Has it really been three weeks?

Buna ziua! Wow, Romania is amazing! So much has happened! I think my time here is really going to go by quickly! I can't believe we have already been here three weeks!!

We have done some fun things! Last weekend we went to a movie here and it was amazing!! The theater was so nice! It was 16 lei, which is about $4! It was super fun! Then on Saturday we went to a branch picnic! I love being with the branch here! Although it is basically just our group, a couple missionaries, and a couple branch members. We were at a beautiful park and it was such a pretty day! It has been really hot here, but when you find a shady spot and sit on the grass it is really nice! We also got gelato as we walked around the lake and it was perfect! We also went to a little outdoor concert by the Palas! It was a group called the "Vali Boghean Band"and it was so cool to sit and listen to Romanian music, even when we don't understand anything. Also, shoutout to the amazing people in my group! I really don't think I could be handling all of this without them! They are fantastic and I am so lucky that I get to be here with them!

Movie Night 

Roomie love

Vali Boghean Band Concert

Sundays are always great here! The branch is wonderful! Hearing the gospel in Romanian is pretty neat! The gospel is true no matter where you are!!

We love Sundays! 

All of us with Elder Steed

I love going to the orphanage every day! Those kids are amazing and I love them so much! We have officially been there two weeks! I know all of their names and have really gotten to know their personalities! I wish everyone from home could spend just one day with them, they are wonderful! We have one little girl who is blind and always looks sick. She has a feeding tube and is in her wheelchair pretty much all day. They don't bring her outside, so she stays in the room all day. In the past couple days she has been looking so healthy, which makes all of us happy!! Yesterday while most of the kids were outside, I was in the room with another girl from our group and four of the children, so we took her out of her chair and laid her on this little mattress in the room to let her stretch out. She was so happy!! We massaged her legs and let her move around a little! Unlike most of the kids, she doesn't like it when we hold her hands, but she loves when we take a stuffed animal or something soft and rub it on her cheek. She actually laughed!! Ahh it was great!

Her little brother is also in our room. He is about two, and is visually impaired and is delayed. He can't crawl or sit up or talk or anything. He has a feeding tube and he just lays on a bed in the main room all day. The only communication is when he laughs or cries. Holding him is just the sweetest thing. He loves being held! I had him in my arms for the longest time and seeing him smile is great! And when I dance around with him he will sometimes let out a little laugh!! Being with those kids is such an amazing experience!!

I never really talk about the hospital, but that is probably because it is the hardest place for me. It is sad to see kids at the orphanage without parents, but at least they have a "home" and people to take care of them every day. At the hospital, we never know the story of the children we help. All we know is that they don't have parents and they are sick. And the hospital environment is rough...it just feels gross sometimes and there are weird smells and it is not very sanitary. Some days it is really heart breaking because we see children who are really ill. Last week, we had one boy who looked so sick. He was basically just skin and bones...he was so tiny, I was scared to touch him because I thought I would break him. I think he was blind, and he couldn't communicate at all with us. Tuesday was better though! There were a lot of children who were able to communicate and play with us! One little girl was probably two or three and was so cute! Her legs were not properly formed, but she was so playful! We picked her up and she just wanted to be held and loved. The hospital can be frustrating because most of the nurses don't speak any english at all. We were in a room with some babies and we were trying so hard to communicate with the nurse but it wasn't working and so we stood there for about five minutes in extreme awkwardness just looking at the babies because no one knew what to do..haha then we thanked her, said goodbye, and left. We also found a different baby who was so small and was probably just a few weeks old! After holding him for a while, we had to go. The problem was that every time we put him down, he screamed. Now keep in mind that these rooms aren't private. There are about three other patients in this room, and some even had family with them. So Macey and I laid this baby down and to keep him from crying we started to sing and dance, which totally worked! The baby was distracted, but we turned around to see everyone in the room looking at us, the mom next door came in to watch, and the nurses even paused to watch. It was hilarious and a little embarrassing, but we kept singing until we heard the teenage boy behind us taking pictures...lol when the baby was calm we hurried out.

