Aug 27th - Aug29th

Wow it is only Wednesday and so much has already happened!! Monday we all met at 8:30 to get on a trolley and drive out more into the suburbs of the city to an apartment.  The orphanage consists of kids that need a doctor or nurse’s attention often. If the kids don’t need that close contact with a doctor or nurse they are put in the apartments so that they can have a more home-like feel.  This was our first contact with the kids and it was so much fun!! This just made me even more excited than I already was for this semester!! 

We are not able to give out a lot of information or specifics about the children and their background or take any pictures of them so I will try my best to explain my experiences with you without going into too much detail!

There are 6 kids in each apartment and they are all fairly young, I do not know their exact ages but my guess is all under the age of 5 or 6.  Each child in that room was so precious!! They had different disabilities and handicaps such as burn victim, autism, and down syndrome.  The little boy with down syndrome was playing next to me and his little smile and contagious laugh had me falling in love with him in seconds!!

I forgot to say this at the beginning, but this week we are all going to the different homes and rooms with kids to see the whole program and what all the orphanage does to help these kids. On Friday we will go on longer rotations in the orphanage to work with the kids more and by the end of the day we will have to choose which room/groups of kids we want to work with for the remainder of the semester; and we can only pick one!  (I have already fallen in love with all of the different groups of kids so I have no idea how I am going to be able to pick just one!)

The rest of Monday we had to go shopping and do whatever we needed/wanted.

Tuesday was our first day at the orphanage!! Tao, one of the psychologists at the orphanage and our guide the past few days, took us to each room to show us the different groups of kids and informed us of the different reasons those children were placed at this orphanage. All the children at the orphanage (and the apartments) are disabled in some way; physically, mentally, or both. The youngest child they had at the orphanage on Monday was only 6 weeks old. Also, a lot of the children they have there right now have brain paralysis and can’t move or talk very well if at all!! These children are some of the most precious and some of the most heart warming rooms because all of what they want to say to you comes through their beautiful eyes and their sweet smiles!  

After our time at the orphanage we decided to go on a little adventure and find the ‘botanical gardens’  that are located here in Iasi.  IT WAS SO PRETTY!! We took a 45 min tram to get to them but it was totally worth it!  It is the 3^rd largest botanical garden in the world and it was beautiful! Felt like home :) I will share lots of pictures with you all!

Today we went to more of the apartments and met even more precious little children!!  (I seriously don’t know who I will choose to work with because I love them all!!) and then after we were there we went to a huge fruit market!! It was so fun and we got a ton of fresh fruit and vegetables! We got watermelon, raspberries, carrots, grapes, and tomatoes for our apartment :)

All the buildings have so many cute plants! These three pictures are from the orphanage! :)

 Botanical Garden Adventures:

Random head in the ground so of course we had to take pictures on it, haha

Two of my roommates; I am not the tallest in the picture anymore!! haha Yay!

(Emri on the left, Kendra on the right)

The beginning!!

Yay! I am so excited to post all my fun experiences and adventures on here for you all! But before I start talking about this week I would just like to thank all of you who have helped me be able to accomplish my goal of coming here to ROMANIA! Couldn’t have done it without you! :)

For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to work in an orphanage, it has always been a dream of mine!! During my Fall 2017 semester I started thinking a lot about what the next few years of my life were going to look like.  As I thought about my dreams and ambitions the thought about traveling abroad and working in an orphanage came up again, with my major being early childhood special ed at BYUI I found this dream to be even more of a possible adventure for me! I started talking to teachers and other students in my major about any opportunities they have come across that may be possible for me to do.  One day after classes I came home to a flyer left at my apartment.  It was for a program called ILP - International Language Program- and it mentioned working with children abroad to teach them English! There was a meeting being held the next day and lunch was provided (double bonus!! Free food, haha my fav!) During the meeting they mentioned 3 destinations they offered where you actually worked in orphanages; Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Romania! This sparked my attention even more! As they continued to talk about their program one of the ladies shared her experience of working in Romania, it was the only program that didn't teach English but instead worked with special needs children!  My heart was overwhelmed with joy when I heard this!! This opportunity was exactly what I was looking for! It was an experience that would help me grow stronger as a person, learn more about what I am wanting to do for a job in the future, and an opportunity that I may not get later in life!  The only downside was that it was the most expensive trip out of all the ones offered. I knew that if I wanted to make this trip work and still be able to pay for college the following semester I would need to find a better summer job than my usual lifeguarding job (which I loved!!).  As I was looking for higher paying jobs, one of my friends told me about her husband’s summer sales job and the great success he had had the previous summer.  If I did well, this job would help cover the cost of the trip, but I would have to be in Utah, away from home all summer, and I would be walking around door to door each day selling pest control.  I did not want to be away from home all summer but decided that this was my best option if I wanted to cover the cost of my trip and college.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into!  Summer sales was the most difficult job and the most rewarding job I have ever had!  Although there were many tears shed I am so grateful I pushed through the hard times and stuck with the job all the way to the end!  I grew stronger as a person and because all I went through and learned this summer it made this trip to Romania even more special!  I am so grateful for all that I have learned up to this point and all that I will continue to learn as embark and this next chapter of my life! 

If you want to follow along with me on this new adventure of mine I will be sharing my experiences here on this blog for the next 4 months!!

Me and my group, it was super bright outside but we are on top of a hill with pretty greenery behind us! haha

Got my room all set up!

The Palace

View from my bedroom window

All my lovely friends this semester!

Our lunches on Sunday: French fries, chicken patty with cheese and ham inside of it, and cabbage (they do not put sauce on their food so it was super dry! bought some ketchup and mayo after this!)