I left a piece of my heart in the Ukraine

No words can describe the numerous emotions I felt felt over the past few days staying in teh Ukraine... There were times when I was happy, sad, shocked,overwhelmed, and extremely angered... In this entry I am going to do my best to describe my weekend to you in as much detail what I saw and felt, but what I write will not do justice to what I really truly experienced over the past 4 days.

Friday- We arrived in the Ukraine at about 7pm after having travelled in the van since 7 am... it was a long day! We were able to make some stops, and visited a famous Romanian authors home which had been turned into a small museum, so that was fun. When we arrived in the Ukraine we were greeted by Vira and she took us to the facility that we were staying at for the weekend. We stayed at a Young Life center. I had never heard of the organization Young Life, but apparetnly they are all over the U.S and have open centers in which High School kids can come and hang otu and participate in weekly youth group type meetings... its an amazing ministry. So after we put our stuff in our rooms we went out to eat at this Turkish pizza place.... best pizza I have ever had.. end of story! :) After that we went back to the Young life center and planned for Saturday.

Vira is the woman we went to support and encourage. She is in her mid thirties, and has such a wonderful ministry. She has travelled teh world, and even lived in the states fora while. She is a trained opera singer, and that is what she went to school for. About 5 years ago she really felt the Lord tugging on her heart and telling her to go back "home" and do work. So.. she stopped singing because she realized that to really make it big, she would have to be Russian... so she felt that God was pulling her away from that and she was okay with it. So.. she left where she was living at the time and went back to the Ukraine. She was working and became involved with a church and helped otu there... then she felt the Lord telling her once again, " go HOME." She then went back to the city in which she grew up to start a new ministry. She runs a group that meets twice a month. It is a group for children with disabilties and for their mothers. It is 4 hours each time they meet. The program offeres a place and at ime for the childrent o get together and learn, and listen to a bible story, and to play or do a craft. It is wonderful for the kids, and it is also fabulous for the parents! In the beginning of the time, there is an hour for the kids adn mothers to do an activity together then they split up.. the mothers go upstairs and have a sort of support group/bible study. It is a time for them to talk to each other without shame, and they are just wonderful to each other. They can talk about life, and their situations very openly without judgement from anyone else. Both the kids and the mothers really enjoy their time every two saturdays... Vira is now in the process of raising money to actually buy a building- they are currently renting the space from Young Life, and it is wonderful for the time being but it would be amazing to have their own place and offer occupational therapy and other services on top of the the club that meets. She really has wonderful vision about the program, and about these families in General. She is a very spunky and fun woman of God, and it was such an encouragement to meet her and get to know her better. She is a person that belives in Love.... all you need is love... all these kids need is love.... all these mothers need is love....

Saturday- This is the day that we were actually able to interact with all of these clients Vira was telling us all about !! I was soo excited and so nervous! I wasnt sure how the children, and their parents would take to us because so often parents put up guards about their children and who they are in contact with whether the child is diabled or not. Both the parents and the kids took to us very well. We played bingo with the kids, and colored, and made this really cool craft.... but most of all- we loved them , and hugged them, and tickeled them, and smiled and laughed with them. We each kind of took a kid under our wing for the few hours we were with them. The little boy I stayed with the whole time was named Ruoma. He was so beautiful and he had the biggest, boldest, happiest eyes. When he was carried in teh room i fell in love, my heart just absolutely melted. Ruomas mother is probably in her early to mid 30's and has 3 children. There is Ruomas oldest brother who was about 11, Ruoma who is about 6 or 7 and his youngest brother who is a little over a year. All three boys are beautiful. Vira told me that the mother was thinking about aborting the third boy after she found otu she was pregnant because she was fearful of having another child with disablities. Vira prayed with her and advised her not to give up the child, and she didnt... the baby is perfectly healthy :) Ruomas older brother has been such a blessing to his mother... He came to the program as well, and was such a huge help. Ruoma loves, and relies on his brother alot. It made me so happy to see such a wonderful and mature 11/12 yr old helping out with their younger brother... but then it also saddened me because he has had to grow up so fast, and has to help out with so many things that other 12 year old boys will never have to deal with in their whole lives.... The program was great... i have so much more to write, so I wont go any further about Saturday but I would love to answer questions if u have any :)

Sunday- Sunday was probably the hardest day for me... yeah... definately the hardest. This was the day that we visited a nursing home and a facility for boys ages 5-35 who had mental and phsyical disablities. Yeah... here goes...