I love being at the kindergarten! I am there three days a week teaching english and it gets better each time! The kids are a little crazy...and some teachers like being there more than others. It can be really frustrating at times, but it can also be fun and cute! I just love teaching. When your lesson goes well and the kids enjoyed it while getting a lot out of it, I feel so great! Some kids are pretty decent at english and some don't know anything, but they are all trying and learning! I love how they talk to us.  Their accents are so cute! They also love to give hugs and kisses!

Every 30 days we get two days off, so our group is taking a four day weekend and going to a city called Braşov! It looks amazing! I am so excited to go! We will also get to go to Transylvania, which will be super cool! The only part I am worried about is the five hour maxi taxi ride...that might be a little rough, but worth it! We leave at 5:30 am tomorrow! 

I hope that everyone from back home is doing great! I love it here, but I also have moments where I really miss home...and my family and friends. I am so grateful for technology and the ability to skype and FaceTime with so many people I love! Thank you everyone for all of the love you show me! I will update everyone after our little vacation! Have a great weekend!

Love,
Madeline

The Kids Stole My Heart

I sat down to start writing about my experiences so far in the orphanage, but I realized that I don't think  there is a way to express my thoughts or feelings in words. It has been wonderful but so emotional. I have only been there a couple days, but I have learned and experienced so much. I don't know how good this is going to sound, but stick with me and I will attempt to tell you what it is like!

Front entrance of the orphanage

Well, we wake up every morning and start getting ready to go. We leave our apartment at about 8:30 and walk to the orphanage. It probably takes 15-20 minutes, so it is really close! We go in a back door and walk up to the second floor where they have a special room for us to change into our scrubs. I absolutely love wearing scrubs and I am so glad we use them! After just two days, mine had snot and food and dirt all over them so I had to bring them home...thank goodness we aren't wearing our normal clothes with the children! Anyways, we all change our clothes and shoes and load up our pockets with hand sanitizer(we definitely need it) and then we all go into our separate rooms.

In my last post I talked about how we saw each room and had to submit our choices. Before coming, I thought I would want to be in the Bambi room, but as we were touring I felt really strongly that I needed to be in Mickey 1. So I put it as my top choice and I am happy to say that it is now my assigned room fore the next four months! It is way out of my comfort zone, but I am so happy to be there! 

Let me tell you about Mickey 1 and all of the wonderful children I get to work with every morning! I wish that I could show pictures and use the kids names, but that isn't allowed. There are about 15 kids in my room! It can get pretty crowded when they are all there! About 11 of them are in wheelchairs, and all the kids have some kind of disability. Three of the kids are completely blind, and about two or three others are visually impaired, but not completely blind. They all have disabilities of some sort. Down syndrome, epilepsy, and mental and physical delays are only a couple of the things we see. Only one of them can talk. The other 14 will make noises but can't really communicate verbally. We got to read a binder with information on all of the children along with their story, and most of mine have identified parents who abandoned them at the orphanage because they couldn't handle or afford to take care of them, but they don't come to visit or anything. A couple were taken from their homes by CPS. Their stories made me cry...they are so young, but have been through so much! 

The actual room is pretty small. There are toys, but most of the kids can't really play with them. On the right and left sides of the room there are doors leading to the bedrooms. There are only two bedrooms, so each has about seven cribs in it. Our room gets very hot and all the kids are practically dressed for winter, so we try to fan them off sometimes. About 10 of the kids get to go outside in the morning, which is nice because it gives us time to work with the blind kids left in the room. When the toddlers are gone, we can take the kids in the wheelchair and spend time holding them and massaging their muscles and trying to stretch them out! The other girl from my group in the room with me is Hannah, and she is amazing with the kids! I am so glad she is there with me! 

