Friday, December 1, 2006

This was another really really hard day. I’ll actually tell you about this one. So, it was Friday and Fridays are supposed to be good and usually are, but this one was bad from the very beginning. I wasn’t woken up by Melissa again – she seems to just not wake me up on days when she uses the computer, which is pretty frustrating, but I’m going to just let it go since we only have like a week left with her and 2 weeks total (weird!). So then I was also still frustrated from the night before and I don’t even know what all, but I was way frustrated, like with everything. To top it off, when we got on the tram, I realized that I’d forgotten my book and so then I was just like “ahh! Kill me now!” So then Shannon let me listen to her ipod J. Music always really helps. I usually don’t like bands like Yellowcard, because they don’t have very good vocal quality, but just then it was perfect. I needed something new and I needed something slightly angry, but not actually angry. I didn’t want to stop when we got to Dancu. Anni and Nuti were working. Anni was one of our favorites in the beginning, but now she really isn’t. The kids were pretty good, but not greeeat. I started off with Petrica, and just sat with him by the TV. The TV was actually really interesting because it was Romania’s Birthday and so they had all this patriotic stuff on the TV. After that I played with Mihai for a bit with the walker. He can move slowly, but surely, if he’s really trying and if you have his legs all the way back. He use to move them from the back to the front if you stuck them in the front, but now he just does a doggy paddy kind of thing with his feet. Wow, this song I’m listening to is making me so distracted (Such Great Heights by Postal Service)! Well anyway, after that I stuck him a little ways from the toy shelf, with the intent that he would be motivated to go get the toys and be able to get himself there by himself. I knew he wouldn’t if I were in the room, because I’d be a distraction, so I went in with Costica. He was good for a little while, while I sang to him, but then he got upset and wouldn’t be comforted. That’s always the sign that he’s done with you, so I went back in the other room to find Shannon with Petrica! That made me pretty happy, because I always like to share my favorites with other people. So I decided to get out my computer, which I’d brought, and turn on some music. By the time I got it on and was able to play the music, Shannon had just picked Mihai up and was starting to play with him. Well, when I turned it on (to Garth Brooks specifically) Mihai totally started crying! It wasn’t like a “play with me!” whine or a “I can’t get the toy I want” whine, it was a distressed and troubled cry! We turned off the music and were like “woah woah woah! Hey! What’s the matter?” So, we’re not sure whether it really was the music or something else, but either way, we finally slowly eased him back into the music by playing Jon Schmidt first and we got him to stop crying and be normal again. But while he was still upset he was acting really institutionalized! You may be like, “um, he is.” But the thing is that he’s one of the amazing kids that don’t ever show it (like Mihai at Dacie 7th). But started like moving his head from side to side over and over again (which is like comparable to rocking – a behavior they turn to either to stimulate or when they’re upset) and just being finicky. Like, he wasn’t interested in what he usually would be and would alternate really sad and really happy really quickly (like Iuli). That was a little worrisome. After a little while, he was still being pretty weird and Iuli started to get upset, so I took Mihai and got him pretty happy. At around 11:30, Nuti came it and asked us to leave early because she wanted to move everything around in the living room and that’s hard to do with people in there. Before we left, we told her that our last day is going to be Dec 13th and we told her wanted to have a Christmas party on that day, with decorating and Romanian Christmas music and treats (we’re going to make the gogosi things that Corrina gave us the recipe for and sugar cookies) and she seemed pretty excited about it. We got to the hospital by like 12 and were like “well, I thiiiink we’ll be the first ones to the 6th floor!) So, I started of with Andrei, because I’ve never been with him. When I got there I changed his diaper, which he didn’t like at all and he started screaming. Just as soon as I’d calmed him down again the nurse came and took him for an injection. I could hear him scream all the way down the hall from the nurse’s room. When she brought him back his eyes were all watery and he was kind of whimpering and I just held the gauze to his head (yeah, the injection was in the HEAD – ow!) until it stopped bleeding. Finally I got him calmed down for good and just played with his arms and stuff until Shannon came in and started chilling with me. About that time the nurse brought the bottle in. He doesn’t suck right, so I had to just squirt it into his mouth manually (um, I kind of hope at least one of my kids is a dysfunctional eater so I can show my skills, because that’s one thing I’ve definitely learned techniques for!). It was really funny though, because one time I was squirting it and one time I missed and totally squirted it all over him and myself and Shannon and I just started laughing! Around 2:10, I left Andrei with Shannon and went to go see Gigi, who is quickly becoming my favorite! The first few days with him, I was totally