Nursing Home- So we walked into the nursing home.... the floors were still wet from the "quick mop job" the workers had just done to make the place resemble cleanliness.... The director of the facility greeted us, and is a great individual. He really ahs truly worked so hard to try to turn around the way this facility is run. He has only been around for a short time, and is trying to correct all the awful things the previous director put in place. He took us up to the 4th floor of the facility which had just been re-done. It was beautiful! Amazing walls, beds,.... everything was perfect! It was even nicer than some of the "nice" faciliites back in America.. I was thoroughly impressed.... then I found out that this floor would only be for temporary rehab patients and it wouldnt be opened for a few more months... so that was disappointing... Then we checked into reality once we got to the third floor.

The staff at the facility was clearly not very happy that we were there to see what their "work" or lack there of, was like... We ended up splitting into two groups... Bekah, Elena, Jess and Shannon stayed at one wing, and Dorothy, Mel, Maggie, Vira and myself went to another wing. Dorothy and I went room to room... and Mel&Mags worked ont eh bathrooms. We cleaned every room we went in and listened to the people even though we couldnt udnerstand a single thing... and we loved them and smiled, and hugged, and held their hands. We also sang to a few- i think they liked that alot :) The rooms were filthy and smelled horrible, and most of the people living in this facility hadnt had a visitor in years... and it was noticeable.... So as Dorothy and I were going room to room we came to the next room we were supposed to clean, and the woman who was in that room was standing their half naked with her dress pulled up over her head, and a worker chekcing her diaper and was starting to undo it as we wer standing there... so we walked away for af ew moments, adn teh worker walked out of theroom so we thought she was done... she wasnt.... she left the patient standing there leaning over her bed soiled and exposed with her door open to the world... It broke my heart... I cant imagine the feelings of embarassment she must have felt, and how embarassed If elt for her.... the worker eventally came back with a new diaper and changed her so we proceeded to go to differnt rooms... When we came back to this womans room she was in shock that we actually came back bc she was so humiliated...Vira asked her how she was, and was trying to have simple conversatin with her, and teh woman said she just doesnt care and basically was saying that shed rather die than be in this place. She didnt have any family, and you could see the sadness in her beautiful blue eyes. I went over and hugged her and sat with her foa while just holding her hand and smiling at her and making eye contact with her and she started crying. She didnt want me to leave, but I had do... in those few moments we shared together I felt sucha connection with this woman, and did not want to leave her...It was really a life changing experience going to that nursing home... I will never forget those 4 hours of my life.... ever

Boys Home for disabled boys 5-35~

I will finish this tomorrow or at some other point when I have time... I have to go now, but i promise to Finish this entry eventually!!! :)

3/28- pray

Szerenke', the Kindergarten teacher I work with everyday just found out some horrible news this morning during devotions. Over the past two months we have been praying for her 19 year old cousin who was in the hospital with Leukemia (sp). A few weeks ago he showed alot of progress, and they thought that it was going to be for the better. Yesterday he lost all feeling from his waist-up. He was paralyzed. This has been such a burden on her heart, as well as many of the staff here at Veritas. She found out this morning that he has passed away. If you think of it, please pray for Szerenke' and her family... I cant even imagine how hard it is on her right now to have such a young member of her family die of such an awful disease. Thanks.

3/27

So... random/ funny fact of the day..... In romania, they dont believe in plain white toilet paper... The toilet paper here is colored and scented... on a rare occasion you will find TP that is white BUT it is scented....and you can get colored TP that isnt scented.... heh... its funny.... I guess they like everything to be pretty in some way :) haha....

On a more serious... very serious note.... Monday night at dinner with Dorothy and Roberta, Mel and Karen I learned that one of the girls from Tigmandru is missing. She is a 13 year old girl with beautiful blonde hair. This girl has particpated in our childrens program out in Tigmandru, and now participates in the Teen program there as well. She has been missing now for over a week. For the first few days she was missing, a few policemen were looking for her but I am unsure as to whether they are still looking,or if they just gave up.... It is such a frightening thing because this she comes from such a small village where everyone knows each other, and knows everyone elses buisness.... but no one knows where she is.... Her grandmother is very distraught right now, as imagined.. and it is very hard for her, as well as the Naz church in Tigmandru. There are thoughts that she could have possibly been picked up on teh street and taken for trafficking or something of that nature because she has developed alot physically over the past year. When Roberta told us all this news on Monday, she showed us a picture of the girl.... she looked like she was about 6 or 7.... That is because it was the only picture her grandmother actually HAD of her.... it was the only way of identifying this girl- and she looks completely different now, except for the blonde beautiful hair and big eyes.... Luckily Karen knew that she had recent pictures of her from Teen group, so she will be making photo copies and sending them out to neighboring villages, and will give them to the police. Who would have thought that as an American that I would take simple "pictures" for granted? Maybe there is more of a possibility that this girl will be found because KAren has that picture of her..... Bakc home, we dont really have this problem.... EVERYONE has picutres of everyone else! heh... i know that I sure do... i LOVE pictures... and if someone was missing, another person would definately have a picture of them that was recent, and if not... then we have such advanced technology that we can take an old picture and make them look older based on genetics, age, etc..... The things we take for granted, eh? If you are reading this please pray for the village of Tigmandru and for this girl- her name is Lenuta (La-noot-sa). Thanks

