Romanian Children!

Here are some pictures of the children in the hospital. I want you all to see how cute they are and what I have been doing!

This baby girl is so cute!

There were 3 babies in this room. The 2 girls (their pictures are above) and a little boy from the orphanage, Stefan. 

Eliana loved music! We had only been in her room for a little while when she started saying "muzică." Yesterday we played the cell phones ringtones for her. Today Sarahy brought her phone and we listened to music on that. She loved it! She also like bubbles, as you can tell from the picture.

This little boy, Gheorghe, might be my favorite. Shh don't tell the others! He is so cute! He laughs all the time too. We normally are visiting him and Andreea around the time they eat so the nurses let us feed them! He has a yucky cough and it seems like he has a really hard time breathing. Poor little guy.

Precious little girl! Andreea is like Alex, she has Down Syndrome. She is adorable and I just want to take her home with me! We think she is about 2 but we aren't for sure.

I could totally take these 2 little kids home with me!

This baby is tiny! Just look at him compared to Katelyn and I. As you can see from the picture, here in Romania they dress the children in any color of clothing. The colors they have on won't tell you if its a girl or boy. Notice that this little boy is wearing a pink shirt! Its like this at the orphanage too. Sometimes we can't tell if its a girl or boy until we change their diaper.

Today at the orphanage in my room 2 of my boys, Marien and Vasile, went to the apartments. The apartments are a more home like environment and the kids normally go there before they go to foster homes and hopefully later adoption. I am happy that these 2 boys went to the apartments but I'm also sad. I loved these 2 boys! I didn't even get to tell them bye. I hope someone adopts those 2 brothers. They are adorable and wonderful kids. I loved walking in the door and being greeted by Marien. He was always the first one to come to me.

Some of the workers are more rough with the kids. Today was a little harder watching the worker in my room with the kids. Its just hard for me because I would never be that way with the kids. I don't agree with how she is towards the kids. I know it is different here and I have seen most of the workers this stern and forceful with the kid, but its still hard for me. I also think it is hard for the kids too. How are they suppose to learn to be nice and not hit when the workers aren't a good example to them. All they know is what the workers do. Most of the kids do what the workers do. I find them saying to each other exactly what the workers say to them. I just hope I can be a good example to the kids and the workers.

Dă-Mi Pup!

Pronounced: Duh Me Poop
Means: Give me a kiss!

The kids at the orphanage love to give kisses! I probably got a kiss from all the kids in my room today. Florin will just come up to me and grab my face and kiss me. He is so cute! He also wants me to kiss him when he gets hurt. If you just say "pup" and point to your cheek, all the kids know what to do.

So today I actually got some one on one time! The kids were calm enough that I could take one aside and work with them. For a little bit today I worked with Mirela. We worked on stacking the legos and saying the colors of each lego. She really likes Galben (yellow). She picked those colored legos the most. Teo is so smart. She impresses me daily! I didn't even know that she knew her body parts, but she does. She was wiping my arms and face earlier today and said what she was wiping. Denisa made me so happy today. On the first day I was in the orphanage she was about to walk out of the rooms so I picked her up to bring her back to the middle of the room. When I did this she started crying. I felt so bad. Ever since the beginning of being in the orphanage she doesn't really let me play with her, I just play beside her. Today I made progress! She lets me play with her and she likes me now! Maybe soon she will let me hold her. Vasile is so close to walking. He will take a couple steps every now and then. Marien I'm trying to teach some signs too. He kept bringing me this toy to fix throughout the day. Every time he did I would say "vă rog" (please) and sign please. I think towards the end he was starting to get it! Maybe with some more practice it will come. He has been babbling more which is way good! Andrei has been hitting so much. Sometimes I just don't know what to do. I tell him, "fii frumos," which means be nice/ beautiful. Some days are better than others but today he would just go up to the kids and hit them. If anyone has any ideas on what to do about it, I would greatly appreciate it! There is a sticker of spiderman on the door in the room I work in. Today I was holding Mirela and I pointed to the sticker and tried my best to make that noise that Brandon and them make. The sound of the web. She loved it and started imitating me. Now she makes the noise a lot, especially when I hold her and bring her by the door with the sticker on it.

