The end of an adventure

I debated for the past few days on whether or not to do a final post about my trip home (which was pretty terrible). In addition to not wanting to leave in general, I had to head to the airport at 4:30 am Thursday morning. After that, the lines were incredibly chaotic but that wasn't the worst part (I could handle it since I was so early). We got on the plane at 6:00 am (I couldn't even stay awake 1 minute... the flight attendant had to wake me up to make sure it was ok that I was in an emergency exit seat), took off, and then turned around about 5 minutes later and landed back in Bucharest due to a fuel leak. After sitting on the plane (we couldn't get off) for 2.5 hours, we finally took off again. That massive delay meant no trip to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam... I was not a happy camper. Once I got over that, I slept in the Amsterdam airport for about an hour and then got on the long flight back to the states. I finally made it into Roanoke around 7:00 pm Thursday night and back home about an hour later. I slept pretty much until Saturday afternoon and then experienced some pretty major dehydration that I am just now recovering from. I'm also having some nose and head problems but I'm trying to rest so that I'm ready to fly out to California on Thursday and then Dallas next week.

So, that is it for Romania (for now). Once my life gets back in order here and I stop traveling, I'm going to work on my first package of pictures and goodies to send back over there. Hopefully, I will also have more pictures soon from everyone else on the trip so you all will be able to see some of the sites that I wasn't able to capture!

Oh! On a side note, I'm seriously considering going into Child Life now after having been on this trip with all these wonderful doctors and nurses. There's a fellowship program in Dallas that I am probably going to apply for in next year and I'm excited at the prospect of actually working in a job where I can really help children and families!

A great last day

After our late night yesterday, we sleep in somewhat and got up and going around 8:00 am. We had an amazing continental breakfast in the restaurant next to our hotel and then left to go visit some castles. Our first stop was only 15 minutes away (since we were already in Bran) and it was the Bran Castle, known better as Dracula's castle. At this castle and the other castle we visited, you had to pay extra to take pictures. Dr. Stan and Dr. White offered to take pictures for us so I don't have any pictures yet of the inside of the castle except for the ones that I snuck in when no one was looking (a few of us did that).



This castle was kind of bare but still interesting. After walking around all the floors, we went back into the touristy area and did some shopping. A lot of people bought these hand sewn table clothes and woven shirts. I just got a simple black scarf. We had to grab lunch before hopping back on the bus and most of us got this hollow bread that was delicious. Mine was a very light caramel flavor, was doughy, and was just wonderful!


After that, we drove around an hour or so (I've lost track of time with all this driving and because no one really cares about time here) and made it to Peleş Castle, where the queen and king used to live.


It was much more ornate and gorgeous than Dracula's castle. The fee for cameras was even worse this time ($20 compared to the $5 for Dracula's castle) so only Dr. White brought his camera in. We had to wear these little bootie things during the tour and it was all pretty amazing.


There was intricate woodwork EVERYWHERE and also amazing glass work. Once I get the pictures from both castles, I will get them posted.

After a little more shopping around Peleş, we began to head back towards Bucharest for the night. We left around 4:00 and figured it would be about a 2 hour drive. However, knowing how all our drives had been in the past, we though 2 hours would turn into 5 or so. Fortunately, it didn't for a change! About an hour into the drive though, we got stuck in traffic. Since we hadn't moved in a few minutes, Bruce got out of the bus and ran ahead to see what the deal was. Apparently, they were doing construction on a bridge ahead of us and closed our two lanes down, just had one lane open on the other side, and they were letting the other traffic go for awhile before letting our side go. During our wait, Monica was waving to a baby in a dump truck with her dad out the window. Since we knew we'd be there for awhile, she got off the bus and gave the girl some candy.

After about 15 minutes, we finally got to go and arrived in Bucharest around 6:30 pm. I was pretty surprised that we actually arrived at one of our hotels when it was still light outside! We checked in, met in the lobby at 7:15 and then had a long, slow, and interesting dinner in the restaurant in the hotel next door. It was interesting because the dishes were just strange and my pasta had a ton of salt on it much like everything else we've eaten here. I think we finished there around 9:00 or so and then hung out in the lobby for a bit to hear about Kathy and Rica's story. Basically, they tried to escape Romania under the Iron Curtain, got caught, were held in a camp in Yugoslavia, and were then saved by an American ambassador who helped them get to America. We also reminisced about the trip and our experiences, said some of our goodbyes (since I leave first at 6:00 and the doctors leave at 7:00 to head to Venice and we all wouldn't see each other in the morning), and then dispered for bed. It's about 12:30 am here and I am catching the hotel shuttle to the airport in 4 hours. I land in Amsterdam around 8:00 am and have tickets to the Anne Frank house for 9:00 am. I hope on my next flight to Detroit around 1:00 pm and then I begin the trek back to the US. I land (if everything is on time) just after 7:00 pm in Roanoke.

This has been an amazing trip and I really fell in love with one of the towns and the people here (Rogova). I hope to stay in touch with some of my new friends through Kathy and I hope to come back sometime in a few months or so. I'm excited for the influence that I hope to play on the girls' lives who I've connected with here and I'm also hoping to be involved with Bruce's group and the work that they do in the future. Even though are not a lot of the luxuries here (or even some of the more normal things) that we have in the states, I feel like I don't want to leave. I want to spend more time in Rogova getting to know that amazing community and being a part of their everyday lives. So, with a heavy heart I leave here and hope for many wonderful things in the future!

