When we were leaving camp it was almost easy to leave Vetca. We always left and it was a place of so many emotions. When we left the intern house to get on our bus to start our 24 hours of traveling, it was pretty difficult. We had seen all the orphans for the last time, and I resisted tears during the goodbyes. We saw the Romanian volunteers for the last time and I barely blinked. Leaving the other interns felt different. These people knew me for my faults and for some of the things I do decently, like yelling. They knew me as a Christian. They encouraged me daily and reminded me about God constantly, something I definitely need in my every day life. And as we were leaving I just felt like I was going on a long mission trip, not leaving from a mission trip. I felt like I was leaving home. Saying goodbye to the guys was the hardest part. I had been searching for a long time about what it meant to be a man. Those guys all had something different, but all were men and I learned so much from them about that. Brian Briley really showed me what it was to be a man of God and a man who loves his wife. The bus ride was pretty blurry at first.
We got Bucharest and it was setting in that we were leaving and not just going on a long car ride. I got to hang out with Jake in the airport and sit next to Carrie on the first plane ride. Carrie was awesome to talk to because even if I wasn't visibly showing the emotions I felt, Carrie was, and I felt comfortable talking with her. On the next flight I sat next to Jake, something I really wanted. We took some sleeping aid pills and passed the heck out for 6 hours. Shout out to The Ronald, Jake's dad, for providing medicine for the summer. I definitely needed sleeping pills some nights and Nasonex on other nights to stop the snoring. Jake and I snacked and watched crappy Owen Wilson movies and chatted. Thanks for that Jake. We flew into Chicago which was exciting for me because I didn't have to fly anymore. The other people returning from Romania had connecting flights, and I never found out for sure, but I think theirs were delayed a while because of storms and stuff, sorry guys.
I was so pumped coming back and getting through customs to get to see Jackie. After some confusion, she parked the car and got out and we gave some pretty big hugs and some nice kisses. I felt like I was returning triumphantly from something to my fiancee. It was great. Just as I was on top of the world completely and utterly satisfied, God reminded me, you aren't returning, you're on a new mission trip, in America. It was nice for God to refocus me and not to let me step back into my old ways before I left.
I got back on a Monday and on Wednesday I had a job interview at a high school where I did my student teaching. I loved it there and all of the staff made it an amazing experience. Going into the interview I didn't feel stressed or worried like with my previous interviews. A lesson I learned in Romania was that God will take care of your future. I nailed the interview and 3 hours later I got a call asking if I wanted to join the staff. I got hired as a .6 advanced freshman ancient world history teacher, which means that I have 3 classes and the rest of the day I will be subbing around the school district. It is pretty incredible that God set this up for me. Not only will I get to teach, but I will get to sub around and see if there is another content or age group that I could work with. God is good.
This will probably be my last blog until something momentous happens which reminds me of Romania or if I return to Romania. Keep waiting for me to post all of my pictures. I can't find my camera cord and as soon as I can, all of the pictures from the last 2 weeks of the trip will be uploaded for you people. Thanks for reading. God bless all of you.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Week 6 at camp
To keep from going on too long like I've been doing, I will start this right away.
The team leaders for Romania (Romuhneeah):
Me - amazing, obviously
Ioana - already on my team once and of the two volunteers I got closest too. She did really well that week and it was awesome to have her on the team.
Melissa - from Florida who had a daughter on the team from Florida who was in 8th grade. Was great to have because she mothered all of the kids and had a silent wisdom that I lack completely.
Loredana - a 19 yr old volunteer who had worked with the Reghin kids before and knew how to deal with their behavior.
The kids:
Sandor(19) and Imola(22) - a couple. Sandor lives at Reghin and Imola lives in town but she used to live at the orphanage at Reghin. They were high functioning and social and took care of the rest of team because they were like a family and were so great. Both of them were amazing to have
Violeta (17?) - Violeta caught my attention from the moment we got to Reghin. She burst into tears of fear or sadness three times in the couple of hours we were at the orphanage. She doesn't know what age she is. Her Romanian is broken and its hard for the translators to understand her language or her logic. I pray for her future as well as Rodica who is on the team because for the most part they will not be welcomed outside of the orphanage and may end up in an insane asylum if nobody take them in and if they don't make it on the streets. It broke my heart to hear that many of those kids do end up in state psych wards.
Rodica (22) - Rodica obviously had special needs. she was very sweet and had a decent temper for the most part, but she would snap and try to punch other people if she didn't get her way. she had to go to the doctor a lot and didn't like to participate in the games for our team. she wasn't very animated the whole week so i didn't think that she wanted to be there. but on friday i saw her cry when the bus left
Iosif (11) - cute boy who has a horrible history of abuse from his father. he and his brother petre were pretty much inseperable during the week and when they got together they caused some mayhem. it was hard to keep track of Iosif, but he did get competitive for us. I learned that sometimes you have to look past initial impressions of a behavior and realize that sometimes kids aren't being annoying because they are trying to be annoying. melissa mothered this kid all week and he really responded to her motherly love and her cuddling. that was pretty great.
