A little cultural exchange, a dance party, and a lot of chillaxin'

It's Sunday today, and Heather and I are relaxing, sleeping in, playing in the snow, and of course, I was playing with the dogs.  I also did some laundry, I'm getting pretty good at cleaning my clothes in the sink:)  It's warmed up a bit here and the sun is out, making it a really beautiful day to be hanging out outside. 

My roomie Heather and her snowman:)  Alex our waiter helped with the hat and nose!

A little like freeze drying...

Yesterday, we took a stroll into Barlad after we said goodbye to Steve and Kellie, the two weekers.  We took the microbus with the locals, took a stroll in the local art gallery, and shopped a little at the open market.  I wish I could have taken some pictures but my fingers were frozen...according to Heather, who is from Minnesota, it felt like it was below 20 degrees because of the wind chill.  Brrrr...Heather made friends with some students and they totally helped me out in purchasing 2 kg of oranges at the open market.  Speaking of students, we had the opportunity to visit a high school class for a little Q and A last week.  It was so much fun and the school was absolutely gorgeous!!  We talked about things like what we did and where exactly we were from, music, and living costs in the states.  I was impressed with how polite they are and with their language skills.  They spoke English very well and a few of them even busted out some Japanese!!!! 

Heather and I also went for a short visit to the clinic yesterday, delivering our oranges and yogurts from our breakfast, as usual.  There were only 2 aides there with 1 nurse and all the kids were napping, except for a very lively Alina and Raul.  Alina and I reviewed our counting skills in Romanian, while I performed my best singing and dancing routines for Raul.  I felt so badly when he reached out to me and not only did I notice that he didn't have any fingernails, but that I couldn't pick him up and play with him.  It is so different on the weekends and now, without the 3 other volunteers, it was really different as to how I could distribute my time and attention.  Sadly, a lot of the younger toddlers had to stay in their cribs while the babies and the older toddlers were attended to by Heather and I.  It has also been hard as the babies continue to be in isolation and are unable to leave their rooms. Going to have to figure out a better way for Monday...good thing we had our mega-dance party on Friday with the youngsters :)  And, it's a good thing I took advantage of having Steve and Kellie last week to take some more pics around the clinic.  

Finally a full shot of Petre!

Alex and I after our leisurely stroll.

Marius!  He was playing his little game of cough until the volunteer starts panicking, then laugh your head off!!

Crisi Daniel.  Check out those beautiful lashes and beautiful skin!

Paula!!  Time to get out and explore again!!

Love this girl and how she lets us know what she wants, rarely takes a crib already occupied, and waits for my hands to become free before taking it to guide me on one of her adventures.

Nico, right before she started blowing major raspberries and cracking herself up.

Lea Celine, aka Ana's Mama.  She is so good to her and oh so protective of her.

I love this pic,  Marius is so handsome!

Alex, I feel like she is such a deep, old soul.  I would love to know what she is thinking.  She's probably like those silly, silly, big people!!

Andrea!  This pic says it all.  She has no fear and is so smart!!  She figured out that Celine gets out for visits to the baby saying "Ana, Ana.." so guess what?  This little one started it saying "Ana, Ana..." to escape!!!

 Thanks to all of you following my blog!!  It has been so encouraging to hear from you and I really appreciate all of your comments!!  Please let me know if there is anything else or anyone you want to know about and I will do my best to find out and post pics during this last week of mine. 

Rest in peace my puppy friend

Today was a sad, sad day for me.  My little puppy friend, Labota (not sure of the spelling but it means little puppy hand, pronounced Labozza) passed away last night.  He was attacked by one of the hospital dogs when he was following us to the clinic yesterday morning.  We knew the dogs were not friendly, but had no idea that they were so vicious.  One of my teammates and I rushed to his side and carried him home, placing him into the doghouse the hotel owner had built.  He just looked like he was in shock, with no visible injuries, so we left him there, checking in on him when we could during the day.  He looked more traumatized than when he was hit by the car.  As the day progressed, it snowed harder with more wind, so after dinner we decided we would bring him inside to keep warm as he was still only moving a tiny bit inside the doghouse, with plans to ask to take him to the vet the next morning.  As soon as he came inside, he put his head to rest on the little pillow, covered by towels and our clothes.  He just looked exhausted, but would continue to wag his tail or lift his head up when one of us touched his little face. We prayed that he would make it through the night.  At about one thirty in the morning, my teammate came to tell me that our little friend was gone.

