a Christmas revelation

     I was walking in downtown Bucuresti tonight, surrounded by vender huts decorated with Christmas lights, listening to Ave Maria being played over loudspeakers, and sipping Romanian hot spiced wine, and I was suddenly struck with appreciation for that moment and for being in this place. I remembered the look of pure, innocent joy on Ionut's face when he saw me arriving for his orphanage's Christmas party, and the way he immediately threw his arms around me, and it made me realize that as much as I miss being home and with my family around the holidays, there is nowhere else I'd rather be this Christmas. The parties we threw were nothing spectacular, and the gifts we gave were nothing too exciting. But for a few hours, I got to see the children I've grown to love in a few short weeks actually enjoy being kids for once.  I got to be a part of giving them some sense of family, of letting them know that there are people in this world who love them and think them worthy of sharing gifts with.  I got to be in a room full of families who are a part of our counseling program and see how appreciative they were of the gifts they were receiving due to the kindness of strangers, but even moreso I realized how grateful they are for the hope that their families will stay intact due to their participation in our program.  I think all those experiences are the best gifts I received this Christmas, and for being here, I have you all to thank. Merry Christmas, everyone... may you and your families be blessed as we celebrate the gift of Christ.

just the latest

Well, first of all let me mention a few things that I forgot in the last update.

    -it seems like we spend just as much time commuting as we do in ministry; we usually spend 1-2 hours at the orphanage/apartment, and it takes about an hour to get to most of the places, if not longer.  Hazards of living in a big city, I guess.  In the rare cases that we drive one CTL's van, it takes less time, but that hardly ever happens; most of the time it's public transport.  All this traipsing around the city during the day is also part of the reason why in the evening and on the weekends all I want to do is stay home! 

    -we've spent a lot of time recently doing curriculum planning for the upcoming year.  I was in charge of deciding on careers to talk about, and finding activities/crafts for each of them (9 total).  The funny part is that when asked to help with this, I immediately starting searching the internet... and they were all amazed at what I found!  They never knew that there were sites dedicated to crafts/lessons/activities.  Florina was  so excited, she keeps asking why I wasn't here before and why no one else ever showed them these things.  So I am now the official "hey we need _____, can you find it online?" girl.  Apparently searching the web is a valuable & rare skill here... who knew?  So at least if nothing else, I know at the very least that I provided them with the knowledge of how much you can find on the internet! :P

This week was a little odd.  We had Monday off as it was a Romanian national holiday; unification day I think, I don't know the official title, but it celebrates when all the different principalities first joined together into what we now know as Romania (and Moldova, but that's a different story).  Then the rest of the week was spent getting ready for Christmas parties... making tags for the presents (quite a task when you have to make like 800 some of them, and each has to be cut out [w/ fancy scissors that take forever], hole punched, tie a ribbon to it, stamp it [Merry Christmas], and write the name), buying presents, and packaging presents.  I wanted to take some pics of the process, but I kept forgetting my camera :( I'll try to next week.

I've posted a few pictures, and want to post more but it takes forever with my internet connection, so I'll add more later :)

Thanks for everything!  

looking off my balcony across the street

Settling In

Hey everyone!  Well, as of yesterday I've officially been in Romania one month, so I figured it's about time I got an update out.  I'm not sure where to start, so I guess I'll just jump right in...

CTL has about 20 people on staff.  There are 3 (Anca, Dana, & Daniela) who work in the counseling center (which is really just a room in the office).  Bogdan is the staff director, & Nelu & Gianni do other administrative stuff (not sure what their titles are). Nelu also comes to some of the orphanages/apartments.  The staff that visits the orphanages & apartments (basically group homes, usually with about 7 or 8 kids) is divided into two teams: 1 is Fibia, Mirela & Ioana and 2 is Madalina (Mada for short), Florina, Victor & Denisa.  I've basically been switching off, going with one team for a week at a time.  

