.: cu mult drag :.

it ends here

2008-08-12T00:57:00.004+03:00

“anyone looking into my diary expecting to find a day-by-day account of rescuing children would be stunned. it is, rather, a narrative of defeats, disappointments, unbelievable betrayals, discouragements, frustrations, obstacles, criticisms and weariness.

scattered among those are the few successes that have made it all worthwhile.it has definitely been panning for gold: much effort expended and tons of sand processed to gain a few precious flakes.”                    john kachelmyer,romanian child activist
 

"the way you are with these kids... i dont know how you do it. i can't be like that. you're so natural with them, you make them laugh and smile... you hold them and kiss them and let them touch your face and hair...

you don't need to serve a mission for your church, your mission was to come here with these kids. i know your religion is important to you, but this was more important. i think God knew what He was doing when you decided to come here.
 

for three and a half months, you were eight angels to these children. this is why i continue to do this work with you every year. so thank you!" our dear friend, mario

"…there is one responsibility which no man can evade and that responsibility is personal influence. man’s unconscious influence is the silent, subtle radiation of his personality—the effect of his words and his acts. these are tremendous. every moment of life man is changing to a degree the life of the whole world"

david o mckay

…the kindness of continuing to help the children, even without apparent results, must continue. Jesus never told His followers that the hungry should be fed only if they respond. the act of kindness itself has its effect.

days 103 & 104

2008-08-11T00:24:00.004+03:00

we were a half hour early to the branch picnic, but we ended up getting there an hour and half late because we were waiting at the wrong place. of course our shepard president popovici came and brought us back to the flock. while we were waiting for him, whitney taught us a dance, as shown below. it was a really nice afternoon and fun to spend it with my romanian family. we walked home in the rain, and stayed up really late baking banana bread.

today was our last sunday and it was perfect. they enjoyed our bread and were excited about the cds we burnt them. tomorrow at fhe will be the real goodbyes. tomorrow i will say goodbye to my kids too, and visit marion for the last time at the hospital. wish me luck!

days 99, 100, 101, & 102

2008-08-08T18:29:00.001+03:00

sorry again for slacking.

story #1:
once upon a time there was a really bad storm. at the same time no one was home to shut our window. therefore, our bedroom on the fifth floor flooded and our mattress that is also on the floor was soaked. we hung the blankets out the window, and made a new bed on our hard wood floor.
a few days later, our land lady gave us our blanket back that had flown away, whoops.

story#2:
once upon a time it was our child's birthday. we were so excited and got all the supplies needed for the best party. we carried it all the way up to the hospital and he wasn't there. we held strong and didn't cry until elyse spilled her juice. it was the breaking point.

story #3:
we said goodbye to our workers today, friday. it went well. we are going back on monday to say goodbye to the kids.

story #4:
i took marion outside for ice cream today and somehow we cut his finger.. it was pretty deep and rather bloody. he was so tough and the nurse wasn't too mad. i saved the bloody wet wipe to show elyse, because she wasn't there today.

okay i have to get going to dinner... ill write more later

6 days!

as promised

2008-08-06T22:41:00.006+03:00

footage from the bubble party with marion and marius

day 98

2008-08-05T13:20:00.004+03:00

song of the day: rehab remix by amy winehouse with hot chip

we got two new girls in our room at the orphanage and they are difficult. the other kids have cuts and bruises all over them from these two darlings, but whitney and i have a game plan. we have been taught how to handle joys like them and the strategy is to take the abuse and pretend like nothing is going on. we will see how it goes. i'd rather them take their anger out on me than my kiddos.

have i mentioned that i am in the branch's special choir? haha so i have been attending these special choir practices where we do warm ups and split off into parts and armstrong uses words like retard and pianoforte, haha and i nod my head and try and keep a straight face. i guess i am not a good liar because he noticed, and was i was given a singing for dummies lesson and now i am an alto or something? anyways, i need to keep practicing my "soulful black lady voice" and "rolling my vowels" or i will be disappointed in come the next practice.

family home evenings in iasi are never dull. any evening in iasi actually. here is a photo of the huge human knot we created with genoveva and myself trying to coach the others...

note to self: always be a coach when playing these games because you can tickle little brothers like radu and he can't do anything about it because his hands are in a knot.

days 94 & 97 and all the days in between

2008-08-03T21:24:00.009+03:00

so sorry for the lack of posts. i can't seem to slow time down enough to find time to do updates.

as you can see, we have had a wonderful time getting prints of our kids. the workers were really nice about it, and even tried to help us. i have realized i love the workers almost as much as the kids. they really do try, and there are some that love the kids like their own, and that is comforting to know. it seems like most of my kids have at least one worker that admires them. i discovered this week that there is one lady that absolutely adores vlad and i can tell he likes her. she doesn't work mornings too often, but at least i know she is there to make him giggle, and kick his crooked legs before she tucks him in at night. Heavenly Father is watching out for them, just as He is me and you. i know it.

thursday night we made gogosi to give to our workers in the morning. it was quite the experience. i burnt four finger tips and probably all my roomates after i splashed oil on them when i jerked my hand out of it... maybe, being a professional gogosi maker isn't the best idea.. also, it totally slipped my mind the next morning was friday, and in the orthodox church they don't eat any animal products on wednesdays or fridays, so because there were two eggs in our chocolate filled goodness, my workers weren't allowed to eat them. we all had a good laugh about that. they were still very appreciative and brought them home to eat after midnight.

friday we also had a bubble party at the hospital with marion. it was really fun. when the nurses handed him to us they warned us to not let him get his brand new white outfit dirty. he is 2! that is an impossible task, so what did we do? nakie nakie baby baby. anyways. he had fun playing in our bucket of homemade bubble solution till he splashed some in his eyes and used his soapy hands to try and rub it out. we felt bad, but it was also a little but humorous. pictures will come later. but in the mean time here is a family photo from last week:

also, we are getting ready to celebrate marion's second birthday on august 7th. he is growing up way too fast.

saturday was spent doing homework and playing sports. it was the last sports day, and one of my favorites.

today, sunday, was our last fast sunday here. it was really great. i love love love the members here. i pray they always stay strong, that their investigators find the truth, and that the missionaries will be guided to those that are ready. they deserve it. president popovici will always be a hero in my eyes, as well as all the relief society sisters and the stoica family.

my experiences with the branch have definitely added a few tallies to my pro column about going on a mission. one day at a time.

well, that is all i can come up with at this moment. my days are numbered and as of today, i am so excited to come home.

love and miss you all! cu mult drag!

days 92 & 93

2008-07-30T21:28:00.005+03:00

song of the day: alaturi de ingeri (along with angels)

things are just zooming along here. nothing super exciting has happened at either the orphanage or the hospital. we are working on our brigance tests with our kids right now and starting to write instructions to the next group about each kid.

i am reading a book entitled the odyssey of a romanian street child. it is really interesting and humbling, but also inspiring.

we played a never ending game of musical chairs tonight at outreach to some great romanian music. we had the sisters over for dinner last night. sora betham has a mini-missionary companion. she is a romanian who is serving with her for half a transfer. haha poor thing, seeing them together adds a tally under the con side of the list i am creating.

i got hit on today by a lesbian lady at the hospital. it was the creepiest experience of my life. its times like that i am grateful i can say, "nu inteleg, im pare rau" and make up little songs in english like, "go away creeper, and quit talking to me".

well. two weeks from right now i will be walking around austria on my first leg of the trip home. crazy.

days 90 & 91

2008-07-28T23:44:00.004+03:00

if you see a frowny face, change it to a smile,

make the world a better place, by smiling all the while.

well, i am back to work and back to smiling. today was a wonderful day with all my kids getting hand prints and foot prints on everything in sight and a few pieces of paper. all my favorite workers are on this week and our flirty arrogant physical therapist left for his vacation. sang a few rounds of the good morning song to the smiliest baby ever, and enjoyed a lovely fhe.

to end the day, we decorated eggs with wax we melted from crayons as a romanian craft. another highlight of my day: having this beauty as the background on my computer. if you came to visit romania and saw the mannequins in the store windows, you might understand.

anyways, mom, hope your open house went well. good luck with your first day of kindergarten tomorrow.. you are all grown up, i am so proud. just kidding, but seriously, those kids are so lucky to have mrs. scott as a teacher.

p.s you should get those books for your classroom... and the berenstain bears. and where the wild things are. and of course the giving tree, and the places you'll go, and the love you forever, like you for always one.

best news ever!

2008-07-28T00:35:00.002+03:00

marius leaves for america in seven days!!! sea world and disneyland watch out! we are all so excited and are grateful for the answer to our prayers.

days 88 & 89

2008-07-26T22:58:00.004+03:00

the goodbyes have already began. this is going to be harder than i expected and i thought i was expecting the worst.

friday was elisa's last day at the orphanage, and i had to leave when she said her goodbyes to the kids.

we had a branch activity on friday and the best part was sora maria's song. she wrote and sang a song for us, and it was very touching.. and i'll have everyone know that she started crying first!

after the activity we went to our neighbor's house to visit. she is so sweet and she is leaving to go to america for a year to live with her daughter who is going through a divorce. she is cute and makes sure that she speaks really slowly so we can understand. she started crying when she said this. i wanted to cry as well.

"daca nu este dragoste, nu este nimic"

the more strangers i get to know, the more my faith in good people, doing good things is restored.

speaking of good things. we gave teo her going away present today. hopefully her and marius and ionut will leave for america this week. she also gave us pictures of our kids, but i have decided to not post any on here. no offense, but they are too special to me. but if i came home with nothing else, but those photos i would be so so happy. teo is an amazing person who has taught me a lot.

sorry, i haven't been in touch with anyone lately. there is just not a lot of time left here and it has been hard to be motivated to write. none the less. thanks for the support and prayers.

elisa leaves in three and a half hours. she will most definitely be missed.

wisdom from roberta

2008-07-25T23:55:00.002+03:00

It takes strength to be firm; it takes courage to be gentle.

It takes strength to stand guard; it takes courage to let down your guard.

It takes strength to conquer; it takes courage to surrender.

It takes strength to fit in; it takes courage to stand out.

It takes strength to feel a friend's pain; it takes courage to feel your own pain.

It takes strength to hide feelings; it takes courage to show them.

It takes strength to endure abuse; it takes courage to stop it.

It takes strength to stand alone; it takes courage to lean on another.

It takes strength to love; it takes courage to be loved.

It takes strength to survive; it takes courage to live.

HAPPY PIONEER DAY

2008-07-24T23:35:00.006+03:00

even though i am a million miles from the salt lake valley, this year's pioneer day will stand out forever. we had no bar-b-ques, or fireworks, but i have been thinking a lot today about how much i am going to miss this branch.

the branch members here are the pioneers of romania and i have truly grown to love them and have learned so much from them!!

love love love

day 85

2008-07-22T07:19:00.000+03:00

"true saints of God love life; they enjoy themselves. they are lighthearted and upbeat despite the realities of life. they have a larger perspective that keeps them going and helps them focus on everlasting things. because of Christ and the great plan of happiness, we can have joy in this life- even in the midst of trial and heartache."

i love the daily bits of wisdom my mom sent me with.

this morning when i got to the orphanage they had brought all the kids outside except for my three loves. so i snuck upstairs, shut the doors, turned off the soap operas, turned on some muzica and held and loved those archy back, scabie covered dolls. luckily i got caught by the nice worker and she just laughed and walked away.

i am going to go back to my black sea post and add pictures right now

day 84

2008-07-21T23:24:00.009+03:00

today was monday and it should really be called funday.

i was so excited to go back to work. the trip to the black sea was fun, but it made me really trunky and homesick. i have been so lucky in iasi - i haven't really gotten too down or homesick. i think it is because of my lovely kids smiles and kisses.

anyways, work was wonderful as always. haha vlad fell off the swing today.. it was funny but he was tough and we were good. vali, our deaf gypsy boy was so so happy today it made me so happy. his laugh is my favorite because it is really quiet. you can only hear it when he gasps for air when i pause from tickling him for fear i might suffocate him. at noon, we hurried to elder barclay's last request before he gets transfered tomorrow - to play frisbee. original teams were brought back and of course go go go gogosi stomped.

we stopped at home for a sec and ran off to the hospital where i spent time with this lovely lady:

this is the second time leah has been brought to the hospital and she is adorable. please see below: (also, as a warning. this video has graphic sounds of everyday life in the hospital. o and also a sick nasty whitney who had just walked up literally hundreds of stairs in an unairconditioned hospital after walking for thirty minutes outside in 87* weather. sorry.)

after cuddling with her and talking with the moms in her room i headed out to my family portrait appointment with elyse and our child.

as parents, we don't look amazing, but we got marion to smile on the first try and so it is staying.

elisa and i went to the mall this evening and found the best surprises.

we had dinner with our friend from andrieseni, teo, the priest's daughter, and she came to FHE with us and had a really fun time. the lesson was great and our game of mafia somehow turned into a water fight and it was wonderful. we walked home in the rain, said noapte buna to the misionari and had a little group meeting. we presented teo with a journal where we all wrote little notes and put photos inside. sorry and thank you grandma, we used the journal you gave me. we couldn't find a nice one here and knew they would love it. and she did and almost cried when we gave it to her, and she said the village is going to love it. so gracias, multimin, merci frumos, and thank you.

well i am foarte obosita and need to get some somn.

hahaha don't worry, there are car alarms going off everywhere from the piercing lightening that just struck. i la la la la love thunderstorms almost as much as jumping into puddles or the ocean. mom and dad remember in texas, when it would thunderstorm, all us kids would get scared and ended up in your room? i hope my kids aren't too scared tonight at the orphanage.

days 79 - 83

2008-07-21T22:59:00.004+03:00

day 79: wednesday

i was really bummed to wake up smelling like yucky scabex cream and having to reapply it and wear it all day.