Thank you for giving me one of the warmest greetings at a hotel I have ever received and for making me so happy everyday.  You were a very strong and brave little one and I will never forget how you gave me so much hope and joy when you came walking towards me after the accident, and everyday since then when you would greet us when we came home.  You were the best snuggler ever.  I miss you but know that you can now run around happily and freely without worries, along with all of my beloved pets who have said good-bye.

I was devastated heading into the clinic today, but knew that nothing would make me feel better than to see those kids.  Already fighting back tears rather unsuccessfully, I felt a whole new set of them gushing as I looked up in the window to see Andrea, Celine, Ion, and Petre all looking at us and waving with huge smiles on their faces.  Today, especially today, their unconditional love, smiles, and laughter, along with their hugs and silly antics nourished me and helped me to move forward.  I always knew it would be a privilege to work with them, but it was truly a much needed gift for me today and I was so grateful for each and everyone of them.  The babies were amazing, it was almost as if they knew we would need some nurturing today.  They all were so happy and ate so very well, hanging out with them was so peaceful.  Here are some shots from the day.

Woo-hoo!!!

Daria our little gymnast

Sorry it's sideways...:(

From the afternoon baby session:

Nico and Cleo havin' a moment of fun

Cleo enjoying her decorated crib

Here are some pics and a video of Raul from some of the other days that I haven't had a chance to post up yet:



Celine, our little mama



Roxana and Andrea

Ionutz

Petri!  So hard to get a pic of this handsome little guy

Nicoletta and Maria

Raul (sorry, didn't have a chance to check the spelling of his name)

And I forgot I wanted to add this one from today:


 Only because...after this beautiful moment of friendship, little Miss Alina proceeded to head butt me, smack me in the face, and attempt to take a chunk out of my arm all at once!!  She's a quick one alrighty---keeps me on my toes:)  Oh yeah, I didn't get a pic but when I walked in she had her onesie hanging down from her waist, fully zippered and buttoned, grooving to some hip hop...it was awesome.

Happy Monday!!!

After a weekend of fun in Transylvania, we were tired but happy to return to the clinic today.  Especially as we were greeted by the smiling faces of the toddlers and as all the babies were already out in the playroom!!  We were very excited that no one was in isolation today and all the babies were mellow and happy, except for poor little Maria, who seemed to have a rough day.  She had only one good feeding and was sleeping or fussy, which is so unlike her.  Hope she is not sick :(  We missed Andrada, she was at the hospital for evaluations.  We also had Ion and Cristi Daniel ( I think that is his name...roomie is sleeping so can't check in his journal) back from the hospital last week, so the toddlers/mobile group was hopping as usual:)  Here is a little video of how our morning started out:

After a little bit more of that, our darling Daria looked a little like this...

After a pretty quiet morning for us taking care of the babies and after another delicious lunch of vegetable soup and my now new favorite salad the Bulgarian salad, I was off to do some laundry in the good ole sink:) 

We went back to the clinic after lunch and as it was still pretty quiet in the clinic, we had a chance to snap a few pics.  Here is one of them:

Yes, you'll notice Andrea's little nose is blue, it's from the medicine they had to put on her from all the wiping of her nose they've had to do since she's been sick.  And yes, Ion is bald.  He had hair this morning.  We were like, "oh, oh..."  That's because in the clinic, a shaved head could mean only one thing:  lice.  Yep.  Lice.  Poor Mihaela---she had just told us at lunch how she held him and sang to him to fall asleep.  A few of my teammates had held him this morning too.  I played and carried him a few times when he first got back last week as well.  Oh well, I guess we'll see.  One of the aides is going to check me tomorrow.   For a split second, I wondered if we were going to get our head shaved too but was relieved when Mihaela told us that we would get shampoo.  We all felt a little itchy all afternoon but this is part of the gig, too.   He seems to have gotten them on his visit to the hospital.  Poor thing :(  The good thing is, he was still happy Ion and he's handsome with or without hair.

My fellow team members are wonderful.  Two of them are sick, but they are all there, doing all they can to help out as needed.  I think that we make a great team, and they have all been there for me to take a picture, re-position someone, or hand me a cloth for some of our happy spitters when my hands have been full.  I was just telling the two weekers that it's a little sad for us three weekers because we have to say good-bye each week to someone who has become a friend.  I was also talking to one of them about how much we missed the kids just being away for the weekend and how we couldn't imagine how hard it was going to be for us when we the day came for us to say goodbye.  We looked forward to coming back so much even while were were enjoying ourselves in beautiful Romania.  It's going to be heartbreaking. 

