Conversations

This week I got to meet two more wonderful volunteers! Sophie is from north England and Jackie is from Kent. We spent the week going to the orphanage and wandering around the city. I took them to the typical tourist places I knew of (the craft market, central park, huge market, and Mall-Dova), and told them to hit up the cemetery on one of the days I didn't go to the orphanage. On Friday, when we went to Mall-Dova, I finally got to eat my fruit and ice cream that I've been dreaming about for a year!

On Thursday, I did a full day at the orphanage with Sophie and Jackie. At lunch, I stayed at the orphanage while they went to Andy's Pizza because I had brought my lunch. I sat down on a bench ready to get some homework done in the two hour lunch break. I had just started on my sandwich when a young mother wandered over my way. A little background: UNICEF has a program at the orphanage for young women without family who are pregnant. They stay at the orphanage for up to 9 months after their children's birth where they receive medical care and learn about how to care for their children and life skills. Many are in their late teens, early twenties. We call them the young mothers, and we often see them out with their babies. This particular girl expressed interest in me a couple days prior. She had wandered over to where I was playing with Dima and asked me if he was my child. I said no, I was an American volunteer, and she wandered away. Well, on Thursday she came over and plopped down beside me on the bench. A bench that was in the middle of nowhere, with no one else around. She sat down and immediately began speaking to me, and did not stop until I had to go in, two hours later. Our conversation was not easy, and I'm sure we were talking about two different things for most of it, but I think we learned a bit about each other. The conversation was entirely in Romanian and Russian.

Her name was Oxana and her baby was a little boy named Zandu (short for Alexander). She said she was 21 and he was 18 weeks old. Our conversation meandered from her telling me she needed a new cell phone, to me talking about my family in America. She told me that during her pregnancy, all of her hair fell out. She was wearing a headscarf and said she had to wear it all the time. Her head was still bald, although her eyelashes and eyebrows were starting to grow back. I asked her where her mother and father were since many of the girls are disowned by their parents when they get pregnant out of wedlock. She said she did not have parents. I asked her about the baby's father and she said he was in Germany. She asked me how much the orphanage was paying me.  I said none, I was a volunteer. But how much are they paying you? She continued to asked. I said none. I bought my plane ticket, I buy my food, and I pay for my housing. She was still very confused. Volunteering is a new concept to Moldova. Many of the caregivers are very suspicious of us. Most expect we are spying on them for the director. It can be difficult here for some volunteers because the caregivers will treat them badly. They don't understand that we really are here to help. A lot of times, they see us as a burden. The more I pick up the babies, the more they will want to be picked up and wil not longer lay complacently in their cribs. Luckily, my caregivers are very nice. Many of them were working her last year and know me. However, they all know me as Jessica. I'm not sure how this name came about but even now when I introduce myself as Jacy they say Jessica back to me. Even the Oxana, the young mother, called me Jessica. I'm sure she heard it from someone else. She told me it was a beautiful name, which I took on behalf of all my Jessica friends out there.

Most of my conversation with Oxana consisted of her speaking rapidly in Romanian, me repeating back bits and pieces and wracking my brains for recognition of any of the words. Usually gestures came into play. I've picked up a bit of Romanian while here, but mainly I can say I am or I have, so most of my sentences started like that. I can also ask how many.
 Later that day, after talking with Oxana, I got to have another conversation with my caregivers. The caregivers in my group invited me to drink some coffee and, once again we had a broken conversation consisting of I am and I have statements. They were so excited to talk with me. I asked about their kids and they eagerly told me about them. I learned the word for boy and girl, but am having such a hard time remembering. I feel like adding a couple more verbs to my repetoire may help me.