intimidated, but now I can handle him like a pro! He’s really warmed up to me too and wants me to hold him more and more, whereas in the beginning he was pretty standoffish and would pull away. I love holding him and turning in circles, because he just laughs his head off! I want to get a picture of it. Oh, I hope he’s still there on Monday!!! Also, and this was the best, he has shoes, so I decided to take him for a walk! I’d stand behind him and hold his arms up and he’d walk in front of me. We went out into the hall and started to walk around and before I knew it, all the nurses and a few moms had congregated at the end of the hall that he was walking toward and they were like cheering him on (yes, example of how the nurses really are kind of lax on working)! He started going straight toward them and when he got there one of them swooped him up and started throwing him up above her head. He was laughing sooo hard and it was sooo cute. While this was all happening though, I was just thinking about how, yeah, it’s good that he’s not shy with strangers, but on the other hand, it kind of is. I mean, mom kids have their mom who they latch onto, and everyone else they have to get used to. But with him, all of these people collectively make up his mom and he doesn’t have any more attachment to one than to the other. Anyway, so then we went back down the other side of the hall again, then turned around and went back to the nurse again. This time we walked into the nurse’s room (usually not aloud, but they love this kid) and there was one nurse on a cell phone and she gave it to Gigi and was trying to get him to stay stuff into it. While we were doing this, Jenna walked in and she was probably like “ha, woah, Sheri’s in the nurses room with a kid who’s talking on the nurses phone!” Like, I can’t explain how unusual this is. Usually the nurses just say “nu e voie! (not aloud!)” about everything and are not affectionate with the kids and we aren’t aloud to go anywhere or do anything with them, so this was kind of weird. Well, we walked a little more, but finally he got tired and just sat down. So, I picked him up and brought him back to his crib and played with him a while more. He was really tired, so all he’d ever want to do was be held, and he was getting pretty cranky, so I tried to either rock him to sleep or get him to lie down in his crib, but he wouldn’t and finally I had to leave because I was supposed to meet Megan and Jess to take Nicu. Well, on the way up to the 6th floor from the first, I was walking up the stairs and saw this little kid by the pay phone, with the receiver in his hand, stretching as high as he could, trying to stick a phone card in the slot. I thought it was really cute and was just watching him and then when I got a little closer he turned his head around and looked at me and it was Ionut! What a cute kid! I stopped to try and help him out and found out he was trying to call his dad and was trying to get the phone card in because he knew if you stuck a phone card in you could call people. I don’t think his 4 year old brain had realized that you also need a phone number, but he wouldn’t listen to me, so I told him to stay there and that I’d go get Meg and Jess (because they hang out with him like all the time). So, I went up and got Nicu from Meg and Jess and told them to go get Ionut and I spent the rest of the time with Nicu. The moms in there are really cool and good at helping you figure stuff out, especially this one. Well, apparently this one mom (who was pregnant and had 2 kids at home) had gotten her cell phone stolen, so she was using the cell of one of the moms in my room to call the police. I also figured out the to call the police, you call 112. I had a good long convo with them all and they were all four gathered around my crib explaining stuff to me when Shannon walked in. She came in and all she could see were 4 moms gathered around Nicu’s crib and she could barely see me, so she says, in Romanian “Sheri? What’s happening here?” in a kind of comical tone and “ya alright?” and all the mom’s turned around and realized how funny it looked and we all started laughing. After the hospital, Shannon and I walked home and had a good little talk and when we were almost home I felt someone rip my water bottle out of my backpack and I turned around and was about ready to deck em, when I saw Jess holding it and laughing. It was pretty funny. I got home and started making pasta and it was juuust about done and I was getting so excited to eat it, when Melissa walks in and is like “hey, we’re going to Magic Pizza, wanna come?” I’m like, “dang it! Yes!” So I put the pasta in some Tupperware and the whole apartment went to Magic Pizza (that doesn’t happen often). We had a good time laughing and chatting and decided to call it our apartment closure activity. The 5 of us ordered 2 x-large pizzas (which are like larges or mediums in the US) with 8 slices each and 8 pieces of cheesy bread. That’s about 5 pieces each. Well, we were so hungy when they brought it that we ate the whole thing in 10 minutes flat. If the people couldn’t tell we were American before (and I’m sure they could) they could tell then! Romanians DO NOT eat like that. After dinner, we came home and I wanted to get one the internet computer, but Shannon got on first, so I used mine for a few minutes and used Melissa’s for like 10 minutes before Megan demanded to get on. By the time the 10 minutes were over I went back to mine and Shannon was on! Keep in mind I’d had computer time earlier, but it was