Pictures from our last day --> http://picasaweb.google.com/JELeventhal/Day7#

One painfully long day

Last night was a bit of a mess. Schantile woke up sick and rummaged through all her stuff for about 15 minutes which basically ruined sleeping the rest of the night for me. When I woke up at 6:00, I was really tired. We were supposed to leave at 7:00 am this morning but our bus was late and we didn’t start heading out of Severin until around hour. Our bus ride to the next stop was supposed to be 4 hours, but 9 hours and 3 bathroom/McDonalds stops later, we made it to Sighisoara.



While there, we walked around this clock tower and went into some shops. It was just a small town area with a German feel (it was developed by Germans).




After an hour and a half of being off the bus, we of course got back on the bus and drove another 2.5 hours into Bran (I think that’s where we are but I really have no idea). We got in around 10:00 pm and Rica wanted us to go eat. Since a lot of us just wanted to sleep, we managed to get out of eating and head to our hotel room. It is pretty nice and modern although it all smells like smoke (which is nothing new). During all this traveling today, we played a ton of games on the bus to pass the time like a song game and charades. I wish I had the energy to describe everything more but today was such a blur and I am so tired that it is probably not going to happen. Also, this post will probably officially be posted tomorrow (Wednesday) since there is only internet in the lobby and I am really not interested in smelling even worse like smoke after being down there.

Pictures of our Severin hotel and of day 6 are here --> http://picasaweb.google.com/JELeventhal/Day6AndHotel#

Our Last Clinic

We began the day around 9:00 am and made our way out to a neighboring town of Lupsa. We arrived around 10:00 and there was already a big crowd waiting in the lobby of the consulate/mayor’s office where we were holding the clinic. After basically herding everyone out into the foyer, we moved a lot of furniture and set up our pharmacy, intake area, waiting areas, and doctor rooms. Since we didn’t have a large, open space for the children, they basically waited in line and Elena and I passed out toys to them as they came through our “security” (i.e., Rush who is a very tall and intimidating man who had to block the doorway to prevent everyone from pushing through). I was also a runner for the day, directing people to the farmachia (pharmacy), communicating back and forth between the two doctor rooms (on other ends of the hallway) or helping calm children down. It was incredibly busy all day and a lot of families with children were standing in a small area for almost 2 hours at times. We had a few riots break out when we got out of order on our numbers and everyone noticed so we had to calm things down every now and then with our translators. Around noon, Rica came through and tried to tell half the group to go to lunch but he ended up telling almost everyone to go. A couple of us who had a problem leaving when there were so many people to see, stayed around to be in the second lunch group but once we found out that they were driving to Lupsa and eating there, we decided it wasn’t worth it to go during the second trip. During the first trip (when there were just a few of us there), Elena and I had to be security and the runners which was not easy. Dragoush, one of our interpreters, was supposed to be security but kept disappearing! After about an hour, everyone else came back and things were back to normal. The first group brought us some food and we had some bread and drinks from earlier (as well as the candy that was by me) that we had been snacking on. Most of us just didn’t feel right leaving all those people who had been waiting so long to go eat when we were ok with those snacks; it was not fair to everyone. We had about 350 people come through this day (I think) so there were a lot of people to see in just a short amount of time.

Halfway through the day we had a gypsy family come in and they were very respectful and patient. Everyone of course had to come out of their rooms to get pictures of them. We also played a lot of jokes on each other throughout the day. The doctors told Rica that he had high blood pressure and made him dance like a ballerina (I’m not kidding), stand on one foot, and then lay down in a weird position for about 10 minutes. Then, aside from making fun of his name all day, Sammy and I put some funky medications in Soso’s clinic bag, like things for diarrhea. We also had some fun with pictures at the end of the day. We tried to get an “under 30” shot and poor Jon felt bad because he was 31 (I meant to include him), so he got back in but Soso kept making bunny ears and everyone was just laughing away. We went back to Rica and Kathy’s for dinner (spaghetti and flan), took out all the leftover medicine and toys, and then came back to the hotel around 9:30 pm. On the bus ride back, Schantile pulled out a very phallic looking picture that she grabbed from the table (it had other info. on the back that she needed earlier) and told us that she thought a child drew it and that it was an ear. Everyone pretty much though it was something more phallic and after everyone passed it around and got a good laugh in, Dr. Stan told us it was his picture and it was an ear! We laughed for a good 10 minutes after that and cracked a lot more jokes about his drawing and anatomy! I know we are all happy that the group has gotten along so well and has enjoyed each other’s company. Bruce is taking another medical mission trip in June/July (they try to do 2 medical ones a year) and it is going to be in Africa. Some of us are trying to go and hopefully if we do, we can all be in the same trip again (there will be 3 going in the summer). I’m already planning ahead for that because I think going there with some people from this group would be absolutely amazing!

Since I’m not sure where we are staying our last two nights, this might be the last post until I get back into the states. We leave tomorrow morning at 7:00 am to head to Bran to see Dracula’s castle and then we’re going to some other castle. I think we are staying in Brasov tomorrow night but I really have no idea. On Wednesday we will see two more castles and maybe stay in Bucharest that night so we are close to the airport for Thursday. Even though I don’t know where we will officially be, I do know that we will slowly be making our way back east towards Bucharest over the next two days. So if you do not hear from me again, pa (bye) from Romania!

P.S. Since I am tired of getting eaten alive by mosquitoes and of smelling like smoke from the lobby, I did not upload any pictures into this post because it takes too long. Check them out from Day 5 at http://picasaweb.google.com/JELeventhal/Day5#

So much but only one important thing...

I haven't blogged in two days and while a lot has gone on since the last post, I can only think about on thing and that is last night. Before I get to that though, I'll just quickly sum up the past two days.

