We are now in week 8!  Just one more week after this one.  It is hard to believe the summer is almost over.  I wanted to share some pictures of the people who I have been spending the summer with and  have been getting to know.  They are all wonderful people and are doing a great job working with all the participants who come each week.  Each week brings new kids, from a different part of Romania, and with different needs.  And each week, the leaders step up to the challenge, and create a meaningful experience for the participants.

The four volunteers from the United States and Canada have now returned home.  They left behind new activities, skits and games for the leaders to keep using.  They are missed here by the staff and I am thankful for what they brought to the program and how they helped me in my first summer here.

2010 Staff (I missed the count to strike a funny pose)

Last Day with the Volunteers: Will, Jenna, Max, Colleen

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Today marks the half-way point for summer programming! Hard to believe that much time has passed already.  Below are some snapshot stories from this week.

Girls on High Mohawk

Girl climbing the Centipede

“Nu pot” (I can’t)-These are the words repeated by a girl this week as she began each element on the high ropes course.  Her group and leaders continued to encourage her, and in the end, she completed all of the elements.  As the girls talked, they shared that the words “nu pot” no longer have any meaning for them, because they saw this girl continue to the top and overcome the challenge.

Leaders Taking in the View

Watching the Sunset with Lelia

The weeks here are very full, but this past week I enjoyed some relaxing moments with leaders as we walked down the mountain after spending the day out at the ropes course.  The sun was starting to set, so we sat down on the trail to enjoy the view.  Most of the leaders left to make it back for supper, but Lelia and I decided to stay to watch the full sunset.  It was worth it to eat a late supper.  A chance to connect more with Lelia, and to take in the stillness and beauty of the mountains.

Looking Down on the Clouds

Sunlight through Clouds

It doesn’t happen every day, but I am trying to get up in time to walk UPhill to a little spot for some quiet in the morning.  Some mornings I can’t see the valley because of the clouds or fog.  I feel it’s a good picture for my life right now.  I know that it is good for me to be here, but I can’t always see or feel the reasons.  I know the reasons exist, and that good will come from this time, just like I know that there is a valley below me and that the view is beautiful.  But sometimes all I can see is the fog 20 feet in front of me, and the view doesn’t look so great.

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4…the number of months I have been in Romania, volunteers we have for VIAȚA and mountain view pictures below.

Colorful chalets (cabanas) on Straja Mountain

Blue Mountain View

Day Time Mountain View

Sunset

3…the number of times I have worn the hairstyle pictured below so far this summer, weeks we have completed of VIAȚA and days that I got to belay participants this week as they challenged themselves on the high ropes course and rock climbing.

I won Best Superhero with this ensemble as "Wish I Was Taller Woman"

2…the number of times I will sleep in my own bed this week, sandwiches I get each day for lunch (anyone for pate?), and card tricks I know that I used to wow participants with this week.

1…the number of times I had to help a participant down from a high element, showers I took during camp, and days I missed of camp due to being sick.

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This thought came to mind last night as I made the 30 minute hike from the ropes course back to the cabanas.  We had just finished a wonderful day out at the ropes course, cooking supper over the fire, singing songs and night activities.  (One of the night activities is to chew a Wintergreen Lifesaver to see the sparks.  I have learned that in general, Romanians do not like the mint flavor, they think the mints smell like mothballs…one example of how preferred flavors differ between cultures.)  Even though it was after 10pm, I was able to hike without a light on the trail in the woods.  As the trail approaches the open mountain side, I felt I was approaching Lake Superior, when you come out of the trees to a wonderful expanse.  Stars were coming out, mountains on the other side of the valley were silhouetted against the night sky, the air was cool and it was quiet (especially significant with all the barking dogs and loud music that is often played).

Beauty I have seen during the first 2 weeks of VIAȚA:

*A participant going back up on the high mohawk to try it again, and this time overcoming his fear.

*Leaders investing in the participants and helping to create memories.

*Watching groups start the week as individuals and coming together as a group by the end of the week.

*Tears as the week ends and participants want the week to keep going.

I wanted to include a picture, but I left my camera cord in Lupeni.  My hope is to share stories and pictures with you from this summer each week.  My time connected to the internet is limited, along with my time in general.  My weekends are spent catching up on sleep, down time, reconnecting with friends in the valley, catching-up with family and friends back home, laundry, and checking in on volunteers.  The weekends seem to fly by.  I get back to the apt Friday afternoon, and then have to be all packed up and ready to go by Sunday 9am for a meeting, and then off to meet a new group of kids at the chair-lift at noon.

Thanks again for all the support, encouragement and prayers that make it possible for me to even be here–I feel I have been given a gift with the opportunity to be here and to invest in the people here.