This is Mirela

Today at the hospital we saw the smallest baby. Both of his legs had casts on them. It was so sad seeing this little boy. When we changed his diaper we noticed that his clothes all had poop on them. Just the thought of him being in poop for awhile hurt my heart. It was almost too much seeing this baby boy. Christina, a little girl, let us get her out of her crib today. She loves to throw everything on the ground that we give her. It doesn't matter what it is, it ends up on the ground. Andre remember Sarahy, thats for sure. He went straight to her and didn't even want to go to me or Katelyn.

After the hospital we had to hurry and eat dinner before we had to leave for the Relief Society activity. This was a welcome/ happy birthday activity. We played get to know you games and celebrated one of the lady's in the branch, Litia's, birthday. We all read our favorite scripture. Then after that we threw a football to one another and told are favorite color, how old we are, what we do and what we like to do. The activity was a lot of fun. It was good to get to know the ladies in the branch better. The desserts were also very good too. There was cinnamon rolls and cake!

Happy Birthday to Austin! I can't believe you are 8 years old! You are getting so big. I am facetiming him tomorrow morning so I can wish him a Happy Birthday in person and see his presents. I am so proud of you in your decision to get baptized. I am sorry I can not be there but I hope to have you tell me all about afterwards. I love you Austin!

Sfânta Maria

We were finally able to start the hospital today!!!!! We have been waiting a long time to go and now we finally can. The kids at the orphanage were so nebun (crazy) today! They were very loud today and had so much energy. They also cried a ton today too. The kids cried over little stuff when normally they don't. It made me wonder how they slept last night. Maybe they were all just really tired. Anyways, the kids found something new today to play with, a brush. Teo was insistent on brushing everyones hair. Florin just wanted to brush my hair. My hair was different from theirs because it was back in a pony. That didn't stop them from starting at the top and trying to brush all the way down. They ended up pulling most of my hair out of my ponytail as they were trying to brush it. Good thing I love those kids!

The Hospital: Spitalul Clinic De Urgență Pentru Copii "Sfânta Maria"
The inside of the hospital was not what I was expecting. It does not look like a hospital. It is very run down and kind of looks like it is falling apart. Some of the windows have cracks and small pieces broken off, so it is chilly going up and down the stairs to different floors. It is also dirty. Each floor has 2 doors off to the side. Each of those doors will take you down a hall way in a different direction.  These 2 doors on each floor lead you to all the children. Once you go through the doors than everything seems like a hospital but the rest of the building is not even close to looking like a hospital. Their public health is just surprising.

When we go to the hospital we start on floor 2. We find a nurse to ask them "aveti copii făra mama?" We are asking the nurse if there are any children on this floor that don't have a mom. If there are some children then she will take them to us. We play and hold the children that don't have moms. We repeat this for all 8 floors. We work in the hospital 2-5pm every other day, not including saturdays and sundays. The other days we go to the clinic from 2-5pm. We haven't started the clinic yet so right now we are just going to the hospital. Once we start the clinic than we will split up and go 2 to the hospital and 2 to the clinic. Then the next day we switch.

Everything at the hospital just surprised me. At the hospital there is probably about 5 or 4 patients to a room and the rooms are very small. I feel like they don't have it organized, maybe they do. In a room there could be older children, teenagers, or babies. They don't do the rooms by age. The kids in diapers probably have the same diaper on for a long time. We go to hold the children that don't have moms and just find their diapers so full. Who knows the last time their diaper was changed! I feel like the children have just been laying in their waste. It just made me so sad to see the conditions that these children were in. Every time we would stop and hold a child in the hospital we would leave a couple extra diapers in their crib so the nurses could change the diaper later. Oh and I guess breast feeding in the open is very okay here. The moms did not cover up and they breast feed everywhere in the hospital like it is no big deal. They are not shy at all.

The children in the hospital and orphanage know who we are. The scrubs that we wear to both places have a Y on them. I think every child that I have played with and held since being in Romania has always touched the Y. They know us. At the hospital as soon as we would put our hands out to hold them they would get really excited and not even hesitate to go into our arms. Chelsea recognized almost all the children that we saw today in the hospital. Hearing her say that broke my heart. Chelsea has been gone over five months. These children were still in the hospital with no family. Chelsea thinks that sometimes they just keep the children there if they have no other place to take them to once they are better. Most of the time these children aren't even interacted with. The BYU girls that come to the hospital are a good example though. Some of the moms of other children in the same room as a child without a mom will change the babies diaper or play with the child. They see us playing with the children and some moms continue doing so after we leave.

