Sighisoara

Noapte Buna!

Because Jack Sparrow hangs out at Tapas...me, hannah and Olga

Yesterday we went to Sighisoara for the medieval festival. Since I am such a good planner, I looked up the trains and such, and decided we were going to take a 6am train. So there, 10 of us ended up at the train station at 5:20am, chipper and ready to go! I thought there was 11 of us, so in my sleepy state I got 11 tickets, but it was fine because they were less than $5. The train looked like a place where people would be killed, and going through a pitch black tunnel for like 3 minutes had me really nervous, but three hours we arrived, unharmed, in sighisoara!

Sunrise from the murder train

We started the day in a coffee shop, and then went to the main part of town. We wandered the medieval festival for a while (think renaissance fair). We climbed to the top of the clock tower, went to the torture room museum (which was disappointing, i was hoping for some excitement!), and climbed 177 steps to the top of the mountain to wander through an old german graveyard. It was a nice, chill, relaxing day with some awesome people.

It's crazy to think I come home in two weeks. I've fallen so much in love with this place that it will be weird to return home. Since I've done a lot of the travelling I've wanted to do, I'm really just enjoying the people I'm here with. They're all amazing in their own ways, and I really hope that even though we're scattered around the globe, that we can all stay in touch. I feel like these are the people that will change the world one day.

Tomorrow starts camp at hospice, so no physio this week, but a lot of love and a lot of fun with the kids. I'm really excited to see some of the children that I haven't seen since week one!

and here are some sighisoara pictures!!!

Because there were obviously bagpipers in the medieval times

pretty german graveyard

his shield says "dracula"

This way to Athens!

te iubesc,
Alyssa

Day at the mental institution

Today, ten of us took the day off of work and instead went with one of the projects abroad supervisors to work the day at a mental hospital. We brought peaches, bananas, wafer cookies, and cigarettes for the 150 people who live there. And without sounding corny, today was probably one of the most meaningful days I've had here.

First off, let me explain the institution since I wasn't allowed to take photos. 150 people live there, between the ages of 18 and 80. Some are bed ridden, some are not. A doctor comes twice a week. There are 2 nurses and 3 caretakers. They live 8 to 10 in a room. Some rooms have very few windows. The bathrooms are flooded. Since there is so little staff, the tenents are kept heavily sedated so that they are not violent. Family and visitors never come, and the people who live here are never let out. Basically once you're in the hospital, you die there. Romania believes these people can not function or work in society, so they are left here. And you can imagine, I'm sure the living conditions make these mental illnesses even worse.

Some of the volunteers cut hair or gave the ladies eye makeup. The people at the institution were so friendly. All they wanted to do was shake your hand and see someone from the outside world. It broke my heart. We first handed out fruit and snacks, and then were brought outside. You could tell a lot of the volunteers felt very out of place, which I totally understood. There was a mad sitting on the far side of the lawn trying to open a banana and stimming crazily, so, after making sure it was ok, I left my group and went over to sit with him. He didn't speak to me, I'm not sure if he could or not, but I could tell he heard me. I told him my name, talked to him, and tried to calm him down. I could tell he was nervous. At first, I went to open his wafers and he swatted my hand away, but slowly I gained his trust and he let me help him sit up, and even walked with me around the outside.

There was another man who I became buddies with that I somehow managed to communicate quite well with. I taught him that 2 thumbs up was "super good" (because in romanian, they say super bine) and he asked me if I had a baby, and I guess thought my reaction was funny because he kept asking. As I was leaving, he gave me the two thumbs up and said super good!

Otherwise, I was just trying to talk to as many people as possible and smile a lot. There was another girl who came with us that works for Project abroad in the netherlands. She used to volunteer here last year and did the same kind of day trip to the institution and loved it, so PA here waited for her to visit on holiday to take our day trip so she could go. She was super sweet, and kept telling me she could tell I was enjoying myself there. But on the other hand, half of the volunteers there with me, on separate occasions, asked me if I was ok.

I'm not sure what kind of vibe I was giving, but it seems to have been similar to what I was feeling. Part of me was completely broken hearted. I didn't want to believe that a place like this existed, that a culture thought this little of people who have illnesses that they have no control of. It kept making me think people I know, and how they could have been like this if they were just born into this community. But on the complete otherhand, I was so at home there, and all I wanted to do was make these people smile. I was just feeding off their energy and enthusiasm and I couldn't help but smile. One man told me that my smile was beautiful. That was probably one of the most sincere and nicest compliments I have ever gotten.

