Hard to believe that this is my last full day here. It breaks my heart to hear the kids say, “no, don’t go, stay here with me”. I would like nothing more. Especially for the ones who seem to have become a little more attached, I am dreading saying goodbye. Catalin who seems like such a little tough guy, yet everytime I see him he walks over and gives me the 30 second hug with his arms wrapped tight around me and says “my mom”. He is so sweet. Same for Oana and Elena who always say “you my mother. stay in Romania with me, yes?”, along with a big smile. They are all such great kids.
Gica’s brother works for Dannon and arranged a donation of 2,000 containers of yogurt. It is so great! We have about 500 cartons in the van and are off to distribute them.
First stop was the Moldova family. 4 kids whose parents have died and they are trying to make it on their own. Only one of them was home, and she was rather quiet. We dropped off yogurt for all the kids and on to the next stop.
We next visited the Dostosky family (I am sure that is not correct, I forgot to write down their name, but I think that might be close, although it is probably way off). 8 kids and 2 parents living in a 2 room “house” on a vacant lot. All 8 kids were unbelievably gorgeous. As they were all eating their containers of yogurt it made you realize that under different circumstances they would be doing Dannon tv ads and commercials rather than being the recipients of donations from them.
Then we were off to the canal area to see some of the street kids. It is great traveling with Gica and Sue because it is literally like having a free pass to go anywhere. You are just automatically accepted when you are with them. They are both so loved by the families and the kids. We were shown one of the canals, but there were a few of the kids bathing so we didn’t go down. I was curious as to what the living conditions were, but in hindsight it is probably best not to have been able to go down.
Last stop of the day was back to the Dubrovnic family. Up the winding staircase with two trays of yogurt is a feat under normal circumstances, but in the pitch black it was a miracle that no one took a header. Kids were cute as ever and started to dig right into the yogurt as they lit candles for our benefit. As we were leaving the one girl who is maybe 6 asked her mother for a candle and she then walked us down the stairs. As soon as we got to the bottom she blew it out as I am sure she knows those stairs like the back of her hand.
Once back we went for a quick dinner to Sombrero, a cool Mexican restaurant, that I am just realizing I haven’t mentioned before. This made about the 5th night in a row we were there. The owner, Armand, is a cool Romanian guy who lived in the States for 20 years, moved back to Bucharest 3 years ago to help his mother who was in poor health, and in his words “had a crazy idea to open a Mexican restaurant”. It is indoors, the food is good, and they serve cold beer which is a novelty in Romania.
Gica’s brother works for Dannon and arranged a donation of 2,000 containers of yogurt. It is so great! We have about 500 cartons in the van and are off to distribute them.
First stop was the Moldova family. 4 kids whose parents have died and they are trying to make it on their own. Only one of them was home, and she was rather quiet. We dropped off yogurt for all the kids and on to the next stop.
We next visited the Dostosky family (I am sure that is not correct, I forgot to write down their name, but I think that might be close, although it is probably way off). 8 kids and 2 parents living in a 2 room “house” on a vacant lot. All 8 kids were unbelievably gorgeous. As they were all eating their containers of yogurt it made you realize that under different circumstances they would be doing Dannon tv ads and commercials rather than being the recipients of donations from them.
Then we were off to the canal area to see some of the street kids. It is great traveling with Gica and Sue because it is literally like having a free pass to go anywhere. You are just automatically accepted when you are with them. They are both so loved by the families and the kids. We were shown one of the canals, but there were a few of the kids bathing so we didn’t go down. I was curious as to what the living conditions were, but in hindsight it is probably best not to have been able to go down.
Last stop of the day was back to the Dubrovnic family. Up the winding staircase with two trays of yogurt is a feat under normal circumstances, but in the pitch black it was a miracle that no one took a header. Kids were cute as ever and started to dig right into the yogurt as they lit candles for our benefit. As we were leaving the one girl who is maybe 6 asked her mother for a candle and she then walked us down the stairs. As soon as we got to the bottom she blew it out as I am sure she knows those stairs like the back of her hand.
Once back we went for a quick dinner to Sombrero, a cool Mexican restaurant, that I am just realizing I haven’t mentioned before. This made about the 5th night in a row we were there. The owner, Armand, is a cool Romanian guy who lived in the States for 20 years, moved back to Bucharest 3 years ago to help his mother who was in poor health, and in his words “had a crazy idea to open a Mexican restaurant”. It is indoors, the food is good, and they serve cold beer which is a novelty in Romania.
Then back to the orphanage to pack and get to bed so I can go to Rony’s volleyball game in the morning. Luckily this one is just down the block so no 3 tram rides to get there.
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