One of the children I saw in the hospital was so small. I was scared to even touch her! She just looked so fragile. I didn't pick her up because both of her legs were wrapped up. It was like a cast on both of her legs but it wasn't hard. There was the cutest little boy that I played with. Every time we would touch him or acknowledge him he would get this huge smile on his face. There was another little boy, Andre, who had these snoopy pajamas on. He loved to be held. He didn't want to color or play. He just wanted to be held. It was so sad hearing him cry when we put him back in his crib and moved on to the next floor. I also got to feed a little girl, Andrea. She seemed very fragile too. She seemed older but she had a very hard time supporting her head. I had to be very careful when holding her. The hospital will be a great experience, even though I know it will be hard and sad at times.

Goals to Guide

Yesterday, I got access to all the children write ups. Each intern does a child write up at the end of the internship. They write about the child and the goals they set for them. They write about what the child likes and how far they have progressed developmentally. I loved reading about the kids in my room and seeing how far they had come. I could really see that each intern has helped and blessed the children's lives so much!

I am so excited to set goals for all the kids in my room and work with them to accomplish those goals. I also have to start thinking about the goals I want to set for myself too.

These kids have so much potential. All they need is love and opportunities! An opportunity came today. Little Andrei, who is big Andrei's brother, went to a foster home today! And hopefully that will lead to adoption. This little boy is so cute. He is very happy and just wants love and attention. Since little Andrei left, another boy Robert, came to my room. Taio told me that he hopefully will get adopted too! He is on track developmentally. Taio wants to get him walking soon so I know what he will be working on!

Here is Robert! He is super cute

Big Andrei

FHE turned out a little better this week. There still aren't that many people showing up. It ended up being the Soras, the four of us and Bianca. Bianca is so nice. She goes to school at the university in Iasi. We had a mini yoga lesson at FHE. I love that Sora MacDonald is so serious and off to the side! She is the one in green. Sora Moulton is the other sister missionary.

I came across this quote from Jeffrey R. Holland and I really liked it, "Look ahead and remember faith is always pointed to the future."

Sunday

Today was kind of a weird day. I think cultural shock is finally setting in. It hit me at church today when I was sitting there in sunday school and I had no clue what was being said. I think I'm finally seeing Romanian as more than just a small little vacation too. For the first week, it felt like a vacation. Kind of like I was just visiting Romania for a couple days. But now it doesn't feel that way. Its finally sinking in that I'm in a different country where every speaks Romanian! All day I felt a little down and sad, which was weird since it was sunday. Anyway church was great! The relief society is doing a little get together this wednesday for us. They are welcoming us in and celebrating two birthdays! All the branch members are so nice and welcoming. I also think my Romanian is getting a little better too!

Tender Mercies

I have had so many blessing since I have left home on that Saturday. The sunday we were in London, Sarahy's credit card fell out of her pocket and the guy behind told us. What a blessing that was. Our plane was delayed into Bucharest and we missed our train into Iasi. As soon as we walked into the train station we saw the missionaries. What a blessing for us that they were there at the train station. I have definitely been watched over while I have been gone.

So earlier today while we were making lunch, the stove never got turned off. We left later that afternoon for the mall and didn't return until ten. It was then, when we walked in that we saw the flame on the stove and realized it was left on that whole time. We are so blessed that the flame was on to burn the gas and that our apartment didn't burn down while we were gone. What a tender mercy. We were definitely watched over tonight. Thanks for all the prayers that have been said for me. I have definitely felt them and I am grateful. To all my family and friends, I love you! And I miss you! And I hope all is going well for all of you.

Night Full of Firsts

I went to Iulius Mall. Iasi has so many malls! I think this is the third one we have gone to. I went to the movies for the first time in Romania! Cinema City (the movie theatre) is inside the mall. All the movies here are in English with Romanian subtitles. I saw Mizerabilii (Les Miserables). It was just as good the second time! I also had my first Romanian candy bar! Bounty! It is like an almond joy but without the almonds. I had shaorma for the first time! Slow roasted, shaved, spiced chicken (or beef). It is a really popular meat here. It is really good! I also had my first coke here in Romania. Sarahy says it tastes different depending on where you get it, so I decided to finally try one. It taste better than in America but I still would have preferred dr. pepper.

