There's only 2 days left until we board our plane. Hali and I are doing a bunch of last minute shopping and trying to fit everything we need into the two bags we're allowed to check for free. If there was no weight limit this wouldn't be such an issue but each bag can weigh no more than 50 pounds and it's hard to fit all the clothes and books (of which I'm bringing 12, some of them hard back) and things that I need for a 3 week trip as well as all the donations I'm bringing along for the clinic into a bag that can not exceed 50 pounds. Shopping for baby things brings me great joy and I bought a bunch of donations for the clinic (specifically about a million diaper wipes as they are always running out of them) back before the airlines changed their policy on how many bags you could check. Now I might have to leave them all here. It's not that the $25 charge for an extra bag is that much, it's just that I don't want to pay $25 to schlep a bunch of wipes halfway around the world when I could probably buy them in Romania for less than that. I wish the Airlines had announced their new rules earlier. I would have bought a bunch of smaller, lighter donations and brought money with me to buy the rest in Romania (which probably would have been smarter anyway, but I love to shop for baby things).
Anyhow, today will be filled with packing and errands and hopefully we'll be all set to go. Our plane leaves Seattle at the ungodly hour of 6:30 am Friday morning and, if all goes as scheduled, we'll be landing in Bucharest at 3:10 Saturday afternoon. Not bad considering the 10 hour time difference. last time I left at about the same time from Seattle and didn't arrive in Bucharest until 11:30 at night.
I can't wait to see my babies again. I'll be posting as often as I can but we're staying at a new hotel (right in the city of Barlad!) this year and I don't know how easy it will be to access the Internet this time. At the old Hotel had we had our own Internet room. However, the owner of the old hotel was also an overly "friendly" old Italian, who liked to come chat us up when he'd had a few too many to drink. Also, it took us about 45 minutes to get to and from the clinic from there, so Internet or no, I think the new hotel will be a trade up.
Anyway, I should get back to packing and such.
TTFN
-Mela
Ema
Miruna
Ionela
Alina, June '08
Alexandra, March 2007
This little miss is quite stubborn and hates to smile for the camera. Any time you bring it out she instantly starts wearing a straight face and pretending she doesn't see you. Alexandra has brittle bone disease and on my first trip I was afraid to play with her for fear of breaking her. On my second trip though, she was in my group and I learned she wasn't as fragile as I had thought. We played quite a lot and she rewarded me with a lot of smiles and giggles, even when she was trying to stay stern and uninterested for the camera.
Andrea, March 2007
I worked with Andrea during both of my previous trips. She is quite the little charmer and I fell in love with her pretty quickly. During my second trip i got to see her leave with her new foster mom. We were all so happy she was being placed in a home but it made me cry to see her go, knowing it would be the last time I ever saw her.
Crina, March 2007
Crina was a favorite around the clinic last year, and one of the only babies who was developing ahead of schedule. At only 7 months old, we had to watch her closely or she would crawl right out the door.
About Me
- Mela
- I have an associate degree in early childhood education and an associate dgreee in special education. I have worked for 5+ years as a nanny and have spent over the 500 hours volunteering with children in a variety of settings including Seattle Children's Hospital and an orhpange in Romania.
Andrea & Maia, March 2007
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