The Life of RY: June 2012

June 1st was Children's Day (Zuia Copilor). Why we don't have a celebration like this in America is one question I would like to have answered. Even though I don't have children of my own (I would have at least 3 if I was allowed to adopt Romanian babies as a single college student...) and I don't have a significant other, I plan on celebrating this holiday when I do have my own little family! At first I was worried that this day would be like every other day in the orphanage because the children in my room are babies, or completely bedridden. Fortunately I was pleasantly surprised when I got to work in the morning! The Iso room was decked out in balloons and many of the children had already been taken out of their cribs. We got to take 2 of them to a little show that was being put on, but unfortunately it was a little overwhelming for them so they got taken back to Iso while Michelle and I were left to enjoy the party. It was the cutest thing ever! The workers were put on a puppet show complete with forresty back drop and leaves decorating the table. I don't really know what the story was about because I'm not fluent in the ways of Romanian woodland creatures and bugs, but I enjoyed the singing and dancing puppets anyway! Some of the little sprouts did a dance where a little girl dressed as a bumblebee sat on a chair in the middle and then little boys held streamers tied to the legs of her chair and danced around. If it was grown ups doing that dance it would have been the most laughable event of all time. When it is disabled orphans dancing and you think about how hard they have practiced for this moment, how excited they are, and how much you love them, your heart just melts. One of the older girls, maybe 11ish...? recited a poem/song thing and then it was a giant dance party! They put some crazy music on and we danced with babies, pushed around kids in wheel chairs, and led them in a stirring rendition of Do-As-I'm-Doing. Presents, cake, more presents, the end. My favorite moment of the day was seeing the kids all dressed up. Romanians are weirdly obsessed with clothing. Sometimes in a good way, but mostly in a confusing nonsensical way. More often than not my babies are dressed in outfits not meant for their gender. Girls in boy clothes, and boys in girl clothes. It's just whatever...Clothes rarely match and there are way to many of them. I can't wait until I am a mommy and can let my curly headed babies run around in nothing but a diaper so I can blow raspberries on their tiny baby bellies. The Romanian don't really see eye to eye with me on this one. Here is what the average child wears: diaper, tights, pants, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, strange cap that ties under the chin. If their nails haven't been clipped and they are bordering on dragon claws they might even have socks on their hands. All those layers mixed with the insane Romanian heat makes for sweaty miserable children. While working in the hospital I conveniently leave their clothes off for a while when I change their diapers, but there isn't anything I can do about it in the orphanage. The Romanian people are very superstitious when it comes to illness and the "current" so I get it. Cultural differences...the layers of clothes protect those little bodies! On children's day they got to get all fancied up. The boys were wearing dress shirts and a little tie and they girls were wearing skirts and dresses. I almost felt like I was sitting in on a Romanian primary class. Almost...The last surprise of the day came when I was feeding my babies lunch. Even though they all could take bottles, the workers simply do not have time to feed them all so all of the children but 4 are fed through feeding tubes. I could write an entire post about my feelings on feeding tubes so we're not even going to go there. While I was preparing to feed one of the little girls who gets actual baby food mush stuff, one of the workers came and poured a giant handful of sugar into the mix! I was so entertained by that fact I literally started laughing out loud. Even though the babies couldn't go to the show (probably smart...too much squirming) the sweet workers in Iso were still trying to make their day great :)

On a completely unrelated note, I broke a world record this weekend! I love the bloc that I live in. Right outside my door and across the street is the city square where all major events take place. We found out that the city that I live in would be attempting to break the world record for the number of paper lanterns lit at a time. We singed ourselves up (including the Elders...they are seriously our best friends which is so weird to me...) and then just showed up. Simple as that! They gave us our lanterns, a lighter, and even a bracelet to commemorate the momentous occasion. The previous record was 11,800 something and we broke it with 12,700 something. It was insane! It feels kind of weird saying that a sky full of paper was beautiful, but it really was. It was Tangled in real life and now we're gonna be in the Guinness Book of World Records. How's that for a summer bucket list item? Consider it done.