So yes, that was my mixed emotional day. Thank goodness my friends here are willing to give me hugs and tell me I'm awesome. That does seem to make things like this better. It's weird, these moments where I am so unhappy with how Romania handles something are the moments where I don't ever want to leave, where I know I'm going to be crying when I leave. There's something so pure and special about it here, and so many things that I want to help, which in turn are helping me.

te iubesc,
Alyssa

My not so awesome new placement and my so awesome new roomie

So. Friday I went to my new placement at the nursing home. And it was probably the worst day of my life. First off, I took some sketchy minibus to the village of sacale, and then walked past a bunch of construction to Christiana. There was no one there who spoke english, so a nurse handed me a paper with exercises on it and brought me upstairs into a room with 2 women. She pointed to the both and said exercise and massage and then left. So I got the idea that I was expected to treat. Now granted, I haven't had an ounce of physical therapy training except for what I've learned here. And I speak zero romanian. So treating old ladies is very difficult when you don't understand what is wrong with them medically and cannot instruct them. I did what I could with these two ladies, which was next to nothing, then went back to the nurse to ask for the physio. She shuffled me back upstairs into another room and said massage. This kept happening, and I felt super out of place and uncomfortable and frustrated that I couldn't figure out some sort of solution to the problem I was having. I did talk to one tenant for a bit (the only person in the building who spoke english) and she was telling me how frustrated she was that they never let her out of the bed. Not an ideal situation, but not one that I could really help because I'm actually not a physio. I began texting with Brittany, one of the journalism volunteers and one of my best friends here, and she told me to leave, that it wasn't safe for anyone. I asked one more time if there was a physio, and they said no, and then I went back to the office to beg Razvan to not make me return. So that was my awful placement day.

I spent the remainder of friday moping around the office trying to recover from my traumatic experience. Basically, the office became packed as the day went on, so there was little work and lots of socializing, and then we went to get milkshakes and hang out. So it turned into a better day!

Saturday we had this great plan to go hike a canyon, but it was suppossed to be rainy and everyone was tired, so we scratched that plan and stayed in Brasov. About 10 of us met up and went to the skinny street, st katherine's gate, and the citadel. I feel like in the first month I was here, I did a lot of the traveling and big things that I wanted to do, so now more I'm just enjoying the people. It was nice, we went up to the citadel and took a boat load of pictures and explored, got lunch at the irish pub, and just hung out. Then we all split to go home for dinner.

And then my new roommate came! Her name is Suzie and she's from france studying medicine. She's super nice and we get along great, which is good because before she got here, I had already decided we were going to be best friends. We ate dinner, talked about life, and then went back to Republicii to meet up with everyone for Kate and Jill's last weekend night. It ended up that Suzie was tired, so Brittany, Matt and I walked her home. On the way back, we decided the bar we had been sitting at was too loud, so we got pastry baked apples and sat outside and talked. It was super nice.

Today we slept in and then went and wandered the town so I could show Suzie where she lives (since I am such a pro at this city!). We met up with a bunch of the volunteers for lunch at a place that had a table that looked like a boat (which obviously we took!). Then we took a mass carrefour trip to buy chocolate and fruit, and then went to the bakery and sat in the park. Tonight we went and got chocolate pancakes. There are 20 volunteers here right now, though 3 are leaving tomorrow to go do archaeology. So many people! We haven't had this many at once yet! Thank goodness that most people who come to a foreign country to volunteer are easy to talk to!

Tomorrow it's back to Hospice, which I've never been so excited for. Some of the kids that I had the first week I worked will be back this week, so I'm looking forward to seeing them!

I promise I'm going to start writing more. I just feel unexciting because Romania is now like home, and I feel like it has become almost routine. In a strange way, it's a super great feeling.

te iubesc,
Alyssa

Lions and Tigers and Bears OH MY!

So let me begin this post with the conversation I had with a stray dog...

After chocolate pancakes, it was about 10:30 and I decided I was going to walk home. I crossed the street into the park, and 3 seconds later a stray dog was running towards me. It passed me, then looped back behind me, then ran around in front of me. I said hi to it, froze in my place, and asked it to please not eat me. He listened, ran off to stand on 2 legs and drink out of the water fountain (I wish I had my camera at the ready!), and I decided that the dog was my cue to take a cab home.