On Saturday morning, we held a last minute clinic in Severin at Rica and Kathy's house/church. We only had about 50 people stop by since it was a spur of the moment thing and it was much more organized than the clinic in Rogova. Everyone waited at the door and families came in one at a time.


We had a late lunch at 2:00 (which has been pretty normal for us), had about an hour of down time at the house and then went back out to Rogova for the night. I'll come back to Rogova in a minute. When we got to the hotel last night, there was a wedding going on upstairs. When we walked into the lobby, it was literally filled with smoke from everyone. It was terrible! I had to cover my nose and basically run down the hall, even though the smell was almost down to our room as well.

Today, we had a sampling of churches. Ricca and Sammy (his son-in-law) are the pastors of the Severin, Rogova, and Lupsa churches so they have busy Sundays. Since we were in Rogova last night, we only went to Severin and Lupsa today. We started with a service in Severin at 10:00, ate lunch at 12:30, had a service to Lupsa at 2:00, then came back to Severin for the evening service at 6:00. Each service was 2 hours long, fairly boring and was almost all in Romanian which made it harder to stay awake. Needless to say, I dozed off a bit which was all due to feeling somewhat under the weather (a cough and lack of sleep). At each service we introduced ourselves and then had a receiving line basically at the end to shake EVERYONE's hand and kiss everyone. I told people I've been to more churches today than ever in my life and I think I was kissed more today also! The one highlight of the day (aside from our joke we played later that night), was a teenager who told me that I didn't look any older than 20! She was 17 and came with us to Lupsa. She is from a fairly well-off family here, spoke good English, and is hoping to study languages one day. For dinner, we had macaroni and cheese and we were all pretty excited. Jon and I both took big pieces, dug in, and then realized that they used the super salty cheese from the pastries the night before and it was interesting.... they told us to pour sugar on it like they do and it did actually make it better. After that, we loaded the bags up and then pooled all our money together to get exchanged tomorrow (I'll explain why later). About half the group made it out to the bus and the other half got held up inside (this happens a lot). Since we were tired of waiting on the bus, we told our awesome bus driver Victor to pretend to drive off and hide out across the street. He did that and when Jon came out and didn't see us, I ran across the gas station and told him to go in and tell everyone that we had left (to scare them). They all then quickly came outside and looked around for us. Once they figured out the joke, we picked everyone up and had a good laugh (one of many on the entire trip). Now Schantile and I are down in the lobby working on uploading pictures.

Now for the main event in Rogova last night. We went to a church service/dedication service around 4:00. Since we had time before everything started, we walked around the village. When the bus pulled up, we were met by a group of boys who had been there the day before and they walked around with us. We walked by a lot of old ladies sitting with children on benches and we spent some time talking with them. We also walked to one of the old orthodox churches next to the community center where the people of Rogova used to have their church services.





The boys had mentioned Michael Jackson the day before (and we had done a couple of dance moves then), so they kept saying Michael Jackson to me and looking at my pants for my paint markers (I had them hiding in there... once I drew on one of them, I'd have to do them all!). When we got back to the church, my posse of girls found me right away and were yelling my name and telling me to come sit with them. I was originally sitting with my teenage friends (I have all the names confused but will figure them out for sure before I leave) until they had to go prepare for the mandalin performance and the choir performance. Then, the teen's younger sister and one of the twins (both of who Jon and I printed some pictures of us with them and brought them to them that night) came to sit with me. During the entire service (about 2-2.5 hours), those girls never let me go. We were holding hands for awhile and then I had my arms around them both. When I crossed my legs, they crossed their legs. When I sighed, they sighed. One of them even had her hand on my heart for awhile. The other girl laid down in my lap and I rubbed her back for about 15 minutes. Afterward we had the ribbon cutting ceremony (where I gracefully stepped in a huge pile of cow poo but not too badly) and then we passed out 500 sandwhiches to everyone (some had about 10 in bags to take back to their families) and one of the girls would not let my hand go then either. She handed out cups while I poured coke. All the Americans got called into the kitchen for a break and for food and the twins came with us since their mom was the cook. After we had a few minutes of down time in there, some of or other favorite children (specifically the teenagers) came in there and it was like a paparazzi fest in there! We were all taking pictures with everyone and it was wonderful!!! A lot of us are planning on printing the pictures out in the states and fedexing them to Rica and Kathy so that they can give them to everyone (they normally don't get their pictures). When it was finally time to leave, we all hugged each other prob. 10 times and the three younger girls would not let me go. They kept saying "Julia, no... Julia no..." and held on to my waist so tightly. I basically had to pull them off of me and begrudgingly run into the bus. Because of those girls, I wish we could have spent more time in Rogova and even have stayed there to get to know those people better. I am planning on keeping in touch with the girls, especially since the older ones talked about coming to American (specifically Chicago) for some reason. I'd like to send them nail polish and jump ropes and other fun things that they were asking for as well. Those girls have made my trip so far and I haven't been able to stop thinking about them and our time together. I will be coming back here for sure, especially after that experience. It's hard to explain what I feel in words because it was just so tender and special. There were about 150 people who showed up at the service and it was hot, stuffy and crowded in there but none of that mattered.





