Description of My Babies

My friends have left me and it was very hard to say goodbye. They were such awesome people and we got along so perfectly. I'm really going to miss them.

    This week went very quickly. On Thursday we went to Swan Lake at the National Opera and Ballet Theater. The tickets were $9 and in a great spot. It was very beautiful and the woman who played Odette did a great job changing her personality between the white and black swan.

    It has been very hot this week so we get to take the babies outside in strollers every day. However, the babies are still dressed in their winter clothes. They wear thick snow suits over their clothing and warm, woolly hats. It's 70 degrees! Whenever I take the winter stuff off  when we go back in, the babies are drenched in sweat. I really want to take all that clothing off of them but I've heard people comment on the kids being too cold. My room at the orphanage is a sauna and i sweat as I hold their warm bodies against me. Friday afternoon, I finally got to take a baby out without all 
the winter clothes and woolly hat. He just wore a cap. It was a relief.

     It's supposed to get even hotter this week and then get down into the 60s. I was expecting much cooler weather for this time of year and brought quite a few long sleeved shirts and cardigans. I'm thinking about hitting up a second hand market for some cheap t-shirts. 

       I thought I would tell you a little about the babies I am working with. I'm not going to post any pictures out of respect for their privacy, but I will tell you about them. I have 16 babies in my group. 

Julia-Blond hair, bright blue eyes, probably 9 months old. I call her Princess Julia because she is always crying to get her way. And not just little whimpers. Full blown wailing. One minute she'll be perfectly happy, and then the next, she'll realize you aren't bouncing her high enough and she'll start to cry. She has to be moving constantly. She loves the swing but you have to be pushing her all the time. She also likes the walker but you have to be pushing her around the room in it. At one point, I was feeding a baby, pushing Julia in her walker with my foot, and had another little girl playing with cups on my lap. 

Vasili-Brown hair, green eyes, 3 months old. He loves me to sing to him. He whimpers and cries when he's hungry or wants to be held. He loves being held. He spends most of his time in his stroller. He is very sweet and cute and I love feeding him. He stares into my eyes and I talk to him the whole time. He smiles when I give him kisses. He is the youngest of the group.

Nicu-Brown hair, brown eyes, chubby cheeks. He is really cute but he is also pretty demanding. He is probably about 1 1/2 and is throwing tantrums left and right. He knows I'll do whatever he says so he always looks straight at me. When he is in his playpen, he wants out (as do all the kids) and will follow me around the room crying. I'm teaching him sign language and to feed himself, and he is learning fairly quickly. He loves to come to me and have me throw him in the air. He also likes to be pushed on a little car. He could get away with murder with his smile.

Catilin-Short, dirty blond hair, brown eyes, probably almost 2, the oldest of the group. He is just learning to walk and seems to have something wrong with his feet. I've been making him walk with me to get him used to it and he has been doing better. He also cries and whines at me a lot. For the longest time, I thought he was a girl because it sounded like everyone was calling him Catilina. Then, at potty time, I realized he was not a girl. He hates potty time and cries the whole time. He also cries when I say bye bye. He is a little more advanced than the others. I gave them the toy where you put the different sized donuts on a pole. He was the only one who could do it. The rest just banged the donuts together. I'm teaching him to feed himself too and he is doing very well.

Elena-Brown hair, brown eyes, chubby cheeks, probably almost 2. She is also just learning to walk. Nicu is the best walker of the group and he seems the youngest of the older ones. Elena loves being thrown in the air. She likes being held and wants to be in my lap a lot, even when I have other babies there. She is the caretaker of the group. When a baby cries she goes to see them. She likes pull the swing when the babies are in it, or rock their little playpen. She also likes to push Vasili's stroller. She goes up to caretakers to be picked up. She hates being in the playpen and will rock side to side whining. She is very sweet.

Denis- Pronounced Denise, bald, brown eyes, around a year old. He is a bit nervous. He cries when the other ones hit him with a toy but instantly stops when he is picked up. He doesn't really like being held, and doesn't seem to trust people. I spent a lot of time with him outside on Friday and I think he started to trust me. At first, he didn't really want to touch me but then he was climbing on me and smiling. He is very sweet and rarely complains. He really hates the potty but can be distracted pretty easily. He rubs his head against the playpen bars when he is upset. He can't walk but I've been trying to make him. He is holding the spoon and cup pretty well to feed himself (with my guidance). He is often left in the playpen alone because he doesn't complain like the others.