He is Risen! He is Risen INDEED!!!

3/24

So.. I guess it is aobut that time when I should write in this thing again!!! :)

Well lets see...Not this past weekend, but the weekend before... I went on a hike! :) It was absolutely amazing. The view was wonderful!! The day started out horribly, it was wet, windy, and very icy so we went into the city of Brasov to wait it out for a few hours. While in Brasov we got some coffee, visited some of the historical churches, and browsed around . By the end of those few hours the sky had really cleared up, so we decided to go for it! I love hiking,I really do... but Romania has really made me despise snow and ice! For about 95% of teh hike I had either thick snow, or ice underneath my feet. It was quite challenging and VERY slippery... heh... when we were coming down I just wanted to take off my jacket and slide down becuase it was so hard to actually grip my feet! haha... I will try to post some pictures from that day :)

The day before we went on the hike my other host sister, Alexandra came home! She has been in Germany since September doing an exchange program for HS students, and she is on her spring break! This is her last week home, and I hate to see her go! She has been such a joy to have around the house, and is so much fun to hang out with!!

So....last week I realized that I wouldnt be having an Easter celebration this year because I am leaving before Orthodox Easter (which the romanians celebrate), and the Hungarian, and Germans, and Americans and whoever else celebrated Easter this past week! (yesterday) So... I decided that this just wouldnt happen! I just really felt the need and want to participate in some form of Easter service.... so Mel, Dorothy and I decided to go to the German Lutheran Easter Service at the church on the hill. I had to wake up at 545 because teh service was at 7 am, and it is quite a walk to the top of the hill! :) It was such an amazing service! It reminded me of a sunrise service back home. The wicked cool thing about this service though is that it begins in teh back of the church... everyone walks in together, and we sang a song. Then there were doors in the ground that opened up to a staircase...we walked down these steps and entered the crypt. For those of you who dont know what that is- it is where they used to keep the dead... Yeah, but anywyas... we went into the crypt (kind of like being in the tomb) and had some candles dispersed throughout to give off a sense of light. After some scripture readings, and some songs we went back into the sanctuary that was lit and sang some more songs, and read more scripture etc. It was wonderful.

After the service, everyone was invited to go to breakfast at the parish house. It was lovely. Everyone was given a red hard boiled egg, and as much sweet bread and coffee/tea as we liked! We all sat at this HUGE table... like 25 ppl on each side! It reminded me of the Waldon family Christmas! haha... But anways... I asked Dorothy about the red eggs... because I thought that was kind of random. I guess that the Romanians believe that one of the"mary's" brought a basket of red eggs (representing christs blood) to the tomb the day that they went to visit Jesus' grave.... so the tradition is to dye eggs Red, and eat them on Easter! :)

Yeah.... so those are some of the highlights from the past 10 days! :) Hope you enjoyed some of it! :) love and miss you all <3

3/14

So.. this week hasnt been too exciting, but I cant believe how quickly the week has passed by! I cant believe how quickly this whole experience has gone by!! Only 6 weeks left, I think? Wow! It is crazy to think about! Nothing out of the normal really happened this week. I had my usual days filled with children at the Kindergarten, and afternoons filled with special needs club, parent meetings, meetings with Dorothy, and of course... homework! Haha.. .cant forget that one!