Ok so now more about the kids!! I love them so much already!! It has taken a couple days to learn their names, but I know most of them now! I will start with the toddlers and kids not in wheelchairs! One little boy is developmentally delayed but is so cute!! He is blonde and cuddly and just adorable! He will cry when he needs to be picked up, and a lot of times he will just lay his head on my shoulder as I am holding him. He is gentle and will sit in a crib a lot of the time and play with toys by himself. Our other boy toddler is almost the opposite. He loves to run around and constantly needs to be watched! He really makes me laugh sometimes! He has a huge smile and loves to play! He has down syndrome, can't talk yet, but is great at walking! The problem we have with him is that he is very violent...he likes to hit and scratch, but we are teaching him how to be gentle! He is a very happy kid though! Then we have three little girls. Two go to a little school in the morning so we only get a little bit of time with them each day. The one who doesn't is autistic and can walk and is a sweetheart! One is a little delayed, but looks like a normal four year old! She is so cute! She loovveesss attention and has no problem trying to distract us from the other children. She loves to be tickled and her laugh will melt your heart. She can't talk, but she is learning a lot! The other little girl really has a piece of my heart...She doesn't have legs. Well, technically she does, but they are like little twigs and can't be used, so it is as if they are not there. She is really the only one that can talk, so it is nice to have little conversations with her...even if she doesn't speak english! She knows our names, which is really special for us because none of the other kids can say our names. She will come in at about 11:30 in her little wheelchair and she is always so excited to see us!! She reaches up and says a whole sentence to me(it is in Romanian so I don't understand) but I recognize it  when I hear "În brațe" which means "in arms". Teo told me she is just asking to be held, but the english translation is "take me in your arms". She gets so excited when I pick her up and will just hold me and hug me and won't let me put her down. If she is on the ground, she can pull herself using her arms and likes to play! The workers warn us that she is "spoiled"...and being spoiled here is way different from America. They are worried about he being spoiled because she gets held too much...so they told us not to always hold her. I am so happy I get to spend time with her each day though, I always look forward to seeing her!

The rest of the children are in wheelchairs, but I love them just as much!! They are harder to work with sometimes because they can't communicate or tell you what they want, which makes it tricky. The good news is...when we play with them, they are so happy! If we weren't there, some of those kids would do nothing but sit in their wheelchair all morning. The workers are so busy feeding and changing the kids, so all of the play time and extra love comes from us. I spent a lot of my time with one of the blind boys today. He was so happy to have the attention! He loved to be tickled and hearing him actually laugh was such a sweet sound! He was happier than I have ever seen him before! I took him out of his chair and laid him on a mattress sitting in the room so he could stretch out. Hannah was with another kids, but the two of us starting singing "You belong with me" which seems so random and probably a little weird, but it was such a tender moment. We just sat and sang to the kids and they were both smiling and laughing and those moment are when I remember why I am here and why these kids need us. It was so sweet!

There is also a blind girl who I worked with today! She loves to hold our hands! If we grab both her hands and kind of dance around a little, she gets this huge smile! She was laughing a lot today too, which made us very happy! We never know what they are thinking, so if I can get a smile or laugh I feel like I am doing something good. I am hoping to learn ways to help them!

There are so many other children and I am sure you will all hear a lot about them during my time here! In case anyone is curious about their food...I learned a little bit about it today. Our whole room has this distinct smell and I think it is the smell of their food. They all eat this mush stuff...it looks pretty disgusting. I am not sure exactly what is in it, but someone told another girl that it has nutrients and stuff that the kids need. All of the kids in my room who eat well are wheeled to the little dining room and fed their mush. Today I got to go help and the little boy I was feeding ate all of his! The workers were so happy!! The kids who don't go to the dining room are fed their mush with a bottle. The ones that can't use a bottle have a feeding tube and they have a more liquid version of mush that gets put in the tube.

