Am I ready to go home? Yes. A million times, yes.
Am I ready to leave? No.
It wasn't until we hit the two week mark that my mind and heart could fully comprehend that things are really coming to an end here. At 3 weeks, I was still anxiously ready for the end. But the number 14 rolls around, and now I'm in panic mode. This is my LAST week at the orphanage. I don't even know how to say goodbye there. I will talk more about the orphanage later on, but let me update this on the last few weeks first.
We had our last day at the school before our long weekend trip. We had a fun little surprise for the children--popcorn balls!! We sing "popcorn popping" with them pretty often, so it was exciting! They may not have actually made the connection, but it was still fun all around. We gave them some little prizes, and then we said our goodbyes.
I have this bad habit of taking perfectly well-behaved children and making them rowdy. This time, the children had magic bracelets. My pencil wand was no match, and they all ganged up on me. It wasn't pretty.
As much stress and sweat and craziness went into the school, I am going to miss some of those adorable little rascals.
Note the girl giving me her popcorn ball.
Being cornered.
Morgan, Macey, and I found a cheap plane ticket out of the Iasi airport to Treviso, Italy, so that became our long weekend plan! We were pretty lazy when it came to planning... We booked an AirBnB with an Italian family in Trevignano, but all we knew was that it was close-ish to Treviso, and not TOO far from Venice. And we decided to figure the rest out as we went haha.
We were a little stressed about the fact that we were approaching our 90th day in Romania, and smaller airports seem to be more strict about that fact during passport control. The lady checking my passport reminded me, and we all dreaded the return trip, when we knew it would be an issue.
First of all, walking out to the airplane is something I have never done until this trip in Europe. I felt like it only happened in movies. It is a pretty cool experience! That, or I'm easily impressed.
It wasn't a very long flight, and I slept through most of it. Except for when the man next to me woke me up with his laughter or his legs repeatedly brushing up against mine. I'm glad I was asleep most of the time, because Macey was fairly certain he was watching porn during the whole flight.
We got to Treviso and took a local bus to the train station, where we had some time to kill before the train left to the tiny town. So we went exploring! At first, Treviso doesn't seem that impressive, but as you walk away from the train/bus stations, you start to see the REAL Treviso. And it is beautiful. It is this quiet, calm little city on the river. It looks like the type of town that should be a tourist hub, because it is so cute, but it is just people's homes. It's full of adorable bridges, beautiful homes, and the classiest McDonald's I have ever seen.
We took the train to the Trevignano station, where our host mom was supposed to pick us up. While we sat on the train, I noticed a girl close to our age reading a book with thin pages with a gold tint to the page edges... Scriptures? After a little while she leaned over and asked us if we were Americans. Turns out, she was from Pennsylvania! She was a missionary in Italy from the Calvary Cross church! Such a small world. She was excited to meet some other Christians from America.
We were supposed to let our host know when we finished exploring in Treviso, but unfortunately, there was no wifi that we could find in Treviso. And Trevignano was a much smaller town than we thought. The station was more of a sign and a platform. We walked up and down the town, but hardly anything was open during that time in the afternoon apparently. And no wifi was to be found. Eventually, Macey was able to text her dad to email our host, and we went back and waited at the station.
Waiting.
Italians love their bell towers.
She picked us up after a while, and we went to our home for the next few days! It was such a cool house! Her husband is an architect, so it makes sense. We got the grand tour, including their rooftop pool, their border collie, and their children. They had two teenage girls and a 5 year old boy named Leonardo (of course). He was adorable. He came into our guest room with his mom and "took our order" on some paper (his mom offered us water and Popsicles). She brought it up to us on a tray and brought some homemade peach juice as well. It was so so nice!
We rested up a bit in the room and enjoyed the AC (thank goodness, because it was so hot and humid). We mostly spent our time plotting. Our host had invited us to be their dinner guests that night for some good ol' fashioned Italian spaghetti. I was SO EXCITED! Unfortunately, Macey and Morgan are gluten intolerant... So it was a bit more complicated. We spent our time plotting how to get two flutes intolerant girls through an Italian dinner. Some strategies included ( but we'e not limited to) dropping pasta into a napkin in their lap, lining their purses with a plastic bag. So they can slip food into there, take a bit then spitting it into a napkin with a casual face wipe, and (my personal favorite) sliding their food onto my plate when our hosts blink.