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One of my responsibilities has been to purchase everything needed for the VIATA activity bags.  In the USA this would be an easy task.  My list included orange cones, throwables, playing cards and 80 small containers for smell and sound kits.  In the States I could have found film containers.  There are no large stores here in Lupeni that have everything, so it was an exciting day to actually find orange cones, and various throwables.  But I still could not find small containers of any sort.  Ilie (VIATA Program Director) told me that Plus might have something, or that we could buy lots of something in small containers and empty them.  So off to Plus I went.  After walking up and down all the aisles several times, I saw NO containers, and was contemplating buying lots of capers, because they were relatively cheap, and came in a small bottle.  I finally decided just to buy a few items for myself and hoped that I would find containers somewhere else…I put my items on the check-out counter, turned to glance at the gum AND saw Tic Tacs!  PERFECT small containers that spices and small items could fit into!  I received several odd looks while I placed 80 containers of Tic Tacs on the counter…but my prayer had been answered!

VIATA training starts today!  We will be up on Straja Mountain through July 1st.

Below is a YouTube video about VIATA:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNR_r_aXIVs

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This weekend marks 3 months since I arrived here in Lupeni, Romania!  During these first 3 months I have learned  more about Romanian culture and how they do things.  I think it is important to learn about the people and place you are in, and to respect the way they do things.  But then there are certain parts of a new place that I feel are ok to not follow exactly.  Here are the conclusions I have come to so far:

*When served food, it is considered rude not to finish it all.  This is one that I will do my best to follow.  Some of you are thinking that will not be a problem for me.

*It seems most people think you will get a cold if you walk around with wet hair.  I have never been big on blow drying my hair, because the end result for me is poof and frizz.  I will take my chances with wet hair.

*If you bring out a snack, it is polite to offer it to everyone around you.  I can do this one…although sharing chocolate could be a challenge

*The current fashion for young women includes tight pants and high heels.  Count me in!  It would be a hazard for me to walk around in high heels.  Anyone who has walked anywhere with me knows that I can trip on smooth surfaces.  Tight pants-I am all about being comfortable.  So I will continue to stick out in my flat shoes and boot cut jeans.

Me wearing my non-Romanian fashion

*Speaking Romanian: Yes, Da.  I was greeted by a man on my walk today, who was sitting outside his fence while watching his sheep (with long tails).  The following is what I am pretty sure we talked about.  He asked what I was doing with a backpack.  I couldn’t think of how to say my response, so said that I only know a little Romanian.  I was asked if I like it here, where I am from, what I am doing here and if I think the water is better here or in USA.  I did not understand every word he said, BUT I knew what he was asking, AND I was able to give short, simple responses.

*Sitting on the ground or cement is not good for you, especially for women, because it can freeze your ovaries.  Well, if that is the case, going on 3 winter trips took care of that already.

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Why yes I do.  Although from looking at my previous posts, you would conclude that all I do is go on hikes and eat good food.  The past 2 1/2 months have been spent working on projects to prepare for the summer.  Although in just 19 days I will transition from preparation to action.  From June 24-July 1st we will train leaders for Viata.  And then the first day of programming begins on July 4th!

These are some of my current projects:

1. Collecting 50 activities and the descriptions to add to the newly revised Viata Leader Manual.  This translates into lots of time searching the internet to find clear concise descriptions of activities. Anyone want to play ‘Cranes and Crows’?

2. Purchasing items to be able to play all 50 of the above activities.  To complete this task I had to learn how to ask for store receipts to be stamped, which is needed for accounting.  ”Am nevoie de o ştampila.”  I have successfully asked for and received a stamped receipt at 4 stores.

3. Helping to translate the revised Viata Leader Manual into English.  I receive each chapter translated into English, and then I have to translate it into better English.  Which may sound easy, but this is the project that has given my brain the greatest strain.  Here is a sample section: “So New Horizons Foundation has supported over the years over 2000 young people with special needs: both from orphanages and placement centers, most of them came through specialized institutions. The VIATA program was a more than beneficial to increase interpersonal trust of the young participants in the program. So over the our camp hosted 90% of the participants who came through organizations that bring young people with special needs.”  A prize of Romanian chocolate to whoever sends me the best English version

4. Organizing the Viata equipment closet and taking inventory.

5. Learning Romanian.  I meet with Andreea 3 times a week.  I had my first test last week, and did ok.  The verb conjugations and pronouns are tricky.  There are guidelines to follow, but there are, of course, exceptions.  And then, to complicate things more, when conjugating a verb, not only do letters at the end change, but sometimes a letter in the middle will change, disappear or a new one is added.  The reason-it sounds better.  Of course, that is just what I was thinking

6. Taking pictures and collecting information to create a hiking guide for the Jiu Valley to be used by IMPACT clubs and others.  The hard part of this project is that I have to go on the hike  One hike was to an ice cave where we had to crawl through a small tunnel. Thankfully it was a short tunnel.