Alin (14) - young boy who was silent for the most part. he opened up as the week went on and had a good time. he'll be the boy with the yogurt on his face and the huge smiles when i put pictures up. he was good for us and was pretty easy to make excited. it makes me both happy and sad to see kids like Alin at camp who really buy into the whole camp thing and just love their week.
Our team got 2nd place! It was pretty neat. While we went into the week with the mentality that it would be the hardest week because the kids were special needs, it ended up not being the hardest week. I would be lying if I said it was the most rewarding week, but it was a good time.
There was one girl, Simona, who was nonverbal. She didn't speak. But right when she got off the bus at camp and I touched her back, and she smiled, I knew that this girl was special. I spent some time with her when I got the chance and it was good to see her smile.
At camp we had the Florida team who was made up mostly of 18 and 17 yr olds. Those kids really stepped up and worked with the kids from Reghin, most of whom were older than the Florida teens. The Florida team blew us all away with how hard working they were and how ready they were to play with the kids. They did spend time with the Romanian volunteers as well which is good because they are slightly older than the volunteers and are good Christian role models.
Reghin was great. At the end of the week we didn't get to go to the Weekend because of some behavior problems throughout the week and concern for safety among other concerns about the pool. It was a sad end to camp. I miss it and wish I could hike up the hill at night to look at the stars. I'll miss Imri and his boy, Csabi. I'll miss lining up and cheering our team's name loudly. I'll miss singing those songs with Ovi and I'll miss the volunteers. Hanging out with them was a joy and something I liked to do. I will type a separate blog about leaving Romania and coming home. I'll miss Vetca and the beautiful surroundings.
The team leaders for Romania (Romuhneeah):
Me - amazing, obviously
Ioana - already on my team once and of the two volunteers I got closest too. She did really well that week and it was awesome to have her on the team.
Melissa - from Florida who had a daughter on the team from Florida who was in 8th grade. Was great to have because she mothered all of the kids and had a silent wisdom that I lack completely.
Loredana - a 19 yr old volunteer who had worked with the Reghin kids before and knew how to deal with their behavior.
The kids:
Sandor(19) and Imola(22) - a couple. Sandor lives at Reghin and Imola lives in town but she used to live at the orphanage at Reghin. They were high functioning and social and took care of the rest of team because they were like a family and were so great. Both of them were amazing to have
Violeta (17?) - Violeta caught my attention from the moment we got to Reghin. She burst into tears of fear or sadness three times in the couple of hours we were at the orphanage. She doesn't know what age she is. Her Romanian is broken and its hard for the translators to understand her language or her logic. I pray for her future as well as Rodica who is on the team because for the most part they will not be welcomed outside of the orphanage and may end up in an insane asylum if nobody take them in and if they don't make it on the streets. It broke my heart to hear that many of those kids do end up in state psych wards.
Rodica (22) - Rodica obviously had special needs. she was very sweet and had a decent temper for the most part, but she would snap and try to punch other people if she didn't get her way. she had to go to the doctor a lot and didn't like to participate in the games for our team. she wasn't very animated the whole week so i didn't think that she wanted to be there. but on friday i saw her cry when the bus left
Iosif (11) - cute boy who has a horrible history of abuse from his father. he and his brother petre were pretty much inseperable during the week and when they got together they caused some mayhem. it was hard to keep track of Iosif, but he did get competitive for us. I learned that sometimes you have to look past initial impressions of a behavior and realize that sometimes kids aren't being annoying because they are trying to be annoying. melissa mothered this kid all week and he really responded to her motherly love and her cuddling. that was pretty great.
Alin (14) - young boy who was silent for the most part. he opened up as the week went on and had a good time. he'll be the boy with the yogurt on his face and the huge smiles when i put pictures up. he was good for us and was pretty easy to make excited. it makes me both happy and sad to see kids like Alin at camp who really buy into the whole camp thing and just love their week.
Our team got 2nd place! It was pretty neat. While we went into the week with the mentality that it would be the hardest week because the kids were special needs, it ended up not being the hardest week. I would be lying if I said it was the most rewarding week, but it was a good time.
There was one girl, Simona, who was nonverbal. She didn't speak. But right when she got off the bus at camp and I touched her back, and she smiled, I knew that this girl was special. I spent some time with her when I got the chance and it was good to see her smile.
At camp we had the Florida team who was made up mostly of 18 and 17 yr olds. Those kids really stepped up and worked with the kids from Reghin, most of whom were older than the Florida teens. The Florida team blew us all away with how hard working they were and how ready they were to play with the kids. They did spend time with the Romanian volunteers as well which is good because they are slightly older than the volunteers and are good Christian role models.
Reghin was great. At the end of the week we didn't get to go to the Weekend because of some behavior problems throughout the week and concern for safety among other concerns about the pool. It was a sad end to camp. I miss it and wish I could hike up the hill at night to look at the stars. I'll miss Imri and his boy, Csabi. I'll miss lining up and cheering our team's name loudly. I'll miss singing those songs with Ovi and I'll miss the volunteers. Hanging out with them was a joy and something I liked to do. I will type a separate blog about leaving Romania and coming home. I'll miss Vetca and the beautiful surroundings.
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