forfeited by the Magic Pizza outing. So then I was all frustrated and she said she’d get off at 7:30 and then we found out that Jess was scheduled at 8 anyway and I was like like “aaaah!” So then I was all frustrated and Shannon got frustrated at me for being frustrated and that on top of everything else just made me feel like just exploding and I was about to just walk out on the balcony and then changed my mind and was going to go sit out in the stairwell instead, when as I’m walking out the door Jessica thrusts the phone at me and says “for you!” and I’m like, “who is it?” and she’s like, “I don’t know!” So I answered and it was my mom and I was like, “yes?” and she like, “hi, how are you?” and I’m like, “bad.” And she like, “what’s wrong?” And I’m like “nothing (even though, for the record, I know that makes no sense), why did you call?” And she’s like “because I felt like you were upset.” So I went out in the stairwell and we talked and it wasn’t like I poured my soul out to her and she gave me like incredibly wise advice or anything, but she just talked to me a little and was a mom and it helped. She had to go though, because the Relief Society Presidency was on their way over for a meeting. By the time we were done, I was still frustrated and upset, but not quite as much. I decided to just go to bed right then (it was like 8:30) and then wake up really early and use the computer. Well, first I went in and started reading, because I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I distracted myself a little. Then, just as I was laying down my head, Shannon started to open the door, saw that it was dark, started to close it, then changed her mind and opened it. She stood there for a second and then said “are you awake?” I raised my arm and said “yeah.” And she was like, “I just want you to know that I love you and I don’t hate you and you’re not a horrible person and I’m sorry I got frustrated.” So she came in and lay down on the bed and we had a really good conversation. We talked a lot about spiritual things and the atonement and she helped me to feel better and not like I’m eternally flawed and we worked things out again. Hallelujah for Shannon! After that I started lying down to go to sleep again, but then I realized that my mom had wanted her to give me a hug for her and so I ran back out and by this time she’d taken a shower and she was in just a towel, and so we had a good laugh about the irony of that and then she just got dressed and gave me a hug and I fiiiinally went to bed.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Um, skipping this day :-).

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Wow, leaving is coming upon me like a big heavy wave, knocking me backwards and flipping me over and over and getting me all disoriented and wet. I just read Holly’s blog about closure and detailing everything that’ll be happening in the next few weeks and what all we need to do and basically, the plan. I need to eat a snickers. Anyway, it all just came upon me like a huge wave and I’m realizing how bittersweet it’ll all be. I say that in the future tense, because I’m the kind of person who generally doesn’t start feeling intensely emotional until an event actually happens, or even sometimes not til after. Like, it’ll be all the changes and the closure activities that finally will make it all hit home and that’ll make me well up with tears. But I can feel a little of it now too – now that I know what all is going to happen and I can visualize it. This Sunday we’ll have a big meeting on closure and how we’re going to achieve it. We’ll talk about what our last activities are going to be with the kids and the branch. We’ll wrap presents for our kids to give them as we leave. We’ll write thank you notes, we’ll get gifts for the outreach girls and a few more things. The week after that is…the last full week. That…will…be…hard. The week after that, we’ll probably only go until Wednesday. Since half the group leaves on the 12th, their last day at the orphanage will be Friday, the 8th. When they leave, Podul will close down and we’ll only go over there to use the internet. As a side note, Shannon has Michael Buble’s “Home” playing on repeat right now and I’m pretty sure that’s affecting my feelings too. Anyway, I don’t know what else to say that’ll express my feelings, but I think you all understand at least a little bit. Everyone has had to say goodbye to something or someone. Before I move on, I just have to throw in that I actually did almost cry when I was reading the blog, at the end, when Holly said, “you know that old saying ‘last best of all the game’ you guys have been my best group by far (she’s been here 3 semesters and is going home for good). I don’t know why, but that just made me lose it. Anyway, yes, ok, so I need to move on. Starting with this morning, Dancu was really really hard. Iuliana was in possibly the worst mood I’ve ever seen her in. No matter what Shannon did she would just scream and cry. Finally, about a half hour before we were to leave, both Shannon and Iuli fell asleep. Costica was also a bit of a pill and could not be comforted either. Mihai, however, was surprisingly good and content and Petrica, well, Petrica is always good. Today he was just sitting on the couch, all slumped over and rocking and I lay face down on the couch and slid right up to him. I put my head right next to his and put my hand close to where his chin would come to when he’d rock forward. I coaxed him into not rocking anymore and got him to rest his chin on my hand. Then I just lay his head against my shoulder. He let out this big sigh and just relaxed onto me. All I can say is I love him more than I can explain. Today, Maria and Dada were working and we got fed an amazing lunch. On our way out of Dancu we saw this teeny tiny adorable little scared puppy on one of the side roads. