HI. So I'm coming home in less than 3 weeks and I can't even believe it. This summer has gone by SO FAST. I'm slapping myself for not writing on here more about my experiences at the orphanage and hospital, but I guess it's better later than never, right?? Anyways, going home is going to be the most bitter sweet thing I've ever experienced. Yes, oh my gosh I can't wait to be back. But it also breaks my heart to know that I will never see these children again. It's hard for me to think about leaving them, and it absolutely terrifies me to think that one day I may forget what they look like, their little personality quirks, or how happy they make me. 

Last Thursday was our last day at the kindergarten. To be honest, the kindergarten was notttt my favorite haha. After coming back from our week-long vacation, the school had changed up everything. A lot of the kids had left for a little summer break between starting up again in the fall, so they combined the separate group of kids and a lot of the kids from my group were gone. It was hard adjusting to the new group of kids because they were about a year younger than the ones in my group, and they new about half the amount of english haha. It was really frustrating because I didn't know how to teach these new kids, so finding out they would be closing the school a lot earlier than expected was seriously a blessing sent from heaven haha. 

Now that we have a lot of extra time in the afternoons, the orphanage is letting us come back in from 4-5:30pm to spend more time with the kids. It's not mandatory, but I'm definitely going to be doing that until my last day, which is only two Fridays from tomorrow (what?!!!). 

Over time, I've learned more about the backstories of each of the kids in my room from the workers. I didn't find out until yesterday that pretty much all of the kids in Isolation come from gypsy families. I knew that some of them did, but it was surprising to hear that there was only like 1 or 2 kids that weren't. I've also just been shocked over and over at the depressing stories of these kids. They've been through soo much, and it's so sad to know that it'll affect the rest of their lives. The gypsy culture is so interesting to me, and I don't ever think I'll understand why they would ever abandon their children or abuse them like a lot of these kids have been. 

I've also realized that I haven't written about most of the kids in my room, so I'm gonna write more bios right now!

David: He is in the first room and just barely turned 1 year old! He has down syndrome and is the cutest little boy. It was so fun because they had a little party for him on his birthday. In Romania, they have this tradition for a baby's first birthday where they take a tray and put a bunch of random career-related objects on it. They'll have like a little soccer ball, a toy doctor tool, a pencil, money, cross, etc., and each thing represents a career. They'll put the tray in front of the child, and whichever first three they choose will be their future! Nobody takes it super seriously, and it's just a fun little tradition they do. David chose the soccer ball, a tool, and money, so apparently he's going to be a wealthy mechanic who plays soccer in his free time haha. I thought that was so fun. Anyways, he's such a chill little baby and has the cutest smile. It's so funny because he'll just be in his crib and if you walk up to it and tickle his belly or make him laugh he'll break out into the biggest smile and his eyes will get super squinty haha. It's so cute. He's also really flexible and will fold over in half if you hold him up haha. 

Alexa: She is in the second room in Isolation, and she's about a year and a half. She was born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, so she's constantly moving around and gets really distressed if you don't give her attention. Alexa is funny though because she loves walking around and will walk on her tip toes. She also always has this really confused or concerned look on her face and will jump up and down in her crib like it's a trampoline if she isn't not chosen to be picked up when someone walks in the room haha. I always hear the workers say "Che Alexa??" to her when she's getting frustrated, which just means "What Alexa?" She's so fun and cute to play with and always has so much energy, and she honestly has the cutest little baby voice I've heard and always will say "gah gah." 

Erica: She's in the third room in Isolation, so she's more disabled. She's about a year old, and I didn't hear about her story until recently. Erica usually cries a lot, and it's not just a whining cry to get attention, but it's like a moaning and in pain cry. It's sometimes really hard for Morgan or I to console her when she starts crying. One of the workers told us that she was a totally normal baby until her mother tried to kill her and she went into a coma. Because of that, she now has trouble breathing, eating, she is mentally delayed, and her brain is always in a constant state of pain, like a really bad migraine. She's on the highest dose of pain killers they can give a baby, but she still is in a lot of pain. I absolutely hate knowing that this was caused by her mentally-unstable mother and that she was a totally healthy baby before this happened. Because of this, I cherish every moment that I walk into that room and she's calm and doesn't seem like she's in too much pain. There have even been a few times where she will smile at me for a few minutes when I walk up to her and start talking to her or hold her.

Dorothy: She is in the second room of Isolation and is about a year old. Dorothy has some mental problems and when we first got to the orphanage she was in the first room with all of the little babies. They had her in a car seat where she sat for pretty much the whole day. I was so happy when they moved her to the second room because now she has a bigger crib where she can move around and not be restricted to a car seat! Dorothy also has visual problems, but she's still so darn cute and has the longest legs ever haha. She's so funny to watch in her crib because she's just so content with roaming around in there and moving around in the funniest way. I love picking her up and touching her face because she gets so happy and her smile is so cute. (common theme with these kids, they're smiles are always just SO CUTE.) 

I LOVE THESE CHILDREN. So so sooo much. And it makes every hot walk to the orphanage or every crappy meal we get so worth it to walk into my room and see their smiling faces greeting me. That never gets old.

Kara