on to the second week

I am now starting my second week at the clinic and I am forever mystified by how easy we Americans have it in the states. I continue to watch the nurse and aides go about their daily activities and as they are pushing a wheelbarrow full of clean diapers back to be folded I am glad we are not required to do such things. On friday we had the sad task of saying goodbye to four of our fast friends as our group of 20 went down to 16. The two and three weekers had the option of going on a weekend excursion and as 10 of us rode the bus 5 hours to brasov we were transported back in time. We came to town and stayed in a hotel over looking a charming city square straight out of a story book. even the bells made cheery sounds. We toured the Black church-named that only after a fire destroyed the inside, but a very misleading name because the inside was not black at all. We then toured Brans Castle in Transylvania- very midevil and for only 73 million dollars it too can be yours! the next day we took a bus ride through more mountains and reached Sinaia where we visited Peles castle. it looked like a story book fairy tale. Each room we entered was decorated in a different country's style. We then took a cable car ride up 1400 meters above sea level to view the city from above. after that we took a harrowing 5 hour bus ride back with a busdriver who seemed hellbent on seeing how many people he could scare on the side of the road by honking his horn, and swerving from lane to lane down a two way road trying to avoid potholes. all of this after I managed to lose my carsickness patch!! Did I also mention we were driving through the mountains as well? It was good to go see more of the country however my heart was back at the clinic thinking about the babies knowing that they would not be carried as much as if we were there. Today we came back to the clinic and the aides welcomed us with smiles on their faces. Even with 4 less people we managed to give all the babies as much love as we could jam pack into a very quick 8 hour day. After clinic I actually had a dad moment and visited a grave yard!!! I have learned very fast that U.S. time is about 1/3 that of Romanian time. If our coordinator tells us it will take 10 minutes to walk somewhere we may as well triple that!! The food we have been receiving is a mix between Romanian traditional meals and american favorites. They do love to put dill on everything though. and the food is very much like the food I grew up on so I am not starving to death. I did fall in love with a turkish bread that I am going to have to find out how to make when I come back!! I am working with a great group of people who, like me can never seem to do enough! When we ask what they need at the clinic their number one priority is cloth diapers so we pooled our donations and managed to buy enough diapers to keep many bottoms covered! We love for them to have the convinence of disposible diapers however they have to pay for them to be disposed of as medical waste so it is not a very cheap option for them. I have had the pleasure of seeing my sheets and clothing put to good use and every day I look to see if one of the babies is wearing my donations. At the end of every day I leave the clinic very sad because I can hear the toddlers and babies crying as we puut them back in their cribs for the night. I do feel better knowing the aides give as much love as possible to the kids until we come back the next morning. And I never thought there could be so much pleasure in a carton of yougert but those kids go gaga fo it. as each day passes it will be harder and harder for me to leave but I am now trying to figure out how I can get back as soon as possible! I am very greatful for the family I grew up in and am thankful for being American!