The fifth day at HOA was a regular day. I played and did English/Romanian lessons over a colouring book with the children and drew more portraits. The girls have been very sweet and loving. They are always holding my hand, hugging me and attaching to my waist. Speaking of that, they have asked me on several occasions why I am so skinny and pinched my tummy. They said why no “fat?” and they spread their arms large. Ofcourse I didn’t translate my answer well, as they simply were left with confused faces and stares. And again, my blue eyes were the topic again. One little girl came up to me and touched my eye…she honestly believed that they were fake.
Many of the children simply sat by me, with their legs melted to mine and would simply colour or do whatever I was doing. It was very sweet to see their desire to be involved with some strange lady that acted like Santa Claus and hangs out with them all day. I can easily understand the present infatuation; however I must say that I was quite surprised by their ease of attachment.
The caretakers of the children at HOA are all quite lovely and always smiling (or chain smoking outside). One caretaker in particular Miss Vicky was quite lovely and spoke quite a bit of English. She is often seen hugging the children; drawing art or putting out a fight between the children. She also pointed out a child and told me that he was born by a mother, aged 27 and the father was 80! Wow! That is a huge age gap!
Later that day, Mr. Ted and I went for an excursion to see the major cities of Romania. We traveled north through the Carpathian Mountains and Transylvania (Central Romania) to Brasov; Sighisoara; Sibiu, Bran and Sinaia. Mr. Ted and I drove through the mountains singing to James Blunt, Maroon 5, Gorillaz, Family Kelly and Nickelback. The interesting experience of poorly sung notes and dreamy lyrics was as unique as the areas surrounding us. For miles we would drive through a beautiful lush landscape of red, yellow and orange trees on gorgeous rolling hills to suddenly fall into a remote village. Older woman and men lined the streets with their cows (and yes, I perceived them to be walking their cows since they had them leashed with a rope), although Mr. Ted laughed and thought otherwise. Most of these villages were full of small homes in disrepair all hanging on a common thread of poverty.
To learn more about Romania's child welfare and government crisis, click: http://danielaministry.org/why_romania.htm#background