I guess there was one really cool thing that happened this week... I assume that most of you reading this blog have seen children cry- and if you know me at all, you have probably witnessed me crying a million times! ;) But have you ever seen a 6 year old cry out of pure joy, and exasperation? I have seen adults, and teenagers cry out of pure joy... but never a child. WEll, at the end of the day in the Kindergarten we give the children different colored "dots" to put on their shirts to show how well they behaved during the day. A red dot is for good behavior,, and a black dot is for bad behavior, and after 7 red dots the child receives a gold star! Well, anyways... there is one child in the Kindergarten that is almost always bad during the day... he tends to talk back, distract the other children, gets violent, and just misbehaves all around. He kind of has been labeled the "bad kid" in the Kindergarten. WEll, the other day he just had this amazing change in behavior ( partially because there was a college age male helping in the room for the day- which works WONDERS on these little boys) and he was fairly good all day. This is a child who doesnt let us give him pats on the back, rarely responds well to even positive feedback- he truly feels like he has to live out his "label." Well, he was good and the teacher had given him a black dot ( i think it may have been out of habit) and i told her that he was good- so she called him over and gave him a red dot! He was sooo excited, and shocked! Tears filled this childs eyes, and he didnt know what to do with himself. He was so excited that we had noticed that he was trying, and was actually behaving for a change... This made his day, even his week! When I saw his face, I couldnt help but cry. I have never seen a child react like this to something that seems soo meaningless to the other kids in the class. Most of the time everyone else gets red dots- so its just "normal" to them, but to this child it meant EVERYTHING. It kind of reminded me of teh Max Lucado book that my Mom really likes- I forget what it is called.. but yeah... It was great to witness such an awesome moment with this child.

Another thing that particularly struck me ( i sort of mentioned above) is the importance of having a positive male influence. It is so rare for these children to have positive male role mdels in their lives. Within this particular group of kids, Most of the men they encounter (fathers, grandfathers) have a tendency to mistreat women and the child as well. It is just so important for men to be present. But that is a discussion for another day :) Im much better at verbalizing my feelings, than actually writing them down...

Yeah... so I guess that was the highlight of my week :) I am also going on a pretty intense hike tomorrow, and I am really excited about it! I have seen pictures, and it is going to be beautiful!!!!! I am looking forward to taking pics and posting them!! :)

I am at the point where I really miss everyone, and everything from home... Dont get me wrong, I love it here! It has just been two months, and it is just getting harder to not think about home. I try as hard as possible not to think about it because I want to make my time here the best it can possibly be- so I am continuing to put 100% effort into everything I am doing here, but its not easy keeping my feelings of longing for home hidden... I am so glad that I am here, and I wouldnt want it any other way, honestly. I feel like I am learning so much, and am doing so much more than I would be doing back in the states if that is where I had decided to do my practicum. I have fallen in love with Romania, and the people here. It is just hard to know that in a little over a month that I will be leaving them. It is so hard to know how to balance my relationshiups with these people (both colleagues, clients, and friends) - and also be okay with leaving them.. It feels like just as these people are starting to love, and trust me... I will be leaving them. It is hard not to feel like I am abandoning them. Some of the people I work with in club see me as one of their friends.. .and some of the kids receive there "daily hugs" from me... instead of at home. It is just alot to think about and pray about.....

Sorry my thoughts are so random, and arent always clear... I do not write very well, unless it is a paper with a clear outline etc. hahaha.... thanks for bearing with me!

Until next time... la revedere!

3/6

So I figured it was about time to update this blog because I had a few dear souls tell me that I needed to, and Junior just recently sent out a message on facebook to everyone telling them to check out my blog- and to their disappointment I don’t have much on here! ( I should probably stop babbling and start informing! ) At this moment in time I cant remember where I left off because I am writing this entry in Word and will then copy and paste it onto my blog when I have the internet J I guess I will just have to generalize some things and describe some of my most recent endeavors!

Well I am pretty sure that I wrote already about Bucharest- but in case I didn’t… the weekend of the 15^th we went to Sinaia and Bucharest! I was sick the whole weekend with a horrible cough, drippy nose and a massive headache! Despite being sick, it was a wonderful weekend! We visited the monastery in Sinaia- it was absolutely beautiful! It was a smaller church, but extremely royal in its decorations considering that it was the church that King Carole built/ attended. It is open to the public, and is used for mass every week. It was very interesting that the Monastery was open to the public… I know if I was one of those monks I would be pretty ticked if all these dumb tourists came into my living/worship place, and place of solitude and often silence and learning… It was just kind of ironic. Another thing that I have found very interesting here in Romania is the fact that so many of the churches (catholic, orthodox, reformed) they sell things. It is just very interesting how the place of God is being used to sell postcards and other various items. I know that there are arguments for and against this issue, and I don’t really know where I stand on it because there are pros and cons for both.. but its just something I have thought about. Anyways! In Sinaia we visited King Caroles palace! It was so big and everything about it was truly fit for a King. We were only able to view the first level because it was too expensive to view other floors, but it was quite amazing. My favorite room was the Kings personal library. I think if Junior had been with me, he would have been drooling to say the least! The room was designed with all these really rich colored types of wood, and deep brown leather. All the shelves were the same except one section has one extra shelf- this was the secret passage way… so cool! The library was filled with so many classics, and it was just lovely.