i found out the story of my new little boy i talked about a few days ago. he is a gypsy boy from a family with six other kids. none of the kids ever wore any clothes. he is deaf and frustrated not being able to communicate, so he has major behavior issues. anyways, it is common in romania that physical disabilities are considered the same as imbecility and so he was seen as a curse and was kept isolated from the rest of the family. and like we assumed he was physically abused. i am so happy he is at the orphanage now! (update: today is really monday and he was so so happy today! we had a great day together)

also: i love marion! and here is proof that he does smile around me:

we got on a torturous not sleeper train around 10 pm and had a long uncomfortable trip to the black sea.

day 80: thursday

we got to our cute little hotel thing, took a quick nap and headed off to the ocean. spent the day there.

day 81: friday

whitney and i decided to wake everyone up to beautiful day by U2 this morning and i don't think they appreciated it.

we got up and went to the ocean. highlight of the day: riding behind a jetski on a banana tube thing, even though we got dumped off out in the deep water and was scared of big giant fishes.

another highlight of the evening: dance party/dance off. there was definitely some soulja boi lessons and bootyliciousness. haha we have the best 3.5 minute video that i will probably get in big trouble for posting, but am considering it.

day 82: saturday

another day at the beach. highlight of the day: playing beach volleyball. low point: the creeper at the gogosi stand.

look at kenzie playing ball with a romanian... haha

it started pouring and we had fun

day 83: sunday
another 10 hour train ride but this time in the middle of the day with no air conditioning and a fat man sitting on my lap. true story, if you want to know more youw ill have to skype with me or wait till i get home, because visual aids are needed. i la la la love i pods and church music, and poor president monson got sat on too when the man sat on my ensign when i went to the thing they call a toilet.

preview

2008-07-19T19:39:00.004+03:00

i la la la la love the ocean and have had a wonderful time here at the black sea. the internet is super sketchy so i will write more tomorrow night, when i get home. (which means sorry family, i won't be home in time to skype with you on sunday morning, but i love and miss you more!)

leaving, once more

2008-07-16T08:10:00.002+03:00

after sorting out the pros and cons, and canceling our trip to bucharest, we have decided to take our last trip to the ocean! well the black sea. we leave tonight and get back late sunday night. i am bringing my computer seeing that i will have room in my backpack of a swimsuit and pajammas - sophomore summer relived! the plan is to get a lot of course work done while trying to get rid of this farmer's tan. i am not sure if internet will be available, but don't forget about me either way.

also, i am on my second round of scabies... woop woop

days 77 & 78

2008-07-15T08:30:00.004+03:00

"welcome back to iasi, where no one cares about you" - mindy as we got off of the mini bus that slammed its doors shut early and tried to kidnap half of the girls.

it has been bittersweet coming home from our little vacation.

saturday afternoon was zone conference. no i am not a missionary, yes i was there. de ce? melissa and i were asked to be in charge of the branch's sports day, so we were told to be at the church at three. we got there right as the conference was ending and were invited in to eat watermelon and meet the new mission president and his family. they are 100 percent perfect for this mission and are going to do great work. the missionaries are all pumped and it is fun to see them that way.

the conference continued on sunday where president and sister lundberg spoke to the branch in romanian! and good romanian. and we, the byu girls, sang and it was my favorite meeting this summer. don't worry i also had a class full of primary kids. it was quite the adventure trying to keep these kids entertained for two hours. there were five kids, the youngest was four, the oldest 12, and the lundberg's son, joshua was there too.. so i had to try and teach in romanian and english which doesn't go over well with short attention spans. but i was grateful for the opportunity and also for annie for helping me.

monday sent us back to work. we have a new boy in our room at the orphanage and he makes me so sad. it is evident that he has been abused in the past because he flinches if you barely reach to touch him. he just sits and cries and i just held him and hugged him for about an hour, and it made me feel good when he made eye contact with me. i hope that he knows he is safe with us.

we had the sisters over for lunch today and we dyed sora betham's hair. it is always fun to be around them. at the hospital, elyse and i spent a lot of time with "our child" aka marion. haha he is getting so big! and we also spent an hour with ali.

fhe was one of my favorites, but i will talk about that later because i need to go to work right now... to be continued later

...

okay it is later. so elyse and mindy gave an object lesson and they used our really long spoon. they talked about two rooms. both rooms had a table in the center with a big bowl of food. surrounding the table were people with really long spoons. there was a dramatic difference found in the appearance of the people in the two rooms. the first room was full of hungry skinny people, and the second, was full of healthy satisfied people. why was it this way? well the difference was that in the second room, the people used their long spoons to fed each other because it was impossible to feed yourself. anyways, i wish you could have seen sora genoveva trying to feed herself with that long spoon. it was great.

then we played charades which was just as entertaining and after we wached narchiss and ionut arm wrestle.

then back home for quantum leap and beddie bed.

day 75 & 76

2008-07-12T21:33:00.006+03:00

welcome to the village from heaven, andrieseni. so when marion passed, the girls went out to his funeral in the village that he is from, and the priest's family invited us back. we spent the weekend riding around on the back of a horse buggie, visiting all the neighbors. at each house we were showered with homemade treats, hand picked veggies, delicious saremale, immediate friendships - the bee man fed us fresh honeycomb, the vegetable lady gave us a bag of carrots, the librarian a bag of books. everytime we thought things couldn't get any better, the sweet villagers surprised once more. for example, we were all tucked into our bed of, no joke, twenty blankets on top of the grass outside of the church when mr bee man, brought us 5 liters of honey!

this village really was a little piece of heaven on earth. everyone was so kind and welcoming. it is a very traditional village so there were hardly any cars, and everyone had their job and they all lived happily together with only the drunkards causing a few problems every now and again. we felt overwhelmed with kindness at each house we visited and tried to thank them by singing to them. nearer my god to thee was their favorite and the one the priest kept requesting. here are some of the wonderful faces and places i wish to never forget:

day 73

2008-07-11T07:16:00.004+03:00

it is always nice to go back to work after even a day of absence. yesterday was especially nice because cristi was back! and we found out that he had been picked up the day before, so that means he wasn't alone all day while we were at the monasteries worrying about him... tender mercies.

the dancu apartments were as crazy as ever with our for lack of a better word, psycho little girl. elisa and i have gotten pretty good at tag-teaming her.

anyways, today is actually friday and we are leaving to go visit the priest's family and camp in his yard. it should be fun. i will leave you with some lovely group photos that i got from whitney lerie alexander.

day 72

2008-07-10T07:18:00.005+03:00

today was our day of fun with dave. he took us out to the medieval painted monasteries. it was about a two hour drive out to them in the back of a taxi. after handling those roads in africa last summer, this bumpy ride was a piece of cake. anyways, it was a lot of fun and the monasteries are beautiful. highlight of the day: one of the monks gave me a noogie and laughed as he walked away. here are some photos:

o, we also went to a romanian zoo things consisting of deer, reindeer, lots of birds, buffalo, and a brown bear?

i don't know why, but i think that last picture is really funny

day 71

2008-07-09T00:13:00.004+03:00

today was never ending and exhausting and sooo worth it.

la multi ani alex! alex turned ten and he got to wear this really nice tux outfit and they did his hair in a faux hawk and it was great. he loved the balloons and stuffed animal horse we got him. his cake was extra big and extra soggy, and so bland.

after the orphanage, we had a short lunch break and headed out to the hospital early. i spent the whole time with this lovely doll face, cristi, our boy from the orphanage i talked about yesterday:

seriously, look at that bottom photo and tell me if you have ever seen a cuter boy in your life?!

i repeat, sooo worth it. it was sad to first get there and see how sad he was and how messy the nurses let him get. also, there was a teenage boy in the room who spoke english really well. his name was vlad :) and he was really nice, but he told me that no one feeds or plays with cristi when we are not there. sad huh? i hope he is okay right now, and isn't too scared.

elisa and i went straight from the hospital to visit ghiorcel in dancu. there is a girl there who has severe attachment disorder and she works us every time we go. she is super nanny's worst nightmare. as if we weren't tired already. ghiorcel is hard to work with. i can't tell if he distances himself because of life experiences, or if that is just the way he is. he is so young and can't communicate, so there is no way of knowing. anyways, i think he is liking the apartments. he has a lot more freedom there, even with a mean girl bullying him around.

we changed into skirts at the apartment and made our way over to the hotel that dave is staying at. i don't think i mentioned this, but one of our professors is in town so we went to dinner at a place called little texas. in romania? yeah. it was pretty good, and fun to sit and talk with dave and with all the girls. but we were there forever... well till eleven. dave is taking us out to the painted monasteries tomorrow. it will be sad to not see my kids, but we are going to try and make it back to iasi in time to go visit cristi.

well i am too scared to go to sleep and wake up to more buggie bites, but i am too tired to do anything else.

day 70

2008-07-07T22:40:00.003+03:00

2 stories to prove that today was an amazing day

1. vlad was wearing a ridiculous pirate outfit today. and i loved it and he was so cute, and i am pretty sure he loves me because i was on the swing with florina and mackenzie helped him walk over to me. i thought he wanted the swing so i got up to give it to him, but no, he followed me to the bench! he really just wanted to be by me and shake his little legs as i smiled and talked to him. little things like that make all these itchy bumps worth it.

2. we went to the hospital in search of one of our youngest cp boys and i found him! and i was so happy and he was so excited and i changed him and held him and loved him and wanted to stay with him forever. poor thing he was so sad and so scared to be all alone in the hospital. i was surprised to see how differently he acted towards whitney and i, then he did with everyone else. because he can't talk, it is hard to know how much he really understands, but his smiles were evidence that he felt happy with us, and his crying broke my heart when we left.

can someone please figure out how to shrink children to the size of those little green army men, so i can carry all of my kids home in my pocket?

cu mult drag!

day 69

2008-07-06T23:15:00.003+03:00

so last night i slept over at the other girls apartment. it was really fun, but i missed my roommates. i am so lucky to have so many great girls around me everyday. i really love them and have learned so much from each one.

the fun continued today as it was our dear annie's twentieth birthday. she once sketched a picture of all of us at a picnic, so the theme for our day was recreating that photo. here's what we got:

p.s. i really don't approve of the farmer's tan that i am acquiring from my boy's v-necked tees

day 68

2008-07-05T18:42:00.002+03:00

song of the day: Rain by Priscilla Ahn

so it has been storming all day. you know what that means! puddle jumping! thats right. this morning i tried my hardest to sleep in, but without fail, my eyes opened at 6:45. refusing to get out of bed i listened to my ipod until the battery died and decided to get up around eight.

i tried to work on homework all morning, but with this unfocused mind, got only one and a half culture proofs done. but, i sorted through a lot of music and made playlists for fun things, and did other technologically nerdy things such as edit videos and catch up on my other friends blogs.

when the time came for sports to begin, we were hesitant about whether or not it was going to still happen.

romanians have this plague here known as the currant. it lives in the air and is basically the cause of any illness. it comes out especially in the wind and when it is raining. that is why they do not allow the windows to be open at the orphanage or hospital. also, according to the dr that looked at my eye a few weeks ago, the currant was the cause for the pinkness.

anyways, it ended up being three of us byu girls and two elders. we tried to play boys vs girls ultimate, but it wasn't working out for numerous reasons. [note to self: don't borrow roomates sweatpants that are too big, and wear them puddle jumping so they get wet and heavier and then expect to be able to run in them without having to hold them up]. we played 500, and they decided that whoever won got to choose what we did next. that is why we ended up at the jewish synagogue. i needed the elders to translate a few things for me and it worked out great. [another note to self: if you leave snails on your arms long enough, they will give you little bruises - it's true i have three]

o how much i love playing in the rain.

