Old News-- Moldova up to the Vacation

As this night train pulls out of the gara in Iași, I guess I can't put off this blog post any longer. There's no way I can write about this last week in addition to this long trip we are heading out on. We have reached and passed out halfway point! As I'm writing this, we only have 45 days left before we go home. Madness. So many exciting things happened this past week and a half or so, though. 

In the few days leading up to our trip to Moldova, I was sick and had to stay home from the orphanage. It's strange how I think it will be a nice break, but then find myself miserable that I'm missing out. Especially when I'm just sick enough to worry about getting the kids sick but not so sick that I am completely incapacitated. The best part about it though? Hearing that Xavier missed me! Maddy told me that he was pouting all day and wouldn't be his usual self with them. I know I shouldn't be happy, but it feels good to be appreciated and know I've made an impression!


With my sick time I mostly just watched Harry Potter. Turns out when you don't get much social interaction and just lay in bed, you get really emotional during Harry Potter. I think my experiences here really changed the way that I thought about Harry. He's an orphan! It never affected me the same way. 


A few nights before we left, we were watching a movie as a group when our apartment phone rang at 10:30 PM. We all just looked at each other, because the only people who call us on it were in that room. Macey picked it up said a few things and then handed it to me... 
"Hannah??"
IT WAS RENEE!! 
First time we talked out loud in 9 months. I may have freaked out. Apparently my new reaction to exciting is is to ninja kick in the air. I'm okay with this development. 
We set up plans on where to meet for the weekend and chatted a bit. So exciting. 


The next day, we saw a woman who was laying unconscious on the sidewalk surrounded by people. The ambulance took so long to get there and even longer to get the woman into a stretcher. I do NOT want to have to call them ever haha. 


Okay back to the Moldova trip. We woke up early to take a maxi taxi to Chișinău. It was pretty exciting! We had to stop at the border of Moldova to get our passports stamped (Moldova isn't part of the EU, so we got stamps! Yay!) and then we made it to our hostel. 


It looked like a rather sketchy building, and I was really worried since I was the one who booked it for us haha. It was only $12 per person, so I was just thinking "we got what we paid for." But it ended up being really nice inside! By the end of the trip, I would realize that that was a general theme of Moldova---the outward appearance is not telling of what lays within. 

Flag day!

We walked around and explored the city a bit, hit the typical tourist piazza and this HUGE piazza that we got lost in for a while. All the while, I just counted down to meeting up with Renee.
And finally... It was time to meet in front of the big clock tower! A picture is worth a thousand words, right? I'll let them do the talking. 

 Waiting for Renee

Because Moldova was the only thing between us...Symbolism, yo.

 I went to teach a lesson with her and her companion, and it was a pretty cool experience, even though I don't know enough Romanian to understand everything that was said. Renee and her companion took turns translating for me, and I eventually had the opportunity to talk too. I got to share my experiences with prayer and receiving answers to my prayers, how I know that Heavenly Father listens to me. It's crazy how much Renee has grown in just the last 9 months. It's not that she's all that different... It's just that she's more confident and there is just MORE of her. They are part of an important work here, teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.


After the lesson, we got to go out to dinner with he rest of my group at la Placinte, a place with some traditional food. It was pretty snazzy.
We went to church the next day in the branch in chisinau, so I got to spend more time with Renee/see how much everyone loves her. 

Papanași

Short, sketchy squatters. 

After a bit more exploring, we made the trip home. The trip went smoothly, with only one minor hiccup. Our driver stopped just before the border and asked us if we had any cigarettes. We all responded "no," and he said "okay, good. I'll give you two and you give back to me after customs." Before long he was coming out of the duty free store with a GARBAGE BAG full of cigarette boxes. He passed out two boxes to each of us (probably the first time most of us have even touched a box of cigarettes) and told us to stick them in our bags. Don't worry, he thanked us for our sneaking help by giving us some chocolate. After we went through customs ("do you have MORE than two boxes of cigarettes? "No..." "Okay Goodbye.") we returned home and placed our boxes back into his bag. He told us they were going to be gifts for the men who worked on his house. Possible. But really there is just a really expensive tax on cigarettes in Romania, which is surprising then that EVERYONE smokes. 
 

Maybe if the warning labels were in Romanian, Iasi wouldn't be a constant cloud of smoke.

The week that followed was full of individual great moments, so I will just throw them down here, because I am getting sleepy and someone on this train is releasing some very toxic smells that are making the 6 of us and the Romanian woman sitting nearby want to vomit.


First, the women's World Cup semi-final! I really wanted to watch us play Germany, so... I set an alarm for 2 AM and watched us win 2-0! I may have woken my roommates up at some point with my cheering. But it was well worth it.

At the school, a child hugged my legs and rubbed her face on them whilst complimenting me on not having hair on them! Which was interesting because I do not think she looked very closely.