Eating Shaorma! Drinking Coke and it even comes in a glass bottle. The movie poster and the candy bar.

Oh we also cleaned the apartment this morning!

This is the outside of the apartment building that I live in.

The elevator. It is so small. It barely fits the four of us.

Just Another Day

The room I'm going to be in at the orphanage is bambi 2. When I pictured coming to Romania and working in an orphanage, I imagined the room I am in! I pictured working with toddlers and preschool age kids. I am so happy that I will be able to work in that room.

The worker in my room is very nice. Because there aren't as many kids in my room like the other rooms there is only one worker. She is wonderful with the kids. I can see she cares deeply about the kids. Florin is so cute. He gave me tons of kisses today. He just came up and started kissing my face all over. B3 just wanted to play games. He loves playing with the balls. I did motor boat to him once and after that he didn't want me to put him down! All the kids saw me doing it and all wanted a turn. I did motor boat over and over again. They loved it! They were a bit impatient but they did wait their turn. I played legos with Denisa and Teo just wanted to be held the whole time. I probably sat down rocking Teo for a good half hour. I don't think she was feeling very well. She was really tired and almost fell asleep as I was holding her. Oh and Teo knows my name! She would come up and pat me on my head or shoulder to get my attention and I started saying "Megan" when she would do this and now she says my name! Today was such a great day at the orphanage.

That night for dinner, the four of us went to Pizza Hut. In Romania, Pizza Hut is a nicer, sit down place to eat. Almost all the pizzas here have corn on them and the pizzas are really good! After dinner we watched 10 Things I Hate About You and had ice cream!

This was a take out/ delivery Pizza Hut in the mall.

Day 2 at Orphanage

This morning in the orphanage we got straight to work. We changed into scrubs and then went into rooms. Chelsea went into bambi 1, which is the room she was in during the summer when she was here. The rest of us wont go into that one since she will be in that room. Taio decided to have two girls in isolation, one in bambi 2 and Chelsea in bambi 1. Today I started in isolation for the first 2 hours and then went into bambi 2. Isolation was great! I played and held babies for about 2 hours. There was this one little baby dressed in pink that loved to be tickled. I would barely touch her and she would laugh. She was the cutest. There was a little boy that just wanted to be held. He would cry if you put him back down. Another older girl who was in a crib loved to make noise. She would scratch the bars of the crib. I noticed she really liked that noise. The kids in the first two rooms were sleeping after awhile so I went out to main room with the tv. In that room there was a little girl all in yellow. We became good friends quick. She was so cute. There was a basket of laundry next to her crib and she kept pulling clothes from the basket into her crib. I came and sat down by her and was playing with her. We played with a sock for the longest time! Who knew a sock could be so entertaining. She would try to put it on my hand and then take it off. Then give the sock to me and I would put it on her hand and also over her other sock that she had on. She also would crawl to the other side of the crib and walk across to me. I just loved her! I could play with that sweet baby all day long.

After being in isolation I moved into bambi 2. Sarahy and me were both in there for the last hour. I pretty much just played with the kids for the hour. I played ball with Florin and Marien for a long time. Florin would kick the ball to me and I would kick it back. For Marien, I would throw it and he would run over and get and bring it back. Marien always brings toys to me. He is also very good at cleaning up too! All the little kids in that room like to pretend to feed me. In that room there is tons of dishes for the kids to play with. I also pretended to be some kind of scary animal and I chased them around the room. They loved that! They were all smiles and giggles the whole time.