Valeru-Curly blond hair, blue eyes, dimples, almost 2. When I first got here, he never cried. I watched as Catilin hit him over the head with a toy and he didn't react at all. Then, this Friday, he got hit and started crying. I picked him up and he stopped. He is a pleaser and is almost always happy. He was sick and went to the infirmary for a while. I think he must have been abused at home. He is very cautious of everyone. While the other older ones play with me, he doesn't really come near. He does like being thrown in the air, but he won't come to me like the others will. He doesn't cry at potty time and can also be left in the playpen for long periods of time because he doesn't complain. He is very talkative though, always making lots of sounds.
Stanislav-Blond hair, brown eyes, big cheeks, probably 9 months. I call him Baby John because he looks like my brother when he was a baby. He loves being held and curls up in a tight ball against my chest. He is a bit fussy. The masseuse comes every day to massage him, and he is a bit jerky in his movements. I also call him tongue baby because his tongue is always sticking out of his mouth, even when he smiles.
Euraslav-Brown hair (only on very top of his head), brown eyes, probably 6 months. The masseuse comes for him everyday too. He smiles whenever I say his name or look at him. He likes being held a lot.

Maria-Black hair, black eyes, 6 months. She also gets massaged daily. She is pretty calm, doesn't cry very often and is usually just laying in her crib sucking her thumb. At first, she didn't smile when I cooed to her. I'd tickle her and she didn't really like it. Now, she smiles whenever she sees me. She loves to hear her name and loves being touched. She definitely shows signs of attachment disorder. I think it is good she is attaching to me. She is a very cuddly baby.

Madelyn-Brown hair, brown eyes, probably 7 or 8 months. She is pulling herself up and starting to sit. She cries sometimes to be held. She likes to explore and coos a lot to herself. She smiles pretty easily.

Adolph- Blond hair, bright blue eyes, cleft chin, 7 or 8 months. He loves to explore. He is pulling himself up and crawling a little. He can sit up on his own. He can be pretty demanding at times but once he is a place where he can explore, like his walker, he's happy. He smiles pretty easily and likes being tickled. He is a very pretty baby. He moves around a lot and is almost always on top of another baby. We'll hear some crying and look over to see Adolph climbing on another baby.

Andrei-Brown hair, brown eyes, 5 months. He has a tooth coming in on the bottom which shows when he smiles. He has a pretty congested chest but laughs really easily. His laugh is a smoker's laugh. He loves being tickled and cuddled. I wasn't sure if he was a boy or girl until recently and didn't know his name. To find out what his name was, because I was too embarrassed to ask after being around him for so long, I looked at the names on the cribs. I thought I could figure it out by default, knowing all the other babies' names. I noticed a crib with Basile on it and I thought that must be him (although it still didn't really tell me if he was a boy or girl, however it sounded more like a boy's name to me). Then, later, I realized that that wasn't his name. That crib was for the 3 month old who never sleeps in it. I looked around for another crib and saw Andrei. I had been cooing to him that he was a pretty girl for a couple of months by that point because he was almost always dressed in pink. They don't really pay attention to clothing colors at the orphanage, I think whether or not it fits is more important.

Cristiana  and Crisitan- Twins, girl and boy, brown hair, brown eyes, 6 months. Cristian has been sick the past couple weeks and has been in the infirmary. Cristiana is very sweet and playful. She loves being in the walker and will push herself over to you. She talks a lot. She likes being held and cuddled. She is just learning to sit up on her own.

Artur- Brown hair, brown eyes, sticking out ears, 6 months. I think he is the most attached to me. He is always looking at me and smiles whenever I say his name. He cries for me to hold him. He loves to hear me talk to him and look into his eyes. He smiles very easily and laughs. He likes to touch my hand as I feed him his bottle. I wasn't sure if  he were a girl or boy when I first saw him because he was wearing pink. However, when I asked what his name was I figured it out.