To finish up, we have a tentative plan for the last few days here. Tomorrow is our last clinic in Lupsa and the surrounding villages. Early Tuesday morning, we leave for Brasov, to see Dracula's castle and a few other castles over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday and then we leave on Thursday :(

Check out pictures from Days 3 & 4 --> http://picasaweb.google.com/JELeventhal/Days3And4#

Awesome first clinic

Today we had our first clinic in the town/village of Rogova. We got up and moving around 9:30 am but it took us much longer than we thought to get there. It was supposed to take 30 minutes to get to Rogova (according to our trip leader who tends to be off on his estimations) but it took just over an hour. The road was closed at one point due to a wreck and since it didn't look like it was going to be cleared anytime soon, we drove off the road and went through a bumpy alley and hill as a detour (we literally got bumped out of our seats and almost hit the top of the bus at one point). When we got to Rogova, the church where we were holding the clinic was already about halfway full.



After moving a lot of the furniture around (through the windows), we created a pharmacy area (in a closed off room so they could not steal the medicine), and intake area, two doctor's offices in the back, and a kid's area on the stage. While everyone set up their specific spaces, I kind of wandered around seeing who needed help since I didn't need to set much up yet. Once we started, Elena (a former teacher) and I started passing out toys and encouraging children to color with us on the stage. After being organizing for about 20 minutes, the grandmothers and mothers started crowding around our toy suitcase and pressuring us for more toys and also sending in random kids from the street. It was like this for about 2 hours of on and off crowding around that area and it was hard to tell them no but we only have enough toys for 1 per kid. While that was going on, there was also chaos on the stage with a ton of coloring and noise. I pulled out some washable paint pens and started face painting and then I had a crowd of kids around me nonstop for the rest of the day asking for dogs, cats, flowers, butterflies, girls, and boys to be drawn all over their arms and faces. A few of the children helped translate some of the designs for me so I'd know what everyone was asking for! Finally, when we cleaned the stage up around 1:00, we aired up two of the soccer balls and went out back for about 2 hours to play soccer, volleyball, and hopscotch. Two teenage girls were there and understood some of our English. They also learned some Spanish from the telenovas here and so Elena and I were talking to them in Spanish for the rest of the day! They were a lot of fun and we played so many different games with them. We told them we were coming back tomorrow to see them in the choir and play the mandalin and they were pretty excited!



As I was trying to sneak inside for lunch, one of the girls pulled me aside to show me her English homework dealing with the present tense. We talked for a bit and then I managed to make it in around 3:00 pm for lunch. After lunch, I went back out into the main part of the church and did a lot more face painting as well as blowing up balloons and hanging out with the teens some more. Everything started to slow down around 4:30/5:00 and there was a slow trickle out until about 6:00 or so. Of course while all of this was going on with me, the doctors and nurses saw 253 people with a wide range of issues (some of which included TB, hepatitis, and worms...). There was good organization throughout and everything ran pretty smoothly. It was chaotic at times though with the children because we had all the mothers smothering us and even had to call over Jon (a guy pretty much serving as our videographer for the trip) to come over and help with crowd/child control!

When we left Rogova, we went back to Rica and Kathy's house for dinner and we all just talked about our favorite people or issues of the day. One of the toughest things I had to do today was consult with a mother about her autistic son. Paige (one of the nurses) came out to get me this afternoon to see if I could offer suggestions to a mother about what to do with her son. When I came in, she was crying and had just run out of patience (she had two other children as well). The child was high functioning but incredibly hard to engage (he would never connect with me). Since I knew they didn't have access to beneficial toys or services here, I gave her a few ideas and I also let her know that all parents like this feel frustrated and helpless (this was all through a translator). Paige said it also really helped when I told her that her child was really smart (I did a little sequencing assessment in the room), so hopefully she left with a little boost of confidence in herself as a mother. For dinner, we had pork chops (which I thought was chicken), cucumber and tomato salad, mashed potatoes, and these great apple pastries for dessert. We pretty much left right after dinner (around 9:15) because everyone actually wanted to have an early night for once! When we got back to the hotel, Schantile checked me for lice (I saw a lot of flakes and stuff in the hair and some of the children were hugging me throughout the day). After the lice checking (I was good), I got a french braid! I also had her check out my ankle that I twisted and it's a little swollen so I'll be wrapping it tomorrow to prevent further injury.

The plan for tomorrow is to get going around 9:45 am and we are going to do a last minute clinic at the church in Severin until lunch. Then, we are heading back to Rogova around 4:00 I think for a church service or a choir performance or something like that. Afterward, we are just heading back to the hotel for another "early" (i.e., 10:00 pm) night. I just posted new pictures from Day 2 on Picasa so check it out http://picasaweb.google.com/JELeventhal/Day2# Normally I post more pictures in my blog posts but since I'm on the Romanian site, the formatting is all weird and it's a lot more trouble to do them here.

On a side note, it's 11:00 pm and this is the earliest I've be done for the night so far! I'm about to head upstairs, take a shower and then I might actually be in bed by midnight for a change!!!

Today was a much better day

Check out pictures!!! --> http://picasaweb.google.com/JELeventhal/TravelAndDay1#

Today was a great day, which was nice especially after such a long and painful day yesterday! We started off around 10:30 am with a brief orientation of what we'd be doing and the history of the group we are with. After that, we headed out to the village of Lupsa (pronounced as Loop-sha) to visit one of the feeding centers. It was about an hour away but this time, we sat in the back row and had much more room! However, it was also much worse in terms of feeling the bumps especially when we turned off the main road and onto the rocky road.



When we got to the feeding center (where the local children come for free lunch everyday), we went in with the younger children first and probably totally overwhelmed them. We were all crammed in the little room and EVERYONE was taking pictures. These children were probably wondering what in the world was going on! When they were done, we gave them a whole bunch of stuff outside.