I went to institute tonight. It was only the four of us and then a girl in the branch who just got back from her mission in England. She translated as Daniella gave the lesson. Daniella did a great job on the lesson. It was about doing good to others and being a good example. She also talked about letting our light shine and not hiding it. The girl who just got back from her mission let me use her scriptures. At the front by her missionary name tag there was a quote. I could only see part of it because of her name tag but I loved it. This was the quote:
My missionary commission by Bruce R. McConkie. "I am called of God. My authority is above that of kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my master and He has chosen me to represnt Him -- to stand in His place, to say and do what He Himself would say and do if He personally were ministering to the very people to whom He has sent me. My voice is His voice, and my acts are His acts; my doctrine is His doctrine. My commission is to do what He wants done; To say what He wants said; to be a living modern witness in word and in deed of the divinity of his great and marvelous Latter-day work. How great is my calling!"
After institute we filled up our water jugs at the church. They have filtered water at the church so we fill up occasionally there. On our way out of the church building we ran into the missionaries outside. They were inviting people walking past to have some hot chocolate. That also gave the missionaries an opportunity to talk to people. We were just chatting with the missionaries and drinking hot chocolate when an older lady walked up and started speaking Romanian very loudly to the missionaries. I couldn't understand her but the missionaries said she said some really mean things and was insulting the church a ton. I could tell from her voice she wasn't being that nice. She stayed for a long time and the missionaries were trying hard to get her to leave in a nice way. The missionaries said that doesn't happen very often. They did tell us that the older people here are very set on their religion and have very strong opinions about the church. After that encounter we chatted a bit more and then headed back to our apartment. The missionaries here are doing a great job! I know where they are serving must be a tough place, hopefully they didn't get to discouraged by that.

Oh and its like the fourth of july here in Romania! Today was Unification Day (Zuia Unirii). Romanians celebrate the unification of Moldavia and Walachia into a national Romanian state. This happened in 1859 under Alexandur Ioan Cuza. This is considered the foundation of modern Romania. They had a huge concert going on and we stopped by after institute. It was so loud! You could hear it inside our apartment and all down main street. Here's a video of some dancing.

Main Street! I love that they still have lights up.

The concert

St. Andrew's Placement Center

In Romania, orphanages are not the politically correct term because most children have at least one living parent. These parents just may not be able to take care of their children for multiple reasons.  Because of this, such institutions are referred to as placement centers in Romania. Romania was required to reform their child care system in 2007.  This included a new focus on placing children in homes instead of orphanages. There are no longer orphanages for typically developing children, only for children with disabilities. The orphanage I will work in monday through friday from 9-noon is an orphanage just for children with disabilities.  I was so nervous for my first day going to the orphanage. I didn't know what to expect and I was nervous about communicating in Romanian with the workers. I always get like this whenever I start something new. Thankfully my mom helped me realize everything would be okay and deep down I knew it, I was just super nervous. Thanks for your kind words mom!

This is the outside of the orphanage

We left this morning at 8:25 so we had plenty of time to stop and get flowers for Taio and the psychologist. When we first got there we went a conference room with Mario, Taio, and the psychologist. They talked about what rooms out of the five they wanted us to work in but they couldn't make up their minds. They said they would have a meeting and then tell us later about the rooms. After that we changed into our scrubs and Taio gave us a tour of the orphanage. Taio showed us four rooms: mickey mouse, bambi 1, bambi 2, and isolation. The girls who have done this internship before made up the names. The rooms have those names because of the decorations in the rooms.

Taio, Chelsea, and Mario

The first room we went in was mickey mouse. When I walked in there was tons of kids in that one small room. There was probably at least four little kids in walkers running around, four kids in wheelchairs, and some children just running around and playing. Taio let us play in the room for a bit. I was playing with a child in a walker when Sarahy was holding a little child that pointed right at me. Sarahy walked closer to me and the child put her arms out towards me. I was shocked that this child wanted to come to me. The child didn't even know me and yet she wanted me to hold her. As soon as I picked her up she put her hands on my face. She also loved my hair. She didn't pull on it she just touched it a ton. The whole time I held her she just kept touching my face. Mom said its because they don't have that skin to skin contact a lot. After being at the orphanage I think that is true. There are so many children and only so many workers. I admire the workers a lot. It can't be easy doing what they do. I was sad when we moved onto the next room and I had to put her down. I had made a friend already.

The next room was bambi 1. This room had children that were a little older. I would say the children were around 4 to 7. The children in this room were so hyper, loud, and active. As soon as I walked in I was swarmed with children hugging me, touching me, and just wanting attention. They all wanted to be by me and just touch me. I liked this room because it was loud and reminded me of back home. There were just so many children and it made me think a lot of back home and my siblings.