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dog that small. He was a little afraid of us, especially at first, but after trying to coax him for a few minutes and managing to get him to let us pet his face a little, he trusted us well enough so that when we decided to leave, he started trotting after us. It’s a good thing he was really slow and we were really fast, because should we have let him follow us across the street, he may have gotten run over. At the hospital, we found out as soon as we walked in, that Ionut passed away either last night or this morning (for all of those who are reading this and can’t place him or don’t know which Ionut I mean, he’s the baby with hydrocephaly). I had a feeling, yesterday, that he may and so I went in there specifically to say goodbye to him. Melissa had been with him and told me he looked particularly bad, so I went down there and just rubbed his tummy a little and gave him a little kiss and left. I’m sooo glad I need because otherwise I would have felt just horrible, like I’d passed up on a this huge opportunity – spending time with this kid when he had so few hours left to offer us. It’s good that he died though, because he was always in so much pain and was always so uncomfortable. I’ll be excited to see him when I die. And besides, this way he didn’t have 3 lonely weeks without any of us to comfort him. After I found that out, I went on the first floor with Shannon to see Gigi. I was with him the entire time and he was such a pill! He’s definitely institutionalized – it shows. He’s very moody and wary of people and seems to be actually afraid of a lot of things. Shannon and I did get him to smile a little, but he probably whimpered and cried more. Most of the time he just looked at us like, “um, yes?” At some point I noticed that he would freak out if a nurse came in and didn’t stay with him and left. There was especially this one nurse, who he seemed to really like. She’d come in and he’d start making all these noises like, “oh no you don’t, come here to me!” And she’d usually just watch him from the door or something and then leave and when she left he’d start bawling and be so mad! It made me mad too, because I was like, “geez, stop coming here if you aren’t going to play with him!” I mean, I don’t think she was trying to be a problem, but she wasn’t exactly being insightful. While Shannon was still there, a nurse came and brought a new baby in, and it was rooster baby! Shannon rocked her for a little while and then decided to go elsewhere, so I was left with the two kids. Gigi was good for a little while, but when he started getting fussy I had to put Petronella down and try and calm him down. After a while I noticed that he was sleepy and so I held him and rocked him and sang to him. By this time, though, he was to the point where if anyone (including the moms) so much as walked toward the door he’d have a fit! It was really frustrating, especially since at one point he was aaaalmost asleep when one of the went out again and he heard the door open and woke up and started screaming bloody murder! I was just like, “my goodness, is it really necessary for you guys to walk in and out so much? You can see how much trouble it is making!” Not only that, but he was heavy and I was getting tired. After a while a nurse came in to check on the kids and had me put him down. While she was in there Jenna came in and told me the doctor was coming and I had to leave. Apparently there’s a nurse who warns her when the doctor who doesn’t like us is going to come so we can leave and he won’t even have known we were there. By that time it was pretty close to when I needed to leave, so I just wandered around for a few minutes and left. I had to walk home alone because, Melissa didn’t go to the hospital, Shannon was going straight to Dacie and Jess and Megan had already left at 2 to go to Gima. After I got home, Jess, Megan and I went over to Moldova Mall and got Kebabs. I’m really glad we’re getting along lately and that Megan and I’s fight actually kind of had a good effect. After that I used the internet for a while. That’s when I started thinking about closure and then wrote in my journal a little. Shannon got on half way through this though, and I took a shower and thought a lot about all of this. Then I just kind of took it slow and read a little bit of “Peacock or a Crow.” It all kind of hit the spot. I mean, I’m still really emotional, but I think it’s healthy.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