When we went downstairs, our host showed us some special pasta she had her husband pick up. It was apparently a different cereal, so a purer form of wheat that supposedly had less gluten. It was so kind of them! But Morgan and Macey still knew they wouldn't be able to eat too much of it.
In the meantime, I made it a goal to befriend Leonardo. After a few minutes of letting him show me a game he likes to play, I had successfully acquired a personal minion. He followed me everywhere haha. For a while we played a game with a ball that was supposed to be a grenade or a bomb. We threw it at each other and it would explode. The more dramatic you were during the explosion, the better. I really didn't understand much of what he said, but that didn't deter him from going on and on in Italian haha. His mom told us that he was very shy (she actually said he has "shame," but I think that's not quite what she meant). He didn't seem very shy to me haha. At least not after I started rolling on the floor after an explosive ball with him.
He took me up to the pool, where we splashed each other and played with the ball more. Then he took me out to the balcony, and we just chilled out there for a while. He would point at different things in his town and talk about them. I may not have understood any of it, but it was pretty cool getting an intro to Italy from a true Italian.
Dinner time! The whole setup was so fancy and exciting! Candles and wine.... They offered us alcohol a lot haha. Apparently there is an internationally acclaimed wine that is produced in THAT town. One of their claims to fame. So it was kind of awkward explaining that we don't drink alcohol at all.
But the food... Heavenly. We had made jokes about how I eat a ton, hoping that it would distract from the others not eating as much. She served Morgan and Macey HUGE bowls of her spaghetti with this homemade sauce with bacon in it. Then she gave me the biggest bowl of pasta you have ever seen. "Hannah eat half a kilo!" Ha. Ha.
It was delicious! I kept looking up into the panicked eyes of Morgan and macey, who took small bites every so often. There was no way to pass food around with the whole family sitting there watching us fail at eating spaghetti. They finally got us all spoons and taught us how to roll the spaghetti better, so we were slightly less revolting to watch eat. "Now you are Italian!"
The entire family had cleaned out their bowls, and they just looked at us and talked to us. Macey and Morgan had no choice... They ate their entire bowls. Their eyes looked so full of panic haha. While they worked on finishing up, I thought maybe I could distract by having a small second serving. Well I was dished a HUGE second portion, and the dad started cheering and clapping. My insides started crying. "She sleep a lot, because she eat a lot!" (The host mom's observation following our conversation about how I am not a morning person).
We sat there for a while and just enjoyed talking to such a beautiful family. They told us that Leonard told them he wants us to stay all summer. Apparently, he asked if we could come to Spain with them on their vacation later that summer. That made me so happy!
Just when we thought we could go upstairs to moan over our food babies.... "Now, time for cake!"
Their daughter had made a bundt cake, and it was just for us! It was delicious, but difficult to finish my slice. So of course, I had two.
They helped us plan out our Venice day trip for he next day, and boy, did they have a million suggestions haha. We only planned for one day in Venice itself, but we started to realize we would not be able to do everything. But it was pretty exciting hearing about everything it had to offer. Around 10:30 (apparently, Italians eat dinner around 8 PM in the summer), we crawled upstairs and talked about how deliciously painful that evening was. Macey and Morgan were pretty certain they'd be throwing up all night because of the gluten, and I was pretty certain my stomach was stretched to the breaking point from the sheer quantity of it all. I probably didn't need to try to compensate for their lack of intake as much as I did. But it was also delicious...
One of many times we had to pull out the map and be tourists.
Typical frat boys.
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My typical foot pictures.
The next morning we took a train to Venice, and wow were there a lot of tourists. It was crazy. The small town where that family lives is so quiet and peaceful. But Venice was just as beautiful as you would imagine. We took our time and just walked the streets. We checked out the shops as we went and just enjoyed having no real agenda. Two things that nearly every shop sold were Murano glass and masks. Our host family had explained to us that different islands specialize in different forms of production. Apparently Murano glass is brought to Venice and is a big hit.
The water canals running up and down the streets, all the little bridges, it was all so incredible! It is so strange to think that to tourists it is a "site" to see. But there are people who live there. That is their home; boats are their mode of transportation. It was so interesting. For lunch, we just bought some food from a market and sat on some steps at the edge of one of the water roads by a bridge. Despite some persistent pigeons, it was pretty nifty.
Creepin'.
Cheesin' in Venice.