 Orphanage moments! There were some good ones, especially with Xavier.
One day, he directed the worker to put on a dvd for him to watch. Then he directed me to put away what I was doing, grab a chair, put it next to him. Then he motioned with his eyes for me to sit down beside him. Next--look at the tv. Once I started to watch it, he just grinned with excitement and kept turning to watch my reaction at different points. If I didn't make exaggerate reactions to the movie, he would just stare at me until I did something.
But wait, there's more.
Eventually I noticed that he had slowly lifted his arm and reached it over to hold it out in front of me. He kept just looking at me and then to his hand over and over. In my mind-"is he trying to hold my hand??" I played hard to get and just laughed and watched the movie. Then he lifted his arm up ever so slowly... And puts it on my shoulder. He touched my face and kept lifting it up to my shoulder and eventually got it around me enough that it could stay. Then he left his arm around my shoulder for a solid ten minutes haha! The second in command in the orphanage came in and laughed, saying "he's making a move on you!"
And here I thought I would be escaping all that dating drama ;)


Later that week I got to go with Xavier and Chloe (a past BYU volunteer who returned this summer to work with Alex on the communication computer board she set up for him. It was SO cool. He really knows so much more than some people think. He haș a head piece that he uses as a mouse essentially. He moves it on his right side with a sensor directed by his head movements and then he clicks it by tapping a button on the left side with his head! He can do lessons, ask questions, tell us about himself. It was so cool, and he loved being able to show off for us a bit.


It really made me consider getting into a field where I can help people overcome communication disorders associated with their disabilities.


Other than that, the orphanage has just had some fun moments, taking Daniel on the trampoline for a bit, playing with bubbles with the kids, holding "Stella" (even though she is so stinking heavy) so she smiles instead of screams, making "Clara" laugh so hard by swinging with her on my lap outside. It's been a wonderful week there.
While visiting an orphan boy in the hospital, we played a bit with these two gypsie boys who were patients in the same room. I ended up spending most of my time with them, since we already had two girls from my group playing with the orphan. The two boys I played with were so stinking fun. We couldn't communicate much, but they laughed at my attempts and wrote our names on these little etch-a-sketch things. We mostly just played with some toys I brought. I don't think they get visited by family or have much to go home to, so they enjoyed the attention. I wasn't sure if I'd see them again, but the next week I was on the same floor looking for more orphans. I turned and looked in the room and I saw the two same boys. One looked at me, and his face lit up. He nudged his brother, and they both started beaming and waving at me.


I was so surprised and touched that they even remembered me, since it had been 5 or 6 days since I had been on their floor. We went in their room, and I played with them again. This time the 14 year old jokingly asked for my number haha I think he thought it was just funny that I understood and replied in Romanian. Before I left that day, I thought I should get a picture with them. Unfortunately, they smiled and laughed and joked excitedly right up til the moment that we actually took the picture. They weren't there the next time I came, so hopefully they are healthy and safe at home.

Almost done, WOO!


Update on the "creepy old man downstairs"-- I mentioned before that I don't think he would be creepy if we spoke the same language as him. Well, I ran into him coming home with lunch the other day and he began to talk to me. He asked about the food I had, I told him that we were volunteers at the orphanage and hospital, he told me a few other things. I didn't understand a good portion of it, but I could DEFINITELY tell a difference. When he asked where we were from again and I answered, I mentioned that I was trying to learn Romanian. And he told me (essentially) that it was pretty good! He motioned upstairs and said something about my "colega" (referring to my roommates or friends I believe) and made a so-so hand gesture, but then pointed back to me and said that I was doing well! I was so excited!! I am trying to learn, Even though i've been terrible at doing lessons...


Oh fun story! I was heading over to the other apartment with Morgan to watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding to prep us for Greece. It was after 9 PM, so we didn't feel like changing into presentable clothes to go over, even though it was down the road and across a busy street. Instead I made the trek in the Moldova tshirt that was the Romanian flag design with the Moldovan crest on it. I also was wearing the Star Wars men's boxers that I picked out from target myself. We crossed the street and I heard a man calling out to us. It couldn't be me, I look like... This.


Well, it was me. Apparently he is running some big political Facebook event and he wanted to take a picture with me because of my shirt. He told us that he was driving down the road with his wife when he saw us and yelled "STOP THE CAR!" And got out to chase us. Which is hilarious. But All I could think about was how my Star Wars boxers were going to be on the Facebook page he showed us. Oh Romania.


Okay, time to wrap up. I am on my way to the Bucharest airport via an overnight train. In the time that it has taken to write this, we have ascertained that it is the woman behind us, who is farting in her sleep. We have tried lotion and perfumes to mask the smell, but it is pretty unbearable, and sleep is going to be difficult for most of us.
I just attempted to use a sketchy toilet on this train... It was basically a metal basin that was not flushed by it's previous user... So I flushed it. At first nothing happened, so I stepped back to leave. Then... A FOUNTAIN OF PEE SHOOTS UP FROM THE TOILET. It splashed back down on the floor, and I thanked the heavens that I had stepped back in time. So that was an adventure.


Tomorrow we will fly to Greece! We are so excited to begin our mandatory long vacation haha.


Despite all the chaos and uncertainty surrounding Greece in the last couple of weeks, we are looking forward to a good time.