This morning I got up and took and shower, used the computer and then Shannon and I got out on time. She bought a gogosi and we bought more tickets and then headed off to Dancu. Dancu was alright today. Now Mihai and Petrica are sick. I spent the first hour or so with Mihai and had quite a nice time. He’s so cute! It was great because I never ran out of ideas on what to do with him and he was always happy. I blew bubbles, blew on his face, bounced him around, laid him on me and brought him close to the toys etc. etc. etc. I spent a pretty short time with Iuliana, a goodly amount of time with Costica and some good time with Petrica, who was just a doll again. Nuti and Dada were working and unfortunately at one point Nuti blew up at Mihai. He’d done that thing where he pulls the table cloth off again and she didn’t think it was quite so funny as I did. She came in and just started railing on the poor boy. He started just sobbing and it was sooo sad. I mean, he barely ever gets yelled at and definitely not like that so his poor little spirit was so hurt. After she left I went over and gave him a hug and the water bottle to play with and he cheered right up. My two favorite parts of Dancu were these. For the first one, at one point Petrica fell off the couch and got stuck in between the chair and the couch and was just wedge in there with his sides all squished and his arms all up and I looked over at him and just started laughing and he just looked at me like, “um, I don’t know what to do or what’s happening.” It’s hard to imagine without knowing the boy, but yeah, he’s just generally really clueless and that made it classic. The other favorite was swinging Mihai in the blanket. At the hospital, I started off with Nicu. I was with him for a good couple of hours too. I fed him and then he fell asleep for a few minutes and then was awake the rest of the time. After I left him I went down with Gigi on the first floor. He’s so cute! When I got there the poor guy was crying with his head down on the mattress. I went over and wiped away his tears and picked him up and gave him a toy and he was fine. He’s really easily upset though. Like all I’d have to do was turn around and he’d start whimpering. Holly came in and told me something really interesting though! Apparently he was there here first semester here (a year ago) and he was just a newborn and this one girl fell in love with him and spent like every day with him. So, I took pictures and we’ll send them to her. That makes me sooo happy, because I can’t imagine what it would be like to see one of these kids a year from now. Especially if they were just a newborn then. So then I met up with Melissa and Jenna (Shannon met us there) and took the tram to Dacie. Before we went up the stairs to the apartment, Jenna and I took a bunch of pictures of the area, because it was all foggy and pretty. Dacie is right by the gypsy village and it looked gorgeous in the middle of this huuuge field in the fog. At one point there was even a horse drawn cart that galloped past. It came from the fog and was going at full speed with the mad yelling and snapping the whip and then disappeared into the fog again. Soooo cool. Dacie was…different. Georgiana and Mihai got fostered, Marian goes to Penilla now and we got a new girl from Mickey Mouse. I’m glad that Georgiana and Mihai got fostered, because it’s sooo good for them, but I’m sad that I won’t see them again and that I didn’t even get to record their voices! I’m also sad that Marian isn’t there until the kids get back from Penilla. The new girls is really cute though! Her name is Andrada and she’s wheelchair bound, but you can pick her up and stuff. She’s really happy and smiley and pretty and she gives the cutest little laugh when you tickle her feet. I seriously don’t think I’ve met many sweeter little kids. It’ll be interesting to see how it all pans out for Dacie, with half of the kids being different. After Dacie, I actually really enjoyed the tram ride home. Jenna let me listen to one of her earpieces for her ipod and I just listened to whatever songs she played. While I listened, I just watched the tram move and looked outside and thought. It was great and I realized a lot of things about Romania and how I feel about this experience. One of those things is that I’ve discovered that I really do truly love this place and it really has become a part of me. I was thinking about how I’ll be upset when I get home and I can’t explain it to anyone so that they’ll understand the way that I do and I realized that it feels like it does when there’s a certain aspect of your personality that you can’t explain to someone and it was then that I realized that Romania, the Romanian way of life, all the silly things they do that are just caused by superstition, the mentality, everything are actually a part of my personality now. I will look at things the way I always did, but also in an added, different way. No, I don’t completely think like a Romanian now, and definitely don’t agree with a lot of things that they tend to think, but I can’t help but at least see some things the way they do. And when I get home and I see things that way there won’t be anyone to discuss it with like there is here. I also realized that traveling is very therapeutic for me. When I say that, I don’t mean visiting different cities and seeing all these great sights, I mean just the actual act of walking, flying or sitting in some kind of transportation vehicle is therapeutic. I loved just watching the tram sway as it moved. I find long car trips refreshing, etc. etc. So, maybe, the reason why I need to travel, is not that I need to see all these great things (though I like that too), but because the getting there and the getting back are so good for me. Well, tonight was really beautifully foggy (it has been for a couple days now), so Shannon and I decided to go over to the Palat and photograph it in the fog. It was soooo incredible! I felt like I was in a dream or something. I mean, there’s this huge, gorgeous Palace in the fog, with the turrets disappearing in the mist, not to mention all the beautiful melancholy trees and the Orthodox church with the mood behind it and the horse statue with the beams of light shining through it. Yeah, no explaining.

