It's the weekend...

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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 a couple of natives. We've figured out the buses and most of the streets in the center of town. We take a microbus to work for 3 lei (1 USD equals 13 lei). At lunch, we take the trolleybus to the center of town for 1 lei. After lunch, Internet, and walking around, we head back to work on the 3 lei microbus. The other day I was trying to convince Wendy that we should take the trolleybus back to work since it's cheaper, even though it would drop us off further away from the orphanage. She pointed out that it's only 36 cents more to take the microbus, and do I really want to argue over 36 cents? No, not really! Microbus it is.

I cannot tell if we stand out as non-Moldovans when we are just walking around and keeping our mouths shut. I have had a few people come up to me and ask me a question, so I may be "passing." One way we do stand out, however, is that we are the frumpiest women under 70 in this city! Wendy mentioned how they dress here--crochet tops with a black (or no) bra, clingy polyester all over the place, and microskirts. Here we are dressed like a couple of gym teachers in our sensible shoes and modest tops and blouses. I have only seen one other person in closed toe shoes since I've been here!

We have had a wonderful few days working with our group of kids. We found out today that the majority of them are 4, just as we thought. There are two 3-year olds, who have older siblings in this group, and two (I think) 5 year olds.

Friday we handed out some photos I had brought with me (many of them came from some of you reading this!) , and these kids went nuts. I grabbed enough photos for each child to have one. First, I held each one up and told the kids what they were seeing. In some cases, they gave me the Moldovan word. Then I gave each kid a picture. It was so cute to watch them look at these photos. They showed them to each other, to their caregiver. They were trading them like baseball cards! And when we came back in the afternoon and they still had those pictures. The photo activity took about 45 minutes, so that's one we will use again and again. This morning (Saturday) I brought some more out and did the same thing. We got some great photos of them looking at their pictures and showing them around, so we will post them as soon as we are able.

Friday afternoon, we stopped by the Downs' group on the way to our 4 year olds. We hugged them and tickled them for a few minutes, but as we made our way to our own group, we noticed they were heading towards us. Their caregiver had them play near the Downs group for the entire afternoon! It was amazing to see these two groups interact. It is clear they all know each other and they play well together. I had Nicolietta from the Down's group on my lap, when 4-year old Roman wanted to play catch with us. He sat across from me, and I would cup my hands under Nicolietta and he would throw the ball to her. Most times she would catch it. Then she'd throw it back to him. That girl has a good arm! Whenever she caught it, he would clap for her. It was very sweet to be a part of.

Of course, my little man Andre was there, breaking hearts. He just loves to be held, and has a pretty good arm, too. But not as good as Nicolietta. He likes to sit on my legs while I make choo choo sounds. Kids really make you act foolish, don't they?

Well, Wendy and I didn't discuss our blogs before we sat at the computers today, so we may be repeating each other. I hope not. Thank you for all of your comments and emails. When I sit here in the A/C with a clean bathroom nearby, I almost feel like I'm home! 😊

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Comments

[Richard]

Nerd alert!!
13.32 Lei = $1, so 1 Lei is 7.5 cents. Thus the microbus costs 15 cents more than the trolley. I hope this will make you feel better. ;-)

[Wendy and Adrienne]

thanks for your clarification
We can always count on you to check out these details, Richard. We feel better about the bus and many things we calculate in our heads as we move throughout the day. Cheers and fun.