Oh, and Venice has ambulance boats. Just in case you were curious. We explored more after lunch, and ended up getting pretty lost in "Old City" Venice, where there weren't any other tourists. Except the occasional tourist who looks equally as lost as we did. It was like a labyrinth, but we weren't really too worried about where the exit was. It was so quiet. That is the part of Venice I would want to live in, not the typical touristy part.
We saw some beautiful buildings and statues, and just went where ever we wanted. Every turn we made led to a beautiful view (I took approximately 47 pictures of the exact same view it seems). After hours and hours and miles and miles and gelato, we headed back to Trevignano.
Apparently Leonardo had announced that he wanted to wait up for us, but he was out cold on the couch. The family sat us down and made us this mint drink (I think sparkling water and Italian soda mint flavoring) and more cake. They asked us all about our day and what we saw. They told us that Leonardo said he was going to cry when they told him we are only staying for two more days. That nearly broke my heart. Then the mom and her daughter insisted on taking us down the street to one of the gelato places the town has. She insisted on paying for us. And it was hands down the best gelato I've ever had. Remember my previous post where I said that gelato still isn't as good as American ice cream? Well Trevignano gelato is better than Venice's gelato which is better than American ice cream which is better than Romanian "Italian gelato."
It was really relaxing coming back to the small, quiet town after a day in tourist central. Apparently, their town never gets tourists. At least, not until the family started hosting some in their guest room. Even now, when locals meet a tourist, they will stare and then maybe ask "who is your mother?" Haha such a sweet little town. As we walked back from the train station earlier that day, the old man who sold us the bus ticket from his little store waved to us as if we were old friends.
The next morning we paid 4 euros for the breakfast of a lifetime. The family promised us that if we wanted to have their breakfast one of the days, we wouldn't be hungry until the evening after, no need for lunch. And they did not disappoint. There were croissants, eggs, yogurt, toast, herbal tea, homemade bruschetta, and...tiramisu! I had read in the reviews on the Airbnb website that her tiramisu was better than you could get in most restaurants in Italy. It was. So. Good. The tiramisu alone was filling, but with everything else, we were set. It was so cute.
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We headed back to Treviso and went in search of the Treviso branch. Using an address, directions from locals, and a map, we found it! It was pretty nice, just exploring as we went since we weren't crunched for time. We were able to take the sacrament in a beautiful branch, where (plot twist) the branch president and his wife were from Romania! So that was a funny connection. Now I've bee to church in 5 different countries, I believe.
This is the most adorable old lady I've ever seen.
We explored Treviso some more that day. Treviso is one of the only cities with the original old wall intact, apparently. So we went and enjoyed the beautiful town and the little "island" with ducks and geese and rabbits. Then we headed back to Trevignano. I was anxious to play with Leonardo more for our last day. And we did. T'was grand.
We like to play barefoot in the streets. And bubbles. We like bubbles.
Leonardo gave us matching tattoos. He told me what they were, but it was in Italian...
For our last evening in Italy, Morgan, Macey, and I decided to walk around their little town and see some more of it. We went to a little pizza shop, and they bought a huge amount of fries. I bought a full-sized four-cheese pizza. Oh man. I was excited. We found a bench and just ate and talked and looped at the little town as the sun went down. We talked about how our summer was coming to an end and things we would miss or not miss. It was a good end to the weekend. I ate almost the entire pizza by myself, but I decided to save. The last piece for breakfast the next morning. We got big bowls of gelato again on our way home, and we rolled into the home sporting pretty impressive food babies.
It was much bigger in person...
"How did you like the Italian pizza?"
"Oh I loved it! I ate practically the whole thing!""Oooh good! Now, you try mine!"
Yep. She had made homemade pizza for dinner that night. There was no way out of it. I said I would love to, while the other two politely declined. However, that's not really an option. The daughter gave them each a plate anyways. I could barely finish the piece, even though it was ABSOLUTELY delicious. Just as I am (finally) nearing the end of the piece, our host mom grabs another slice-- "and now, margherita! And tomorrow, you diet!" I actually had tears come to my eyes. I had never been so full in my life. And then the laughter came. Remember how that happens when I am in panicky situations? Yep.
