First days in Romania

Hello Everyone.

We arrived in Barlad at about 10:00 yesterday (Sat.) evening. Quite a long time spent in Transit as we left our house at 4 am friday morning. Even with all the time changes (a few hours in New York then London and finally Bucharest) you really can't tell how much time has passed or when you should be eating again and whether it should be breakfast or dinner. Usually we stay in Bucharest the first night and take the 4-5 hour bus ride to Barlad the next morning but this time we boarded the bus about an hour after landing in Romania and headed straight there. This means that we had all day today (Sun.) free for orientation which is what we've been doing all morning.

The new hotel is very nice. It is only a block from the main street in town which is so nice. Right now I am at an internet cafe a few blocks from the hotel while we take a break from orientation. We spent the morning on introductions, GV (Blobal Volunteers) philosphy, info about our worksite, etc. This was a bit boring (especially since this is my third trip) and a few us, being still tired, were nearly nodding off. I've adjusted pretty well to the new time zone already but some of the other volunteers haven't made that internal shift yet. We're also all very anxious to actually go to the clinic and see the babies, which, unfortunately we don't get to do untill tommorrow. Our Team leaders name is Ciprian (Chip for short), and he's perfactly nice but a little quiet. I still miss my first Team leader Ramona who was firendly, talkative, well orginized, very clear about everything, and always anticipated our needs before we did. She moved out of the country over a year ago though and so she was only with us on my first trip.

Our team this time is made of 16 women all of whom will be volunteering at the clinic instead of the school. This is a younger group than either of my others. There are a few girls in high school and some college age as well as older volunteers. I've heard this is often the case on summer trips. We're all getting along well and trying to remember each others names.

I can't wait untill tommorrow when we get to go to the clinic. I'll post again after I see the babies. For those who've volunteered here before, let me know if you want updates about any particular kids. I'd be happy to let you know how their doing or inquire about where they've been placed if they are no longer at the clinic.

La Revedere.

-Mela