Madalina's team visits Sfanta Ana (Saint Anna, Sf. Ana for short), Chitila, #5 and #7 (all orphanages), and apartment #7.  Each time we go on a visit, we basically do a craft or 2 with some sort of lesson, and sometimes a game as well.  We do this in one of the "education/study" rooms usually, and whichever kids want to come, come. At Sf. Ana there's usually a group of around 10-15 kids that come, ages 10-16 probably.  They're usually pretty wild, but still get things done.  A few of them have tried to talk to me some (younger ones), but I haven't really connected with any of the kids there yet.  Chitila is an all-girls orphanage, and usually about 15 girls join us.  It was one of the first places I went, and immediately became my favorite.  The first time I was there, within 10 minutes I was dancing to gypsy music with one of the girls while the others watched, & eventually another joined. I think my willingness to make a fool of myself in my attempts to dance the way they were won me some points :P  There are now multiple girls there that I feel I've established a connection with, and they are just so sweet.  Most of them are older elementary/ middle school age, but there are some younger & some older as well. #5 has kids that are either mildly handicapped (mostly mentally) or have major behavioral issues.  We work with them in a playroom, and try to take only as many kids so that we're one on one, but that hardly ever works out... we usually end up with 5-7 kids in there. The "regulars" are Adi & Gabi (around 3 yrs old, behavioral issues), Tina (6ish, mentally handicapped), Ionuts (10ish, behavior), and Stephan (6ish, mentally handicapped).  It's always challenging and exhausting to go there, but I usually really enjoy it nevertheless.  It's hard to do a lesson or craft of any kind with them, but I really enjoy just spending time & playing with them... I know they don't get a whole lot of loving attention, so giving that to them is good enough for me.  #7 is split into girls & boys "sides"; Madalina's team visits the girls' side.  I've only been to that side once, and it was pretty crazy but I connected with a couple girls... one of them was asking how to say stuff in English, and I played tic-tac-toe, Connect 4, & Twister with the other (her name is Marimar). Apartment #7 has 8 kids, all teenagers.  They're a lot of fun but can get pretty wild sometimes.  It's always harder to connect w/ the older kids (lots of trust issues as you can imagine), especially with my limited Romanian skills, but they seem to like me well enough.  Last week one day we went with most of them to a soccer game one of the boys was playing in, and that was really fun. 

Fibia's team also goes to #5, Sf. Ana, and the boys' side of #7, in addition to Tei, which is a free daycare center for low income families, #6 and Apartment #4.  The boys' side of #7 is always at least a little crazy... they fight a lot.  But the ones who really get into what we're doing are pretty attentive.  Usually at least one or two girls come over and join us (Marimar has everytime).  Tei is about 20 little kids, all under 5 probably.  I've only been there once, but the kids were really sweet and I enjoyed it a lot.  I'm not allowed at #6 or Apt #4... hopefully I'll be able to start going to #6 in January, but not sure.  They're renovating it though, so they moved 10-15 of the little boys (all under 5) to Sf. Ana temporarily (I don't wanna get in trouble for saying anything, but let's just say they weren't in the best conditions at 6), so I got to spend about an hour with them last Friday.  It was pretty much mass chaos, but I Loved every second of it! Hopefully I'll get to be seeing more of them.

There is also a rehab orphanage that I'm not allowed to go to... maybe someday though.  I really hope that changes.

I'm getting more and more adjusted to life here everyday I guess.  I've got the "Metrou" (subway system) figured out... and I must say, I think the subway is quite possibly one of the best inventions ever!  They also have buses, trams and trolley buses... there's so many of them that I haven't got that down yet (not sure I ever will completely), but I think I at least know how to get to all the orphanages/apts now.  Romanian is coming along alright... I can understand a lot more than I can speak.  I had my first lesson on Monday and it went really well; my teacher (Delia, Bogdan's wife) said I have a perfect accent and sound like a Romanian!  Which I actually think works against me sometimes... when you can answer simple questions, but then tell someone you don't speak Romanian but say it with a perfect accent, they look at you pretty strangely. Knowing Spanish is definitely a huge help - I'd be pretty much lost if it weren't for that I think.  My apartment is really nice (by Romanian standards at least, and even pretty good by Am. standards) and right in the downtown area.  Living by myself has been a little lonely (way too much time to think about how much I miss everyone!), but besides that I'm glad to be on my own.  I'll have a team of 4 people staying with me for a couple weeks in December, so that'll be interesting.  I haven't explored the city a whole lot yet... it's dark by the time I get home, and I'm so exhausted by the end of the week that on the weekends I've just been lazy. Oh! I almost forgot - two weekends ago I went up to Targu-Mures and stayed with some of the girls who were/are in Livada's mentor apt program.  It was great to be back in TM, and I had so much fun with the girls.  I'll definitely try to get back up there once or twice again while I'm here. 

Well, I'm wondering how many of you have actually read all of this, so I think I'll cut myself off now.  I'll try to post some pictures soon!  Thank you so much for all of your support!  It means the world to me.