It didn't help when we talked about our program "International Language Program...ILP" and she pronounced it "oh , Eelp!" I almost lost it laughing. It really wasn't even that funny, but I just couldn't believe I was eating the equivalent of more than a full sized pizza in addition to the ice cream. All I could think about was how Bruce felt in "Matilda" when he was forced to eat the entire chocolate cake. I struggled. Luckily we sat there for a long time talking about Italy and America, so I had time to space out the bites. We learned little cultural things like why there were clock towers all over-- they put them next to the churches all over the town, so people would know what time to stop working in the factories, since they didn't have watches. They also called them to church. They talked about all the unique claims their town can make--- tiramisu was created there (or in the neighboring town?). Apparently the mom didn't know for a long, long time that any other places even knew about it. In addition to the wine, they also had a famous shoe from there.. I forget.
They also were surprised to learn recently that Americans eat spaghetti. They DID think that we put ketchup on our spaghetti on the rare occasions that we had it, so that was a fun myth to bust.
They told us how he reason that they decided to rent out their guest room was so that their children could experience more and broaden their minds. They want them to understand other cultures and people outside of their little town. What's cool family. I am so glad that we stayed with them. It was so much more than the typical tourist experience. We got to know the people and learn about their culture, instead of just the tourist sites. They were such a beautiful people. I want to go back. And not just for the pizza. And Leonardo.
Early the next morning, the dad drove us to the airport, and we headed back to Iasi. Aside from awkwardness at passport control, it was a pretty relaxing day. We had the whole Monday to unwind and unpack. We finally got some answers about our lack of visa issue. Apparently the program just didn't give us all he information; we get an extension on our 90 days, so we WON'T be here illegally, which is nice to know.
Necessary plane selfie.
View as we stepped off the plane in Iasi. Romania is pretty.
Once again, coming back to Iasi was an adjustment. But this time, I was better prepared. What I was NOT prepared for was two of my children from my room being switched to another room at the orphanage. I was pretty upset. One was a wheelchair-bound one, and the other was a pretty mobile boy who has gotten much better at walking the last few months. I'm glad he's going to be with more children he can play with, but I'm going to miss both of them.
There was some excitement when we got back... That fundraiser we did to buy new wheelchairs was a success! I think we purchased 11 new wheelchairs, some strollers, foot-correction thingies, and diapers. So many kids in my room got either their first or a new wheelchair! I almost cried when I saw them. It really makes such a difference, so thank you to anyone who donated!
The last couple weeks were different, because we needed to fill the gap that used to be full of teaching in the afternoon. Some of us decided to go back to the orphanage in the afternoon on our teaching days. It's only for an hour and a half in the afternoon, and it goes by so quickly. But it is often pretty crazy. Especially on days when I'm the only volunteer in my room for the afternoon. I'm used to having Cammy and Maddy in there, so when all the children are crying or pulling on me or making pouty faces for attention (cough cough Xavier), it is kind of overwhelming. But I am so glad I can go back in the afternoons now... Time is running out and it is terrifying.
Walking home from the orphanage the other day, I kept feeling this small prick when I stopped on one of my feet. I had ignored it for a few days, but finally I took off my flip flop and looked closer. There was a piece of glass wedged into my flip flop and poking out the top ever so slightly. So that was exciting. I like to say I'm a modern-day Romanian twist on Cinderella.
I really have been making an effort to savor the little moments here. I don't know if I'm getting better or if I am just realizing how little time I have left, but I am living in the moment a lot more.
Xavier and I have had some moments at the orphanage that have been just so fun. He loves having me pick up bugs on leaves and show them to him. I usually pick up a snail or these little fire bugs, but every so often he tries to get me to pick up a spider and is very bummed out when I refuse. The other day I held up a bug on a leaf (his name is Felix, in case you were wondering). I usually tease Xavier by pretending to put the big on his head or in his mouth (because he is always smiling with it wide open), and he always laughs at me while saying "no" with his eyes and trying to lean away. Well, one day, Felix (we assume all bugs of the same type are Felix) decided to jump while I teased Xavier. And he landed right on Xavier's face. And Xavier jumped so much, I shouted, brushed it off, and we laughed hysterically for the next five minutes or so. Oh man, the panic in his eyes was so funny, I probably shouldn't have laughed. But he did too, so it is a joke of ours now.
Another thing we like to play now is heads or tails. Robby taught me how they like to play on the computer before he left. But since Chloe left, I don't get to use the computer with Xavier, so I wrote "cap" and "spate" on two different pieces of paper and place them on either side of me. Then I flip a coin and tease him for a while, building suspense as to which he thinks it is. He usually ends up looking rapidly back and forth between the two. When he gets it right, he gets so so excited when I yell "Un mai pentru tine!" (Which I think means, (one more for you") as I write down the score. He can be a sore loser though haha.