They got candy, bracelets, bubbles, and then I pulled out the balloons and chalk and we drew pictures all of the ground for a bit. When they left, the next group of children who were a little older came in and the same thing happened with them. Schantile was having a great time with this 10-year-old named Andrea and the girl kept copying everything Schantile wrote with the chalk all over the ground.



When they left, we hopped into the bus to go see an empty field basically. Rica, one of our contacts here, wants to buy some land for a church retreat area I think and we took a little hike out to that area. It was not that close to the main road and we were pretty hot but I guess it was good that we saw it (so the other people can go and raise money for it at their churches). When we got back to the feeding center, the oldest children were there (like 9-13 years) and they were the fun ones. We sat down with them inside when they finished eating and I basically took over! We made cootie catchers and paper footballs with some notebook paper and then we were all flicking the paper footballs all over the place. We also had some balloon volleyball going on. When we were done inside, we went outside for a group picture and we also made a few water balloons.



If you look closely, that's a little puppy chewing on my hand in the picture. There is definitely a stray dog issue here like I read about. They are everywhere and most of them are friendly and cute. When we finished with the older children it was finally time for us to eat a late lunch. It consisted of chicken, cabbage, and really good rice (and lots of coke... that's all they seem to drink here and since that water wasn't purified, we pretty much didn't have it).



Once we left Lupsa, we headed back to Severin to check out the orphanage that they are building. Since it was an hour or so, I napped on the bus but was woken up every 5-10 minutes or so when my head would slam into the window from the bumps! The orphanage was really nice and surprising for this area. I found out that the government here now has new standards for orphanages and they have to have a 1:12 ratio. So, this new orphanage will have 3 children per room (for a total of 12) with a couple who will serve as their foster parents. It looked wonderful inside and it seems like it will be great when it is up and running (which should be soon).



The orphanage is right up the street from Rica's house (and his wife Kathy) so we went there next for dinner. It was homemade and delicious! Some family members worked on dinner while we all made phone calls back to the states (they had a dedicated line for that) and we also played ping pong with Drako (his name is longer but I know I will butcher trying to spell it), who is a local who has helped out with a lot of the building (he was also with us all of today and will probably help translate at the clinics over the next few days). When we got back to the hotel (at like 9/9:30), we spent the next two hours sorting medicine and toys for the clinics which start tomorrow. All the medical staff and some of the others sorting medicines and vitamins while I was in charge of the toys. I was working with another former teacher who also happened to be from Midland, TX (we chatted about that earlier in the day) and we sorted all the stuffed animals, school supplies, and art supplies. We finally finished around 11:30 pm and everyone made their way to the rooms for sleep. I've been in the lobby for the past hour or so working on getting my pictures up since I know I'll have a lot after tomorrow too and I don't want to get behind on my posting. The plan for tomorrow is to leave around 9:00 am and head to our first clinic in Rogova (about 30 minutes away). We'll be there all day and I don't know when we will get back or what it will be like so stayed tuned tomorrow!

P.S. In my previous post I said you could see Bosnia from here (at least I think I said that) but it's really Bulgaria instead.

Ugh, what a trip!

So it’s 9:30 am here and I just finished breakfast but before I get to that and what we’re doing, I feel the need to hash out the details on our horrible 50-something hour trip the past two days.

