Children of the Chai

(entry for Friday, February 18th, 2011)

After a week of being in the clinic, I finally realized that the kids have actually been drinking chai tea and not apple juice as I thought.  Even though the toddlers have been pointing to the sippie cups and saying “chai,” I thought they were just speaking Romanian.  The kids must think that their male “mama” is an idiot.  We also saw a baptism taking place in the smaller toddler playroom in the clinic.  It seemed like a big event – candles were burning, the babies involved were extra bundled up, Dr. Delia was present, and the smiling staff was very excited motioning for us to get a closer look. 

We all love yogurt snack time - Celine helped me feed Roxanna.

Andreea likes lights on her forehead.  She can find stuffed animals better that way.

In other updates, the decision regarding the status of the hospital has been moved from the national level to the local governing body.  What a rollercoaster.  The government here apparently likes to mess around with people’s minds, just to show that they have the power.

The volunteer crew also adventured to Tiff Market down the street.  I stocked up on Milka chocolate for the week.  Before I was fully induced into my sugar coma, I ate my favorite meal so far – chicken snitzel fingers and French fries.  How American of me. 

HORSE AND CART CAUGHT ON FILM!!!!!!!  Cross it off the checklist.

Furthermore, for future volunteers, it would be helpful to bring a flashlight for the walk home from the clinic, because 1) dogs like to hop out from bushes and make me scream like a girl and 2) I nearly face planted numerous times in the puddled & manured dirt road.  I must admit, not bringing my flashlight along for the clinic walk keeps things exciting…

1 of our team members will be leaving tomorrow, so she will be the guinea pig for taking the 5-hour train ride back to Bucharest.  Off to Transylvania for the weekend!  Will keep eyes peeled for any vampire sightings.  Wooooohooo!



Babies Gone Wild!



P.S. – I have been watching a lot of MTV Romania and VH1, because they actually play music videos here (and most songs are in English anyways)!  Shakira’s “Loca” (upon general team consensus, this is probably the volunteer team anthem) and Rihanna seem to be playing every hour as well as well as “American Dream” by Puya, “Ne place” by ROA, and “My Passion” by Akcent.  Youtube them now if you want a taste of Romanian pop music!  I’m diggin’ it.