All in all, these kids are amazing! They are so special and make me so happy! I could go on and on forever about them. I am sure all of my blog posts will talk about them, but it is because I am here for them. I am so grateful to be here! These kids need us. They need the love and the help. The workers need us here. I love getting to know each child and worker. It is hard to communicate with the workers because not many of them know any english, but I know I will learn a lot from them. And I also know I will learn from these kids. They have already touched my heart. I cry so much...it is so emotional being around them. Happy tears and sad tears and just everything...it is hard to be around sometimes. To see these children and what their lives are like just breaks my heart on a daily basis. When I talk about them or think about them or even write blog posts about them I can't help but cry. I have so much love for them and it has only been a couple days. It really is not easy to be here...we are always tired and busy and it is rough, but the kids make every second worth it! I am so grateful to be here!!

 In other news...Romania is so great! On Saturday we went on a day trip!! We went to the Cetatea Neamţ(Neamţ Fortress) which was built in the 1300s, the Neamţ Monastery, and the Sihăstria Monastery. They were all so beautiful! I am excited to travel around Romania and to other countries while I am here! 

Our apartment is finally starting to feel a little more homey! Big news: we got a water filter on our sink!!!!! Now we don't have to use bottled water all the time! Yay! We don't have air conditioning, so we bought fans the other day and it was probably the best purchase I have made since being here. Emma and I can now sleep at night! Well...except for the construction. They are redoing the street right outside our apartment and they don't start construction until about 9 pm and they go until about 2 am....it makes for quite a loud evening haha. Also, I am trying hard to learn the language but it is so difficult! A  lot of people here don't speak english, especially people we work with in the orphanage and hospital, so I want to be  able to communicate better. I think my whole group is working on that.

I think that is all for now! I just wanted to say thank you for all the love, support, and prayers that have been sent my way. I am having an amazing time, but it has also been really hard and I really appreciate my friends and family and all the love they show me! I am so happy to be here! Thank you guys for everything! Te iubesc!

Love.
Madeline

Aveți Copii Fără Mama?

"I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then."- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland.

This week has been incredible! So much has happened, and it has all been a little crazy, but as of today we are officially in the orphanage, hospital, and kindergarten!!! 

Ok so I guess I will start with the school! We started teaching there on Monday. Here is some background info about teaching: I am part of Group A, so I go to the school on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons. We have a little less than 30 students, and we are in charge of teaching english. There is an opening, where we talk about weather and do calendar and sing songs, then we do lessons. There are always 4 lessons going on at once, with each teacher doing a different category, and the children rotate around to each lesson. With ILP, we teach english but not directly. We do drama, kitchen, arts and crafts, games, gym, and shop, then incorporate the english into our lessons. It is taking a while to get used to, but we are all improving! We turn in our lesson plans the week before we teach so our head teacher can approve them. 

So Monday was our first day and I was so excited! I have heard stories about how ILP teachers sometimes cry after their first day teaching and I thought it wasn't possible. I mean, I have been around kids my whole life and I am an Elementary Education major...so it should be easy, right? Well I was very wrong...it was rough for all of us. Crazy would be a good word to describe the day...it was like no classroom I had ever experienced before, and I think we all left feeling frustrated. But the good  news is... It got way better!!! Wednesday we were able to actually control the children and get through lessons, and by Thursday I was actually enjoying myself! I can tell you so many great things about those kids! They are absolutely adorable!! They know a lot english already, so we can easily communicate with them. They have really strong Romanian accents and it is the cutest thing ever. They are so loving and some kids will just run up and kiss your cheek. One sweet girl was talking to me about Frozen, and then she sang "Let it Go" for me(the whole song) in Romanian!! When they want you, they go "Teacher!! Teacher!!"(in their adorable accents) and they love hugs! One of their rules is "English only, no Romanian" and if a child hears another child speaking Romanian, they don't hesitate to  yell out "English only!!!" I already love them and I am excited to become a better teacher and enjoy my time with them! 