After visiting Sinaia we went to Bucharest. We went to the peasant museum, the history museum, and we visited the “Peoples Palace.” My favorite of these places was the peasant museum- I definitely recommend it! The museum itself was so simple- no fancy lighting, no crazy glass walls- just real artifacts and scary looking manikins wearing traditional clothing. As long as you look, and DON’T touch- the peasant museum is a wonderful experience! I was reaching to touch one of the pieces of clothing and I heard a woman yelling from across the exhibit hall- haha…. She was not very happy with me, but I apologized and had to resist the urge to look at anything too closely! The peoples palace was also very interesting. We took a tour that took about 2 hours…. Guess how much of the palace we saw? …. Nope… a little less…. Yeah… we saw 4 percent of the building! FOUR percent in Two hours!! CRAZY!!!! The Peoples palace is the 2^nd largest building in the WORLD( it ranks second, the Pentagon being the 1^st!) Can you believe it? There are 11 floors( If I remember correctly!) 7 floors above ground, and 4 underground. The building is made of 100% indigenous products. All the marble, glass, diamonds, gold… everything is from Romania! This building was truly extravagant- but also very drepressing. They STILL aren’t done with the building. It is sad to think of the all the families that lost their homes so that this building could be built, and to think of all the pain the Romanian people felt because of this stupid building- What is worse is that now communism has ended and the building still isn’t really helping the people…It is frustrating to think about all the hard work, and the many broken families, and the communities that suffered because of this building. One cool fact about the palace is that the Lead Architect is a woman from Sighisoara! Yay for Sighi!... another very interesting fact is… There is a balcony at the palace that is in the front of the building facing the city of Bucharest, and only ONE person has ever spoken from that balcony… guess who it is?? Michael Jackson! Go figure, eh? Well anyways… he was on the balcony looked to the people with open arms and said “Hello Budapest!”…. what a moron!!! He was in Bucharest…. Not Budapest… therefore when in Bucharest, do NOT mention Michael Jacksons name- you will receive many dirty looks! ;)

On a more serious note… last week we had our first parents meeting for the children in the Kindergartens parents. It went really well!! All but 2 parents showed up!! It was very exciting to have such a great response! I opened with a game, and broke the ice a little bit which was very comforting for all the parents, I think. The parents spoke up about things that they were feeling, and were talking about their children and were open about things- it was awesome!! We will be having our 2^nd meeting today ( 3/5) and I will be presenting on the topic of the importance of Affirmation and Affection with children. I am really nervous about the whole thing because I was kind of put on the spot about doing it- which was really frustrating… but Im doing it anyways with a smile on my face!

This past weekend we went to Praid and Korund. It was such a great day- despite the rain! We visited the salt mine in Praid! It was SO cool. For medical purposes doctors used to send patients down to the salt mines for healing- they believed that it helped cleanse the body, and for most it really did work! When you go down there is the usual souvenir shop, but there are also picnic tables for people, doctors to visit, massage therapists, playgrounds for children, places to rollerblade, a small museum, a coffee shop, and a church! It was amazing, and it is all underground- it was like a little utopian society down there! After visiting the salt mine we went to Korund where Ï bought some souvenirs for friends and family! J I am really excited about the gift I got for my mom!!! I would totally say what it is on here except for the fact that I know she reads this thing!! Haha.

I am really excited for this weekend- I don’t know why! I think its because on Saturday we are having a church work day- gotta love those (Right Autilio?)( he probably doesn’t even read this- but those who know him better be laughing right now! J) Anyways- we are painting the interior of the church, and I am really excited about it! No more pale blue!!! It will be a fun day- I like to paint, and I really enjoy doing things like this for other people, so we shall see how it goes! J

If you think about it- keep Veritas in your prayers. We are figuring out some financial things right now with grants and other such things. We are planning on tearing down the family center and rebuilding a nice new building for Veritas that can be used for more activities and will have more space, but there are so many restrictions and weird laws in Romania that are not helping make this an easy or even somewhat easy process. Thanks… I think that is all for now!! I will try not to go a couples weeks before I write in this again!! I appreciate all your prayers so much! I love and miss you all!