I don't know how I'm going to say goodbye to him. I already bought him his favorite chocolate bar (Milka raspberry cream) to give him on the last day. But it's going to be so hard... One of the workers told me the other day that she has asked him (while we were playing outside together if he was in love. He said yes. Then she asked him what he was going to do when I left. "Are you going to go with her?" Apparently, he nodded and squealed excitedly. Oh man. This is going to break my heart as much as his. I'm going to see if I can email Teo while I'm back home with messages for Xavier every once in a while.
Malena's casts are off of her legs! I don't remember if I said that. But it is so exciting! It's a lot easier to hold her and dance with her now. The other afternoon, the workers said she wasn't allowed to go outside with the others (they have many superstitions and health theories I don't understand), so I stayed inside to play with her. We played some games on the bed, and then ended up pretending to fall asleep. She would say "noapte bună!" and I would have to fall asleep in the middle of anything I was doing. Sometimes she would "sleep" too and just cuddle up to me. Then she would laugh SO loudly to wake me up it was pretty painful. But adorable.
She also did my hair. She brushed it out, and kept calling me a baby when I would say "ow!!!" So that was fun too. I lost a lot of hair that day.
The hospital for the last couple weeks has been pretty fun. There is a girl named Alexandra who isn't an orphan, but the nurses asked us to go in and play with her. Her mom watched us as we awkwardly spoke Romanian and tried to cheer up her 13 year old. She is very small for her age, with a relatively severe disability. She didn't speak much, her mom warned us that she didn't speak at all. I had found some Polly pockets in our apartment, and she loved them! She would just hold them and stare, smiling every once in a while. She would take whatever one you held at the time haha. After a while, she started opening up to us, and she would put her feet all over me as she sat next to me in bed. She even would speak a tiny bit when she wanted me to do something (like dress or undress a doll).
When we came back another day, she randomly got a bloody nose while her mom was out of the room. She decided to blow her nose (without a tissue) to clear it out before we could stop her. So her mom comes back into the room to find her daughter splattered in blood, sitting in a bed covered in a significant amount of blood splatter. I tried to clean up the bed and Alexandra as much as I could. She is a sweet girl. Sabrina had some paper flowers visible on her backpack, and hey just fascinated Alexandra. We put a drop of scented hand sanitizer on the flowers, so they would smell as pretty as they looked. She adored them. And after the blood splatter got everywhere, we decided to let her keep them all haha.
Oh, I think people in Iasi are onto me and my weakness for puppies. The other day, I was walking up the path to my apartment and two guys (probably a little older than me) stood next to the path. They BOTH held adorable puppies. I couldn't help but look, but I tried to hold it together. I didn't do a very good job, I guess, because the guys started yelling after me and holding the puppies out. All I could think about were the childhood cautions of "don't talk to strangers, even if they offer you candy, a puppy, or a ride in their big, white van."
Don't worry-- this is a stray puppy, not one of the man's.
So much self-control.
And you know how I have this natural instinct to go pet other people's dogs? Well I'm developing that for children. I am starting to just forget that I can't go up and talk to children I don't know. I'm just so used to seeing kids at the orphanage or hospital and just talking or playing with them. We ate at Little Texas again last night, and a little boy walked in with his family. Before I could help it I call out to him, "Well, hello!" Everyone at the table got really confused. I had to explain that, no he wasn't one of my students, I'm just a freak.
A bit of Iasi portion:
the children's hospital
The priest who stands on our corner everyday. Cool guy.
Romanian food is sometimes....
Cutest church award. Looks like a dollhouse.
hole in the middle of the street...
This is a house they have been working on tearing down all summer...it is a metaphor for something now.
Podul ros! (red bridge)
At least they provide safe passage over the torn up sidewalk.
I hate when they forget to mow the sidewalk...
Beautiful Iasi post thunderstorm
La Foglie has amazing chocolate cheesecake. FYI
Palas by night
Auchan by night
Eating like a classy lady.
My heart is being stretched to new limits. Even more than my stomach was in Italy. I am dreading the goodbyes I'll have to say this week, but in the meantime, I'm just happy that I have people and things that I love enough to miss.
Stay classy, America.
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