My first flight to Detroit was uneventful and while I thought the Detroit airport was going to be a huge letdown, it was actually the nicest airport I flew through. There’s this big tunnel with music and flashing lights that you walk through to get from the different terminals and there’s a tram that goes inside right by the gates that was pretty cool. I had about a 2 hour layover and was able to get Einstein’s bagels while I waited. About an hour before my flight, I started to travel into hell. A family with triplets who had to be under 2 years old sat down near me and I got to spend the next 30 minutes or so before we boarded listening to the parents give in to them and watch the children throw and scream and do all that fun stuff. You can imagine how excited I was to have the prospect of sitting near them on the 7 hour flight. Sure enough, they were 5 rows in front of me but fortunately, the plane was big enough and I had my headphones on enough to not be bothered by the constant screaming throughout the flight. I watched Sunshine Cleaning, The Proposal, the end of X-Men Origins, and I think something else while we flew which meant that I didn’t really sleep at all. The food was good… dinner at 4:30 was chicken and rice and breakfast at like 4:00 am was a simple egg biscuit that was delicious! We landed in Amsterdam almost an hour earlier than planned (5:05 am) and ended up sitting on the plane for about 20 minutes before the airport actually opened and ground crew came to get us off. Just imagine was that 20 minutes was like with 3 little children screaming about wanting to stand up on the seats and not be strapped into their seatbelts. When we got off the flight, I was pretty tired and grumpy. I meandered around the Amsterdam airport for awhile (since I had a 4 hour layover) and I was surprised at how old and un-special the Amsterdam airport was. I thought it would be really modern and neat but it wasn’t. There were all these shops to buy chocolate and electronics and tulips but I didn’t get anything because I was tired of carrying around what I already have. That, and I didn’t have any euros. In an attempt to find some “comfort seats” which are different and more comfy chairs apparently (there are signs indicating the way to these comfort seats), I plopped down on some regular seats in what I thought was a quiet area until I looked to the right and saw a baby care lounge. Fortunately, it wasn’t noisy because it’s like a big room with cribs and changing tables where you can go to let your children sleep between flights. After a guy sat down not far from me and started shaking the seats and singing, I decided to go check out the Yotel upstairs, which is a hostel like place where you can hang for a few hours and sleep on a bed. While I was tempted to get a room, I found an open comfort seats and passed out there. The comfort seats go fast and people were basically staking them out so I was happy to find one. I fell asleep there for about an hour and then made my way to the gate an hour before we were supposed to board. Each gate has an x-ray machine there (instead of one big one at the check in area) and since I had seen long lines before, I figured getting there early would be good. However, in the end it didn’t matter. No one was there screening yet so I just walked in and sat down. About 30 minutes later though, the crew clear us out in order to re-screen the area before screening us and letting us in (yes, it was a big waste of time for the crew but whatever). It was there waiting in line to get back in that I learned that Romanians have no concept of standing in a line. We had some many just cut right in at the front of the line or just causally linger until they find a little space to fit in. I went through the screening with no problem and sat there for a bit watching everyone else go through. I also learned that at this airport, a pat down is a pretty severe. They touch you in about every place imaginable and stick fingers down your waist to check the inside of your pants. I would have been fairly uncomfortable if they had done that to me. Fortunately though, a woman checks the women and a man check the men (they should indicate how much of you they touch). We boarded that flight around 9:30 am and guess who had another screaming kid on the entire 2.5 hour flight! However, I was so tired that I immediately passed out and didn’t hear the kid at all the entire time. I woke up at one point for breakfast #2 which was a little bit more interesting than the first. It was a package with a “pancake with pear and matured cheese” and one other one with shrimp (which I didn’t eat). While I really do like pears and cheese, together they are not that good. However, I still ate it because of my love for cheese! I landed in Bucharest at 1:30ish and as I was picking up my luggage, I met up with the two doctors and their wives who had just gotten in as well. We all got together and waited about 4 hours for the other Dallas group to arrive and I got another 1 hour in there. Around 5:00 pm, after we had all gotten there, we made our way out to our bus. We were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was (we all didn’t think it was that nice 8 hours later), but all of our luggage would not fit. Most people brought two bags plus a bag or two of medical supplies so we had to call for an extra van which took about an hour to get there. We were all sitting in the parking lot waiting and almost got hit by multiple cars. Another lesson about Romanians is that they don’t really care people outside of their cars. Finally, around 6:00 or so (I was so tired that it was hard to keep track of the time), we loaded up and headed out. We drove about 30 minutes (which felt like 2 hours) and stopped at Carrefour (like Wal-Mart) for some classic Romanian dinner… McDonalds and other fast food. Schantile and I split a pizza and then got some good apple pie and cheese pie for dessert. I think around 8:00 pm we left for real and were told it was going to be awhile before we made it to Severin. Now, because the best was so crammed and the road was so bumpy, thin, and we had a bus driver that seemed to have a vengeance for us, it was a terrible ride. We stopped like 3 times for bathroom breaks and then would just sit there for like 20 minutes while everyone got through. I never got off because we stopped at some pretty icky looking places and also because I was trying to sleep through most of it. We also had to stop at 11:00 pm to see this new orphanage building that a local wanted our group leader to see. Finally, after much bumping, slamming on the brakes, and honking at dogs to move (and by the way, there really is an issue with homeless dogs everywhere), we got into Severin. As everyone started waking up, we got a brief tour of what we were passing even though it was pitch black outside. We drove along the Danube River through most of the town and on the other side, you could see the crops they were burning in the mountains in Serbia and Bosnia. We got to our motel (not the Hotel Continental we all thought… instead the Continental Hotel Motel), unloaded all the bags as a group and got to our rooms. It was about 2:30 am then. We unpacked and then crashed around 3:00 am. The room is fine and is just about a step up from a hostel room. We all have a view of the Danube and we’re on the second floor so we had our windows open all nice and it felt really good. As I’m writing this, I’m looking out the window at Serbia across the river. The continental breakfast was ok (toast, meats, cheese, sunny side up eggs, and a mixture of other stuff) and now I’m just hanging out for about 10 more minutes before we start our day. Since we got in so late, we’re taking it easy today. We’re meeting at 10:30 am in the lobby for a quick orientation and then we’re driving an hour to a village called Lupsa. We’re going to play with the kids there, eat lunch with them in the feeding center and then head back into Severin to walk around the main part of town. We’re going to have an early night and then we will start the medical clinics tomorrow (Friday). So I think that it is for now. I had a lot of other details I wanted to mention but I don’t think I have time since I need to pack up my day pack and go find the rest of the group.

And I'm off!

It's 6:45 am on Tuesday and I've already started the long process of my travel day. In less than 2 hours, I will be on my way to Roanoke. Before I go to the airport, I am detouring into the Walmart and Target right there by the airport in hopes to find a few last minute items (matching scrub tops and travel toilet paper). Then, I'll head to the airport around 10:30 am and that should be the last you hear from me until I am in Bucharest Wednesday afternoon!

Pe curând!

(See you soon in Romanian)

Almost there...!

At this time (1:00 pm) next week, I will be 40 minutes away from landing in Bucharest!!!

For those of you interested in where I will be throughout the day during my travels, here is my flight information:

12:10 pm- Leave Roanoke
1:48 pm- Arrive in Detroit
4:00 pm- Leave Detroit
5:55 am- Arrive in Amsterdam
10:00 am- Leave Amsterdam
1:40 pm- Arrive in Bucharest (where I believe I will be 8 hours ahead of central time)

6:05 am- Leave Bucharest
7:55 am- Arrive in Amsterdam (and head out into the city for my layover... yes, I'll have enough time)
1:05 pm- Leave Amsterdam
3:40 pm- Arrive in Detroit
5:40 pm- Leave Detroit
7:15 pm- Arrive in Roanoke

The others only have one layover in London since they are actually leaving from a real airport. I on the other hand, get to go through Detroit also since I'm leaving from such a small airport (imagine 6 gates, all of which you have to walk outside of the airport to get to the planes).