Looking Good after squirming through the small tunnel (Tibi, Lindsay & Alice)

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This past Saturday, Lindsay and I hosted a lunch in our apartment for the women involved with New Horizons Foundation (and their little kids).  We wanted to have a chance to spend time together outside of the office, language lessons and work.  Our menu may not sound too amazing as you read this in America-but for here in Romania we felt it was a success because we were actually able to find all of the ingredients to make our lunch: chicken salad sandwiches and a salad with strawberries, walnuts and a vinaigrette dressing.

Lindsay's Amazing Profiteroles!

For dessert, Lindsay made profiteroles from a recipe in a Julia Child French cookbook.  She did an amazing job with an oven that only cooks at one temperature, and a stove top that cannot simmer.  For the two Romanian women, our lunch food was a new experience.  We were not sure if they would like it or not, but our wondering ended when they asked for seconds.  To drink we had mineral water with raspberry flavored syrup.  If you look closely at the picture below-you will see lilacs in the middle of the table.  I was delighted to learn that lilacs grow here.  I love how they smell, and it makes me feel a little closer to home.

From L-R: Lindsay, Andreea, Stefan, Mariana, Brandi and Briana

These are the women who are now a part of my life.  Lindsay lives in Apt. 8 with me.  Andreea is teaching me Romanian and we are working together to translate the revised Viata leader manual into English (this work always makes my brain super tired!).  She has a two year old son Stefan.  Mariana works with the IMPACT clubs and was involved with IMPACT when she was in high school.  Brandi Bates co-founded New Horizons Foundation with her husband Dana.  They have two children: Briana and Gabriel.

So on the good days and on the hard days, these are the people who have become my new daily support team.  I realized that all my posts show me smiling.  And while I do smile a lot here and am very thankful for the opportunity to be here, there are still the very hard times of missing family and friends back home.  But I don’t think I will post a picture of me crying.  Even though I had an enjoyable time this past weekend with the women, it was still hard to be away because Josh and Lindsay graduated and it was Mother’s Day.

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This past weekend I helped to facilitate some activities for youth in the Jiu Valley to celebrate the National Volunteer Week.  Helped is the important word here, because I currently do not know enough Romanian to lead a group in an activity, but I have learned enough in my language lessons to order my own pizza and have the waitress understand what I want.  Which may seem insignificant, but while learning to live in a new place I am celebrating victories of any size.

Alice and Alina Facilitator Team (you can see my apartment building to the right of Alina's head)

I was thankful to be paired with Alina for leading the activities because I had met her before and had the opportunity to get to know her some before leading a group together.  Alina is a high school student who has been involved with IMPACT for 6 years.  She facilitated most of the activities and did a wonderful job giving instructions and noticing when the groups needed a change.

Youth working on 'All Aboard' activity where the goal is to fit everyone on a small blanket--without their feet touching the grass.

The highlight of the day for me was learning how to spin and move with bean bags attached to ribbons.  I would watch Alina gracefully spin the bean bags, and then attempt to copy her movements, only to end up with twisted ribbons, or hitting myself with a wayward beanbag.  But, after several attempts I found my rhythm and could go for awhile without entangling myself.  I have also heard that this can be done with fire…

A 'still' view of the bean bags with ribbons

Below is a video clip of Alina teaching the youth how to twirl the bean bags.

Twirling

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This past weekend, I enjoyed spending time with Brandi Bates and her two children, Briana (almost 5) and Gabriel (5 months) at their home outside of the city.  It takes about 30 minutes to walk there from my apartment.  They live on the other side of the river in an area with no concrete apartments, which is a wonderful change of view.

On Saturday we watched their garden being plowed by a horse drawn hand plow.  The man leading the horse said his stick was a remote control to make the horse go  Briana enjoyed walking up and down along the field as the horse and plow went back and forth through the garden.  Below there is a link to click for a video of the plowing (P4170186).  This is my first attempt at including a video clip, so hopefully this will work.   At the end of the video you see one of the men getting onto the horse-he wanted his picture taken, which is the one titled ‘The Pose’.

Briana Following the Plow

Plowing the Garden

P4170186

The Pose

On Sunday, Brandi, Briana, Gabriel and I went for a hike up the road next to their house.  There is a rushing stream along the road.  We walked past  the houses and then enjoyed the stream and finding little flowers coming up here and there.  Briana is a good hiker.  They showed me where a patch of blackberries grow in the summer.  In the mountains you can also find strawberries and bill berries (similar to a blueberry).

Briana and Alice at the turn-around point

Mountain-side Stream

Little white flowers we found

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