FYI

2008-07-05T18:35:00.002+03:00

if you are interested in seeing more pictures that i took over our trip, please navigate yourself to the blogs of the other interns at right. thanks, have a wonderful day!

day 67

2008-07-05T09:11:00.002+03:00

song of the day: Free by Donavon Frankenreiter

la multi ani america!

the picnic was a success! we ate yummy american food, played with water balloons, and sang the national anthem in the middle of gypsyland. even the canadian had fun. pictures will be added later, after i get them from the other girlies.

day 66

2008-07-03T23:02:00.003+03:00

elisa and i have labeled this week the week of tender mercies

everything wonderful that could possibly happen, has. from marius walking and the court case going so well, to the birthday party we attended this morning.

yes, this morning was little andrea's first birthday at the orphanage and because of that, teo brought out her camera and took pictures of us with our kids!! yes, at the end of the semester, i will be bringing home a cd with a photo of me and vlad together! i am so happy. we are so so lucky to have a Tata Ceresc that loves us so much.

there are lots more where that came from, but i am exhausted.

love love love

p.s. tomorrow is the fourth of july. sad, sad, sad. america will definitely be missed.
p.p.s. i really really really dislike bugs, namely, scabies, mosquitoes and fleas.
p.p.p.s i love marion, and i promise he likes me too, even though he looks scared to death in every photo i have with him

day 65

2008-07-02T22:49:00.006+03:00

whitney's wednesday consisted of a fajitas slash taco concoction in.... homemade tortillas! yes, i will never do that again, especially in an eighty two degreed kitchen.

vlad and i got in trouble today for swinging on the indoor swing. the noise disturbs peoples concentration? haha so we have a worker that is out of control and we have had some interesting conversations with her recently. i love our workers.

it was another fun day with marion at the hospital.

o biggest news of all! yesterday, marius walked!!! he was so happy and so proud to show us! and even better news, we found out today that his brother got custody of him so now all that is left is to get his visa and he is off to califoorrrnia!

alright. i am in grandma mode and am going to bed early. but again i will leave you with a afew more pictures i was given today.

lost... us? never (p.s can you see my red hair?)

two whitneys with the same middle name inside someone's eye balls

this is how we cruise krakow

yes, a statue of a dead elk....

okay i am tired. and need to read some ancient south american literature

noapte buna!

va iubesc!

days 63 & 64

2008-07-02T07:48:00.006+03:00

day 63, monday:

today was best worst day ever. how is that possible?

good: waking up and talking to my family! it was really good to see them, but my older brother wasn't there and i miss him.

not so good: hearing about things going on at home that i wish i could be apart of.

good: going back to work!! i was so excited, i wanted to run to the orphanage.

not so good: getting there and finding out that it was doamna david's last day! i am not sure if i have ever mentioned anything about her, but she is amazing. she has been working at the orphanage for over thirty years and all the kids love her. she is such an example to me, i have never heard her get impatient with, or even raise her voice with the kids - not once. she loves them so much. she is the grandma of the boy from the orphanage that got adopted, mihai? [i can never remember what i write on here or in my journal, sorry] every morning she greets us so warmly and just being in her presence, motivates me to be a better person. we knew she was retiring, but we didn't know so soon!! elisa and i looked at each other and said, "we gotta go". we borrowed money from our friend teo and sprinted through the streets of iasi looking for the perfect gift. we found a lovely necklace and a box of chocolates. she seemed very touched by the necklace and of course immediately open the chocolates and made us take, not one, but two. she will really be missed, but i have made it a goal to think, what would sweet old doamna david do? saying goodbye to her was really hard, knowing i will never see her again in this life, but i am so happy that she gets to spend more time with her husband and children and of course micah!

good: seeing my kids! as soon as i walked into the room and did one quick round of kisses to all of them and was so happy. illiuta was not satisfied with just a kiss and did his grudge impression until i came over to hold him and he just laughed and laughed. o how i missed them. o and vlad got a haircut! and they are spiking his hair... he looks so handsome and grown up.

not so good: i found out that ghirocel was leaving too!! what? my favorite worker and him? he and gitza are being sent to one of the apartments that was under renovation out in dancu.

good: between the orphanage and the hospital i went to open the book i have been reading and found the most thoughtful note from one of my roommates. i am so lucky to have met these girls. everyone of them has taught me so much, and i am definitely a better person for being around them.

not so good: my colostomy marion was sleeping the whole time at the hospital so we didn't wake him up to play with us (which now i really wish i did because he was gone the next day).

good: the marion from the orphanage was awake and so happy to see us and we played outside and had so so much fun with him. he's getting so big. one of these days, we are going to just take him right home with us... i wish, i wish.

another good: we went over to sora maria's house for fhe tonight, and she taught us how to make gogosi! don't worry. they were amazing, even better then the stand by the villa. i will be making them when i got home for whoever requests them.

another good: her husband is so crazy and so cute. he looks just like the man from back to the future. he made me miss bill a lot a lot.

not so good: we lost our key and were locked out of our apartment for a good while and had to sit in our stinky stairwell and thought we might have to sleep over at scala's which meant i wouldn't be able to talk to josh in the morning.

good: our sweet neighbor had a key! we knocked on her door once and no one answered, so we sat down outside her door to wait for her to come back. about a half hour later, as i was sitting against her door, i heard her talking from inside. she really was there!!! haha she is used to us coming over asking for sugar, delivering fresh banana cake... but she laughed when we told her we were locked out. she was like, " don't you have three keys?" we looked down and replied yes.

that is about it. it was a good day, full of bad things, but all of those bad things were really good things in disguise. making it the best worst day ever because it really wasn't that bad.

for intermission i will post a few photos i stole from ladies last night

day 64, tuesday:

so today was super busy and long and terrific.

it started early with a skype session with mr. asay and for a minute or two his wonderful family. his nieces and nephews are so cute. then off to work, where.... we went swimming!!!! it was the best surprise ever! then home for lunch, then off to the hospital and then another great thing! i went to the dancu apartment to see ghirocel! elisa and i are going to start going there every tuesday and thursday which will be great, but i am sad i won't get to spend every afternoon with elyse. i love her.

then home for dinner, and homework and bed

[i have to go to work in ten minutes so i am sorry this day was so short]

alright. miss you all and love you more!

cu mult drag!

days 53 - 62

2008-06-29T20:25:00.024+03:00

okay here is the blow by blow (sorry it is so long)

day 53, friday:
- i started my second journal today
- we were really busy running around all day getting ready to go and packing and cleaning and finishing our scabies treatment
- we got to the train station and were worried that our train was canceled because of a nearby tornado, but a guardian angel man explained the departure board and helped us find the right train where we slept in little rooms with stinky strangers that refused to open the windows

day 54, saturday:
- we had to switch trains in cluj, at five in the morning
- enjoyed another lovely train ride reading lots, listening to muzica, and of course eating treats
- we got into budapest around lunch time and headed to the bank to get monies out for our hostel - this is where i realized that i forgot to transfer money from my savings into my checking and the internet at the mcdonalds was not secure enough - thanks dad for fixing that!
- budapest is absolutely beautiful!
- we dropped our junk off at the hostel and went out exploring
- we were lucky to be there on the summer solstice celebration so there was lots of festivities and shopping
here are some pictures from today

sometimes i get these ideas in my mind, and just go with it- therefore i did climb on strangers cars to get high enough for the shot that i wanted - and my room mates thought it was funny

day 55, sunday:
- got up and went to the jewish synogogue, museum, ghetto, and memorial where i learned about:
-the 600,000 hungarian jews that were taken from the ghetto to auschwitz that never returned (that makes every third victim at auschwitz a hungarian)
- how the jews have a list of righteous gentiles in isreal, with the names of people that helped them during the holocaust, like oskar shindler

- today, all the rabbis in eastern europe are trained in this building

they had a really neat memorial of a willow tree with 600,000 leaves representing those that were killed during the holocaust

after that, we walked to church and guess who i bumped into??? just my beloved long lost friend kev!

here is a photo of him, kimmy, and i, dancing our pants off freshman year

and now, here is missionary kev:

isn't he so cute? he saw me and tried to hug me and i told him no, and it was funny and i loved seeing him and talking to him. it was good to see a familiar face, of someone who really knows me.

- after church we walked around this lovely castle and then if was off to the train station to board another sleeper train on its way to krakow:

day 56, monday:
- found our hostel and the boys from moldova that were meeting us there
- we went to wawel castle where there are dragons, and we climbed to the to of this church's bell towers and i wanted to ring the bell really bad but didn't
- we saw rain coming and headed back to the hostel luckily, because it started to hail
- there was a guitar at the hostel!! we had lots and lots of fun with that.
- we went to a jazz show and one of the sax players kept getting really mad at us if we talked and he would give us dirty looks and even swore at us for whispering. whoops. sadly, when we left, there was no one there left to listen to him.
- i didn't take many pictures in krakow. im pare rau. o just kidding, we totally did a human pyramid in the middle of the castle courtyard

day 57, tuesday:
- we split up today, and i was designated the leader of my group of girls, so with a map in one hand, and the other in my pocket, i led my friends around the wonderful city
- shopping at h & m all morning - soooo fun!
- we said goodbye to our boys today, i hate goodbyes, especially when you know most likely you will never see them again.
- then, we rented bikes from mike at cruisin krakow and cruised around the city for three hours: one of the most fun things i have ever done in my life. i have never laughed so hard as there were 7 american girls wobbling through crowded streets ringing our little bells to warm the civilians of the upcoming dangers. there were lots of pictures taken, but they are not on my camera and will be added later.
- after that we met up with the other girls in st peter and paul's church for a classical music concert that i loved so so much. the church was beautiful, and the music enchanting.
- so the center of krakow has a big square full of wonderful delights, including different kinds of street performers, including a group of girls singing and doing interpretive dances? true story. we were determined to make some money and might have even kissed a man on the cheek for a few zloty.

because of the events poorly described above, i would consider this day to be one of my favorite days ever.

[also, from here on out, i didn't take many photos but i will steal some from the girls soon]

day 58, wednesday:

i did not take my camera to auschwitz, and don't think i will be able to adequately describe this day, so i am just going to type some thoughts from my journal:

"here i am, a girl with jewish descent, on her way to the place where millions of jews lost their lives. like those before, i came to poland in a train, but unlike them, a comfy sleeper train..."
"... the gate i am sitting next to reads, 'arbeit macht frei' which means, work makes one free. knowing that the nazis forced the prisoners to march out of these gates every morning to literally work themselves to death performing extremely strenuous labor at full speed, on empty stomachs, being harassed by clubs and spades, makes me realize the irony behind that statement. the nazis put it there as motivation to the prisoners, that if they worked hard enough they could be promoted within the prison's ranks, but in all reality the best freedom came when they left that horrible mortal life behind..."

"... there is a building with rooms full of the belongings confiscated from the jews upon their arrival. one of the suitcases stands out to me. it belongs to a woman named stella. i envision a young lady, as beautiful as her name entering the train with her family, looking forward to arriving at the plot of land they bought from the ss. with each stop more and more families are shoved onto the train. rumors of camps worse from the ghetto begin to spread as the elderly and young children try and find places on the floor to rest. 8 long days later, starving and exhausted, she begins her stay in this nightmare. lovely, sweet stella..."

"... 'unlimited, however, are the moral and physical powers, which man has within him' - josef garlinski (survivor)..."

"... everywhere, there is evidence of the loss of human dignity and religious freedom that the people here suffered..."

"... i can't even describe the feelings of this place. i am sitting between two gas chambers, where hundreds of thousands of innocent people died. it is so quiet and peaceful, yet i am weeping..."

day 59, thursday:
- not much happened today, except that we woke up and saw all of our laundry that the hostel was doing hanging up to dry in the pouring rain.
- i didn't have my international id card, so while the girls went to the art museum, i walked around krakow and enjoyed the alone time, going to sephora to put on free make up, getting some ice cream and purchasing the tiniest amber necklace i could find.
- took another sleeper train this night back to budapest

day 60, friday:
- once we arrived in budapest we headed straight to the turkish bathes, or as we like to call it, heaven
- as i laid out in the sunshine, surrounded by all the elderly in hungary, i couldn't help but think about my favorite season of swimming pools, lakes, warm nights, bar-b-ques, and camping that i am missing out on. but then i remembered the smiles and laughs of the kids, and remembered why i was here.

- after the baths we went to the shopping district, then to a crepe place, and back to the train station. i lead the girls everywhere again today. the three subways and numerous trams are actually not that hard to figure once you know where you are and where you want to go, and then all you need is a handy dandy mappy map. i was actually surprised how quickly the girls turned to me and trusted me to lead them around this gigantic city. pygmalion phenomenon at its best.
- i have been reading a book entitled, "the power of kindness", and there is a chapter about generosity and it talks about how true generosity is giving away those things that are dearest to us. therefore, family, i dunno how, but i have made it a goal to give you away :) well, more like share you with someone

day 61, saturday:
- the day started early at one in the morning as we literally jumped onto the train in cluj seconds before it took off. our train from budapest to cluj was twenty mintutes late, which gave us two frantic minutes running around the station to our last train. another example of your prayers for us answered.

- this was our last sleeper train, and my most favorite. i was very tired and very excited to be heading home to my sewer scented stairwell and scabies filled furniture-less apartment i call home
- we got home, unpacked a bit and got right back into the stream of iasi by playing some basketball, romanian style with the missionaries

day 62, sunday, today:

-back to church where we watched saturday afternoon session of conference, ate gogosi and enjoyed the company of our missed branch members.

m&d, i have been waiting on skype for you, but am guessing that you are still at the hospital with grandma. please give her some kisses from me and tell her i love her!

also, can i reserve the cabin for the friday night after my birthday? we want to have a romanian reunion slash birthday party there for mackenzie, elder armstrong, and i.

alright, i will not keep you any longer. go do something good, and remember that i love you all!

yikes this is long!

preview

2008-06-28T15:05:00.011+03:00

holocaust memorial: hungary, budapest

night time joys

the colors of a romanian train ride

did you know buda and pest are two different places?

we love eachother

more to come

FYI-IZZLE

2008-06-28T11:13:00.006+03:00

Dear Student:

Your application for acceptance to the College of Nursing for Fall 2008 has been carefully reviewed. We are sorry to inform you that you were not among those admitted this semester.

We know you are disappointed. Unfortunately, the number of students applying for Fall 2008 was significantly greater than could be admitted this semester. Because your qualifications meet the minimum requirements, you are eligible to reapply in the future.

Decisions of the Admissions Committee are final. Please feel free to arrange an appointment with Dr. Mark White if you have questions regarding procedures for future applications.

Sincerely,

Nursing Advisement Center

...

also i am home safe from my adventures, and am so excited to see my kids. it was weird, around one o' clock last night as we were literally jumping unto a moving train in cluj, there were romanian boys jeering at us, and confusion everywhere... it made me feel like i used to, when we would get off the toll road on our way back from long road trips. iasi, my home away from home!!!

well i have lots to unpack (haha not really because i didn't bring much), but i do have stuff to do before sports so i better get going. hope you are all sleepy sleeping well!

dragoste dragoste dragoste!

HOW I FEEL TODAY: Can't Go Back Now - The Weepies (click to download it)

auschwitz today

2008-06-25T21:43:00.004+03:00

was amazing and sobering and so much more... i will write more later... i miss everyone lots and lots! email me with updates soon please! everyone! well i just got an email from kimmy, so she is exempt

pa pa!