It's snowing!!

So, woke up to some snow on the ground.  Big deal for me, being from L.A.  I was concentrating very hard this morning trying not to make a fool out of myself by slipping in front of my fellow team members who are used to snow.  Here is what it looked like on our walk over today, of course with one of our daily protectors, Bobby, who you can see walking with one of our team members.

There was a baptism at our clinic today, very special day, one of our little babies and her older sister, who also spent 2-3 months in the clinic but went home soon after.  We also found out today that the government has decided to let the local authorities decide on the fate of the clinics, and so therefore we breathed a small sigh of relief.  At least it is not happening right at this moment, and maybe will give everyone some time to be able to find resources to help.  In the meantime, enjoyed our babies today, I spent some time with the energetic toddlers...might explain why I was so hungry and finished off everything on my plate. We also checked out Tiff's market down the street...might not have been such a good idea...good for the kids, picked up some cheerios and wafers for the kids, not so good for me...felt the need to try out the local chips and chocolate...chips were not salty enough but the chocolote->delish!!!!!

Off to Transylvania tomorrow!!!  Leaving bright and early so better get some reading on the place and catch up some zzzzzzzzzs!!!  Have a great weekend tomorrow!!

It's gloomy out

This was supposed to have been up yesterday, sorry...We had been hearing for two days that the Minister of Health would be visiting the clinic.  You could feel the tension in the air as the aides busily cleaned and re-cleaned every window, wiped down and re-wiped every windowsill, and mopped the floor over and over again.  We got news in the morning that they would definitely be dropping by at some point today and the kids seemed to sense that there was something going on as they were definitely not themselves.  Two ladies did come by apparently, but we were at lunch listening to a first hand account of what life was like growing up in a communist Romania from one of our country managers Dan.  When we returned to the clinic, we were greeted by a very relieved group of staff, and they happily posed for a group shot. 

Dan gave us a wonderful gift today when he shared about his childhood in communist Romania and early adulthood in the military.  It is amazing to hear about the food rations that they had, sometimes waiting in line for 24 hours for something like 2 lbs of meat/person/month, 1 L of sunflower oil/month, half a loaf of bread/day, and being able to watch only 2 hrs/day of T.V..  One of those hours was used for government news, and the rest divided up between cartoons and movies that were broadcast in a series.  He talked of having a happy childhood, reading a lot as they were allowed books from their public library.   It is inspiring how one's spirit, even in undesirable and dire circumstances, can shine bright and full of hope.  Democracy was obtained, but still a very long way to go...we also heard today that the closure of the hospital, along with 178 others, was likely to happen, with no plans that we have heard regarding the future of  the children.  Our hearts sank and continue to sink with this news, as we try to brainstorm and see what we could do to help. 

Filled with helplessness and great concern as to where the children we have grown to love will go, we continued our work with the adorables, here are a few snapshots of my day. 

And it snowed on our way home!  Being the only California girl, some of my teammates laughed as I was like, "what is this, is it snow?" :)  

boona boona!!!

Hi everyone, hope everyone is doing well.  We are having a great time here in our little town of Tutova.  The health minister is supposed to come visit us today so everyone on staff has been working extra hard to keep the clinic squeaky clean.  Speaking of staff, I don't think I mentioned that there is 1 charge nurse and 3 nursing attendants for the 20 kids.  They are so hard working!  By the time we get there at 9 am, they have bathed all the babies and have already completed one feeding. 

We now have formed somewhat of a routine, I continue to hang out with the little ones and am slowly accepting that habits are hard to break.  It breaks my little OT heart to feed the babies in supine but they seem to be so accustomed to eating that way that they won't eat in my arms, just like they don't fall asleep in my arms and prefer to rock themselves to sleep, sucking on their thumbs.  It also hit me really hard today while I was alone in the baby room and watching over them while they slept, that it is so sad that there are kids all over the world who are better off in places such as these or foster homes than with their mommies and daddies.  And, I was so grateful for places like this Tutova clinic who provide such a loving and clean home where the kids have many brothers and sisters to play with. 

The MD who is the director of the hospital was kind enough to request that I come up with some kind of a plan for an area to provide occupational therapy in the clinic and our country manager was very open to having home programs set up for these kids for continuity of care, so I'm also really excited!   The ideas for these projects keeps me up at night, in addition to trying to think of how we could somehow save these cute little dogs who are so affectionate and loving.   We will see how it goes...in the meantime, enjoy some cute pics of the little ones!!!