Shout outs for the day***

Love you Mom and Dad and Mikey and Junior

Miss you 410- sorry im not there to help plan wedding stuff I love you girls <3>

Miss you Cara*

Good luck to everyone in the SGA election process- praying for all of you guys! (especially My babe, and Hil!!! )

2/13

Well lets see… I cant remember where I left off last time, so here goes!!! This past week was great! I was able to meet with the preK teachers and go over some objectives/tasks that I need to complete before the semester is over with… it had an interesting start, but in the end everything seems to be going really well and I am very excited! We are going to be holding meetings for the parents of the preschoolers on “how to love your child using concrete and practical concepts”… we will be talking about the 5 different love languages children possess and how to incorporate this into their daily lives while parenting their children. We are going to talk about how each child has their own love language, and as a parent they should be aware of that language- especially if it is different from their own… this concept seemed a little weird to me at first, but I am growing to like the idea of these seminars more and more. So I have been doing a lot of research for these meetings, so that is taking up a lot of time. Last week I was also able to go on a home visit to see one of our special needs clients, which was really cool. I love the people in special needs club so much… they really make my day! I am excited because this morning I will be going on home visits to see most of the clients that are involved in the club!  I am trying to think of what else is new… hmm… o yes! We went to Beritan (sp) this past weekend and visited the fortified church there… it was amazing! We weren’t able to go inside because the caretaker was not available, but we were able to tour the outside of it. There are 3 walls guarding the church, and it has about 7 buildings ( I think) within the walls. It was really cool because there is this one small house like building within the walls and Dorothy told us a story about the house that is very interesting… The house is small- it consists of one room.. inside the room are two chairs, one table, a bed, one fork, one spoon, one plate, one bowl, a bathroom, and a lil kitchen area… If a married couple went to the priest seeking a divorce, the priest would send them to live in this little house for two months time, and at the end they would decide whther they still wanted a divorce or not. In the two months time, the couples would learn how to share, love, and listen in way that they had never expected. Rumor has it that over 100+ years time, only 1 couple actually went through with a divorce!!! Crazy huh? I was impressed… but then again… its just a rumor…  I love visiting all these churches and castles, and villages! I just wish I was able to enjoy them with my family and junior!!! I know they would love it here- even mikey! ;) This weekend we are heading out to Sanaia and Bucharest!! We leave Friday morning and come back Sunday evening! I am SO excited!!! This experience thus far has been such a blessing in my life. I feel like I am learning so much and that I am expanding who I am as a person, and how I want to live my life! I am so excited because today was our last day of Romanian class!! Woo hoo!!!! I love the language, and I love learning it… but I am DONE with classrooms….. this is my PRACTicum…  hahaha…Yesterday was wonderful! I was able to go to Pre-K then meet and chat with Dorothy for a while. I really look up to her so much. God has blessed her with so many gifts, and she is truly a blessing. I really look up to and admire her. I hope I am half the woman she is when I am her age. After meeting with her I checked the mail and received TWO letters!!!!!! I was so happy!!! I opened Mum and Dads card first, and it was PERFECT!!! It cheered me up and made my day just seem so much better… then I opened the second letter and it was from Junior!!!( I would keep adding exclamation points if I could… )  Seriously… could that day get any better? I am going to go for now.. I will write more later…. O yeah… did I mention that I dyed my hair….. ?... ha…. Its really dark brown…. Like…. Black… I wasn’t sure how I felt about it at first- but now I love it… and Romanian guys don’t gawk at my blonde hair anymore which is nice… I can just walk without being hollered at on the streets…. Yay!!!........ la revedere! Love and miss you all!!!!!