Monasteries

      This past week has been very busy. I've worked at the orphanage every day and really enjoyed it. I have a couple of older children and am trying to teach them some sign language. Right now, they just cry and whine whenever they want something. I'm trying to teach them to say please and show me what they want. I've gotten them to start coming to me. I'll move my fingers and say 'Come on' and then they'll totter towards me and I'll pick them up and throw them in the air. They love it. The other babies have been so sweet too. There are still some in quarantine, and we take them out to play in the main room when the others are napping.
    Every day a lady comes in with special swaddling blankets and swaddles some of the babies. She only swaddles them from the belly button down and she has a list with the names of the babies to be swaddled. On Tuesday, I got a good look at the swaddling and noticed that the babies are swaddled in clay. It is a big square of clay that is wrapped in plastic and then a blanket. The woman puts the baby's legs (sans diaper) on the clay and then swaddles the baby tightly. I had never seen such a thing before and was very confused by it. I asked a couple of people about it, and they didn't know what it was. Then I asked one of the caregivers, in russian. She said it was Parafina. I googled it and it looks like they are using parfin wax to swaddle the babies in. Parfin wax is used for arthritus and other forms of pain, so I assume that is what they are using it for with the babies-some kind of pain relief.
      The other volunteers haven't been having as much luck with their caregivers as I have. In fact, their caregivers really would rather not have them there. One their second day, the caregivers made the volunteers take a child into another room. They didn't want to be around them. Then, after lunch, the caregivers refused to let the volunteers back into the room. Vika called  the orphanage and everything was cleared up, however, there are still a couple of caregivers who won't even look at the volunteers. It is not a nice environment to be in.
     On friday after work, Vika took us to Mall-dova, the mall here in Chisinau. (Yes, it really is called Mall-dova). We had Greek for dinner and then she took us to her fruit and chocolate place. It's a little stand that sells cups of ice cream with fruit and covered in chocolate. I got white chocolate in mine. It was delicious. We went back today for more!
    Saturday, Valeru, picked us up and took us to a couple of monasteries. One monastery, Orhei Vechi, was built into a cliff over looking a river. It was amazing. We climbed up a hill and went into a church at the very top. We walked down a darkened, stone cooridor into the chapel. Then, we opened a door that lead out onto a ledge. It was incredible. In the 13th century, monks had carved out a series of caves in the cliff to live in. The 'dormotory' where the monks lived still exists. It is a low ceilinged stone room with twelve little compartments. We had to hunch over to walk around. One monk still lives there. He speaks a little bit of English and said Hello to us as we passed him on the path. The monastery was breath taking.
    Before taking us to the monastery, Valeru took us to a traditional Moldovan house. He showed us the Casa Mare, which is the guest house. It's used by the family in the summer, but when guests come they give it up and move into another, smaller house. They keep the Casa Mare very clean, because they believe Jesus is always a guest in that house. It was a little wood cottage that was very cute. The real house was a stone house, carved into the side of the hill. It was very small, with a lofted area where the children slept. The loft was made of stone and carved out underneath so that a fire could be made inside to heat the children's bed. The mother and father had separate beds on the ground. Next to the real house was the cellar, where all the wine and food was kept. Many people in Moldova make their own wine. Valeru told us, it used to be a tradition to pick grapes on the day your child was born, put them in a barrel and bury them in the yard. Then dig the barrel up the day of that child's wedding.
      The other monastery we went to was called Curchi and it was also very beautiful. About 40 monks live there today. It's not in the side of a cliff but is a brilliant red color. A monk gave us a little bit of a tour with Valeru translating.
    After visiting the monasteries, Valeru took us to his home in a village outside of Chisinau. There we meet his wife (we'd actually met her before), his two young sons, infant daughter and mother-in-law. His wife, Victoria, is an English teacher and she took us to her school, right across the street, to meet a couple of her students. We spoke with  them in English for about an hour. They were very nice, and very excited to practice their English. I will be going back, and one of them offered to make me a Moldovan dish that I am excited to try.
    After the English lesson, we went back to Valeru's house for dinner. We had had a large lunch and we were still full but we ate what they put in front of us anyway. It was soup, noodles, and peaches. They have a large garden and do a lot of canning so we got to try a couple juices they had made. We also tried some wine Valeru had bought from a Monastery. It was very good. Sweet and very grapey. After dinner, the whole family piled into the car and dropped us off at home.
    Today is Memorial day here and on Monday no one works. However, Vika asked at the orphanage and they said that we can come in tomorrow. The other volunteers are only here for one more week and they didn't work last monday, half tuesday and half wednesday. They didn't want to miss out on anymore days.
     Today we were very busy once again. We went to the craft market early in the morning and then got on a bus to visit a very beautiful blue church I had noticed on our way to Mall-dova. Then we headed to the central market, where I bought a puke apron (an apron with sleeves to wear over my clothes at work since I have been getting spit up upon regularily). The other volunteers bought some small hay brooms to give as soveigners. After the market, we went to the grocery store and then headed home. We had some tea and then went to a restaurant for lunch. We had mushroom pancakes, corn mush (that's what it is actually called, it is like grits and served with sour cream and feta cheese) and fries. After lunch, we grabbed a bus and went to visit a cemetery.
    On Memorial day, everyone goes to the cemetery to lay flowers on the graves of their loved ones. They also bring a big meal and everyone eats over the graves. Quite a few graves actually have picnic tables overtop of them so that people can eat on the graves. The cemetery was pretty busy. A lot of the grave stones had pictures of people on them, which were interesting. The cemetery wasn't as organized as ours tend to be,. Their graves were surrounded by metal fences and set close to one another, facing different ways. We passed a huge gravestone of a husband and wife holding hands and then we realized we had seen them before. While walking past the National Palace (a music venue) we saw that there was to be a concert in memory of the famous singers Ion and Doina. This was their grave.
      After the cemetery, we took a bus back home and then took a bus to Mall-dova for some more fruit and chocolate. Buses here are 20 cents so we don't feel too guilty about taking 6 buses in one day. Now we're back home, drinking monastery wine and relaxing. Vika has gone home this weekend for the holiday, so it is just the volunteers and me. It's going to be so hard to say goodbye to them in a week.
     

