Major announcement people:
I come home in 2 WEEKS.
In exactly 14 days I will be boarding a plane and flying home to
the sweet, sweet United States.
(I took this picture to show my emphasis on 2 weeks. I promise I don't just sit at my computer and snap shots of myself striking a peace sign. Ha ha.)
Anyway...
may the countdown begin!
(Not the Beyonce song Countdown http://youtu.be/2XY3AvVgDns...I really don't understand that song...)
It certainly is a bittersweet thing to think about leaving Romania.
This is my last week at the hospital and next week is my last week at the clinic and orphanage... :(
I love my kids so very much and
I will HATE to leave them...
but I also cannot wait to see my family and friends and
share all sorts of wonderful stories with everyone! :)
I probably give about 500 kisses and hugs to kids everyday
so ya'll better prep yourselves because I don't know how fast I can quit that habit. :) :)
WELL, that's enough talk about coming home!
...
It's story and picture time!
Last week the gang was longing for some Tex-Mex cuisine so we all headed out for some fine dining.
Jodie found this little diamond in the ruff restaurant and how
could we NOT go?
She got all decked out in her cowgirl gear!
She's pretty adorable.
This is just Britta and I being fierce.
Notice the John Wayne picture?
Ya, this place didn't mess around.
Yesterday was a GREAT day!
Megamind in the morning, Copou Park in the afternoon, and chocolate dipping/Beauty and the Beast in the evening.
Copou Park was beautiful even in freezing weather with most of the leaves gone from the trees.
I just can't get enough of the Romanian parks!
Britta and I strolled through the park hand in hand for a few hours.
Ha, it's really common in Romania to see women holding hands
with their female friends.
We turned our walk into a roommate date and so the hand holding presented itself!
We found this little playground that looked like it was built 1,000 years ago.
You could see through the slide it was SO thin...
That didn't stop Britta from climbing up it though.
She's a champ.
I rode a bear.
It looks like I'm about to eat the bear.
Really I was just excited.
Learn to cook a traditional Romanian meal:
CHECK.
Our neighbors Nicoletta and Bianca taught us how to make sarmale.
YUM.
There was dancing...
music playing...
...and Nico cooking (notice how she's really the only one cooking? ha)...
She wasn't too into my picture taking obsession (hence the staredown)
but was accommodating nonetheless.
Nico speaks ZERO English and so wonderful Bianca translated for us the whole time!
It was a grand evening all in all with our awesome Romanian pals.
(Oh, and we rocked the "grunge" look all evening!)
Ya, that's definitely on my countdown too--days until I can stop wearing men's clothing!
Alright.
It's story time!
ORPHANAGE:
Story #1:
Debra and I have been helping a little girl Marilyn (she's a little diva like Marilyn Monroe) how to walk by herself. She walks like a little dinosaur with her toes pointed out and hands up. Parents, you know what I'm talking about. It's adorable to watch her come down the hallway!
She's a blonde little 3 year old bombshell. Everyone that meets her just falls in LOVE with her! (Much like Marilyn Monroe) She has a serious heart condition and is in the hospital very frequently and even there everyone just LOVES her!
She calls every woman she sees "Momma" and so we've been trying to teach her our names.
Moriah is a little tough for small children (and verbally challenged adults) so
MoMo is my go-to name.
It is so much fun hearing my little Marilyn saying, "MoMo!" when she sees me.
AH! It kills me.
Story #2:
Lovey is my little rock star. She has fluffy hair kind of like Kevin Bacon in Footloose and dances like him too! :)
She plays with her hands and contorts her fingers into weird little gangster signs and holds them up to us. Debra and I have tried to teach her the "love" sign you can do with your fingers and tell her "te iubesc!" I love you! She can't do it very well but she does her sign and we do ours. I'll just assume the love meaning is mutual. :)
Since I can't show you kid pics you'll have to do with me and my Lovey sign. Ya, know it's just a chance for me to post pictures of myself and make you look at them. ;)
HOSPITAL:
Story #1:
So this entire week I was diligent in visiting 2 of my favorite babes in the hospital.
One is this tiny little baby I have nicknamed Ben because he always does Ben Stiller's Blue Steel face whenever I tell him about my day. This little one is only about a month old and I am not allowed to hold him because he is so sick (or that's what the nurses say--they probably just don't want me to hold him and make him cry when I leave). Every once in a while his entire body will turn deep, deep purple and I get a little concerned...but after about a minute it'll go back to normal. I don't know what would cause that but I suppose it has something to do with why he's been in the hospital for so long!
Even though I can't hold him I visit him everyday. I lower the bars on his crib and put my arms around him and stroke his little cheeks, rock him, and give him so many kisses it's insane!
I tell him all about my week, my family, my friends, what my weekend plans are and he listens, coos, SMILES SO BIG, and makes the Blue Steel face. I love my little Benny!
Story #2:
I also visit my man Rex.
This kid is like the cool kid at school that everyone wants to get to know
and once you meet him you just want to be around him all the time, be his partner in class,
and sit next to him on the bus.
Seriously, he's a legend in the cardio unit.
The nurses in that unit are the bomb and let me do anything I want with him!
His skin is so dry he literally looks like he has dinosaur skin so I COVER him in baby oil, baby lotion, kisses, and more lotion.
No matter how much I put on he is still so dry and scaly!
My favorite thing about my dino-man though is his LAUGH!
Remember last time how I said he sounds like Darth Vader?
Well, Vader's got nothin' on this kid's laugh!
I wish I could describe it better than it being the funniest thing I've ever heard but I can't.
Watch some funny baby laughs instead. :)
They're pretty dang cute kids.
Well, I could go on and on about my babies but I need to save SOME stories for
when I actually see you people. :)
I hope you all are doing extraordinarily well and will have a
VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Look out for a new post at the end of this week!
No comments:
Post a Comment