2/5*

Hello all, it has been about a week since my last entry. First I want to say happy 1 yr and 5 months to Junior.. haha.. and on another side note- thank junior for the pictures on this blog (he is so computer savvy... unlike myself) :)
Anyways... it the past week or so has been very busy and interesting. Last week I was able to go on my first home visit to see one of the pre-schoolers and his family. I was able to see the home they lived in and the boys overall environment. It is interesting how in Romania there is no "standard" way of living- just like in America. Some peoplehave large, luxurious houses, and others have small one bedroom apartments for 3 people. The home I visited looked like this... visualize with me, if you can.. *you walk into a doorway that is covered by a blanket to keep the small amount of heat in. After passing through the blanket you see a small sink (maybe the size of a standard bathroom sink in the US) that the family uses for their everyday kitchen sink.Touching corners with the sink is a television on top of a small shelf which is directly touching a full size bed that is used for both sleeping purposes and daily use as a couch. To the left of the bed is a table for four with only 2 chairs in sight. Across the room from the table is a small refridgerator about the size of the one I use in my dormroom attached to the stove/oven that has boiling soup cooking. There is a small door that leads to a very small cramped bathroom, and there is a matress leaned against the wall to put on the floor at night for the two children to sleep on. There are four people living in this house, and its not really a house... its a room. A room that is about the size of my familys living room @ our house in Quincy. ... not very big... I think about all the space that my family has and lives in, and I am being humbled more and more by the people I am with everyday. This family has nothing- and yet, with the 3 or 4 lei they did have (money) they went and ran to the store to get juice to serve us so that we didnt have to drink water. This homevisit was an amazing and humbling experience for me, and it is only the beginning.
After a very long and busy week... and a romanian test! :) We took a day trip to Sibiu and the Paltanise mountains (sp) Sibiu was lovely and last year was named the Cultural capital of the world.. or something like that! :) We visited some shops and went to the Orthodox church in teh big plaza, as well as one of the last Lutheran churches in Sibiu. Both were so amazing. I love visiting the old churches, and looking at the architecture. The Orthodox church was built during the baroque period- which I have come to realize, that I am not a fan of the Baroque style... its a bit too flashy for me... The Lutheran church on teh other hand is a Gothic style church. I loved it, despite the creepy cherubs everywhere! :) After visiting the city we went to the moutnains and ate a sack lunch at a lodge that Veritas frequently uses for retreats... all I have to say is WOW... GOd is good!! The mountains of Romania are unlike antying I have ever seen! The picturesI took do not do it any justice! The mountians are just ... amazing! AFter lunch we went sledding at one of the smaller "rolling hills" at the top of the Large mountain. It was a beautiful but tiring day! I am all out of things to say at the moment... I will try to write more later tonight or througout the week as it comes to me... thanks for all the prayers...

la revedere!

1/29

Hello all! It has been a while since I have posted on here, so I figured now would be a good time to do it. I dont really have too much to say other than I am starting to get into the swing of things here... I now have a somewhat normal routine that I will follow from week to week. Plans were made definate, and I will be working with the pre-schoolers and their families, as well as with the special needs program! I am very excited and nervous to be working with both of the groups. I really don't have too much to say right now... I am trying not to miss home too much! :) I will try to write more later, as things come to me.

la revedere!

Tuesday Morning

I cant believe it has now been a week since I left the states... wow... it feels so much longer!! Sunday I attended church in Sighisoara, and later at night in Tigmandru. Both services were wonderful! I loved being in both places, and i love churches that are bilingual.. i dont mind people translating as much as I thought i would. I thought it would be distracting, but it isnt... it helps me focus on what i had just heard.

On Monday, we had our usual 8 am language class followed by some time with Dorothy and teh girls. After that we went to lunch at the family center and ate wtih some of the elderly people here. Monday was my first day to start visiting programs, so I visited the special needs program which i absolutely loved! One of the people in the program-Alex, painted a picture for me of a house with ducks, and a well in front of it. It is great- it now lays above my bed, next to juniors picture :)
After going to the program, I met one on one with Dorothy to discuss details of my practicum. We decided that I will be helping in the special needs program, as well as with the preschool. The Preschool meets 4 days a week 8 am -12, and the special needs program meets 2 days a week 12pm-3pm. I am very excited! After I write this entry I am actually going to be attending the preschool program to make sure that is what I want to do. I am very excited for what is in store for me.

After the program yesterday, I went to Dorothys house to help prep dinner. Every monday night Dorothy has all of the American volunteers over her house for dinner and a cultural history lesson. After this I went home and showerd and read a ton of my book! I have to go now! I will try to write later! l revedere!!!

I miss you and love you all!