2008-06-20T18:05:00.002+03:00

eight days

over 50 hours of train traveling

one backpack

a camera, a good book, and a journal

toothbrush

i pod

swimsuit

passport and ID

talk to you guys when i get back!

p.s happy anniversary grandma and grandpa

and happy birthday grandpa!

days 51 & 52

2008-06-19T20:17:00.006+03:00

Momma,
Sorry it has taken so long to write you back. Things have been really busy getting ready for our trip. We had to set things up for our kids at the hospital... the missionaries are all going to take turns going and visiting our kids... anyways, we have been showing them around the hospital, and we went shopping yesterday and bought over a thousand diapers. that should last us till me are done, hopefully, lots and lots of wet wipes, and food for Marius. his aunt left to go back to the US, so we are completely in charge of him and are taking care of him. he is doing really well.. i have actually been seeing him a lot lately.. his looks don't even phase me anymore... he is the burn victim that is getting surgery in california... remember him.. anyways, the other day we were so happy to see him because when we got there he was wearing a shirt!!! it was cool.

anyways, sorry if i've been dramatic, i dunno why it was getting me so down. but today i had a really cool experience with my kids at the orphanage, that confirmed to me that i am supposed to be here and that these kids really do need me, specifically. o mom, i love them so much. thanks for supporting me and helping me. it really means so so much. i am not too sure what the fall will be like either, but i guess we will find out once know if i got into the nursing program. secondly, you should not feel bad at all about the situation. you and dad have already done so much for us kids, it is about time we get up and do more.

so... have you ever heard of scabies? yep, they are no good. can you please schedule an appointment for me to get a physical the day after i get home? thanks.

o and guess what?! you know all those jobs i applied for at the hospital in provo? guess who is in charge of doing the hiring! elisa's mom!! anyways, elisa told me that she will for sure hire me and that means i can get into the IHC program if byu doesn't work out. sweet stuff huh?

o, here is a story i want to share with you. do you know florine? the orphan in the wheel chair at the hospital. well i used to love him... well i still do but i don't like him. anyways yesterday i had sora betham with me and i was showing her the hospital and we were with florine and my adorable marion ( the kidney boy) and this other doll face girl mirella. we took them outside, but before we went outside i told florine we could only be outside for an hour because marius wanted to go outside too. (there is only one wheel chair so they have to share it) so we went out and were playing with them and florine kept throwing the ball really far so i had to run and get it and i told him if he didn't stop he couldn't play and he took the ball and threw it down this hill into the back yard of this gypsy village because he was mad. (o and p.s i took a special trip to the grocery store to buy him his favorite candy and gave it to him when i first saw him). anyways he threw the ball on purpose and i told him that was rude and he said sorry and then asked if i would push him to the store. i told him if he promised to be nice from now on we would go. so we went to the store and got some juice for him and i got little candies for marion and mirella, and then it was time to go upstairs. on the way up florine started throwing a fit saying he hated marius because he was ugly and looked like a monster and he wasn't going to get out of the chair. he was making a huge scene in front of everyone and poor sora betham is so sweet she didn't know what to do. i pushed him back into his room where he continued to throw a fit and the moms in the room butted in and started getting mad at him, but he still wouldn't get out of his chair. then a nurse came in and asked what was going on, and florine told her that he wasn't getting out of the chair because i wouldn't get him a balloon. she told me to give him a balloon, i did, and he moved to his bed, and as soon as the nurse turned around he threw the balloon on the floor!!!!!! what a pill!!! i was so so mad. i told him i was never coming back, and he acted like he didn't even care. after i had done so much for him and stuck up for him and cared about him.. seriously.. i know he grew up in an orphanage, but there is no justification for being rude, ever, period. with that in mind, i will go back to see him, and i will not be rude to him, but i will not take him outside anymore, or bring him candy... just diapers. anyways, it made me think about my life and i sure hope that i never made you feel the way that florine made me feel. and if i did i am so so so so so so sorry.

alright, well... i am off to work again. thanks again for everything. i leave for hungary tomorrow night, and get there around noon the next day.. i dont think i will have internet so you may not hear from me for a week or so... do not worry though we will be safe! we know missionaries in hungary, and the moldova boys will be with us in krakow so we will be fine.

also, i just decided i am going to copy paste most of this letter into my blog b/c i don't feel like writing more stuff... okay have a wonderful day!

love you so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so sooooooo much!

whit

[p.s. the photo is of my marion and mirella, two of my most favorite people on this earthie earth, o and dont be fooled by the photo, i do not have rabies, or any other psychotic disorder]

days 49 & 50

2008-06-17T22:41:00.006+03:00

today is day fifty! thats 1,200 hours or 72,000 minutes since i left home!

high: getting an email from my mommy
low: buying new pajama shorts from a second hand store and finding sunflower seed shells in the pockets when i got home and tried them on
high: vlad was wearing super tight spandex hoochie shorts today! haha it was amazing
low: burning the popcorn i was really excited to make
high: talking to chelsea on skype!!!
low: dropping the lid from the burning popcorn pan out the window and all the way down to the street below
high: deciding to still go to krakow
low: paying for the train tickets there
high: catching elder barclay throwing the cookies we gave him out the window, b/c they were a little bit burnt!!!!!!

okay and i will leave you with a picture of my wonderful branch, minus a few members. p.s. the man on top acting like a thug is president popovici at his finest and the lady next to him is the beautiful sora betham, not to be confused with the sora below her in pink that i like to poke with needles

o and here is a picture of some of our english class friends

mooovies

2008-06-16T23:04:00.005+03:00

ALI: this is the worst of the two films i got of him, but the other one got deleted... anyways, florine has something to tell you

also, here is a little documentary from inside the hospital

lastly, we had a great day at work today... elisa and i brought in paint and got prints of our kids hands and feet!! yay those will be fun to have.

o and ps... i might of died some of my hair romanian red... and by might of, i mean i did :)

o and p.p.s have i ever mentioned how much i love the iasi branch?

o and p.p.p.s auschwitz may not be happening for me... that's life

days 47 and 48

2008-06-15T21:58:00.006+03:00

so, i am in love. with a romanian man. he is 29. his name is ionut. we sang love songs together on the keyboard at the villa. we held hands as we walked. i was sad when we said goodbye, but happy as he ran back and grabbed my face and..... kissed me! it was really embarrassing that our first kiss was in front of his mother.

...

anyways, we are really not in love, but we pretend to be, but actually, i really do love ionut and how he comes to every relief society activity, (remember last activity we dressed him up in a mini skirt?). yes. but he really did kiss me. and it really was funny, and i really was embarrassed.

...
yesterday was my whitney is a tourist day!

i wore my vladd the impaler shirt, went to a how to cook romanian food class, bargained for souvenirs at the cultural palace, touched saint paraskeva's remains, and pretended to be orthodox at a prayer service. life as a tourist in iasi was more than i ever dreamed it to be. and the day ended with a karaoke night at the church, DJed by yours truly. it was really fun and the missionaries made root beer. i am so happy to be feeling better.

...
i gave a talk in church today. i was up till one typing it up, only to find out this morning that our printer is broken. so, i wrote down the main points and a few quotes, and prayed that i wouldn't make a fool of myself. i am actually really happy with the way it turned out. i wasn't even that nervous. i think having elder armstrong standing next to me translating helped.
also, just to let you know, the word integritous is not a real word, but it can be used if your name is whitney, and you want to embarrass yourself in front of a large crowd.
...
lastly,
HAPPY FATHERS DAY! I HEART MY DADDY

...

days 45 & 46

2008-06-14T00:07:00.005+03:00

i found my secret spot in iasi. the window sill. the breeze is nice, the view is lovely, and there are lots of people to watch below.

anyways, i went to both the orphanage and the hospital today. it felt like forever since i had been there. i missed my kids so much.

the hospital was really neat today. the elders came to give marius a blessing. it was really fun to have them there meeting the kids, and seeing what we are doing here. i heart the priesthood.

so we were wandering the mall getting dinner and they had a projector set up and crowds of people around it, and what did we find? o just the romanian soccer team playing italy. we sat down and watched for a while.. it was fun and i would have been more than content to stay and watch the whole game.. the people watching were really drunk and really into the game. they would cheer so loud every time the ball was passed up to one of the forwards. also, there was one point during the game, that two romanian players went to head the ball but they ended up heading each other and they were both bleeding and one had to be wheeled off... i don't know why, but it was really humorous.

well... guys, i apologize for the lameness of this post... there is not too much going on right now.

love and miss you all!

days 43 & 44

2008-06-11T14:23:00.007+03:00

"[insert your name here], I'm going to suggest something to you that you probably have never thought of and will want to resist, but I'm going to say it anyway because it's the truth. Here it is: Being mistreated is the most important condition of mortality, for eternity itself depends on how we view those who mistreat us."
- the grandpa in the peacegiver

the hard times in iasi, seem to be rising with the temperature. i am going on day three of being sick, but fortunately i am feeling better today than yesterday. i am not the only one sick too. this morning i was the only one in mickey mouse. haha it was quite the experience chasing 20 kids in 20 different directions between my trips to la baie. i didn't have to go, but i was tired of laying around, and the kids would have had no byu girls there which would have meant they would be tied into their chairs. it made me really grateful to know that if i get sick in the future as a mom: 1) i won't have 20 kids at once 2) 6 of them will not be rambunctious toddlers 3) i will have people there to help me 4) and hopefully my real kids won't have the severe behavior problems that my kids here do.

speaking of moms, sorry i didn't tell you i was sick last night.. i was planning on keeping it a secret, but i think i am going to be okay now, so don't worry.

there has been a lot of tension amongst all the girls lately. i think that many are in need of our upcoming vacation of bath houses and shopping. our budapest trip will be the perfect opportunity to mend all the damaged friendships.

hmm.. so mom, you asked about miss grumps, and my blue baby? well they were both gone when we went back after the whole mace incident. we have gotten pretty used to seeing kids come and go in the hospital. hopefully they are doing well where ever they are. we miss them, but are glad that they were well enough to get out of the hospital.

alright well... i am going to go read. hope everyone is doing great at home and enjoying the summertime.

cu mult drag!

p.s. look how cute my illiuta is!!!!

hahaha, he's great.

p.p.s is it embarrassing that i just had to google how to make baked potatoes??
p.p.p.s i just reread this post, and it seems like a downer but i promise things are going great. don't worry mom. here is a funny story from today to brighten things up:

i was outside on a blanket with 5 of the kids. alex, our oldest CP boy, who is so smart and very aware was laying on his back near my feet. cristina, my hippie girl was sitting next to me flailing her arms in every direction singing. valentina, a fetal alcohol syndromed toddler was crawling everywhere and i was constantly having to pull her back onto the blanket. maria, our energetic, fidgety lady was in her chair to my right with her ridiculous pink sailor's hat on (see photo below). and lastly, i had ghiorcel in my lap and i was feeding him this nasty wafer, that he was spitting out everywhere. anyways, all of the sudden i hear one of the workers gasp and start laughing hysterically. i look at her and she points to valentina who was now laying on top of alex, going back and forth from cheek to cheek, kissing him. hahaha it looked so funny, and alex was smiling so big. (he tries to be a flirt with us byu girls by reaching for our rears whenever possible). hahaha i jumped up and grabbed valentina, and we all had a good laugh. just another everyday experience in iasi!

here are pictures of valentina, and maria. they are whitney alexander's kids normally, so it was fun playing with them today.
valentina si maria

i heart romania!

also: i bet you didn't know that this song is a romanian one
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cn4Y60cv__U

day 42

2008-06-09T16:48:00.007+03:00

it has been said that biologically , adults produce children;
but spiritually, children produce adults

days 40 & 41

2008-06-08T17:58:00.005+03:00

so i am pretty sure this was the busiest week in iasi... but one of the most fulfilling. i love love love my kids, and the hospital has been great this week.

yesterday was a wonderful busy day. friday night we had a sleepover at scala and did girlie stuff and as expected i was the first to fall asleep on the floor (887, remember when i fell asleep on your kitchen floor?) we woke up and went and took some pictures of churches, but not too many turned out because the sun was really bright, but here is a sample...

after that we had romanian lessons with the elders and then, drum roll..... my date with mindy! roberta wanted us to go on dates with each other so mindy and i wore matching outfits and went on a date.. see:

then we played another intense game of ultimate frisbee.. showered and went out with the soras on splits. that was an experience. i didn't say much but i understood what was being said. we gave two lessons and i love sora betham.. she grew up in laie and moved to long beach in high school so we had lots to talk about... she kept saying, "just go on a mission, whitney.. just go!" it definitely wasn't a bad experience, but we shall see...

today was general conference for the romanians.. we did the sacrament and dove right into the saturday morning session. so we read to along in our ensigns as they listened and watched the solemn assembly in romanian. it was awesome. i love conference. also, while we were watching, president popovici and petru left and bought the branch treats! the elders were so mad, they refused to eat them. it was funny.

well that is all!

cu mult drag!!

p.s. our neighbor man had a crush on us. he brings us flowers.. we invite him to sports.. he smokes cigarettes while we play... he brings us more flowers.. and offers to give us contacts b/c he is an optometrist... but the flowers are pretty huh?

days 38 & 39

2008-06-07T15:32:00.004+03:00

here is a clue as to why i am so happy here in iasi

this little boys name is marion. he is from our orphanage but because of kidney failure he most likely will never leave the hospital. we love him. the doctors are not optimistic about this situation, so we are doing are best to make him as happy as we can while he is still here. we love him!!

also: iasi = big hair... proof:

days 36 & 37

2008-06-04T16:10:00.009+03:00

preface: so i wasn't feeling super this morning and was nervous about going to the hospital so i decided to stay home and read the ensign that i finally got yesterday and sleep... but i woke up to the sounds of saws and drills coming from what sounded like our bathroom. i am pretty sure that the people next door are playing prison break and are trying to break into our apartment through the wall. therefore, i am now writing in my blog and keeping watch on the wall... waiting for a hole to appear

yesterday was melissa's birthday! the highlights include:
- hot gogosi for breakfast
- shortened language lessons
- a package from momma scott
- A+ day at the orphanage
- lunch with a man named lyfe - he works for lonely planet writing books on romania
- ice cream with lyfe
- shopping
- bumping into the grumpy elder and him being happy to see us
- walking around iasi looking for chinese food
- eating chinese food in romania - i still can't figure out if i liked it or not...
- annies yellowcake
- and of course prank phone calls - we are limited in the number of contacts here in iasi, but we still had fun

timeout - this is kinda scary being home alone with scratching and knocking noises.

