Blogs from Chisinau, Centre, Moldova, Europe - page 7

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 close behind. All caretakers were in hysterics as Andre made a beeline for Adrienne, and Nicolietta positioned herself above my lap and plopped down. It took at least five minutes for their own caretaker to realize they were missing, and she knew exactly where to find them ... we were all still laughing when she appeared at the corner and came to retrieve them. Nicolietta ... read more

(From Adrienne): Not 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 us they went crazy. Andre has this wave that uses his entire body, and his face literally lights up. Even my heart of stone melts at the sight of him. It's funny how during our first week, the caregivers of this group asked us to move on to another since we couldn't understand each other, and now they are ... read more

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 became the subject of much laughter between Adrienne and me that afternoon. This new behavior of saying precisely what we think will have to change when we get to a different city where English is more commonly understood. It will cease completely when we hit U.S. soil again. The other evening I answered the phone with the normal ... read more

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 cooler than the previous few days, and our spirits were immediately soaring. Because the children stay indoors when it rains, and because our current group just stays in their cribs when they are indoors, we took it upon ourselves to take the morning off since we weren't really needed. Now, in our real jobs, we would NEVER do that! We slept in a bit, had a ... read more

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 English and gestures, and I find this works just as well and is much easier. I won't describe all the times this has worked for me, but it's astonishing how two dissimilar languages can be understood when you put the right gestures together. Anyway, I whipped out my credit card to pay for the camera memory, when I understood that ... read more