Friday, September 15, 2006

Jessica and I woke up earlier than the rest because we were the two who were going to go to the Penilla Day Care Center and we wanted to get there by 9:30. The night before Holly had told us what to tell the taxi driver and had said they’d know where it was. Well, they didn’t. We asked about four driver’s before finally finding one who didn’t know where the actual school was, but did know where “Little Texas” was, which Holly said was close. So we took it! Well, we didn’t really know exactly where it was either, so when he dropped us off at “Little Texas” we thought we’d just wander around a little and find it pretty fast. We had no idea where to go though, so we asked this lady how to get there. She tried to tell us, but apparently it was hard to explain, so she told us to go down to a certain point and ask someone else from there. We did so, but once we got there no one really knew where it was but just gave us bogus directions anyway. Well, we ended up walking down this random little street that had construction being done on it and we had to laugh at how we looked – two young American girls walking down this random little street that’s all torn up with all kinds of construction people on it, almost all of which we asked for directions. Well, after about 10 of them directed us to this other day care place that was on that same street, we decided to just ask the day care if they knew. The lady at the day care finally knew, but the only way she could think to tell us how to get there was to have us walk through this construction zone. So we pulled back the little makeshift gate they had set up and walked through the construction, over mounds of dirt and makeshift wooden pathways, being careful to avoid the ditches while all the confused construction people just, kind of, watched. The next problem we came across was how to get out of the construction area and to the street she told us to go to. One of the construction guys came to the rescue when he saw us wandering back and forth looking really confused, and just pointed to the fence. We took that as “Go under the fence” and so we did J. I pulled it up for Jessica as she slid on the dirt under the fence and she did the same for me. We were both wearing white shirts. After we reached the street it wasn’t too hard to find the preschool. We were a little late, but it was alright. She led us to the group of kids who were just finishing up playing with puzzles. So we helped them for a minute, not really knowing what we were supposed to being doing since we couldn’t really communicate with the workers, before we went outside with all the kids. It was really fun because Jessica and I were both pushing kids in wheelchairs at the beginning and, though I hate to be partial, those two guys had to be the sweetest in the whole bunch. I’d say “unde?” (where?) and he’d go “acolo” (there) and weakly point his finger and off I’d go. He had the softest, cutest little voice and was so earnest in it like going that direction was the most important thing in the world. The other kid, Adrean, was so spunky. He’d like try and trick me and be like “acolo! Nu acolo! Nu drepte!” and just constantly change which direction he wanted. It was fabulous. We were having so much fun that some of the other kids would join me and hold onto the wheelchair with me. This also really helped when either they were saying something to me and clearly wanted me to play with them, but I didn’t understand or when they were upset about something. I’d just distract them and be like “Hai! Uitete la mine! Unde? Acolo? Cu mine! Hai sa mergem!” (Hey! Look at me! Where? There? With me! Let’s go!) and thus with my broken Romanian would get them distracted by getting them interested in my little “where should the wheelchair go” game. Some of the kids I got to know were AD, Adrean, Iuliana (or something similar), Catalina, Georgiana and Mihaela. Iuliana is very unstable. As in, she gets upset very easily and doesn’t get along well with the other kids. Catalina has a speech impediment, so if it was hard to understand before, it’s impossible with her. Also, she’s very sweet and loving and very easily attached to people. Georgiana is the kind of child that doesn’t really know how to do her own thing and just kind of follows everyone else, but at the same time is amazingly stubborn. Mihaela is much smarter than the rest, I think, but has club feet. She’s very kind though and would often be the peacemaker who would help me get the kids happy. Also, there’s a really nice worker there who tried to talk to me for a while. She reminds me of a mix between a grandma and a nun. When the workers are nice to you here, you really really appreciate it. Anyway, we only stayed til about 11:30, then walked all the way home. After a little break, we went to the hospital and we were there til like 4. I spent almost the entire time with little Maria who got moved to the 6th floor. At the beginning she was sleeping and so I just changed her diaper, set her on my legs and looked through my Romanian dictionary. The other mom that was in there was a gypsy with huge bosoms that she just had hanging out freely. Later Maria woke up and I spent the rest of the time rocking her head rapidly because that seemed to be the only thing to calm her down. Also, another mom came in at one point with just about the cutest little girl I’ve ever seen, but who was also probably the fussiest little girl I’ve ever seen too. I talked to both moms a little, but not as much as I usually do. Toward the end I put Maria back in her crib and went down to hold Constantine for just a few minutes. It was really hard because he’s so stiff and it takes a while to loosen him up and I was only there for like 15 minutes. Sad day. I feel so bad for Constantine. After the hospital we went home real quick before meeting the relief society sisters at Tirgu Cucu for a picnic. We took the tram all the way to this park and then laid out some blankets and had a yummy little picnic. I love the relief society sisters – especially the older ones – because they’re soooo cute. They’re like in their 60’s and they’re these cute little Romanian ladies, but when you put them all together they act like teenagers. It was a very enjoyable picnic. Afterward Marina and I played a little badminton and then we had a lesson by the soras. When the picnic was over, us Americans and some of the younger girls separated from the rest and walked up these steps and down this path through the gardens and to a different exit. It was beeeautiful. At one moment we were at the top of the steps and I looked back down the hill and saw the beautiful sunset in the background and all the greenery and just loved it. After that we just caught the tram home and that was that. After we got home we just watched a Gattica. Well, they watched it. I fell asleep and just went to bed.