This week has been fairly unexciting. Monday we did a lot of physio. It's great having someone else at my placement. We've been teaching each other a lot. She's been showing me how to do sports massage, and I've been showing her how we work with the kids. It's working quite well!  Tuesday, I got shown my new placement. It's in the village of Sacale, which is 2 busses away. It's an old people's home called Christiana, and they seem really excited to have me. It will be a VERY different experience, but I'm looking forward to it. I start officially treating on Friday. Today we had a BBQ with the kids, so a pretty slow and uneventful day.

BUT. after buying a 70 bani nectarine (Bani is like cents, so parts of a lei. 70 bani is about equivalent to 23 cents), I met up with some of the girls to go to the Brasov Zoo. After an adventure getting there, like usual (I wish there was some way to actually learn this crazy bus system!), and not being able to actually find the entrance to the zoo, we were in, for 3 lei. It is crazy how close you can get to some of the animals, and the tiny bars they have separating you from their teeth. If I had a death wish, I definitely could have touched a tiger. There was the cutest baby deer who was licking my hand. I wonder if customs would take him away if I tried to bring him home...

Here are some animals!!!!!!

te iubesc,
Alyssa

Brasov weekend

Lots of pictures to follow =)

Friday was a short day at work because Anda had things to do. I just spent the morning with the kids. I found out that one of the boys likes to repeat english that he's heard on TV shows. he really like american gladiators and fear factor, and really understands what the descrition ""crazy" means. So I logged onto their computer and put on the show wipeout, and the entirety of the day center watched an episode. American TV win!

A new volunteer came to work at hospice with me. Her name is Lisa and she's from the UK and is super nice. I'm really excited to get to know her better. That night we went to fondue for the high schoolers last night, and I skillfully got the phone number of the waiter who wants to come hang out with us (specifically, one of the other volunteers!) We were sleepy, so it was an early night.

Saturday, we slept a bit and then took the bus to Poiana Brasov. It's a ski resort town, but in the summer they have one of the lifts open, so we got to go to the top of the mountain. It was a very hot day, so it was nice to go up in altitude! The highest point was 1800m, and took a pretty intense rock climb to get to! It was gorgeous. I also may or may not have taken pictures of random people we saw on the mountain. But it was really awesome because the weather was so nice, people were having picnics and it was super cute!

We got lunch in Poiana and shopped around for souvenirs, then went back home and napped and hung out for a bit. Last night was sergiana's for dinner where I got german beef stew which was absolutely delicious. Then we went to Musik cafe for drinks and to hang out. I talked to some of the volunteers I don't know as well, so that was really fun. Every single person here is so interesting and has a story, and I'm having a lot of fun discovering that.

Today, we stayed in Brasov to do some of the little trips we hadn't made it to. We started at the first Romanian school. It housed over 100 students with one teacher in the fifteenth century, and was where the first book in Romanian language was printed. And this was the printing press they used.

Our guide told us that it took over 2 years to make one book, since every page had to be done separately. It sounded like an incredibly intricate process, but was really neat to see some of the early books and literature.

We popped into the church next door. It was gorgeous and painted and ornately decorated. Nothing like at home!

Then we climbed a bunch of stairs to the citadel overlooking Brasov. I love the rust colored roofs of Brasov. I wish our homes looked this appealing from overhead! This view, which I feel like I have now seen from all angles, just continues to take my breath away.

After a delicious dinner of stuffed tomatoes and peppers, greenbeans, and lemon soup, our host mom Ana brought out traditional clothes from Maramures, where she grew up. This is an area in the northeast that still has tons of folk traditions that have been passed on through generations. We had a little photo shoot, and Ana said that the pictures were her souvenir to remember us! Besides the fact that she tied the skirt on super tight to the point where I thought I may pass out, it was a blast. Pictures can describe this better...

our host mom dressed up too!

Tonight, we stopped by the bakery and popped into the resturaunt by out house that we never made it to. So basically today I have eaten twice my weight. And I was worried I wouldn't like the food here!

te iubesc,
Alyssa

Seeing Harry Potter and the rest of my week so far

This week, thus far, has been fairly uneventful, hence my lack of posting. Let see...

