Superstitions

I'm not going to lie, this week was rough. I woke up early Monday morning ready to officially start in my room at the orphanage when I got very sick and had to stay home for two days. However, the good news is that our washing machine and exploding pipes finally got fixed! Remember last week how I was saying that when I complain about things, worse things happen? I got my final lesson (hopefully) on that this week. I was complaining about being sick and not being able to go to the orphanage along with a few other trivial things. So naturally, Wednesday night, our toilet broke. So we had no working toilet in our apartment for 36 hours. And we were all sick. It made a broken washing machine and exploding pipes seem like a dream house. I ended up staying at another apartment for a night which was actually fun but I was thrilled when our toilet was finally functional again. Life sure does have a funny way of putting things into perspective.

Supporting my cougars all the way from Romania for the big rivalry game this weekend.

I've decided that the reason I am having such bad luck is because of the many superstitions here in Romania. I read about a few of them before I came but didn't pay much attention to them. However, because I have recently been getting the worst luck, I decided to do a little research. Here are a few that I found: 1. Seeing an ambulance brings bad luck, unless you pinch your nose right away or hold your breath until you see a brown or black dog. We live by a very busy street and an ambulance drives by literally every 10-15 minutes. So no wonder I have had such bad luck! The dog thing is a bit of a problem but if I needed another excuse to get a puppy, this is it. 2. The next superstition I found is if a black cat will cross the road in front of you, you will have bad luck. This is a better known superstition and there are hundreds of wild cats roaming around the city. So if I needed any more reasons to hate cats, this is it. 3. If you spill water on the floor, never wash it with your foot. Well when pipes are exploding in my kitchen and water is spreading everywhere, I had to use my feet to move the towels around because my hands were too busy frantically trying to use the phone. So that one just isn't fair. 4. If you catch a falling leaf on the first day of autumn, you will not be cold all winter. This superstition is very important because with my luck, our heaters will all break and we will freeze all winter. So you can betcha that on September 22nd I will be running around the park frantically trying to catch leaves.

This is not me in the picture, but it is my roommate Katie! We all love to come and sit under these tree's and read in the afternoons.

However, there is hope for my bad luck! There are two positive superstitions that I found as well. 1. If you dream of killing a bear, it is a signal that you're free of all tangles in your life. 2. If you dream of yourself with false teeth, you will have unexpected help for your problems. So everyone cross your fingers this week that I will dream of either killing a bear or having false teeth. Better yet, lets just hope that I dream of killing a bear while wearing false teeth. That would surely fix all of my problems.

I am definitely going to miss this Palace. I finally got to see it with the lights on this week.

The room in the orphanage I got put in is called Bambi 1. My roommate Katie got put into that room as well so we will have a lot of fun. We have 12 kids total and they are between the ages of 2 and 4 with a few exceptions. There are three kids who are usually in their cribs or wheelchairs and are less functional. The rest have very minor to no disabilities and are playful as can be. And by that I mean they have tons of energy that they need to get out and are not afraid to do that when we are there. We spend the first two hours outside on the playground with a similar group and so I get to know those kids as well. Then we all come inside and the workers take most of the kids to work on potty training or give them a bath while we hang out with a few of the kids. Then the last half hour, the kids all come into the room and we put on music and it turns into mass chaos. They love to dance around and sometimes get a little too carried away. Then we drop them off at the cafeteria for lunch and head on our way.

The view from the food court at the mall. So beautiful! I can't wait until it snows and everything is white.

I'm going to be honest, I was less than thrilled when I found out which room I was going to be in. I had made such a connection with every other section in the orphanage and I wanted so badly to be in those instead. However, I went in with a softened heart and an open mind. After spending about 20 minutes with these kids, I can honestly say that I am exactly where I need to be and I cannot imagine spending my mornings anywhere else. Each child has such a unique personality and I already feel like I am getting to know them. I love seeing their faces light up when we walk in, or the cute little scrunched-nose smiles they get right before they burst into a fit of giggles when we tickle them. I love how they are constantly coming up and grabbing my hand, pulling me over to a swing, or to show me something magical that they found in the dirt. I especially love sitting there listening to them babble on and on in Romanian about something exciting and all I can do it smile and nod and say "Da" ("Yes") every once in a while. Verbal communication with them is next to nothing. But emotional communication has never been easier for me. I wish I could post pictures of all of my kids for you to see because oh my goodness are they cute. However, I am not allowed to take or post pictures because of security and privacy reasons.

One night we were hanging out by the palace and a group came to perform. They sang some songs from Phantom of the Opera, Mamma Mia, Somewhere over the Rainbow, and a few Disney songs. They were in English which was fun and I felt like I was in a real life Fairy-tail while listening and looking at the Palace.

Each week I will introduce you to one of my kids who I will give nicknames so you know who I am talking about. This week I will talk about one of my new favorite little boys on the planet. I will call him Gus Gus (yes, like from Cinderella). Gus Gus just turned 3 and he is so ridiculously chubby and cute. He has the biggest cheeks and widest eyes and cutest little smile. Whenever he walks in to a room, he looks straight at you, puts on the biggest smile, and runs full force into your arms. He loves sitting on your lap and being tickled. He also loves food more than anyone else in the world. Its like he has a sixth sense. Whenever anyone has any kind of food, he finds it and is right there waiting for you to give him some within seconds. However, this also causes him to have a biting problem. We constantly find bite marks on other kids arms or legs. One time I was playing peek a boo with him and he was all happy and smiles when all of a sudden he grabbed my hand, stuck my finger in his mouth and bit down HARD. So if we go a day without getting bit, it's a win for us! But he is still my little Gus Gus and I love him already.

Well that's all for this week! I could probably go on forever with stories but my blogs are all so long already. I also didn't take very many pictures this week. Sorry! We start in the hospital this week which is exciting. Talk to you all next week!