Bambi 2 was the next room. This room didn't have as many children and wasn't as loud. The children in this room were a lot like bambi 1 just younger. Some of the children couldn't walk but were close and others had been walking for awhile. The children were so cute and innocent. I already feel drawn to them.

The last room we went into was isolation. I'm not sure why it is called that but this room has the children with more severe disabilities and the babies! This is a big room that has three smaller rooms inside with tons of beds. The back room is the children with severe disabilities.

After we toured all the rooms, Taio gave us the option of each of us picking a room the last hour and staying in there with the children. Then the next day we could rotate until we had been in all of them. Then before friday, the four of us will each pick a room that we will be in for the rest of the time we are here. For the last hour I went into bambi 2 and let me tell you, I had a good time. I can't use the children's real names so I will just use G (girl) and B (boy). All the children want is attention and love. They just wanted to be played with and be acknowledged. The workers were feeding the younger ones that couldn't walk yet so they left me in the room with the older ones. Before the last worker left the room she told me to make sure no one gets hurt, especially their head. She communicated that very well for not speaking any of it. Good thing we have gestures and can point to things! So for the next while I just played with the kids. There was a little girl in my room, Teo, who could speak very well! I think she must of been older because she could speak so good. She has a heart condition. She was very insistent on me laying down. I would lay down and she would make me better. Or at least thats what I think she was doing. She had this dried up wet wipe that she would wipe my face, mouth, and arms with. Then she would touch me with her hands. This went on for awhile. One of the little boys in my room, Andrei, would run up to me and just grab my hair. I think he thought it was a game or something because he was having so much fun doing it. I would start playing with one of the kids and we would have a toy and then one of the other kids would want that same toy! That happened all the time. They all wanted the same toy. They hit each other a lot too. I had pockets in my scrubs and the kids loved that! They would come and put toys in my pockets. The kids also tried to escape a bunch of times too. One of the little girls, Denisa, was about to go out the door so I picked her up to bring her back in and she started crying. I think I scared her or she doesn't like to be held.  The other kids in the room were so nice to her. The would walk over and touch her gently, especially a little boy, Florin (I don't have a picture of him). Its like they were comforting her and telling her it was okay. They started getting ready for lunch around 11:45. One of the workers sat all of kids but 2 on a bench in the room. I was very impressed with the kids. They listened so well to the workers and didn't get off the bench. Florin didn't have his bib on and I went to put it on him when Teo told me "nu." That means no. She took the bib from me and went and put it on Florin herself. Its like she was his mom. Those kids in that room definitely have each other. They care about each other. That little girl showed me that today. Seeing those kids today made me so glad I decided to come to Romania.

Andrei

Denisa

Teo

Robert! A little boy Chelsea knew from last time she was in Romania

Thoughts About Romania

I am enjoying the food! The language is giving me some trouble. It is a bit overwhelming at times. Especially since that is all I hear every where I go. I get to start in the orphanage tomorrow! I'm learning a ton about Romania and the people. They have scented toilet paper here. Stray dogs are everywhere. People don't like it if the door is open too long. People stare a lot at each other. Romanians think you need to be bundled up every time you go outside. They don't sit on the ground and they tell woman their eggs will freeze if they do. The majority of their music is American music. The music is all in English with a couple Romanian songs every once in awhile. Everything here is just so different and some of the things they do and think are strange. One thing I have a hard time doing is sitting down and doing homework. I have homework I should be doing but I never want to do it! It's so bad especially since it is the beginning of the semester. This picture sums it up perfectly.

Oh and something really weird happened. We put our trash outside our apartment so we wouldn't forget to take it out. Later that day, someone knocked on our door. Katelyn got the door and it was our neighbor. She said "not nice" and pointed down. Someone ripped our trash bag and our trash was on our mat outside our apartment. We talked to Mario about it and she told us we shouldn't do that. She said they were teaching us a lesson. If you ask me that is kind of a weird way to teach someone a lesson.

We went shopping some more. Here are some pictures! I got some really cute gray boots for church! It was also super foggy in the morning.

The view from my window.

Covrigi Cu Mere! Apple filled pretzel