Villages, Blessed Cake and Prehistoric Suitcases

     On Friday, I took a day off from the orphanage and Victoria took me to a village. We bought lots of groceries, including a special Easter cake (Easter was that Sunday for them, a week after ours). We gave a bag of groceries and a sack of potatoes to each family. I also gave them some coloring books and crayons I had brought from America. Their eyes lit up at the groceries and the kids couldn't stop grinning when they saw the coloring books.
    Most of the families met us at the city hall but we went to visit some of them in their homes. One family was a new family to Victoria, who has been feeding these families every month. She has a friend in the UK who fundraises and sends 30 euros each month. They are sponsoring 10 families. The new family was very poor. They had a pig and some potato fields. When we got there, a little girl came out to meet us. She looked to be about 8 to me, but Victoria (Vika) said she was 12. The mother also came out and she was clearly drunk. We gave them the food and Vika asked if the little girl had eaten anything today. She just looked at her mom, who said she had had some potatoes, but we didn't believe her. The mom took us inside and showed us all the water damage from rainwaters that had flooded their house. The outside of the house seemed big, but there was only one room in use inside. It was very small and everybody slept, ate, etc. there. The mom lives there with her husband, two older kids, and the little girl. They didn't have electricity or running water and the little girl ran to fill a bucket of water for washing while we were there.
   We stopped by another house and the inside was very tiny again, although the outside was beautifully ornate and freshly painted. A young boy was outside in the yard sweeping up. Inside was a grandma. While we were there, a little girl came home. She had something wrong with her feet and couldn't walk right. I gave her some stickers. It was hard to see people living in such poverty. They were so dirty and had so little room. I didn't get much of what was going on but Vika's friend Andre translated some for me.
     On Saturday, another volunteer, Helen, came. She is from the UK and we hit it off right away. Before she came on Saturday, I wandered around town. I went to the central market, which is just like Ukraine's markets. I bought some small soveigners. I also found a little craft market. I was admiring a ceramic egg that had children on it, and asked (in Russian) how much it cost. The man told me and while I was translating from Russian to English, he asked me if I spoke Spanish. I said yes, a little. We continued our conversation in Spanish. He said he was from Cuba and he was obviously very fluent in Spanish. It was interesting speaking in Spanish while in Moldova. The same thing had happened to me in Korea, I met a woman who only spoke Spanish and we conversed using that language.
    Sunday morning Helen and I woke up at 430 AM to go to church. It was Easter sunday and we went to the church right by our house to have our Easter cake blessed. We stood outside the church with a large group of people and the priest came by and sprayed our cake and us with holy water. He drenched our cake. We came back home around 530, ate some cake, and went back to bed.
   Later we woke up and walked around. The city was dead because it was a holiday. Around 4, Caroline, another volunteer, arrived.
    On Monday, we couldn't go to the orphanage because it was a holiday and for some reason we aren't allowed to be at the orphanage on weekends or holidays. We took Caroline around. Vika had gone home to spend Easter with her mom. She came back around 2 and then she took us to another orphanage. It is called Saved the Children, and she works there as the PR manager. There were about 7 boys, ranging in age from 4-10. There usually are more children, both boys and girls. This orphanage works more as a home for children while there parents get their acts together or are out making money. Most of the kids don't stay there for very long.
     The kids were very active. We threw balls and played with legos. They were very cute and gave us kisses when we left.
    Today we went to the orphanage. My door was sealed up and I had to go around and enter through the outside. Some of the babies are under quarantine. I went into the quarantined room and was immediately thrown up upon by a baby. I also was covered in snot by the time I left for lunch.
   I'm making some progress with the children. I've been taking the older ones out to walk around and they are quickly learning to walk. I get them to walk to me and then I throw them up in the air and they love it. I got another little baby to smile. She hadn't been feeling very well, and I hadn't seen her smile until today. When I got to the orphanage today, the caregivers poured me a glass of champagne and we all drank some champagne and ate chocolate before the babies woke up. Later, one of the caregivers gave me some Easter cake to eat. They are very nice.
   Helen and Caroline got to the orphanage around 1130 today because they needed to go to the doctor and get their paperwork in order. They are working with group 8, which is special needs children. They really love working with the children. Most of the children can't walk and a majority are blind. They range in age between 3 months and 5 years. They just need to be held and played with, like the babies.
   After the orphanage today, we went to the National History Museum which was very interesting. We were in the prehistoric room and was looking at a exhibit of prehistoric clothing when we noticed a suitcase sitting in the display. Prehistoric suitcase. We then noticed that the sign said, Artist and a guys name so we figured it wasn't actually authentic.
     

