Anecdotes from Africa: "Days like this", thank you Van Morrison.

Today was better than yesterday. Infact, much better. I had 2 of my favorite workers there. I feel like I can somewhat communicate with them and they are very patient with me. I had a breakthrough – for the first time I was able to understand the workers and know exactly what she wanted me to do with the kids. I know it doesn’t happen often, but today it was an empowering feeling.

Then, when we were feeding the kids their snacks, Elena started asking me things – what kind of foods I eat here (I was able to tell her most of the stuff in Romanian), whether or not I live in a house or an apartment, a little bit about my family. She asked me if I had pictures of my family. I told her I would bring them tomorrow and she reminded me again before I left. She brought out pictures and told me to sit down while she showed me pictures of her parents, her children, and I learned more about her.

I was able to work with the kids on things today and sat down and tried teaching G about colors and numbers. I’m still working on V and getting him to do the simple things. I think I also underestimated how smart V really is. I don’t give him nearly enough credit. I’m amazed at how happy this boy can be and how resilient he is. He is one tough cookie.

Funny experience of the day: G’s current favorite song is brown-eyed girl. No, not the Itsy bitsy spider or I’ve been working on the railroad. It’s definitely brown eyed-girl Van Morrison style. He was a bit hyper today and I found out that singing to him calms him right down and he likes to just sit on my lap and listen. I started singing brown eyed girl to him yesterday and he eats it right up. He loves the chorus part too: “Sha la la la la la la la la la la ti da…just like that…Sha la la la la la la la la la la la ti da, la ti da!” When I finish the song, he will look back to me and say “Sha la la?” and smile. It makes him so happy to sing that song. He is so dang cute – even if I have to sing this song over and over and over again, it’s all worth it! Thank goodness for Van Morrison. Sometimes on the bus ride to the orphanage, I listen to his song, "Days like this". Today, was a good day. It was a "day like this".

Tonight a few of us went to Carrefour to get groceries. We have to take the tram or tramvai to get there. It was good to go by ourselves finally. In the past, we have had help from the Stoicas or from Mihai or from Mario getting places. I like knowing that we are independent and can go by ourselves. I had to go to the ticket house and ask her what number took us to Carrefour. After that, we navigated our way there. Love that feeling. I don’t like not knowing things – I like to be able to figure stuff out to do on my own. I also like that we are in the routine of things – get the groceries quickly, it isn’t rude to plow through people, making sure you have your own grocery bag, packing up your groceries and having them ready when they give you the price…I’m starting to become a Romanian!

And, another plus, I got a blanket tonight! I brought a blanket because I can’t stand the thought of either going without or using a blanket when I have no idea where it has been. So, I have been using my little blanket that’s about 4 feet x 4 feet and only fits me when I curl into a ball. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been great. I just thought it might be nice to stretch out a bit, especially now that it’s starting to get cold!

The missionaries and a few of the members insisted we take pictures on Sunday because it was transfer week and the elders and sisters weren't sure who was leaving. These are a few of the boys in the branch (Mihai, Iulian, Petru, Elder Shillabeer, Elder Johnson and Radu)