I'm slowly getting more excited but I won't fully be ready to go until after Monday since a major academic milestone that I need to focus on is then. But come Monday evening, I'm sure I'll be all over the place with excitement!

Finally!

So finally, everything I was waiting on arrived. In my last post, I talked about the free bag I ordered and all the stuff I got for the kids. In addition to the bag, I ordered like a gazillion stickers from Oriental Trading (we were originally going to get stamps but then realized that the whole worms getting passed through skin contact would kind of ruin that fun). Both packages came over the weekend and I just went to pick them up at the post office. My "ipod" bag (as it is called) is great because I can throw it over my shoulder and keep it on me at all times without it bothering me. I needed something with deep internal pockets that I could keep close and this is perfect. As for the stickers, they are also great. Now, I'm working on folding all 5,000 them (they came on rolls originally) so that they will fit better in my bags.

As for all the others little final things that I need to do in the next week, I have a nice little list made up. I'll be heading to Walmart today or tomorrow to get the rest of my scrub sets as well as extra contacts to take. Then, I'm going to get some travel insurance and finally, I will be paying all the bills that are due at the end of the month. Once I do all of that, I'm officially ready to go. At the end of the week, I'm going to finalized my packing (it's all pretty much done already) and then if I have anymore space, I'm going to go get some more stuff for the kids I think. Only 8 days to go!!!

Free Stuff

Today I bought a new duffel and by bought, I mean that I basically got it for free. We had a credit to Ross and I figured that would be a good place to find a cheap bag (in case I decided to leave it there at the end of the trip). I ended up getting a smaller duffel that I can throw over my shoulder for about $20 which was all covered with the store credit. After numerous other trips to Dollar Tree, Michaels, TJ Maxx, Walmart and Target (I and the others have been stocking up on things to take to the kids), I came home with a good amount of stuff that I was worried would not fit in the new bag that I bought! However, all worked out as planned and here is the breakdown of what I am bringing:

1. Clothes- I dug through a stack of clothes that have been in the kitchen that I've been waiting to donate or do something with and I pulled out some long sleeve shirts and some t-shirts to bring. I also found two pairs of jeans that I can bring and then just leave there with the shirts at the end of the trip. I bought some scrubs (the bottom half) today and some undershirts to have for the clinic rounds during the day.
2. Kid's stuff- I think I'm bringing about 50 toothbrushes with me for starters. Then I have a ton of crayons, markers, chalk, pipe cleaners, and paper as well. I'm going to be getting a lot of stickers and that will complete what I'm bringing for the children (the Texas group is bringing a lot of stuffed animals and other toys). Surprisingly, I have room for all this in my bag(s) and I even have room to spare! When I get there, all of this will come out and get used so I will prob. be coming back with a fairly empty bag that I'll just be able to carry on with me (after I stuff my other bags in it).
   
3. Miscellaneous- I bought 5 massive things of hand sanitizer, plus a little small personal one. I think that's the heaviest thing in my bag. I also got some snacks like some Kashi granola bars, the little boxes of cereal, and I am going to get a few Clif bars to pack for bus rides and long days. I already have my Romania book and universal adapter (which was also free as a result of some bank reward points). The only thing I really have left to get is my little day bag that will be attached to my shoulders all the time and that should be coming in the next few days (another free product as a result of more reward points from another bank).

So, I think that is all for the updates for a bit. I've been posting a lot because I'm excited to go and haven't been able to focus on much else. However, since I'm going to be gone during a fairly busy time in the semester, I am going to try and focus on less blog writing and more dissertation/publication writing for the next two weeks.

Interesting..... er..... gross news

There are a few things in the world that I dislike a whole bunch... fleas, ticks, lice, and intestinal worms. I hate these things because you have to take care of everything (the house, whoever you're living with, etc.) in order to get rid of them. I just found out last night that there's a good chance that I will come back from Romania with two of those things (lice and worms, as well as scabies which I don't fear as much). Yes, I know, go take a minute to throw up somewhere. I also found out last night that we are actually not giving immunizations like I once thought, but instead we'll be dealing with deworming everyone (since apparently word on the street is that everyone we will see will have worms) and providing vitamins and pain relief to probably hundreds of people. We're not 100% sure yet what my role will be. I might be just playing with the kids while they wait. Or I might be helping to take down names and ailments. We don't know yet and probably won't until we get there and see what the need is.

For those in my family who are worried about my well-being, do not despair! I have an array of natural remedies to prevent a lot of this stuff. I'm not a big fan of the toxic mainstream stuff that people use for these issues so I have been doing some research on effective natural treatmetns. Here is my plan of action:

Lice- My hat is going to become my new best friend. I plan on wearing one all the time in addition to having my hair tied back. In the event that I do get lice (ewww....), some raw apple cider vinegar and oil will take care of the problem.

Worms- Yuck.... I shudder just thinking about that. I'm going to stock up on garlic, cloves, and wormwood (all of which I can get in capsule form) which all prevent and/or kill worms. I figure if I take it as prevention at the start, I should be good. This is safe (I've done my research and talked to people about this) and I'm going to talk to our homeopathic people at one of the health food stores as well before I go.

Motion Sickness (which I mentioned in the previous post)- Ginger... a nice and simple remedy. I found out why the drive will be so bad and it's mostly because the roads are narrow and have huge potholes all over the place. This won't be helped by the fact that we will be traveling in the country in the pitch black of night.