here is a photo of us girls on saturday.. unfortunately we decided to take pictures after a few of us had just played ultimate frisbee for an hour and a half, so some are more up to par than others.

today is wednesday. work was good this morning. i am loving my kids more and more everyday and am already dreading having to say goodbye to them. after work we met the sisters at the bread stand, and then they came over. poor sister r. she is afraid of needles, but did really great as i poked her. it was fun. outreach is tonight and the elders promised they would help elisa and i call this jewish man for my research.

o have i mentioned that i am doing one of my culture proof papers on the holocaust in romania, iasi specifically? well here are some previews:

- before WWII, there were over 90 synagogues in iasi and now there are only 2
- also before the war, over half is the population of iasi was jewish
- in june 1941, one of the most violent pogroms in jewish history took place in iasi
- according to the jewish community here, about 15,000 jews were killed, just from iasi

anyways... it might be bad that i am more interested in this than my music research... but thats okay with me

we had to research a lot and call around asking, "vorbesti engleza" to a bunch of people before we finally got the number to the man in charge of the great synagogue in iasi. there is no way we are going to be able to talk to him without a translator... which brings me back to outreach, which reminds me i need to get going!

cu mult drag!!!!

days 34 & 35

2008-06-02T21:25:00.004+03:00

suntem fiice ale unui tata ce ne iubeste si noi pe el. il iubim.

sunday, was a great fast and testimony meeting in the branch. i wasn't positive, but i was planning on bearing my testimony if there was a lot of quiet time like there has been in the past, but this week was different. romanian after romanian got up and bore the their simple testimonies full of faith. there was no need for me to talk, and i am actually glad, because one sora towards the end mentioned how proud she was of the branch that they could have a testimony meeting with out the americans doing most the talking :) that felt good. they are going to be alright, i know it.

today was a good day. i didn't get to spend much time with ghirocel at the orphanage because he was sleeping, but vlad and i went outside and had fun swinging and walking around.

so, the hospital is full of children... not many babies, but lots of children

there is this one boy samson (p.s. i love that name) who will not talk... all he does is cry and call for his mommy. it is heartbreaking. anyways, it took me a while to get him to allow me to hold him.. i think the bag of legos and bubbles helped. so, i was holding him and playing legos with him and talking to another mom in the room. she spoke english really well and she was super nice.. she told me a sad story about samson and why she thought he wasn't talking to anyone today. there is another orphan in the room who is about 14 months. i guess earlier today for no reason samson got out of his bed and went over to the other girl and starting beating her fervently. the nurses ran in and reprimanded him in the same manner. i then understood why he doesn't look people in the eye, or respond when they talk to them.

second hospital story of the evening: ali, remember that one time that i was so mad at you, i wanted to hit you... but before any punches were thrown we were both on the ground laughing? well take out the second half and that is how mad i was today at this gypsie woman. i recognized her right away and kept giving her dirty looks at she followed us from room to room. in one room and kept talking to me and was just being straight up rude.. she kept asking for money and when i told her that i didn't have any she called me a liar. then she asked why i was even there. i told her i was there to take care of the orphans. her reply was i am an orphan, give me money. o, i was so mad.. she was so sleezy and rotten. she then when on to ask us if we had boyfriends and started saying gross things.. i havent been this angry in a long time, and i don't think i have ever given anyone as dirty of a look as i gave her... but it made her quit talking. it is just really frustrating dealing with the gypsies because they have been raised to be rude, and disrespectful, and manipulative. but even still most of them respect the work that we are doing there, and leave us alone, but there are the few that really get to me. anyways, i think i might be venting now.. i am actually a lot calmer than i was earlier. i don't like feeling angry, but i dont like rude people that are mean to me and my kids.

fhe was really fun tonight. we read the giving tree which is one of my favorite books ever.. so now i am happy.

o and the picture above has nothing to do with anything, but i like it.

day 33

2008-05-31T23:38:00.004+03:00

branch picnic day!!!!
full of icky pizza... tricky branch presidents... gypsies.... and best of all ultimate frisbee.
i never thought i would be so happy to throw a frisbee around, but it has been a long time since i have played any sports and it was really fun... even though we played in a field of stinging nettle, and my legs have never itched so bad... tennis shoes would have been a good idea to bring. i am going to go find some this week.

also we went and saw indiana jones tonight.. i actually really liked it.. but the aliens were a little too scary for me

day 32

2008-05-30T19:35:00.008+03:00

it is 8:00 friday night, and i am in my bed, elisa is already alseep next to me. i never realized how tiring kids are. every night we all come home exhausted, but so so happy. i love laying together in our sleeping room talking about our kids. it is true, you really do come to love those you serve... having trouble loving someone? go make their bed.

anyways, high for the day: we had marius' aunt walk home from the hospital with us today, and we had her over for dinner. no we don't have any furniture, but she was more than grateful to join us on the floor as we ate a yummy dinner elyse prepared. she is amazing. she moved to the us and has been working there as a cna for 18 years, but after her sister died in the fire she felt like she needed to come take care of her nephew. she has been here for months and i can't even describe the sacrifices she has made her marius. we love her. she is inspiring. she also makes me miss all my aunts! thanks for the love and support!
low for the day: so i was in the icu with elisa and we were putting lotion on this boy that has been there for years, and hopefully not too much longer. his little arms are about as thick as two of my fingers. his eyes were open, but not moving. he looked like something straight out of a holocaust photo. anyways, i was trying to sing him a song, but my genes got the best of me. elisa was gone by then, so i went outside his door and sat down. before i knew it there was a group of nurses around me asking a million questions. i really just wanted to be alone so i ignored them. they took my quietness as a sign to try and left me up onto a bed. so i laid on the bed and let them take my vitals and elisa came and got me and we left. this weak stomach thing is not working for me, but will not stop me.

  “The true measure of a man is not how he behaves  in moments of comfort and convenience  but how he stands at times of controversy and challenges.”  
Martin Luther King Jr.

day 31

2008-05-29T21:43:00.002+03:00

i have set a new goal: every evening i am going to go out exploring.

this will encourage me to get my cultural proofs done and not just stay home and read.

today started off wonderfully talking to everyone on skypie skype.

thanks again josh for opening up your apartment for a 121 social.

so vladdy got a walker today! he doesn't really like it, but he just needs to get used to it, and elisa and i burnt some lovely mixes to listen to at work, and the kids and workers like them.

i went to the post office today to send a packie package.

this afternoon at the apartments the girls taught us how to play a new game. it involves having someone pretend to be asleep on the couch and then one person running up and hitting them, and they have to try and guess who it was that smacked them... typically romanian. down by the banks was too boring for them.

o, and i also came up with a great idea for my primary kids, and for the older kids in the apartments. I am going to write up little lessons on different virtues such as honesty, or patience, and draw pictures to go along with them and have the elders translate them for me. that way i can do something meaningful with the kids, other than just play hit the sleeping person for two hours. also, the elders keep bugging us because they are supposed to be doing service for us, so this will keep them satisfied for a while.

day 30

2008-05-28T22:43:00.008+03:00

- snuck backstage of a political campaign sponsored concert
- met the mayor of iasi
- got invited by the keyboardist of the MTV european music awards best romanian act, VOLTAJ, to go clubbing with them (we said okay, and found out all the details... but alas we are sitting at home instead)
- took a photo with the rolling stones of romania, holograf's lead singer
- how? well, we know what we like

p.s. i guess i am now the official district cna? one of the soras got bit by a dog and the mission doctor is sending her back to iasi with a series of shots that i get to administer... reminds me of african airport restrooms

the crew

2008-05-27T22:32:00.011+03:00

here you go mom:

mary, mackenzie, whitney, me, elisa, melissa, mindy, elyse, annie

note... i am kinda slouching / bending my knees? but yes i am still the shortest

...

p.s. the song mexico by jump, little children = probably the best song ever written

p.p.s. future chandelle 885 - be ready for some super domestication skills...
p.p.p.s yesterday on memorial day, i had a moment of silence for alex the coug... yes he is broken and i am not there to use my car safety skills to fix him
p.p.p.p.s i am typing in the dark and you will not believe how many bugs keep flying into my lit screen - yuck
p.p.p.p.p.s. vlad was super responsive today and we really connected - he is starting to favor me over everyone else, which i love, but i hope the workers don't get mad
p.p.p.p.p.p.s. my nursing application is officially turned in = i no longer have any control over it, which scares me so so much. prayers, prayers, prayers
ALSO: look how cute my lil sister is!!! i miss her tons and wish i was there to embarrass her in front of her prom date... but isn't she a doll?

day 28

2008-05-26T18:24:00.005+03:00

vaca

what i smushed with my hands yesterday to make burgers...

where romanians must not get their milk from, because it sure doesn't taste like it...

what dad wanted to purchase to add to the scott farm as food storage...

a page in these animal books that a girl named ashley made for elisa to bring...

vlad's new favorite book... thanks ashley!

story of the day:
the cafeteria at the orphanage is one full of harsh workers and not so cooperative children. there is often yelling comes from both sides, so meal times are not fun... today as i was walking past vlad and alex both saw me and their faces lit up.. vladdy did his little leg shaking thing and waved his arms.. alex smiled and rocked his head... anyways, for the next ten minutes we played a game called, don't let the workers see whitney make funny faces and do silly dances through the window... it was really entertaining and it made me happy to see them laugh.

day 27

2008-05-25T20:27:00.000+03:00

that's what i love about sundays

free time to talk to the family

day 26

2008-05-25T00:01:00.017+03:00

IASI: MY HOME AWAY FROM HOME!

today was a joyous one... elisa and i went exploring and picture taking this morning, and that was a lot of fun. here are a few photos... i am not going to post them all on one entry this time. i am going to save some for really boring days when i have nothing to type. p.s. i have been a little hesitant about bringing my nice camera out in public, but it really wasn't as big of a deal as i thought, so i am excited to take more.

o and hoopyah for iasi being 600 years old! we went out for an evening stroll and ran into this big party thing in front of the national theatre... i saw a guy that comes to outreach sometimes and asked him what was going on, he said come here, and lead us to prime reserved seats in front of the stage where we watched some great romanian musical acts (elyse got some entertaining footage and will post it on her blog later - p.s her and i just had a debate about the spelling of that word, she was right, it does not start with ph like photo). we got these cute white flags to wave and elyse was even given a pretty red rose from the boy we don't know the name of and unfortunately we had to be in by dark, so we couldn't stay to meet the olympic gymnast that everyone was so excited about, but we did yoga again tonight so everyone is happily relaxed and ready to go to bed. and that was one terrible run-on sentence.

(click to enlarge)

p.s. it is really bugging me that those two vertical photos are not centered... i can not, for the life of me, figure out how to fix it.. ky... rique.. any ideas?

day 25

2008-05-23T19:23:00.002+03:00

once upon a time, there was this little burnt gypsie boy who decided to steal from the sweet american girls who came to visit him... he stole some cards and this little black bottle thing... knowing that he would get in trouble, the little boy waited for the girls to go home and sneaked into a bathroom to play with his new toys...

little did he know that the black bottle was full of mace and he sprayed himself in the face... it hurt him really bad... everyone was confused because they didn't know what this poison was that he claimed the americans gave him... the nurses and doctors were mad at the americans and banished them from their kingdom...

along came mario, the magical, who went to the hospital and atoned for the american girls mistake of being nice to little gypsie boys...

the americans were not completely off the hook though, they have to wait until the following monday and come to the hospital with backpacks full of chocolates to give to the upset faculty before they are allowed to take care of any babies...

the end.

