Thursday afternoon Chisenau thoughts

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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. This was our most expensive lunch yet.

Many of you have said that you can't read the comments ... we will try to figure that out this weekend when we have more time. Right now we are on a break -- a kind of siesta -- from the orphanage.

I don't know what happened yesterday with the Down's kids, but Yorgi, Nicolietta, and Andre ran us ragged when we took them for a walk in the afternoon. The first day, they kinda stuck close to us and played with other kids and didn't wander off too far. Yesterday they went WILD and had us running in six different directions, although there were only three of them. Their shoes kept falling off -- one has shoes far too big, and one has shoes that are too small. After one hour of that, we ended up sitting in the big playpen with them singing songs,

Say, Adrienne has just figured out how to publish the comments, so check it out.

Anyway, Andre had a major meltdown, but was fine, really. I suspect this is way more stimulation than they usually have. And, we got to play with the other children. The part that has me puzzled is that, at the end of the day, Tania came to get us, and the caretakers suggested that we play with a different group today -- something about they would understand us better, or vice versa, or the caretakers didn't understand why we were there ... ??? I'm not sure what happened, but today we played with a different group.

This new group are not Down's kids, and have various ages. It is obvious that they keep brothers and sisters together, since there are two sets of siblings in this group. Age-wise, the two younger siblings don't belong, but they are with their older sister/brother. I felt good about that.

So, I need another big suitcase and a carry-on for the older girl and younger brother, who are absolutely darling, and spent nearly the entire morning on each of my two knees. This little girl actually seems to understand my English -- I don't know how. And, the entire group is repeating everything we say in English. Furthermore, they are teaching us the words for ear, nose, eyes, etc. So, the teaching goes both ways.

Although there are about nine children in this group, there are exactly two toys for all of them that we have seen -- an inflatable ball that has a leak, and a tiny plastic doll that they call 'papooska.' And, they don't seem to know what to do with the ball -- they don't seem to know how to play together. We'll do what we can to remedy this situation.

This group's caretaker is a stereotypical Russian matron -- heaveyset, very stern, and a babushka. When she says soemthing, those kids 'snap to' like you wouldn't believe. When Adrienne and I say something, they just look at us and laugh. Even Adrienne and I are afraid of the caretaker. These kids come in from outside, change into their indoor shoes, potty and wash hands, then sit at the table SILENTLY for 10-15 minutes while the Russian matron goes to get their lunch. You would never see this in our country; nor would we expect kids to sit silently for that long. Of course, one of the kids was pinching the other one's arm, but that's beside the point.

On to other observations ... we have been here less than one week, but already we have been downtown twice and run into people we know. Last Sunday we bumped into Nicole, another volunteer from Switzerland that we had met the day before. Yesterday, we ran into Tania's brother -- from the famous Sunday wine breakfast. I don't think I often run into people I know in Austin -- though I have a much wider circle of acquaintances/friends there (of course, there are more people in Austin as well).

Another observation ... we were specifically told to dress modestly, and both of us left behind our sleevess tops, halters, shorts, etc. You should SEE the people on the street here! I haven't seen so much skin, not even in Austin in the 100 degree heat! Black bras seem to be a big thing here, as many women wear sheer see-thru blouses with a black bra underneath. We have seen some with no bra at all, which is astonishing. Furthermore, no one stares at these women at all, not men nor women. Just as we came up here, I saw a woman in a bustierre (sp?), and you could pretty much check out anything. Needless to say, we are missing our summer clothing, and I even went to buy some sleeveless tops. It's hot here! I know, I know ... not was hot as Austin, but there's no AC and I'm pretty warm mostly the entire day.

We take what is called a 'microbus' to work -- a van you have to flag down, and then it pulls up on the sidewalk for you to get in. People open the door, get in, and take a seat or stand hunched over until a seat becomes available or they have to get off. You don't give your money to the driver when you get on, you wait until you have your place, then send up your 3 lei (about 45 cents). People hand it over and over toward the front until the driver gets it. If you get change, the driver hands it back to the first person, and on it goes until it reaches you. The driver has a string that runs from where he sits to the door handle, in case someone doesn't shut the door tightly enough.

Well, that's enough for today -- watch out for Adrienne's blog. We are trying to arrange stories so that we don't tell the same story twice. Hope you are enjoying the blogs as much as we are enjoying your notes. Keep 'em coming, and hope you can read the messages now.

Cheers,
W.

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Comments

[Jill]

Just a few thoughts...
Adrienne--what an adventure! The pizza sounds GREAT! :-) Reminds me of something we recently had in mainland China! The work you guys are doing at the orphanage is so moving...makes me want to send you a crate of suitcases to bring them all home in...we are all enjoying your blogs--I forward them to Daphney, Nydia and Dave daily. Keep up the great work you are doing and let the experience take you where it may...after the first few days, it sounds like you guys can adapt to just about anything.