. The mayor of the town and priest talked to us for a while after the funeral. They both seemed fascinated and excited to have “American girls” in their town. We all felt like royalty. The mayor even wanted a picture with us. It was so cute. I’ve never felt so welcomed and loved by random strangers. It was a pretty amazing feeling.
We were about to leave and head home when the priest asked us to come see his house and church. We agreed and he led us to a magical little church that was hidden between cherry and peach trees. I felt like I was in a movie. They showed us into their quaint church. The construction of the building was a little beat up, but it was still beautiful inside. They had pictures of Saints and shrines all over that could be worshipped. Then to remember that we came there the priest’s daughter Teo let us each pick a bracelet that held a cross on it. They were all beautiful.
After we looked at the church we went outside and all of a sudden they pulled a random bench out and told us to sit on the bench under the cherry tree. We thought they just pulled it out so we could look at the scenery. Nope. Then they pulled out two tables and another bench. Then they brought out a tablecloth and course after course of food. We had no idea we were going to be fed but it was so nice of them. Us girls were laughing in amazement at the situation. We were in Romania; sitting under a cherry tree; outside a traditional Greek Orthodox church; in perfect weather; and eating traditional Romanian food with a Greek Orthodox Priest, his family and the mayor of the town. We were treated like royalty. The mayor even asked us to pose in a picture with him.
Once we were situated at the table the first thing they brought out was wine. The priest poured wine in a cup and motioned that we were each supposed to take a sip of it. MacKenzie was the one sitting closest to him, and she had panic written all over her face. Obviously we don’t drink, but I could tell she had no idea how to tell him that we don’t drink alcohol. Plus we didn’t want to offend anyone in the process. We quickly motioned for his daughter Teo to translate for us that in our religion we don’t drink alcohol, but we wanted to thank him for his generosity. He teased us about it for a minute and then he respected our wishes. Shortly after that they brought out whiskey. The priest kept pouring Doamna Silvia more and more. She probably had about 5 glasses. We were all laughing. We kept thinking “this is going to be a fun car ride home – she is going to be so drunk.” In Romania everyone drinks, even young kids…in fact I don’t even know if there are any laws or regulations for drinking.
The food they served us was really good with a few exceptions. The first thing they brought out was fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, bread and goat cheese made from their goats. I’ve decided that the only type of cheese I like is normal cheese. I never knew so many cheeses existed until I came to Romania. Then they brought out fried eggs and lamb. I was a little nervous about the lamb, but it was delicious. Very flavorful and tender – I just had to remind myself not to think about eating a poor, innocent lamb. Then they brought out yogurt. Right before they pulled it out Doamna Silvia was like “They don’t have anything like this in America.” After one taste of it I realized she was right, and I was glad she was right. It tasted like sour milk. I was so grateful that Elisa only gave me a small amount. It made me want to hurl after one taste. The meal was finished with cherries and some type of cake. All of the sweets look so good, but they never taste very good. Almost all the sweets in Romania are very bland….
Through the course of conversation the mayor said Mindy looked like the local mail ladies sister. Ironically the mail lady walked up right after he said that to deliver the mail and Mindy got a picture with her. It was one funny thing after another. However, I must admit that I was sincerely impressed when the priest invited the mail lady to eat with us. He was so friendly, warm and inviting to a stranger. I wonder what it would be like in America if everyone were so inviting. Needless to say we were having the time of our lives. The conversation quickly evolved into the Priest talking about how people “could come and find a friend at the church always.” Then the mayor started talking about how we were going to go back to America and tell people of the good experience we had in Romania. I wonder if that was their motives to being so nice to us. Regardless, we had an amazing time. It was sincerely one of the best days of my life. A fantasy to say the least. Completely far away from the normal activities of my life.
After a couple hours of relaxing outside and leisurely eating our party was starting to get antsy. They had to get back to work at the orphanage and we had been gone all day. After a few minutes of attempting to get out the door the priest finally decided to let us leave, but he wouldn’t let us leave without inviting us back to visit again. He kept asking if we could come on specific dates…We finally told him we would check our schedule and get back to him. We are going to plan a trip in a month. The mayor said that we could come back and help with his horses and sheep. Then we are going to see if we can camp outside in one of the fields. It would be a lot of fun….
As we left the priest blessed us and gave us little cross key chains. Then the priest, his wife and the mayor all kissed us on each cheek to tell us goodbye. MacKenzie and I were laughing because we both almost kissed the mayor right on the lips. It’s hard to figure out which side they are going to kiss first. That could have been very embarrassing if we actually missed. Then we took a few more pictures and we were out the door. In the car all of us couldn’t stop talking about how nice everyone had been and how we wanted to plan a trip back so all the girls could meet him. I genuinely had the time of my life today…and I’ve never felt more treated like royalty than I did this afternoon. I want to make all the guests I have enter my home feel as special as they made me feel…I left feeling completely exhilarated and high on life.
After the event happened I was so grateful I was able to go. The experience was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
When they dropped us back off at the orphanage Elisa and I peaked our heads in at our kids. I hadn’t seen them in about two days since I was sick yesterday. I missed them a ton. Sadly they were all sleeping, but it was the cutest thing ever. They were all in their cribs, and they looked like little angels. Alex and Andrei were absolutely adorable….I don’t think I’ve ever seen Andrei so calm.
In the evening we had Outreach and while we were all playing Skip-Bo Ionut decided to tell us what animal we each looked like. He started saying we looked like random animals to make us laugh. He told MacKenzie she looked like a rat/mouse, Mary she looked like a Lion, then he kept changing his mind about me. He said I looked like a beaver, giraffe, rhino. He was full of it. Then he said Annie looked like a buffalo and a bird. We were all laughing hysterically…oh brother…the things that amuse us.
Then Ionut said I seem like I am harsh on guys. He said my expectations are too high. He thinks I should give Sera a chance because he is “a very handsome Romanian man.” I can’t believe another man would be comfortable with saying that about another man. Anyways the answer was “no.” I told him my expectations are just where I want them to be. If I don’t find anyone so be it, but I’m not going to be with someone for eternity unless I know it’s right.
After Outreach the four of us went and ate Pizza at a little shop outside on the side of the street. It was so nice and relaxing. We sat and chatted about the time era we would like to live in if we could live in any. Annie and I said the 1930s. I’m not sure why, but it stuck out to me. Then we talked about boys and relationships… that topic always seems to come up. For some reason there is always something to talk about in that department. We also randomly talked about where we were on September 11th. I remember I was in my 9th grade biology class when I first saw the plane crash into the Twin Towers. When I saw it on television I didn’t understand the severity of the situation or the history that would be made as a result of the events. However, it was definitely one of those memories that everyone will remember exactly where they were and what they’re doing when they first heard the news. To continue the random topics of conversation we talked about the second coming and if we would want to be alive when it happened. I really want to be alive. I want to be able to help with any situations that arise. Obviously it won’t be the most pleasant time, but I think it would be amazing to be a part of the events that take place.
When we got home it was time for bed. Poor Kenz slept on the couch because she is worried Mary has pink eye. If she does that would be really bad for all of us…
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