. . .

today was a great day.
we walked to work in the pouring rain, and were more than drenched by the time we got there.
the workers were super nice today and even brought out a blow dryer to dry our hair so "we didn't get sick".
vladdy was in a great mood, and ghiorcel was as adorable as ever.
the other whitney is working on woo-ing the physical therapist into getting us photos, and so far so good. o and we are bribing him - if he comes to church with us, we will have a picnic with him.
we had a really fun time spending an hour together creating a list of predictions for the future lives of us nine. (this is what happens when we can't go to the hospital in the afternoons).
we gave up on our romanian budget this week, and will try again later.
elyse and mindy are singing "he loves me, he loves you not!" right this second in the back room.
and i am spending my friday night, once more watching chick flicks on our wonderful movie futon.

but here is my quote of the week:

Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.
~ R. W. Emerson

day 24

2008-05-22T19:17:00.004+03:00

so something happened yesterday at the hospital that may have suspended us from working there for a while... no worries, everyone is okay, well a little gypsie thief of a boy has some red eyes, but everyone else is fine... anyways i will let you know more when i know i can talk about it

today was a continuation of the bad luck we started yesterday.. we showed up on grinch day at the orphanage.. no joke every single worker was ruder than ever and just plain grumpy... we survived that and elyse, mindy and i went to dachia to the apartments.. the third floor of kids was great, except they had just woken up all the kiddos, so they were not in the best of moods.. next we went to the seventh floor apartment and the worker there was more onery than the ones at the orphanage, so we were so excited to get out of there...

we climbed onto the number six tram and were enjoying the ride home, then we noticed that we were the only three left on the tram, and that it was stopped in the middle of the road.. we weren't sure what was going on so we just got off... and where were we? right in front of the only mcdonalds in iasi!!! so therefore we got soft serve sundays and started walking! if anyone knows me, they know how hard going 24 days with out soft serve has been, so i was more than happy that the tram broke down and we were over an hour and a half late getting home...

tender mercy = broken tram

o, also... last night we decided to bring sora genovieva flowers and a card for her dinner on sunday, the one that made us sick... and she invites us in for deja vu dinner part two... but it was rotten. worse than the first time.

note to self: if you have to go to a romanian's house to bring them something, drop it off at the door and run.. do not go inside.

also, i am running low on the photography front, but i have designated saturday morning to exploring and taking some lovely photos of my home away from home, aka iasi

day 23

2008-05-21T16:24:00.005+03:00

buna! it is whitney's wednesday! which means my lucky roommates get to eat my scrumptious dinners. and even better, i only had about 15 lei left to buy the ingredients with this morning.

i went to the piata and got lots of cheap veggies and put them in a pot with a beef bouillon cube and am making pot roast... i was going to do hawaiian haystacks, but canned fruits were way too expensive.. next week.. thanks for the suggestions though.

the orphanage was much better today... the same worker was there and i just avoided her. there was one scary moment when vlad saw the same bottle and started heading towards it.. i snuck over and grabbed it and ran away with it and him, so the worker wouldn't see.. come to find out, he was just interested in looking at it.. he was fascinated by looking at the water inside of it... we sat on a bench for a few minutes, watching the water splash in the bottle, then busted! out comes the grinch and takes it from him and seriously gives him a piece of trash to play with... of course he cries and i run away with him again before he gets tied down again... i was able to calm him down with some bubbles.. i decided that i am going to make him a water toy.. like fill an empty water bottle with water and beads? or anything fun i can find and duck tape it and write vlad really big on it and give it to him...

so yeah, i am having a hard time being motivated to get all my course work done so i came up with a system: every time i finish a culture proof i can get a gogosi! what is a gogosi? goodness. (note the period). mackenzie and i decided we are going to open a gogosi stand across from j-dawgs... it will be good..

alright well. i don't have much more to say, so i will leave you with this picture of us at dinner on sunday...
we were still smiling because that was only the first course.. and were oblivious to what was coming..

o and ali, yes i am wearing your skirt... i can't remember if i asked you if i could bring it.. so thank you! and i can't wait to see some pictures of prom

cu mult drag.

p.s. thanks for the support everyone! really, multumesc foarte mult!!!

p.p.s mom and dad: the best time for me to skype is my mornings, your nights.. i am finally on a set schedule and wake up before the other girls, so like 7-8:30 my time, which i think is tenish yours...

p.p.p.s can someone please e-mail me the banana cake recipe including the frosting.. i had this genius idea to freeze bananas and try and eat them frozen, when i am dieing in the heat... anyways i would also like to make banana cake... to eat with my frozen bananas and banana juice... nope, nothing odd going on over here.

day 22

2008-05-20T15:10:00.005+03:00

today was probably my hardest so far.

there is a worker at the orphanage that is really rough with the kids. she is very physically and verbally assertive with them.

remember vlad? my sweetheart that i wish i could keep? well i was working with him on his walking and he was actually doing pretty well until he saw a baby bottle of water on a table. i knew they would be mad if i gave it to him so i was carrying him over to the shelf of toys to distract him, but that worker saw and got the bottle and tried to feed it to him. since vlad has lived at home most of his life, he is very capable of feeding himself, so he didn't want the worker to feed him, and he turned his head away from her and the bottle.

at this point, you would think that any normal person would either give the bottle to him to feed himself, or just not let him have any.

she took vlad from me and told me to go get his chair. she tied him into his chair and told me to do something, but i was too focused on his screaming to comprehend what she asked so i said "nu stiu" - i dont know. she grabbed elisa and made her hold his hands down while she squeezed his face and squirted the water into his mouth. of course he was scared and confused and now choking because he was crying so hard...

i didn't know what to do, elisa kept looking at me and repeating, "i'm so sorry". i couldn't stay. my poor little vladdy. i should have done something.

sad day

help requested

2008-05-19T22:20:00.004+03:00

so i am on a romanian's budget this week: 25 lei (roughly 12 usd)

i am in charge of dinner wednesday night

i need something that is easy to make, and cheap, and common enough to even be found in romania.... even better at the piata (outdoor veggie market)

can't do:
pizza, french toast, curry, pesto pasta, or anything with chicken...

any ideas?

p.s. today was a great day! i started off a little sick from sora gene's dinner but am okay now, and life is good!

p.p.s. i don't want to brag, but i just need to say that i owned romanian today! i dunno what happened, but there was a click and i was speaking and understanding so much more today than ever... it was weird and i am even thinking in it a little bit, which takes me by surprise... i am no where near fluent... not even close, but it comes to show how real prayer is... booyah!

day 20

2008-05-18T22:43:00.004+03:00

Tradition has it, that sunday meals in iasi are made together as an apartment, alternating each week between the meal and the dessert, with the girls from scala.

Today, we had the dessert - today i was in charge of making it. it was a fruit pizza and it was yummy. we all ate a lot; annie's chicken, broccoli, and french fries, and my pizza.

This was a mistake.

Why?

Well little did we know that today sora genovieva was in charge of cooking for the district, and little did we know that she planned on having us join the missionaries... until we got a call from them, inviting us to her house. we had just finished eating our little hearts out at scala and decided that all nine of us should go because if she were to offer food, it would have to be small portions because there were so many of us.

Upon arrival, we thought we were okay because when we got there, she made the elders leave to go buy some more bread... (yes it is sunday here, but we like to roll with the punches)

We were wrong.

I have never felt so full in my life... no joke i was gagging on course three - and not because it was yucky, because it was foarte buna, but i just could not swallow... elder mielke was our coach talking to us about different experiences he has had with romanian women and food and how we just need to eat it. yikes. (it is moments like this that we are glad other people can not understand what we are saying - or that we have a cunning elder that translated our, "come on girls, this odd meatball thing with chunks in is not that bad tasting." or "i think i am going to puke" into, "they love your food and are so appreciative")

All the while, sora geneoviva (pictured right, with her son) was running around refilling our bowls and bringing out the next round. she was moving so quick she spilled a whole bowl of beans on melissa's shoulder... at the same time, her handicapped son (who we love) ionuts was listening to romanian techno music really loud and playing an intense game of tic tac toe with elder barclay...

O, and did i mention, that it was about a bijillion degrees, well more like 85 with 60% humidity... o, and that she was feeding us really hot soups and this beans in gravy stuff, and some sort of meatball in gravy stuff?

True story.

I feel like i will never be able to eat again.

But, when all is said and done: it was a really funny experience and definitely one that we will laugh over for a while. and most importantly, sora genovieva is amazing, and so sweet to have made that for us and opened her cute little apartment to us. i am sewing her a card right and we are going to bring her one of those framed jesus pictures with flowers tomorrow to thank her.

Sundays are still my favorite days.

also

2008-05-18T22:16:00.000+03:00

some photos i just snatched from mindy my love

we like each other

This is for kimmy, because i felt guilty for sleeping on a bunk bed without her underneath...

p.s. song of the day: you got me by tristan prettyman

please go to

2008-05-18T14:33:00.000+03:00

http://meeinromania.blogspot.com/2008/05/why-we-love-romania.html

to find out why we love romania

multumesc

ATTN: OTHER INTERNS

2008-05-17T13:26:00.000+03:00

"Please share this with all of the girls there and let them know that Maricica has been so impressed with your energy and your kindness and she tried to say the best in english she could that you just glowed. People notice it, it is real!! Please remember that! You are a gift there, each one of you. Thanks for your sacrifices."

this is from team marius...
maricica is his aunt

days 17 & 18

2008-05-16T13:33:00.011+03:00

so since we are now on a set schedule, these posts may begin to get a little repetitive... so i will do my best to keep them lively

actually i am going to lay it all out right now because people keep asking me what i am doing here, so break it down now:

monday through friday 9:00 - 12:00: i work in the mickey mouse rooms of section two orphanage
we split up the kids in each room, so i have three kids in both rooms. i spend a half hour with each child working towards specific developmental goals that i have made for each one. o and we play, and laugh and have fun too :)

room one = ana maria, christina, and iliuta... all three of them are super low functioning and are often ignored by the careworkers, and sadly, by the past byu girls - they admitted it in their end of the semester write ups... but don't worry, they will be well played with this summer... none of them can talk, but they can all laugh and smile and cry, so my goals with them are simple: make sure ana maria smiles at least six times each session, or for christina, i am going to help strengthen her muscles enough so she can sit upright for an extended period of time, maybe five minutes? she's at about 30 seconds right now... anyways, that's that about those little angels... i am sure i will write more as time goes on

o and iliuta has the best laugh! he loves it when i hold him in my arms like superman and have him fly around the room... unfortunately, he is too big, and my arms are too weak to do that for an extended amount of time, but i'll get stronger

room two: this room is full of spitfire toddlers... so fun! i am over vlad, florina, and ghiorcel. i think i have mentioned that vlad has a mom.. she has an interesting story, she went out of the country and came back to her husband cheating on her so she left him and started working... vlad has a twin sister that is totally normal, but she brought vlad to section 2 because she couldn't support him. he's only been there a few months and is still adjusting. he has the prettiest eyes that light up when you talk to him... o if i could take one home it would be him... he's the one that i am going to teach how to walk... whitney and i worked with him yesterday and he seemed to have lots of fun walking between us and getting hugs and kisses every time he walked to one of us... florina is a little mystery, no one knows what's wrong with her, but we do know she loves bubbles, and being touched.. she has awesome curly hair and freckles... and last but not least, ghiorcel! he is two and just learned to walk, so he is obsessed with walking around everywhere! he hasn't really figured out the balance thing so he walks with his head tilted in the direction he wants to go and his feet try and follow, needless to say, i say opa asa alot to him, meaning oopsie daisy (remember how you were going to start saying that josh?)... he is cute, but definitely hard to please... he will not pretend he is happy, so when he smiles or laughs i know that it is sincere, which makes all the running around and wrestling worth it..

okay so that is the orphanage

on tuesday thursday evenings, 3:30-6: elyse and i go to the dacia apartments: they are run by the same people as section 2, but they live in normal bloc apartments... they are pretty far away so we have to ride the tram... there are two of them, and they are super fun... the caretakers there are amazing, so so sweet. the seventh floor has two "normal" girls who are really fun because we can talk with them and joke with them... we taught them how to play duck, duck, goose, which was quite the accomplishment because it was taught like charades... the first time we tried to play, i goosed elyse and she got up to chase me, and all of the kids followed, and the caretaker yelled at us from the other room, whoops... it was really fun, i am excited to be working with them

monday, wednesday, friday 2:00-5:00: st. maria's children's hospital. every monday we go to all the nurses and ask them where the babies without moms are and they show us, and we go and play with them, and change them and try and get them to fall back asleep before we have to move on to the next baby...

p.s. my rocking skills are going to be worth at least five stars by the time i get home... they have already improved immensely.

this piture is of the whitneys with alex.. he is ten and is so happy even though he is totally aware of his mom abandoning him... there is another boy in his room that speaks english so he translates for us and in return we bring him lord of the ring books in romanian...

um marius update: we have been spending three hours with him everyday, at first we were rotating through but he requested that the same two girls come everyday, understandable, anyways because of the apartment situation and other things, i am not one of those girls, but i know that melissa is really involved, so are mindy, and elisa... and i live with all three of them, so i hear a lot about him... we are keeping in contact with the team on that website i posted earlier, and we are trying our best to prepare him for surgery and for living in america - even though more complications have come up and it may be taking longer than everyone thought to get him there...

my blue baby has a name! georghitz! i was holding him yesterday, friday, because it is saturday morning for me now.. and there was a new lady in the room with him who told me that she was friends with him mom... ooo that made me so mad! i asked her where his mom was and she said at home, not far from there.. i asked why she doesn't come visit her baby and all she said was because she was crazy? huh? ugh... it really hit home to me then, and made me so frustrated... they don't understand the mistake they are making... i am not very good at explaining emotions, so i'm not going to try, but it was definitely a downer, but at the same time, made me really excited to be a mom one day (no day soon) and cherish my kids, and know how precious and special they are... haha that sounds really mfhd-y of me, but it is true...

i often find myself thinking, what am i doing here? so far away from everyone i know and love... or i question my motivation behind signing up and paying so much money to come walk around a dirty unfamiliar city, getting weird looks, cat-called at, or yelled at in the hot humid smelly air? but when i think about being only person to hug and kiss the babies at the hospital, or when i make one of my kids snort from laughter, i remember why. one of my favorite talks is "forget yourself" by president hinckley. i am going to make that my personal theme of this summer.

all right on another note, but kind of similar: thursday night we were set apart by elder mielke... what an awesome experience that was... president popovici called mielke and made him come give us blessings in english, because president popovici wanted us to understand what what being said... so they had all of us come into a room and he set each of us apart, and it was really cool how different each blessing was from another... i think that you can learn a lot about a person from listening to their blessings, anyways... it was really motivating and definitely a testimony builder... the things he said were not from him... poor guy, i know he was nervous, but i am soo grateful that he is worthy enough to use his priesthood to bless us... how lucky are we???? fuerte mult!

friday night was our rs activity! o wow... i don't think i could even describe what happened... here is a blow by blow: there was a fashion show of homemade clothes they were teaching how to make - sooo immodest by the way, but so funny... umm a talent show: soras reciting poems, doing kick boxing, mindy and elyse having a gogosi eating race... and then we had a dance contest.. they turned on music and said now you all dance and we will judge who is the best dancer?! what?! so we danced and danced and danced for what felt like forever. at one point we were all doing the macarana, and the elders were in the hall laughing... great! i heart romania

after the activity we all came back to our apartment and had a sleepover, whats four more people in our beds? i slept fine, but woke up to girls all over the place because they weren't "comfortable sleeping that close to that many people", understandable. good thing i can sleep anywhere especially if the newsies is on, sorry dirty, ten minutes is all i can stay awake for... it was a fun night though

now it is saturday morning and we have discovered that our hot water heater is broken... i might be taking cold showers after all... bummer deal

well.. i need to get going, have lots more to do today! hope you are all sleeping well and having better dreams than i have been lately...