The next thing we do is go to the children's hospital. Just so everyone knows, we aren't allowed to take pictures in the orphanage or hospital, or use the children's names when we are talking about them. Anyways....it's about a 30 minute walk to the hospital. The hospitals here aren't anything like the ones in America. The outside looks gross and has broken windows and stuff. Inside isn't much better. Anyone is allowed to go anywhere and it is kind of dark. Not as bad as I thought it would be, but I would never want to be a child there. Each room has about 3 children in it, with windows so you can see into the room next door. There really isn't any privacy. If children are taken there, someone from the family is supposed to stay with them. Usually the moms are in charge of changing their child's diaper and feeding the child and keeping the child happy. If the child does not have a mom, or the mom can't stay with them, the child might not get his or her diaper changed or wont have much interaction with others. Once we get there, we go inside this little room and change into our scrubs and new shoes(you aren't allowed to wear "street shoes" in the orphanage or hospital because they are dusty and dirty) and then go up to each floor. We walk into each wing and find a nurse and say, "Aveți copii fără mama?" which basically means "Do you have any children without a mom?" The nurses then point us to rooms where the children are and we spend time playing with or just loving the child. Today I spent most of my time playing with a very sweet girl who has heart trouble. When we walked in the room she started jumping up and down because she was so happy to have someone there! I think I am going to really like working there!

Not the best picture, but here is what the hospital looks like

Then last, but certainly not least...the orphanage!! I loovvee it there! After a hard week, it was a great reminder of what I came here for! I fell in love with all of those children! I didn't really know what to expect, but the orphanage is way nicer than I expected! I mean, it isn't like having a home, but I was expecting some dirty place with kids everywhere. It feels organized and safe there! There are five rooms with five different types of children. Today was our first day, so we spent time in each room so we can see what they are like before we decide which one we want to spend the summer working in. The first is called Isolation. That is where all of the babies are, and they are precious!! Then there are the Bambi rooms. That is where all of the toddlers are. Bambi 1 has the highest functioning kids at the orphanage. They can all walk, but still have disabilities...although most of theirs are mental. They had so much energy but were really cute! Bambi 2 has toddlers, but they do not function quite as well as the other group. None of them can really walk, but are learning! One child was just developmentally delayed, but now he can stand and walk a little with help! Then there are the Mickey rooms. All of these kids are disabled. Mickey 1 has the higher functioning kids. About half of them are in wheelchairs, but I don't think any of the other ones can even stand. I spent a lot of my time there today with a little girl who can't move on her own. I don't know exactly what she has, but I found her crying in her crib and picked her up and pretty much just cuddled with her. She loves being held! She also loves dancing! We had fun twirling around the room together! The oldest boy in the orphanage is in that room. He is 16, is in a wheelchair, and can understand everything, but he can't communicate back. He loves to smile and we enjoyed talking with him! I could go on and on, these kids really stole my heart! Mickey 2 is the last room, and every single one of those children is in a wheelchair. They can't communicate at all, but love to be talked to and touched! All of the rooms were wonderful and I wish I could spend time in all of them, but we have to pick one room and that is where we will be every day until we go home. There will be about two girls in each room, so we have to submit our top choices to our head teacher this weekend and we will find out soon which room we will be in! I will have lots of stories once I start in my assigned room! 

A "first day at the orphanage" picture with my roommate! 

I now know why they need us here! These children are so special and need so much love, and there are just not enough people to help them! The orphanage workers are fantastic and they work so hard! I can tell they really care about the kids! But with so many kids and so few workers, the kids do not get the attention they need. The fact that we can be there to love and hold and teach the children is amazing! I am so happy to be here! I can tell you my favorite part of the orphanage today...I was in the isolation room and there is a little boy there who is blind, but loves to be touched. I was in the room so I walked up to him and held my hand against his face and a huge smile spread across his face  and it took all my energy to not burst out crying. It was so sweet! He just sat there and smiled as I talked to him and rubbed his cheeks, and soon I found his ticklish spot! To hear him laugh was amazing! Those kind of moments are the reason I am here! 

