First "Real" Week

The past few days have been the first times that I've been able to go to the orphanage, apartments, and hospital. I absolutely love it all! The kids here are amazing. They all have had pretty rough lives due to social cases or disabilities, but the programs here really help them out. 

The love that I feel for these kiddos is undeniable. I do have a favorite though, I'll call him George for the sake of privacy. When I first walked in and sat down in his room he happily walked over and proceeded to bite my wrist, leaving teeth marks for three hours after. He reminds me of my little brother Timmy when my parents first adopted him, he can't walk well, can't really talk, and uses his teeth to express feelings. He loves to cuddle and be tickled and his favorite toy to carry around and chew on is a set of plastic keys. Those keys have saved my skin from so many bites!

The Orphanage

I have loved going to the hospital and orphanage extension apartments, too. The kids that we mainly visit at the hospital are the ones whose families live too far away to stay with their kids, kids from the orphanage, and kids whose families abandoned them. The kids at the hospital have captured my whole group's hearts.

The kids at the apartments have a lot of energy. Each apartment has three or four kids living in it with a worker. As volunteers we get to go visit for two hours in the afternoon and play and play with the kids so that the worker can take a break or cook dinner. The kids at the apartments are almost ready to go into foster homes, so they are very mobile and can understand Romanian.