Monday, November 27, 2006

This morning I got up and used the computer, got ready and went to Dancu. We were a little late, because apparently when I told Shannon it was 8, she heard 7. Dancu was pretty good. The kids were all better except for Petrica. Petrica was suuuch a sweety. I wish I could remember what he looks like in all his different views because it kills me to know I’m going to forget them all. I shouldn’t be complaining – a hundred years ago, almost no one had pictures of anyone and they definitely didn’t have pictures of people’s every move! Thank goodness I wasn’t born then! Anyway, I spent time with pretty much all the kids. At one point, Shannon was in the other room and I had Iuliana on my lap and couldn’t go anywhere. Well, Mihai was in the chair by the TV and he decided to pull the table cloth off the table next to him. He’d pull it slowly and when one of the animals that sit on it got close to him he’d throw it on the floor. He slowly pulled all of them off and then just threw the tablecloth on the floor and got a big “I’m cool” grin on his face. I thought it was funny and showed Shannon when she got back. At the end of the day, we took Petrica into Costica’s room and swung them in the blanket. It always makes me soooo happy, because they like it soooo much! Corrina was working and she gave us the recipe for her gogosi things that she made that one day! We were sooo happy! I can’t wait to make them! I’ve decided that when I have a family, we’re totally going to eat certain Romanian foods. I had a really interesting day at the orphanage. To begin with, I went to the 6th floor, just to see Shannon off basically, but when I was walking down the hall this orderly came to me and had me put my back pack down and follow her. She led me down the hall and had me pick up this really big baby from one of the cribs and then follow her again. The baby was adooorable and I’ve decided I wish I would have big kids, though they’ll probably be little. Anyway, he was asleep at first, but one time I looked down and he was just staring straight up at me and smiled. I was smitten. Anyway, so I follow this orderly out of the hall and down the stairs. As I’m going down the stairs I see Bri, Abbi and Melissa coming up. They asked me where I was going and I was like, “nu stiu! (don’t know!).” You have to understand how funny this was. See, we generally aren’t aloud of the specific rooms, let alone to a different floor with the kids and here I am holding this random baby, following this orderly and I have no idea where I’m going. Anyway, so we ended up going to the 3rd floor and she walked into a room and closed the door and told me to stay put. So I just stood there outside the door, rocking the baby, with all these people looking at me. Finally she called me in, they gave a quick check up to the baby and then we took the elevator up to the 6th floor again. It was the first time for riding in the elevator, by the way, because we aren’t aloud to. The orderly was way nice too. She was like a grandma and would lead me by the elbow and hold my hand while we walked down the hall and stuff. It was cute. She explained finally, that she had gotten surgery on her stomach and couldn’t hold the babies. Well anyway, so after that all the babies on the floor were taken, so I went with Marina and check on a bunch of floors before finally finding a kid on the 5th. He was like 15! I was just like, “um, mom or no mom, I’m pretty sure this kid has no need of me.” We had some supremely awkward moments, Marina and I, in between walking in the room and figuring out what to do, while everyone just stared at us. Finally we got out her ipod and let him listen to it for a while. Then we thought we’d try and explain phase 10 to him. Some things got lost in translation (like, the meaning of a “run”) but it still worked well enough. Apparently he didn’t like them though, because finally he was just like, “uh…gata (I’m done).” After we left him, we went to Raluca’s room on the 4th floor. What a zoo! Raluca comes from Bambi at the orphanage, so that’s why Marina was there, because she works with her in Bambi. In her room there was a craaaazy (for sure institutionalized) little girl named Daniela, an adorable little girl named Adalina, and 2 or 3 more. There were also a couple older girls. I played and talked to pretty much everyone and the two of us would just try our best to keep it all under control and keep Daniela from our backpacks. She was veeeery naughty. Oh, and for the record, not all of these kids are orphans, but even if they have moms, we sometimes try and entertain the other kids too. One good thing was that I had quite a long conversation with one of the girls in Romanian (woot!) before Daniela got so back that we decided we’d better just leave. When we left there was only like 10 more minutes left, so we just went down and waited. I walked home with Shannon, but also Jessica, who came because she was going to go with me to look at