In other Romanian news...Iași is wonderful! It is a great city! We love to shop at the Palas mall, and try new foods, and still love all of the desserts! There is a place called Petru and they have these chocolate filled pretzels that we loWe took our first bus ride and that was pretty exciting! The apartment is interesting...it is so noisy all the time! We can hear everything happening on the street and our neighbors, but whenever we make any noise we get in trouble. One neighbor threatened to call the police because she heard us in the hall. And sometimes(like, yesterday) our power will be out all day and our wifi will stop working...but it is all ok, we are getting used to it! The girls in my group are all great! We have gotten so close this week! And my roommates(Emma, Kara, and Cammy) are amazing! 

Cammy, Kara, and Emma(the roommates)

I am so happy and grateful to be here! It has been hard to get used to living in a new place...but I know I am supposed to be here and I am so excited to spend my time with these children! I know they will change my life and I hope I can change theirs! Noapte bună!

Love,
Madeline

Duminică

Today was our first Sunday in Iași and it was wonderful! I was a little nervous about going to church here. I mean, I don't know the language, it's a small branch, I didn't know how it worked...but being there today showed me that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the same no matter where you are in the world!

We left for church at 9:30 this morning. It was about a 20 minute walk to church, which isn't too bad! It was a beautiful morning and I think we were all excited and a little nervous. Here in Iași there are not enough members to have a full ward, so they have a branch. In this branch, there are about 20 members. When our group of 14 showed up we almost doubled the number! The building is not like a normal church building. It is small and has three floors. Sacrament meeting was on the first floor, and it was amazing! It was all in Romanian, but the missionaries sat behind us and translated it all. To go through a whole hour of sacrament meeting in a different language was so special. Even though I did not always know what was going on, we could all feel the spirit in the room and that was the most important part. I think one of my favorite parts was singing the hymns in Romanian. It was just interesting, and it helped us all learn  correct pronunciation.

For the second hour, our group went up to the third floor and had our own Sunday school lesson. If you haven't read Elder Neil L. Andersen's talk "Thy Kingdom Come" from this past General Conference, I would strongly recommend it! It was the perfect lesson. It quotes a scripture in the Book of Mormon, Alma 26:37, and it says, "Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth." Listening to this in a different country had such an impact on me. The gospel is true, not matter where you are. Our Heavenly Father loves all of His children, no matter where they are.

Our third hour was Relief Society, and it was also held on the third floor. I really loved Relief Society! Their branch has six ladies in their Relief society, then there were three sister missionaries, then the 13 of us. Thank goodness we had the sister missionaries there! They were amazing and so helpful!! They translated the whole thing for us, and even offered to meet with us once or  twice this week to help us with our Romanian! The other ladies in Relief Society were also awesome! They were so welcoming and kind to us. It was cool to be somewhere new and feel like you completely belong.

The ward also assigned our group to be in charge of the branch family home evening each week. I am glad we will get to participate in all of their activities! I am so grateful for this gospel and the opportunity I have to attend church while I am here! 

In other news...we start teaching tomorrow! I am beyond excited to get to be with the kids!! Hopefully we can start in the orphanage and hospital by the end of next week. We also got to do some more exploring yesterday! I can't get over how beautiful this city is. We walked around the Palas and through some streets, and there is just so much to see! We went to the food court in the mall for dinner and each restaurant was something unique. We tried something called a dorna kebab and it was delicious! Also, there is this spread called nussa and it looks like a jar of Nutella  but it is milk and white chocolate and it is so good!