If all else fails, I will be with a lot of doctors and nurses who can give me the deworming chews (or whatever it is) and can help with any other issues. I am also planning on making a visit to our travel clinic here to get a tetanus shot. I might also look into getting a Hep A and B shot. You're technically supposed to get those months before but if they are still somewhat effective now and not pricey, then I'll get them just to be on the safe side.

With regards to other new info., I found out that I should mostly be bringing toys and things for the kids and should not bring that much clothing. According to our contacts in Romania, showering is not all that common, so if we wear the same things a few days in a row, it's no biggie. Since I am part of the team, I also get to wear scrubs with everyone else so that we "stand out" as a group. So, I think I'll have probably 3 pairs of scrubs, 2 pairs of jeans, a lot of t-shirts and that's about it. Also, the hotel is pretty sparse which is fine with me because I'm used to staying in hostels so having a private room (Jacob's mom and I are sharing) is actually kind of a step up for my travel habits! One last thing is that apparently everyone smokes there. I am super not thrilled about this. If you know of any way to get the smoke smell out of everything you own, please let me know. I'm dreading coming back and reaking for weeks. Chances are, I might be packing a lot of clothes that I will just plan on leaving there.

I think that is everything for now.... The doctors/nurses are meeting again on Thursday and hopefully they will have more of the schedule for the trip.

New Details

Last night, the Cleburne medical group had a big meeting to discuss the trip further. Since I couldn't be there, I got some of the info. from Jacob's mom (Schantile) through email and the rest I will hopefully get over the phone later. Here's what I found out:

• The two main doctors and their wives will be arriving in Bucharest. I think that I will still be getting in before them, but it will be nice to have other people to wait with for an hour or two.

• I think right after the Dallas group gets in (around 4:30 pm), we are going to get on a bus from Bucharest to Severin, which should take about 6-8 hours. Apparently, the bus ride is horrible and all the doctors on the trip are suggesting we take medicine for motion sickness.

• Our hotel in Severin is the Continental Hotel. I'm not really sure if that's the official name and I have yet to find a dedicated website for it but I have found a little bit of info. on it (if it's even the right hotel I'm looking at). It has A/C but no hairdryers or irons. Since I'm used to hostels, this is nothing new for me and I'm sure it will all be fine. We get a continental breakfast every morning and in great European fashion, it's a healthy non-powdered eggs type breakfast with meats and vegetables instead.

• Every now and then I forget that this is mostly a medical trip that we're going on and that the doctors are super paranoid about everything. For the packing list, they recommended like 5 bottles of hand sanitizer! Apparently, I might also need to get some scrubs to wear during the clinics everyday (although I'm not sure if I'll actually be doing anything with that) so I may need to figure out where to get some. Walmart maybe?

So, that's it for now. I might know more later tonight. It's only 18 days away and I am pretty excited to be traveling overseas again. I'm one of the few people who love long flights like this and what makes it even better is that my flight from Detroit to Amsterdam (and back) still has quite a few empty seats which means it won't be nearly as crammed as my flight to Sweden last year.

Anne Frank House

I am so excited because I just bought my ticket for the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam for my trip back. I get into Amsterdam at 8:00 am and it takes about 20 minutes to get from the airport into the city. From there, it's a quick bus ride or a 20-30 minute walk to the Anne Frank House. So, if all goes well, I should arrive there at 9:00 am right when they open and because I already have my ticket, I can just go right in and will be able to avoid the possible line.

Days until I leave: 19

Welcome to my new blog!

Hi and welcome to my Romania blog! This first post will provide a little background info. on the trip and what I'll be doing while there.

A couple of months ago, my mother-in-law got in touch with me about coming to Romania with her (and a group) to work with some kids. To make that long story short, there is a group of doctors and nurses going on this trip to give shots and checkups (among other things) from the hospital where my mother-in-law works. I have wanted to go to Romania for years because I have always been taught that the orphanages and centers there are not so good (i.e., poor adult to child ratios) and I've wanted to see it first hand. So of course I jumped on this opportunity to go when it was offered to me! As a result, I'm going as a childcare "expert" or an extra helping hand to help with the children as needed.

As for the trip details, I leave in the afternoon on September 22nd and after a long flight and a 4-hour layover in Amsterdam, I arrive in Bucharest, Romania in the afternoon on Sept. 23rd. Since the rest of the group is from Fort Worth and will coming from there together, I'll be meeting up with them at the airport a few hours after I arrive. From what I've gathered from a few emails back and forth, we will be in Severin, Romania (where our hotel is I think... about 8 hours from Bucharest) and from there, we will visit orphanages and centers in the villages of Rogova and Lupsa (good luck finding those on a map; Grandma, you might have to start using maps online to figure out where those are!). While the medical people do clinics, I'll have the chance to explore the centers and play with the kids. I went to Walmart a few days ago and stocked up on some cheap school supplies (crayons, markers, etc.) to bring over and give to the children. I don't really have any other specific details as of yet but as I find out more, I will post them here. The trip is for about 10 days and I return to the states on October 1st. I have a slightly longer layover in Amsterdam again (5 hours) and because the timing is perfect when I fly through (in the morning), I'm planning on leaving the airport and going to see the Anne Frank house/museum during my layover (which I am super excited about). If I also have time, I'll prob. jump on a canal tour but I'm going to have to play that one by ear. On a side note, I will of course be taking tons of pictures on this trip and will link this blog up to my Picasa albums right before the trip.

So, that's where everything is at for now! I am really excited to be going on this trip because I not only want to see what it's like there but I also hope that it helps to remind me that there are more important things in the world than just what's going on in grad school and in my life. I'm grateful to get this chance to refocus my energy on something more like this and I absolutely cannot wait to go. It's less than a month away!