glasses. Well, so we went to this place behind Hala first, but they told me that we’d have to go to this place in Moldova mall because my prescription was too hard and they didn’t have the lenses or something. So we went over there and the lady spoke English and we spent all this time looking at all the glasses and finally deciding on a pair, only to find out that they’d have to order the lenses too and it would take 3 weeks! I leave in just a little less than 3 weeks! Aye, so frustrating. I’m just going to cross my fingers and hope that this virus is gone by the time I go to Italy, because I’ll want to be able to see! Well, when we got home, I used the computer. I felt sick (had a fever, among other things) and had a lot to do, so I just stayed home from FHE. When everyone got home, I decided to go move everything back to the right place in the living room (because Megan had vacuumed under the couches). So, I go in there and try to fix it, but I had to ask Megan a few questions about where she wanted things and such. Somehow we got in an argument (I could detail why, but that would be tedious) and she started yelling at me and it was really frustrating, because I was trying really hard not to get in an argument, but it was just happening anyway. Well, so finally we calmed down and went our separate ways. I was pretty upset, but I calmed down and got on the computer. I checked my mail and still hadn’t heard back from the Campus Lane place where I really wanted to stay, so finally I decided to call them and I’m so glad I did! It worked out perfectly! I was so worried that it would be gone or that something would be wrong with it or something, but no! The spot is still available and it’s perfect! It’s this adorable little San Fransisco style townhouse, with three floors. I’m on the 2nd floor in a MASTER private bedroom, with my own bathroom. The kitchen is on the ground floor and then there’s another room in the basement. I know there’s one more room (for a total of three) and that it’s probably on the ground floor, but I don’t really know. There are 4 roommates, because there are 2 private and one shared room. There are 4 parking stalls, one for each person and it’s even close to campus at 582 N 500 E! Oh, and I can sign the contract online! All that for only $300 a month! The only problem is that I only have one picture and that’s of the outside, so I got the phone numbers of some girls who live there and I’m going to try to have a friend go take pictures and email them to me. Yeah, so after I found that out I was SOOOO excited! I was like giddy and just laughing for no reason and hugging Shannon’s knee. After that, I wasn’t even mad at Megan anymore, which was good because she wrote me a really nice note and put it on the pillow. It basically said that she was sorry and that I’d just been in the wrong place at the wrong time and she doesn’t hate me and respects me but just has a hard time showing it. Yeah, I don’t think either of us is completely at fault because we just have opposing personalities. She’s really short and firm and comes off as rude and offensive to a lot of people, which bothers me. I’m really cautious and don’t like to cause problems and so she feels like she doesn’t usually know what I want and wants me to be more firm. Anyway, Shannon was in a trunky mood and wanted to gab, so I ended up talking to her til like 12 because it just seemed right and it was fun and enjoyable and she needed it. I went to bed incredibly happy.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Although Thursday was technically Thanksgiving, it didn’t feel like it at all then, and although today technically was not Thanksgiving it felt like it all the way. Before church I got ready and had some time on the computer, which I mostly used for apartment searching and blogging. Melissa and Jessica went early for choir, Megan just plain went early and because Shannon stayed up til four last night cooking for our Thanksgiving dinner, she just didn’t go to Sacrament meeting. The day was foggy and gorgeous, so along the way to church I just stopped and took pictures whenever I liked. Foggy days are quite possibly my favorite. In Sacrament meeting, Bri and the Messenger gave talks. Bri struggled a lot because she was reading it in Romanian and didn’t know how to pronounce things and was crying (I don’t think she was crying because of that, but because she was feeling the spirit maybe). There was a new guy who I’d never seen before passing the sacrament and I could tell it had to have been his first time, because he wasn’t sure what to do a lot of the time. It was really endearing actually. Also during sacrament meeting I did the worst job conducting that I have done this entire semester. The song started with a pick up note and a half, so I was off from the beginning. Usually that’s ok though, because I get off at the beginning all the time J. The problem was that the song had kind of a weird beet and so I kept trying to get back on