Babies!

     I've been working at the orphanage for the past 4 days and have been loving it. All I do is hold babies! There are nurses and caregivers who take care of the babies' needs but no one to just sit and hold them. I give the babies a turn, trying to hold everyone at least once. There are about 15 babies. There are 4 children who are over 1, who can walk and move around. All of them are showing signs of attachment disorder or abuse. I watched as one little girl, Catalina (who is a bit violent) hit a little boy (Valeri) really hard and he didn't react. I've never heard him cry. The other older ones won't touch me when I hold them. Usually when you pick a baby up they put there arms around you or on you somewhere. They keep their hands away from me, as if I'm dirty. I know this is from attachment disorder. I'm trying to show them positive touch and interaction. I'm going to try to look up information on RAD to see what exercises I can do with them to help.
     The rest are babies, 9 months and younger. There is one 3 month old baby, who I sing to and cuddle. They all love being held and snuggled. They are all so happy and always smiling. There are only two who are a bit fussy and yell at me whenever I set them down. I think it's good that I will be there 5 days a week for two months. Hopefully they'll be able to bond with me and form an attachment. I know it will be hard to say goodbye but at least they will have that time with me. The orphanage is run by the government which has very little money to give (due to corruption). Some of the clothing is old and has holes in it. Each baby only gets two diapers a day and when those are used up they have to go without which means many changes of clothes. I've been buying diapers on my way to the orphanage everyday.
      Today I brought chocolate to celebrate my birthday and the caregivers and nurses were very grateful. They all wished me a happy birthday (I think) and kissed me on the cheek. It was very sweet.

I've arrived!

     I've arrived in Moldova. It was a long 18 hours and I got to Moldova extremely jet lagged. I arrived around 1 in the afternoon yesterday, after a layover in Munich, where it was snowing. The weather was beautiful in Moldova, 60 degrees. When I walked out of the airport, I looked around for the woman who was to meet me there. I looked for a sign, but not seeing any I headed to the closest money exchange and exchanged some money. The rate is about 11.5 Lei to a dollar. After getting money, I looked around some more and started heading toward the other side of a large crowd of people. I stopped for a moment to look around and was approached by a woman I had noticed before. She asked me if my name was Jacy and then introduced herself as Victoria. She said she didn't think I was the volunteer she was looking for because I had so little baggage. I had two small wheeley bags, a small backpack, and a messenger bag. The bigger of my wheeley bags was full of crayons, books and toys for the kids. I had packed two months worth of clothes in a very small bag. I like to travel lite.