Here are just a things I have learned/observed in the past couple days:

1. Romanians are crazy drivers! Our first time in a car was a very scary thing! They don't stay in lanes and will sometimes drive or park on the sidewalk.
2. The drivers also love to use their horns...they will honk all the time.
3. The drivers always stop for pedestrians...when you come to a cross walk, you just start walking and they will stop for you. I am always nervous because it looks like they aren't going to stop, but they always do.
4. The streets are very dusty, so you have to make sure you take your shoes off as soon as you walk into your apartment. Mario made sure we knew that as soon as we got there.
5. It is illegal to hurt a pigeon here.
6. The grocery store will not give you a bag, you must bring your own.
7. There seems to be no such thing as a line. If you aren't aggressive enough, people will walk right in front of you.
8. I fell much safer here then I ever thought I would. I really love this city!

Thats about it! The girls in my group are amazing and I love them already! My romanian...is coming along. I can now say basic greeting, my name is, and count to 10(sometimes). I just want to give a special shoutout to my amazing mom for mother's day! She inspires me and is my very best friend! I love you so much mom! Thank you for helping me become the person I am today!

Until next time! La revedere! 

Love,

Madeline 

Bunvenit În Iași!

Well, after 36 hours of traveling and 16 lost suitcases, we finally made it to Iași! I am so incredibly excited to be here! The city is amazing! I had no idea what to expect, but I love it more than I ever thought I could!

Where do I even begin....I guess I can start with my group! They are absolutely amazing! There are 14 of us, including our fearless head teacher Cammy who has helped us through so much! There is also a married couple, Brandon and Anya, and we are so happy to have them here! They both served their missions in Romania and so they help translate for us, as well as teach us about the language, food, and culture. Everyone is so nice and we are all so excited to make a difference here.

Our little two bedroom apartment is so cute! There are 4 girls in each apartment, and the 3 apartments are right by each other. It will take a little while to get used to, but we are turning it into our little home! 

Our cute blue door

Bathroom

Living Room/ Kara's Room

Kitchen

Cammy's Room

My Room(shared with Emma)

It has been lots of fun trying new food here! Some of it is great! And some of it is...very different. Our lunch and dinner is made for us and we pick it up every day, so it is very authentic Romanian meals that none of us are used to, but I am glad we get to try it. We are in charge of our own breakfast, and we get 6 lei each day to buy food. Yesterday we had something called "corn" for breakfast, and it was pretty much just a  chocolate filled pastry, but it was delicious. We also got to go to the store and buy more breakfast foods, which was a fun adventure. Today for lunch we ate mămăligă, which is a cornmeal type thing, and sarmale, which is a stuffed cabbage roll. We also eat a lot of potatoes, meat, and bread. The desserts are fantastic! Today on our adventure around the city we got little pastries and gelato, which is pretty much the best thing ever!

"corn"

Us at the market

 Mămăligă and Sarmale

A quick pastry stop

Gelato is our favorite

These past two days were filled with preparation, training, and a couple attempts to learn Romanian! We got to meet Mario, our in country coordinator who basically helps us with everything. We are all so excited to start working with the kids. There is still more paperwork and things like that, so we can't start right away. It looks like we will get to start teaching on Monday, we should be able to start at the hospital on Wednesday, and hopefully we can start in the orphanage by Friday or Saturday! Today we got to go see the school and I already know I am going to love teaching there. The kids are adorable! And I now know what my schedule will be like. Every morning we will all be at the orphanage. Then, on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoon I will teach. Tuesday and Friday afternoons will be spent at the hospital. I can't wait to get started!!

Here is my cute group outside of the school

We have done so much exploring and I absolutely love this city! There is the beautiful Palas, lost of churches, a giant mall, and so many beautiful buildings! We even found our own church today, which we will be attending on Sunday.

The Book of Mormon

Palas

This is right next to our apartment 

It has been such an incredible journey so far, and we have only been here for two days! I love Iași and I can't wait to see what else will happen! More updates coming soon! Noapte bună!

Love,

Madeline