beat, but even if I was doing it right it would sound wrong and so I’d think I was off again and I’d get off beat and then yeah, I went all over the place the whole song and was soooo confused and just like at a complete loss as to how to conduct it so I just smiled really big at all my friends who were laughing and conducted however I felt like conducting! That includes 2/4, ¾ and 4/4 times at different points throughout the incredibly slow 4 verse song. Classic. At the end of Sacrament meeting, Elder Sorensen passed his manuscript over to me. He’s apparently started writing a fantasy book and wants me to read it and tell him what I think because I’m an English major. Sunday school was taught by Sora Maria and was on like strengthening your marriage or something. So, basically the Romanian women told us how marriage isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, but that you should still do it because it’s still a good thing to do and they don’t regret it. They did add, however, that maybe it would be for us because we are going into it with the Lord and they were all converts. Either way, I have high hopes, especially since I know that I deeefinitely won’t have a fabulous marriage if I dooon’t hope and I don’t think the hope is going to hurt anything. Besides, I tend to be a dreamer. After church, Shannon and I were walking together (how we always end up together I do not know) behind the palat and this man came up to us and started spouting off a sad story in Romanian and fake crying at us (very common). We honestly didn’t have money with us because we just had church stuff, so I was like, “Nu am, uite” and showed him my purse. He still didn’t seem to believe me for some reason, so I pulled my Book of Mormon out to say “look, see, this is all I have,” when I realized, “hey, hey can have that.” So I handed it to him and was like, “there, you can have that if you’d like!” He seemed really happy and almost didn’t believe that I’d actually given it to him and I was just like, “no really, it’s yours!” Then we walked away. I figure, hey, even if he just sells it, it only has the possibility for good! When we got home from church I had called computer time, so I did a number of things on there. At one point Shannon and I looked up the lyrics to Rigoletto and sang them all (good memories). I also blogged and looked for apartments for myself and Shannon. I easily used all the time I had (never enough time) and then it was time for dinner! We all grabbed our dishes and walked over to the Villa (once again, everyone staring). Not too surprisingly, along the way we had a little gypsy girl try to get us to give some of it to her. When we got there, the missionaries were there, because they’d just finished setting up the ping pong table for us, so we invited them to stay and convinced them by telling Elder Hackett that he needed to cut the turkey for us. It took forever, it seemed, to get everything set up, partly because a lot of people needed to finish cooking things and heat things up. We took a bunch of pictures of the group and of Hackett cutting the turkey. Then, finally, we ate! Oh wow, what a fabulous experience. It was all so festive and exciting and I think it made us all a little home sick. It didn’t help that we all went around and told things we were grateful for and then later told about family holiday traditions. I got some good ideas for things I want to do with my family when I have one of my own. We all feel pretty trunky. The food was great too and I think my favorite dishes were Shannon’s candied sweet potatoes, the turkey of course, and the biscuits that Jenna made. Happy day. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the dinner didn’t start until Bri recited her hilarious Thanksgiving poem. After the dinner was over and we were all absolutely fat, we started cleaning up. I washed all the dishes and would give them to either Bri or Jessica to dry. Melissa and Megan went home early and Marina, Holly and Shannon were in another room talking, so Bri, Jessica, Abbi, Jenna and I had a great little chat in the kitchen. We talked about all kinds of things, from food and traditions to the usual, dating. Abbi has a pretty serious boyfriend who she’s absolutely in love with and will probably get engaged to. I approved because Abbi’s great and they seem like a great couple. Jessica’s missionary comes home in the summer, so though she’s open to dating, she’s not really particularly looking forward to it. Bri and Jenna pretty much want to get married, though Jenna has like never dated in her life. I’d have to say that the whole day had quite the marriage and dating theme. I mean, our lesson in Relief Society was on marriage, we had that conversation about dating and marriage in the kitchen and on the way home and we talked a lot about families and traditions and our future families during the dinner! Well, once I got home I cleaned my room and read a little of the manuscript and now am writing in my journal!