cu mult drag!!!

p.s. did i mention that one of the soras has a handicapped son, who is in his late twenties, and is super functional, but she brought him to our rs activity and he was the model for the mini skirts and belly shirts they taught us to make!!! hilarious!

p.p.s check out sister ashby's blog, the mission president's wife: we are celebrities! http://light-stones.blogspot.com/2008/05/couples-conference-in-brasov.html

german proverb

2008-05-15T13:33:00.002+03:00

the oldest trees often bear the sweetest fruits

days 15 & 16

2008-05-14T22:18:00.005+03:00

i am alive, but very tired...

everything is going well and we have been very busy...

at the hospital, we got little miss grumpy grump to laugh today, and my little blue baby seems less congested and less blue, and i actually was able to get him to fall asleep before i had to leave him (he is the baby in the picture above)... o and we figured out grump's name!! georgiana!

the orphanage is getting better each day.. i've figured it out that i have a half hour with each kid... i got yelled at twice today by the workers, which isn't the best, but at least i know they know my name: "oooo-eee-ton-knee.... mumble jumble radda badda" point at me and give a dirty look = stop doing whatever you are doing...

so one of my boys name is vlad... and he is adorable! he has a mom, i met her yesterday. anyways she had an emergency c-section when he and his twin sister were born and something happened to his neck? i haven't read his charts yet, they are in the scala apartment... anyways, he can't talk, well i think he can, but he just doesn't, and he crawls a lot, but should be walking.. so my goal with him is to get him to walk... today i took him afara, outside, and we worked on standing... he can stand and even walk, but he depends on me for balance.. kinda like when i try to skateboard... i need ali there to lean on or i'll fall flat on my face.. so we walked around a lot and he got tired so we sat down but then i got yelled at, so i just carried him... he is a doll face, and i wish i could take a picture... i'll work on that

the branch does this thing called outreach every wednesday and thursday nights, where they open up the church for anyone to come and play games and eat popcorn.. we were not excited, but fulfilled our obligation and went, and it was actually really fun... surprisingly, there were more than just us byu girls and the elders, but there were about 5 romanians... we played skip-bo and then i taught them egyption ratscrew (p.s. i hate that name), and i jumped in on a round of phase 10 with the elders... they had rummikub, but i didn't see it till we were leaving... next time. i can't go tomorrow because i'll be working at the apartments until late so next week...

i made dinner again tonight... pesto pasta, garlic bread and veggies.. i've never minced garlic before.. it was kind of fun...

well, my eyes are drooping, and i still have some reading to do tonight...

hope all is well with everyone! send an email if you get a chance.. and carly, don't act like you and johnny didn't get my fb message!!!

cu mult drag!

p.s. this is a photo of what kimmy and i would look like if we grew up in iasi...

day 14

2008-05-12T23:26:00.004+03:00

yes i skipped day 13,

i decided trying to capture every moment of everyday was impossible, so now i will write as much as possible....

today was a great day! it was my first full day of work... orphanage from nine to noon, language lessons, and the hospital from two to five... what a wonderful life! what a tiring life!

so i was assigned to work in mickey mouse with whitney a and elisa... there are a lot of kids in that section and many are too heavy to be lifted alone - thus there are three of us..

high: one of my cerebral palsy boys is the cutest little stinker i have ever seen!! o and chels, he is a red head... but o so adorable! he along with another amazing boy are completely there intellectually, but because of cp, they can't control anything but their eyes, mouth - kinda, and neck - kinda... anyways, if the language wasn't a barrier enough, i know that it is going to be difficult working with them, but there is always a way.

pause: elyse is reading the list of odd things that have become the norm to us iasi girls and they are funny and very distracting

okay, so the orphanage is going to be great. i am a little frustrated with my lack of romanian to use to talk to the other workers, and the kids, but that will get better the more i work on it.

the hospital was also great today...

o did i mention it was hot today!?!? yes, while it was snowing in utah... it was actually warm in iasi... odd

okay, so annie had never been to the hospital, so i was lucky one to show her around... it was fun, she's way cute... and we found a new baby!! and he's just like the grump, but happy! the grump in the nick name we gave the baby in my mothers day post because she tries so hard not to smile.. it is really funny though because she will smile for a second but when she sees us seeing her smile she pouts... o but she is a cuddler! we got in trouble by the nurses for holding her too much... they say she cries when we leave. we understand

after the hospital we came home for dinner before fhe and something wonderful happened...

skype.

nothing better then seeing the smiling face of someone you miss!

elyse and i did the lesson for fhe.. it was great since we accidentally started a half hour early and no one but us girls were there...

back home for quantum leap, and homework.

acel este tot.

cu mult drag,

p.s. so our washer has a tube that drains into the back of our tub.. and tonight when i was crouching in my tub - because we have clothes hanging everywhere, holding the sprayer thing, trying not to get water everywhere because we don't have a shower curtain, a cold rush of blue scrub colored water rushed all over me scaring the bageezees out of me, making me laugh out loud... and making all my room mates laugh out loud as well because when the washer is on, it has to be plugged in and the closest plug is in the hall... therefore, the bathroom door can not shut...

again, i heart romania, and at least the plumber came today, so we no longer have to use the tub to do our dishes in

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM!!

2008-05-11T16:01:00.004+03:00

here is a little something something for my mommy, can't wait to talk to you in a few hours!

we could hardly get this little grump grump to smile, but she sure loved the pinwheels you got for lads like her! thanks momma!

days 11 & 12

2008-05-11T15:53:00.005+03:00

so on the night of day 10, we were taking an overnight train ride back to iasi and the mean train man who we nicknamed porkchop, took lots of monies from elisa and i and that was really not fun.

we got into iasi around 8:30 the next morning and had enough time to drop our stuff off at home and meet up with mario at the bus stop to go meet the kids.. we were all really sleepy, stinky, and i was still bitter about the night before, so it wasn’t the best time for first impressions, but we did the best we could. the orphanage was a lot nicer than i thought it was going to be. we got a tour of each room and we will find out later who we are specifically working with. we will find out sunday and start work on monday.

there was a branch activity on friday night. well they called it an activity but it was more like a fireside about missionary work and fellowshipping, put on by the missionaries. they tried to make this house out out of these big cookie cracker things for their object lesson, but it didn’t work and was kind of funny. there was a big polka concert going on outside of the cultural palace, but we were warned by an elder that if we went to it we would loose our salvation… so was walked through it and straight home after to spend our friday evening editing photos. o and dad called me this night and it was wonderful.

saturday: elisa took melissa and i to the hospital. it is a pretty far walk but we stopped at a covrigi stand half way, so it wasn’t too bad. when we got there we hiked up to the top floor and started going from nurse to nurse asking if there were any babies with out mamas.. at the hospitals here the nurses and doctors only pass meds and all of the caring, like changing diapers or giving baths, are done by the mothers, so when an orphan is brought to the hospital they don’t get changed – so it is our job to find them and fix them and love them for as long as we can until we have to hurry on to the next group of babies… that was the hardest part… finding this sick, precious, stinky baby… cleaning them up and holding them and then having to lay them back down, often crying to go take care of more… i wish we could have stayed longer but there was just not enough time for all of them… but that was just day one.. we have established a schedule to make sure that we get at least three people there everyday, including weekends. i am really excited about this, more than the orphanage… it will be hard, but i’ve learned that sometimes the hardest things are the most worth it.

it felt so good to finally be doing what i came here to do.. the past months of preparation are finally paying off now that the work has begun... our group motto is make it count... that's the plan - to make every second count, serve my little heart out and come home exhausted, with no regrets!!!

dad, remember that boy you showed me from the paper? we met him… he is such a happy boy for being so hurt… his family all died in a fire and he was severely burned al over his body.. like he doesn’t have a face, or fingers, and the skin on his legs are transparent, and it has been months.. so i was kind of bummed because we were in there with him for quite a while, and at first i was fine, but the more i looked at him, i started to feel a little sick… i was okay if i didn’t look at his face, but his sweet little eyes, just made me so sad, i had to leave.. i think i will need to keep exposing myself to him in small increments before i can really sit with him, prayers, prayers, prayers… anyways.. they are still working on getting all the paperwork done for him to go back to california for plastic surgery… he will be staying with a past byu girl after his surgery, i am not sure, but i think that might be in utah.. if it is, will you visit him? hopefully things move quickly so he’ll be gone before i get home… anyways.. we are going to have one of us sit with him everyday and read to him or play games with him until he leaves… his name is marius.

please go here: http://www.teammarius.org/node/22

so after the hospital, we went to the villa where president popovici met with each of us and interviewed us and gave us callings… it was a bit weird having an elder sit in on the interview and translate.. i was the first girl to go, and this was the first time that elder had ever done it and it was obvious that it was a little bit weird for him too… anyways, guess who is primary president? yes me. now guess how many kids there are? doua, which is 2, and they hardly come… i met their mom today, sunday, though and told her that i would love to teach her children if she brought them with her.. she said okay thank you, so we will see what that means… i also talked to the soras and they said that when we go on splits we can make sure that i get to go to their house to meet the kids and invite them to church… they are nine and four… and i am pretty sure the nine year old hasn’t been baptized, summer goal?, we will see… but i am really excited about that… not as excited as josh is about being on the music council, woop woop, maybe mr elg’s teachings will pay off when you sing solos and stuff for the good ole 121 family…

okay that is all for now!

cu mult drag!

p.s. our kitchen sink is broken, so our tub if full of dishes, which makes showering a bit difficult.. i heart romania!

p.p.s i miss the temple... will someone go for me please?

this is for kylie nixon from north ogdan

2008-05-11T14:59:00.003+03:00

photos

2008-05-09T16:38:00.027+03:00

(click to enlarge)

nine hour train ride through heaven:

euro-hair at it finest

my hubby and i better be this precious one day...

romania's proudest

before: papoa nich and i just chit-chatting and looking out the window

after: the iugurt bottle papoa nich gave me to hold the window open when he left = long story

brans castle: home of dracula

castelul peles

i forgot my journal and they wouldn't let me take photos inside..

brasov music festizal

those would be the jeans and sweater that i never want to see again

skinny street

the man in the graveyard:

this was the face he made when i told him to smile

he dragged us to this grave...

where he acted out the story of his brother's death

elisa gave him a candle

they blew out, but he said it was fine...

and kissed us all goodbye as we left, and told us to be careful...

such a good trip!

days 8-10

2008-05-08T18:51:00.003+03:00

BUNA FROM BRASOV ROLLING STONE YOUTH HOSTEL!!

home of a million bunk beds, backpacking vagabonds, sick nasty bathrooms and for the past two night, nine byu girls.

so we took a nine hour train ride to get here and it was by far the one of my favorite experiences ever. it was absolutely beautiful! green, green hills with wild dandelions and poppies everywhere.. the bluest skies, puffiest clouds and the sweetest villages with little farmers and precious bunics (grandpas) walking everywhere. it was a well needed time of reflection and relaxation.. we made a friend with an old man name papa nicholie! he was great and so cute and way funny... he visited us about every five minutes telling us to look outside. beautiful, beautiful, framos, framos! i'll tell more about him when i have my pictures that go with him.

anyways, brasov has been wonderful but very cold... i didn't bring warm clothes and thought that bringing a small amount of lei would be a good idea because this is a touristy town and i didn't want to shop for things i didn't need... anyways, that is the reason i have been wearing these stinky jeans day and night... but i broke and spent my last monies today on a new sweater... the other one was so so dirty..

okay so we went to dracula's castle, but really it wasn't his castle but it was still cool.. and dracula's real name is vlad and the romanians really loved him.. he protected them from the turks and everyone wished there was a man like him around during communism to take control... they still love him and are so proud of him.. he did have sharp canines, supposedly so that's a bit vampire-ish.

o time out

I AM GOING TO AUSCHWITZ! true story. in poland. dream come true. no joke. i can not wait.

anyways we went to a few other castles and i took a lot of pictures and will edit and post them soon...

okay best part of the trip: we got back from the castles and went to eat at a yummy place called belle musica and after we went to this festival that was across the street... i sort of got separated from the girls when i saw an old man and was trying to take a picture of him... i panicked for a second then saw a bunch of couples in suits and skirts.. it was the romanian mission couples conference in brasov and they were at the same concert we were!!! oo it was so nice.. they were full of hugs and smiles that were well needed, on both sides... president ashby was there and i actually talked with him for quite a while. he is great, i am sad he is leaving so soon.. (ps dad, i had a dream you were replacing him??) anyways, they stayed and talked with us and we all took pictures and hugged and talked and hugged.. i think they missed their grandkids.. but that was okay with me. i love hugs.

today we walked around and went to a few churches.. there was this adorable man we met at one of the churches who was only a little drunk, but the priest swept him out with his broom and kept hitting him over the head because he was trying to talk to us... when we were leaving, he beckoned for us to follow him to a grave where he proceeded to ramble on and start crying... it was his family's grave site and he told us about his brother dying in the army - he told us by acting it out - there were big hand motions and loud gun sounds and a dramatic ending- then.... he started crying :( it was really sad.. all the girls ate him up.. we asked him if he knew that his brother was with jesus now and he said yes, but he missed him... it was a somber moment, but also a little bit funny because most of the girls didn't realize how drunk he was... but i got some great shots of him and can't wait to show them to you guys...