Saturday Evening

Sorry I havent written in a few days.. I have been a bit preoccupied! (sp) Lets see... not yesterday, but the day before that I had a little scare.. I was waiting outside the gate of my home for the two girls from Olivet to swing by and we could walk together to the House on the Rock (where we have language lessons and classes).. and as i was waiting this man walked up to me, so I said Buna(hi) to be nice, and he grabbed me and started to pull me with him. I kept telling him Nu(no), but he didnt listen so i eventually had to like pry his hands off of me.. kinda freaked me out! Apparently this is an extremely rare circumstance in Sighisoara, so I am not too worried that it will happen again! I told Dorothy about it and she said not to worry, so I am not going to dwell on it. Later that day we had some more orientation and it went very well. Yesterday we had devotions at the HOTR (house on the rock), and then went to dorothys for more orientation.
After orientation Jessica ( another Sr SW major from Indiana Wesleyan) and I went for a walk around town where we ventured, almost getting lost. I found this great store that sells just fruits and veggies and juices... im in love! After that we went to the family center and set up for lunch. We sat with this adorable woman named Anna. With the little romanian we know, we told her our names, wherer we were from, that we were students, volunteers and that we were 21 and would be here for 3 months!! Thats so much, and so little at the same time! I asked her if she had any children. She told us that she had 3 boys that each had families of their own-she also told us that she was 64 years old and had lived in Sighisoara her whole life.. she was a Saxon. That is quite impressive! There arent many saxons remaining here in Sighisoara-she is one of the few. She didnt know any english, but she helped us with our Romanian numbers! It was wonderful.. in situations like these, a smile really CAN go a long way! :) After lunch we had a meeting with the 3 social workers at Veritas and were able to talk to them about how/why they went into Social work, and what they do within the Veritas program.. I cant wait until monday so I can visit each group! After that, the girls and I went to dorothys, then I went back home and watched an American movie with Damaris! :) The family I am staying with is WONDERFUL! They are such wonderful people, even if we can only say a few words to each other! Today I went on a hike with all the girls, and the girls thatare here for Jterm.. It was great.. It was kind of steep in some parts, and it was REALLY foggy, but we made it and had some coffee at the top! :)





It was a great bonding experience for the girls in our group.....Afte rthat we all went to the HOTR and watched "Youve Got Mail" and just hung out together... It was very nice! Now I am at my home, and just had a very nice shower after a long, wet, muddy, sticky day! :) I will be going to the Nazarene Church tomorrow, and I cant wait! It is one of the only bilingual churches around here in Sighi! Go Nazarenes! Haha.. Hopefully tomorrow night I will be going to Sigmandru to the other Naz church ... Sigmandru is a very por village outside of Sighi, and Roberta preaches there as well!..... I have to go for now! La Revedere!

Buna!-Hello
Buna Dimineatsa- Good morning
buna ziua-good afternoon
buna seara- good evening

Eu Sunt Katy- my name is Katy
eu sunt studenta- I am a student
eu sunt din America- I am from america
eu sunt volunteera la veritas!- I am a volunteer for Veritas

Hi! I am back... although i cant quite remember where i left off.... Well today we started out with language class in teh morning and proceeded to go into town to the bank so some girls could exchange money. After that we went to the family center to eat lunch. After lunch i went with some of the girls into the center of town to buy phone cards. After doing so, we went to Dorothys house for some more orientation to the program. After that I walked home and I was reading for alittle while, and now my host family is at their church meeting for the evening while i finish up some hw and other things... I am not quite sure what my day will be like tomorrow, but i am pretty sure that I am going on a hike Saturday morning.... mornings are rough here in Romania because it is SO dark! :) It really is n ice over here... nicer than i expected i guess... i have to run., but i will write more later....

La revedere! - goodbye!

Sighisoara

Hi! I am here!!! Romania is beautiful! Not nearly as cold as I expected!! Id say it is similar to Boston.. possibly warmer :) My flight from London to Bucharest was delayed a bit, so i arrived a little bit later than anticipated. I am getting settled into my new home and Sighisoara itself. The walking is crazy here... I have to climb alot of steps to get to the House on the Rock-where my language classes are held. We had our first language class today, it was great! I love learning the new language, but i am HORRIBLE at remembering how to say things... I think the fact that I amrealizing more and more that i am a visual learner. okay. i have to go. i will finish this later!!!!

Almost there...

Its about 10 past 1am here in the U.S.... I can't seem to fall asleep due to the excitement of tomorrow(rather, todays) travels to England, then on to Bucharest Romania. Once I finally arrive in Bucharest it will actually be Tuesday! We will then drive from Bucharest to Sighisoara :) I am so excited and nervous at the same time! Although i feel very nervous, I know that this is what God wants me to do and that this is where I should be for the semester. I pray that God uses me in ways that I never would have expected- and I hope to get a decent grade in the process :) haha... okay... I am off to bed* tchau*