http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/WendyAdrienneMoldova/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from WendyAdrienneMoldova en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 23:54:04 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 23:54:04 BST We wanted to share some additional photos with you all. We have more than a hundred but will limit this entry to just a few http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-117924.html Hello Friends and Family Wendy and Adrienne here. We thought we would take advantage of our last evening here in Istanbul to upload a few photos of the orphans despite the very slow wireless network.Hope you enjoy the pics. The only thing we miss about Moldova are these children. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104464.html Here are some of the photos of where we lived in Chisenau Moldova. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104462.html Hello Again Friends and Family Adrienne and Wendy here.It's our last day and time to describe all the tidbits of cultural differences we have experienced here. We hope you will be amused by them.Walking in ChisenauSidewalks as we know them in the U.S. do not exist in Chisenau. At best they are blobs of pavement but never are they without cracks holes and everpresent mud and dirt. Often th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104461.html Hey y'all it's an entry from both Adrienne and Wendy togetherWe just left the orphanage for the last time. As you can imagine we are both very sad but we had a wonderful sendoff. The director allowed us to visit each of the groups we worked with over the past 3 weeks. We were able to get lots of hugs and cuddles see some silly dances and feel like a rock star each time we entered a room. Who http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104460.html Hi everyone. It's Adrienne and I just wanted to piggyback on Wendy's comments about what happened at the orphanage this morning. The morning had actually started out very good. Because of the weather we were inside and three of the older kids were getting new clothes because they will be starting school next week. It was really cool to see how proud they were in these clothes which are a bit http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104458.html Hello All Wendy here. Today brings some rainy weather in Moldova and the temperature has got to be in the 60's because even I feel like I need a sweater. This is a huge improvement over the extraordinarily hot weather we experienced last week.In spite of the clouds and threatening rain our group's caretaker wanted them to go outside for a little while and we soon saw why. About twenty volun http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104457.html Adrienne here. At the orphanage this morning we checked in with the director to find out which group we would be assigned to this week. We were given Group 8 which is the group of 6 and 7 year olds that we were unofficially playing with last week when we were assigned the 2 year olds that play next to them. So there was no need to learn new names or try to break the ice which was nice.When we http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104456.html Hello readers from Adrienne.As you know we have been working with 2 year olds for the past few days. For some reason however they play with the 6 and 7 year olds which has created some difficulties because the older kids want to be picked up and held just like we do with the little ones. Their neediness is heartbreakingthey are like 3 year olds in 6 year old bodies.For some reason today wa http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104455.html Hello Everyone Wendy here.Our day was made yesterday by an incident at the orphange that melted not just our hearts but all of the caretakers in our vicinity ...We were doing our thing with the toddlers when suddenly around the corner popped two of our ambulatory Downs kids at high speed running directly for us. Andre with his huge smile and distinctive gait led the way with Nicolietta clo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104454.html From AdrienneNot that we are counting down or anything but as of tomorrow we only have one week left in Moldova It is amazing how in 2 weeks the children at the orphanage know us and look forward to seeing us. I think the softest spots in our hearts are still for our first group. This morning their caregiver took them on a walk to our area of the yard today. When Andre and Nicollietta saw http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104453.html Hello Friends and Family Wendy here.Adrienne and I find that since the majority of people here do not speak English at all there is no censorship in verbalizing our thoughts. We had another microbus incident the other day when a man was getting off the ahead of me and slammed the door in my face as if he were the last person off. Out loud I told him exactly what I thought of that and this b http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104452.html Hello All Wendy here. Adrienne and I are here at the Internet place again and have a few things to say regarding our last couple of days.Today found me conducting another business transaction this time buying camera memory. In my younger days I have always done my best to learn the native language and use it as much as I can. I don't know what's happened but now I prefer to talk in Engli http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104451.html It is Wednesday and Wendy and I figured we are over halfway finished with this leg of our journey. Even though we feel we have bonded with the children at the orphanage and adore our time with them we are definitely looking forward to moving on to our next stop Istanbul not Constantinople.Yesterday we woke up to the greatest sound in the world...rain The temperature was around 10 degrees co http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104449.html It's Adrienne and I wanted to write a quick update about our Monday. As Wendy mentioned our morning did not go well. One reason may be the weather. It is so hot and humid here so we are constantly miserable and sweating with nothing but a cold shower to provide relief I never thought I would appreciate a cold shower but there you go. Our host said it was 40 degrees Celsius yesterday and th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104448.html Hello Friends and Family Wendy here.Adrienne and I looked forward to being with the kids again on Monday after having one day off. We were however not prepared for our children showing up in the playground looking like zombies. They looked like little robots each with a toy in their hands.Their caretaker a woman we had not yet met named Anna was not interested in engaging the children in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104447.html Adrienne writing to you from the McDonald's Internet Cafe. Apparently McDonald's is Moldovan for very nice bathroom. Since bathrooms have been such a prevalent part of my diary I feel compelled to share that with you. So if you are ever in Moldova and find you need a bathroom break look for a McDonalds. Just don't eat anything.We've been here over a week and are getting around Chisenau like http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104446.html Hello Friends and Familiy Wendy here. Yep you guessed it we're back at our Internet place. Today we tried a different cafe and I ordered a dish that showed up as veal cutlet covered in onion and mushrooms. Pretty tasty. Adrienne's was a chicken skewer with vegetables that was wrapped in an egg omelettey looking thing. Unusual to see but tasty.We now feel qualified to write a book called Mol http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104445.html Hi all it's Adrienne. We finally figured out what some of your comments meantthat you could not see other comments because we need to do something on our side. So I just went through and approved them all so there is bit more reading for you. I have to say that it is so nice to read these notes. While I'm online I totally forget I'm in another country except for the everpresent Moldovian tech http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104444.html Hello Friends and Family Wendy here. We're back at the Internet place downtown as it's difficult to resist. Computers and connections that work and only 60 cents per hour.We just had a really good lunch mine was 'aubergines cooked in a homely way' which turned out to be eggplant with tomato and garlic good vegetable eating. We both had a Turkish coffee as well and paid about 5.50 each http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104443.html