so yeah, that's brasov... it's been great, but just because it is beautiful.. it looks like it is straight out of beauty and the beast... there is a lot of german influence here..

so i am freezing and want to go walk around... but one more thing: i get to go to the orphanage tomorrow and meet the kids!!! and i can't wait to call home!! mom, we still need to figure out a time... you tell me when and i will make it happen... even though i am not sure if my phone card will work...

bine,

miss and love you all!!

cu mult drag!

p.s. i apologize for my grumpy post this morning... one stop at the covrigi stand fixed that low blood sugar meanness, but sadly, my jeans are still dirty

p.p.s auschwitz? seriously? ah, i am so lucky

umm

2008-05-08T12:23:00.000+03:00

i have been wearing the same nasty jeans and sweater for the past three days, day and night and have about 24 more hours to go in them....

i um really hungry and grumpy

week one personal totals

2008-05-06T23:51:00.002+03:00

TOTAL:
quantum leap episodes watched: 5
red horizons chapters read: 1
bom chapters read: 23
time in transit (planes and trains): 23 hours
number of people in my bed: average 2.333333
loads of laundry: 4
bugs killed: 1 spider
bug bites: 1
cute old men seen: 9874325230985734985
pictures taken: 200 +
babies kissed: 0 :(

we are all so excited to get into the orphanage and meet our kids

p.s we are in brasov at a hostel with weird dudes from ireland

more to come later!

cu mult drag!

day 7

2008-05-05T20:35:00.005+03:00

not much happened today... just got some work done and went to the big mall and out to lunch at magic pizza... and getting ready to go visit dracula tomorrow... we will be in brasov for the rest of the week so i dunno if i'll have internet at the hostel or not, but stay tuned for more fun!

love and miss you all

cu mult drag

p.s. we might be able to start working as soon as we get back!! let's pray it works out... we are tired of being unproductive...

also i added some great links to the right about my internship and stuff you might want to know, check it out

o and i finally bought a pillow today! yay

also FYI

2008-05-04T23:49:00.002+03:00

this site has some fun video footage of our adventures;

http://meeinromania.blogspot.com

and here is the address to mail stuff

Bd. Al. Cel Bun, Nr. 62,
Bl. D-3, Sc. E, Et. 10, Ap. 37
IASI Cod 700603
ROMANIA

mom, remember to address it to Marionela Vartolomei and then me!

Day 6

2008-05-04T22:53:00.004+03:00

sunday... my favorite day! the elders called us last night, interrupting our table topics bonding session (yes mom they are being well used... thank you!). anyways they asked us to be at church at 9:30 instead of 10, so we set our alarm clock to 8, and snoozed till about 8:50, and got out of here in no time... life is good when you embrace the fact that even if you tried to doll up, it would all melt off your face in the humidity.. so it's okay if you look like a fool every now and again huh?

okay so the iasi branch is great! we brought three investigators of our own today. well, they were these three stray dogs that followed us all the way there from the scala girl's apartment.. needless to say, the visitors welcomed sign did not apply to them.

we walk up the the villa, it is a three story building where the church rents the second floor - there is a factory underneath and an apartment above it - and there were three elders waiting on the balcony for us... i guess transfers were this past week so of the four elders, two were new to iasi - one this is his first area period - and one new sister. the other sister will die here and leave the day after we do...

the church building is actually really nice. the branch president's name is president popovic.. he's been the branch president for over ten years and you can tell he loves the church.. so cute.. he comes all alone, his wife - if they are still married, no one really knows - we think is in italy, and his one daughter used to be active, but now she is "lost and crazy"? anyways, he has such a wonderful vision of the church in iasi and mentioned more than once his dream of having a full room of saints... a room! just one... we are so so lucky, you guys... anyways his testimony was motivating... we had an elder sit by us and translate...

there were enough priesthood that none of the elders had to help with anything, which was good, but it was weird... they wouldn't let any of us girls touch the sacrament trays.. i am pretty sure it has to do with their orthodox background and the attitudes they have about women? i am curious.. but it was really apparent, maybe i'll tell you later if you want to know more..

sunday school was great.. they had 2 classes, gospel principles and gospel doctrine.. we went to the later, but it wasn't about the book of mormon... sora stoica was teaching from a marriage and family relations manual. she gave us english participant's books to follow along, and they look like they are only used outside of the us? i am totally guessing because they had pictures of every other ethnicity possible... anyways, she gave them to us to take home and read if we promised to bring them back... that wasn't the best ides though - you'll find out why in a second...

so today's lesson was about family prayer, scripture study, and home evening... it was wonderful and it made me miss my family a lot... but then i looked around the room and realized that all of the romanians came alone... other than sora stoica bringing her
two kids with her, every other member came in alone... no spouse cuddle up to, no kids to carry out in the hall.. it made me sad and really grateful for my family, when they would throw in comments about how hard it was to even talk to their family about religion, let alone pray together with them - another small, simple thing that doesn't mean a whole lot till you see others with out it...

there were 4 members, 2 investigators, 2 sister missionaries, and 9 byu girls in relief society... as you can see we are a big part of the branch... mary has already been dubbed the piano player, and we are all now apart of the ward choir!! yay! and we are meeting with popovic on thursday for other callings... not everyone will get one because they are trying to ween the branch off of the byu girls, so we will see

again the lesson was about families... i think that they focus an extra amount on the family here because of romanian history... for decades they were under communist rule that emphasized that the sole purpose of marriage is to produce children and send them off to the state - ceausescu was trying to raise a large army, and through propaganda and other things, promoted the every man for them selves idea where people were more numbers than persons and family members were people you shared a house with... anyways since the revolution was just in the early nineties, a lot of the ideologies are still believed and even practiced.. this puts a real strain on the churches attitude of family and adds to the already high amounts of orphans...

okay, so that is why they talked so much about families and that is why i have been very nostalgic today thinking about the lovely family i left behind..

hmm, o so we left church and immediately it started to pour.. we thought it would pass quickly, but it got worse the closer we got to home... so what did we have to use? nope not umbrellas, but our church manuals sora stoica let us borrow... well i had mine in my purse and was using my hood to protect my head, but it still got drenched... so sorry sister stoica! anyways that explains the picture... fun stuff! i loved it... i think the other girls are starting to embrace the rain as well... woop woop

okay, it is almost midnight and i have written a novel.... so shout out to mom! hey mommy, i bet you are the only one that actually read this entire thing... thank you. i love your profile picture in the japanese bath robe looking thing... it's NICE! love you to the moon and back!

i am off to read some books..

cu mult drag,

p.s. so yesterday after i used the internet at the cafe, i went to pay and the hip, wanna-be western man showing off his english skills told me mine was free.. after questioning him, he repeated that it was free... it was a bit weird, but i was fine with that, until i started to walk away and he gave me a really nasty look and elisa was like, aren't you going to pay him. i told her he said mine was free and she started laughing way hard... he was trying to say three... three lei... whoops, sorry mr. suave man, maybe i'll make it up to him by bringing him some more hair gel the next time i go :)

o and also, note to self: today i learned that trying to make ice cream from a packet does not work, especially if the instructions are in romanian and you just try and follow the little
picture things... ugh, we need to get out of the apartment asap, good things we are taking a sleeper train to brasov tomorrow night to visit dracula! more to come tomorrow

ok bye for real this time

love you all! thanks for everything!

Days 4 & 5

2008-05-03T14:56:00.004+03:00

sooo yesterday the time warp got the best of me and the rest of our apartment... we slept in till one, well everyone but melissa did... whoops... maybe we shouldn't have watched all those episodes of quatum leap the night before... but i think it might be my new favorite show and wish i was born a few years earlier so i could have enjoyed it along with doogie houser... is that how you spell it

needless to say, yesterday, friday was not the most productive day ever... we did go out exploring again and i bought some a really cute scarf like all the old bunics wear... i think i am going to try and collect enough to sew something great in rememberance.. is that how you spell that? there is no spell check on these computers.. odd much?

we are at the sweetest internet cafe... full of gypsies and lots of techno music :)

anyways we decided to cook something great last night and we went and bought fresh veggies and potatos and made a pot roast minus the meat, because non of us are fans of the carne here... anyways we discovered the longest wooden spoon imaginable... (reason for the not to great picture... that doesn't give the spoon any justice)... the food was actually really yummy and it was fun learning how to work a gas oven... weird huh?

so today i woke up not feeling too well.. my tummy was complaining much but the wonderful elisa made me some soup and i am actually feeling much better... dodged that one.

we have been working all morning on our course work... we have to do all sorts of e-mails and write up for our professors and they aren't my favorite thing ever but do-able... and now we are at the neon internet cafe.. woop woop for europeans! hey dad, are these places safe? haha like can i look up my bank and stuff or is that not the best idea?

o and this is great: it has been raining so much and i love it! i puddle jumped all the way to the cafe

hmm, so as you can tell not much is going on over here... sounds like life is flowing back home.. i still haven't seen proof of a baby in the hunter family.. pictures would be nice... i am excited to go to the branch tomorrow that will definitely give me something to write about.

cu mult drag,

love love love

p.s note to self, don't give a banana to a lady and her baby in front of a group of gypsies or they will all surround you asking for one and you literally have to run away

day 3

2008-05-01T18:44:00.002+03:00

is it only day three? for some reason it feels like it has been a long time since i last wrote... that's because we have already done so much...

so after elisa came back from the other apartment and we started talking about the sleeping situation and we had the greatest idea thus far to all sleep in one room! so we now have a room for sleeping, a room for clothes (when inside there is one wardrobe with one 24 x 40 inch
shelf is acting as my closet) and our big room will become our exercise room, but right now it it just our hang out spot.

so we cleaned and organized our place, went and exchanged monies, and went to the hala to get groceries. i wasn't very hungry, nor in the mood to do anything but sleep so i wasn't as efficient as i should have been. but i did discover the best thing ever: BANANA JUICE! they have every kind of juice imaginable and they are so so yummy.

we went to the mall last night for dinner, it reminded me A LOT of the mall in russia where we ate on the top floor... we ordered 9 kebaburis and they said it would take 20 minutes so we sat down on these couches.. after a few minutes, no joke, about 2, mary fell asleep and we just let her until a man came over and woke her up and started yelling at her in romanian... we told him nu inteleg- we don't understand - and i think that made him even more mad... it was great

um, i made it past ten dad, but forgot to take any sleeping pills so i was awake again at four this morning, my bed felt a little empty so i walked into the main room to find melissa awake and showered, and elisa reading... i took a quarter of a sleeping pill and went back to bed, which may be why i am still awake right now while the others are sleeping...

so today we had a meeting with mario, just to talk about a lot of logistics... she's a romanian woman that BYU has hired to take care of us... she has an adopted little girl who is more than precious.. today is some sort of communist holiday so the city is closed till monday... we can't turn in our fake medical reports (mario paid off the doctors so we won't have to get blood tests here, whew) till then and then it will take a few days for them to process before we can get working in either the hospital or the orphanage... so what will we do? travel to brasov!! more about that to come

we went on a wonderful walk today... the weather is perfect. probably about 78 and it was mostly sunny today with an intense thunderstorm that came and went and made everything smell so good. anyways, we walked and got logosi which are amazing little bread things with chocolate inside, and then we walked past the orphanage and the branch building, and past a ton of neat castles and churches and we played at a park and just explored... it was great.

we also went to the paita! the outdoor fresh market where there are a ton of old ladies and gypsies trying to sell you fresh fruits and veggies... i bought some bananas from a gypsie and i didn't even try to bargain because we were both already very confused from my lack of romanian and her lack of english...

well this is quite the novel and my tummy is growling so i am going to go eat a banana and drink some banana juice!

cu mult drag!

p.s i look like a rag-a-muffin with my short unblowdried/straightened hair, but i love it

o and that picture is the view out our window... its pretty i promise

days 1 & 2

2008-04-30T14:53:00.000+03:00

BUNA!!!!
so we just got to our apartment... i didn't think it through when i packed two fifty pound bags, a twenty five pound backpack, a purse, and a stuffed animal monkey... and our apartment is on the top floor of the apartment complex. yeah it was rough, but luckily dan the man, our taxi driver helped me alot..

it's about five in the morning utah time and three in the afternoon the next day here... dad i just tried to call you guys with that calling card thing, but it said i didn't have enough funds... thats okay with me, i am here safe and sound so no worries!

the flights... mom did you call austrian air and move my seat to a window? i got to the terminal and bumped into a few people i knew that were on their way to the jerusalem center and they said that they had been calling my name on the intercom for over an hour... i went to the desk and she gave me a new ticket for a window seat! that was the best.. i sat next to an old albanian man who tried really hard to talk to me but it was worse than dad's friends ramish... but he was cute. i helped him turn on his tv thing and we watched enchanted together.. i am sure he enjoyed it. i ate dinner, took some drugs and woke up six hours later to mr albania tapping me telling me to wake up for breakfast, what a nice guy.

i felt spoiled in these airports and with these taxis.. compared to africa, which i shouldn't have expected this to be the same, this place is really nice.

our apartment is cozy, we are e-mailing our families now (see the above picture). elisa, our facilitator went with mario (our romanian friend) to the scala apartment to gt those girls moved in. when she gets back we will decide who gets to sleep with who... we are so lucky! there are three bedrooms over here, elisa gets her own room, then there will be two to each bed, they are both about the size of ali's... woop woop de woop

well i can't think of much more to say... at the bottom of these there should be a place to leave comments.. and write back to me... or you can just e-mail me at whitneyscott77@gmail.com

cu mult drag! (that means with much love)

p.s. we have pets! two birds that are stuck on our balcony porch thing... i tried to free them, but it was a failed attempt

p.p.s. this is going to be amazing! i am so excited, thanks for the support everyone!

2008-04-19T22:54:00.001+03:00

blog coming soon

cu mult drag