      We got a taxi and headed into Chisinau (pronounced Kiss-now). The taxi dropped us off at Victoria's flat, where I would be staying. On the way to the flat I met Victoria's boyfriend Roman. Victoria is 25 years old and has a degree in Social Work. She works with the orphanage only as a volunteer. She volunteers at the orphanage through Service for Peace, a non-profit organization headquartered in America. Later, I met the man who had started the Service for Peace branch in Moldova. He, along with everyone else working for it, is a volunteer. Victoria works three other jobs along with volunteering with Service for Peace. Real Gap, the company I came here through which is in UK, helps them find volunteers and pays for accommodations, food, and a donation out of the money we pay. Everyone I spoke to was real grateful to Real Gap for helping find the volunteers the orphanage needs.

    After I had settled into the flat, Victoria took me to a restaurant for lunch. There, I had Borsch, and met the founder of Service for Peace and a man who works as a translator for the company. They both spoke English and had been to Korea for conferences for Service for Peace. After lunch, we all went back to Victoria's flat, and the three of them talked business while I went to lay down. I fell asleep for 3 hours, woke up, took a shower, and went back to bed. My clock on my phone has not changed over to Moldovan time, so I set my alarm for 12:30 midnight which was 7:30 AM here. I slept very well but it was hard getting out of bed at 7:30, it being midnight to my body. I got up and got ready, ate cereal and had tea. At 9 a woman (another Victoria) came to the door and I let her in. She was taking me to the passport and medical offices to get a little blue book that the orphanage could hold onto while I was working there. She is married to the man (Valeri) who started Service for Peace in Moldova, and they have three young children. She was very nice and I asked her many questions. I found out that the main language in Moldova is Romanian, which is a mix of latin and russian. I noticed a lot of spanish sounding words, and they don't use the Cyrillic alphabet so I can read the signs. Russian is also very common here and so I've been using that to communicate.

     At the medical office, I didn't have a certificate from my doctor at home saying I was healthy. I had read that I needed to see a doctor before I went, but it said to check yes or no if I had, and didn't mention anything about a medical certificate. Victoria was afraid I'd have to get my blood drawn, get checked for TB and have a urine test which would take all day. However, a little bribe goes a long way, and the doctor stamped my blue book without even looking at me.

    After the doctor's office, we met up with Valeri and he took me to the bus stop to catch the bus to the orphanage. My flat is in the center of Chisinau, along the main street. The orphanage is about a 20 minute ride from there. At the orphanage, I met with the director and was asked my preference. I said I'd like to work with 0-3year olds. They put me with group five. A normal day will go from 9-12, lunch, then 2-4. Today we arrived at 11 and Valeri just wanted me to work until 12 so he could take me  back, he had a meeting at 2.

      In the room for group 5, there were about 15 babies, and 4-5 workers. There are also nurses who come in and out, checking on everyone, and some women who come in to take babies outside. I met everyone and had to change into slippers to keep the floor clean. There is an outer office, where a nurse sits, writing down information, then a little hallway that leads into a big room with playpens and toys. Two rooms lead off of the big room and have cribs. When I arrived, there was one baby in a stroller in the entrance room with the nurse.  Nobody spoke English so I used my little bit of Russian and gestures to communicate. One woman gestured for me to pick up a little baby and I picked her up and held her. There was another baby in a walker and the women told me that they were twins, Christie and Chrisitana. I was only there for an hour before nap time and Christie fell asleep in my arms. I held another baby for a while. He wasn't tired, very curious and he liked to smile and laugh. After an hour Valeri got me and we went back to the flat.

     I made it to a grocery store today and bought some of my favorite things from Ukraine: Blue Fruit tea, Lavash (flat bread-like tortillas), and veggies. I came home and watched tv on my phone and fell asleep briefly. Its 8:00 now and I'll be headed off to bed soon. Keep checking my blog www.jacysorphanageadventure.com for posts and pics (haven't gotten any pics yet). Hope you are all doing well. Love, Jacy

Hello all,

Due to your contributions, I will be getting on a plane in a couple of hours to fly to Moldova. It'll be about an 18 hour flight, with stopovers in Charlotte and Munich. I fly Lufthansa. I'm all packed, with an extra suitcase full of toys, books and crayons for the kids. Someone will be there to pick me up at the airport and I'll be staying at the flat of a woman who works at the Orphanage. We've corresponded via email. I've also talked with two other volunteers who will be coming later in April. I'm excited to celebrate my 30th birthday in a couple of days! Thank you all so much for your help in making this possible, I've almost reached my goal! Keep checking my blog for pics and posts from Moldova. Love, Jacy