Monday and tuesday must have been fairly unexciting because I don't remember them. Monday I know I napped a lot because I was exhausted. It was Nazim's last night, so I made it through fondue and then promptly went home and slept. Tuesday we did Karaoke at Deanes. Tuesday at work was kind of fun. There are two girls here this week who speak near fluent english, so it's been really nice talking with them. The older one is 14, but seems much older. We've been chatting about shopping and movies, but also about how people perceive disabilities, which is a pretty cool conversation to be having. I'm sad they'll be going home tomorrow!

Wednesday was the busiest work day I've had thus far. We saw 7 patients, and I was there an hour and 20 minutes past when I normally am. They've been letting me help massage, but it's frustrating because no one is telling me exactly what I need to do, and then they basically go and do it again. I like working with the kids a lot more than the adults, so that part is going great. There's this one boy that I keep working with who I cannot communicate more than "ok?" with, but he is great and we laugh all the time when I'm treating him. We arm wrestle and thumb wrestle, which is a great muscle builder! So creative! Tomorrow, another girl is starting at my placement for a few weeks, so it should be cool to meet her.

Tonight we saw Harry Potter. It was a little irritating with Romanian subtitles, but otherwise, was quite excellent. Just about everyone came, so it was a fun little bonding time as well!

Next week I'm starting part time at a new placement that wants me to treat. I know zero details, but I'm quite excited for it. I also finished my PT app besides essays and dumb things I need to update, but I'm pretty impressed with myself =)

This weekend, we're sticking around Brasov to get some things done that we haven't yet made it to, and then Manasa leaves on Sunday night! Crazy! So I will be roommate-less for a week and have already been lectured that I'm not allowed to walk home alone. Good thing people here know I'm a rebel.

My good story of the day was that I got talked to by the police today. For putting my foot on a bench. Really?!?!?!

te iubesc,
Alyssa

Suceava!

Whoo we are safely home from Suceava and had quite an adventure =)

So Friday was Isabelle's last night before she headed on a 37 hour adventure back to australia. We ate at a delicious irish pub, were really goofy, ate a ton of food and ice cream, and had a blast. We went back to Evelyn's to grab our stuff, and then called a taxi for the train station!

We got a 2:36am train to bucharest, which, aside from the smell and general sleeziness of the train, was uneventful and filled with sleep. The plan (and ticket) was to catch a 6:53am to suceava. Long story short, the train we were supposed to take kept getting delayed more and more, and we spent a solid 4 hours in a train station Mickey D's. The sad thing was it was the classiest and cleanest place in the station! I took a nice nap there as well. If taking a nap in McDonalds isn't the classiest thing you've ever heard, you obviously are missing out.

So we finally got the train, and 7 hours later we were getting off in Suceava! Suceava is a lot different than Brasov. There are houses instead of communist blocks, neighborhoods and pretty flowers. We dropped our stuff at the hostel (which was super nice) and then ducked out for italian and the most delicious lemonade ever. It took us a solid 30 minutes and 4 girls unable to read a map to find this place, but it was so worth it. Then we went back, showered, and passed out for the night.

Sunday was out monastery tour. I took a bajillion pictures and was in awe the entire time. All the paintings are fresca, so they were done on wet plaster, so no room for mistakes. We were told that they painted about 4 square meters a day. And this was all done before 1600. Its crazy to think about how much work was put into these. The entire inside and outside of these buildings are completely painted. Two of the monasteries we saw had a different picture on the inside for each of the 365 days that make up the year. It was absolutely stunning. I totally understand why it's in national geographic =)

Since I'm tired (we got home at 6:20 this morning) and not doing a justice to the wonderfulness of Suceava, here are a bunch of pictures =)

te iubesc,
Alyssa

Outside Humor monastery

The detail and cracking of the paintings

Incredible, never touched up detail that would take me 48 years to complete

We made it to Suceava!!!! 

I have lost my CMU abilities to stay up for hours on end

Me, Isabelle, Brittany, Manasa -- possibly breaking the law?!

This weekend (aka tomorrow night at 2:46am) we're heading to Bucovina to the painted monasteries. As Evelyn keeps sharing, this is a sight in National Geographic! Fist, though, will be Isabelle's last night, and then off for a fantastic, picture filled weekend! So unless something thrilling occurs at work tomorrow, this will be it until monday when we get back! Think of me sleeping on trains =)

te iubesc,

Alyssa

Today was one of those "I'm in Romania" days

Warning: this is going to be long, but there will be pictures and epic stories. So you should read it =)

So far this week, I've been a little frustrated with work. We haven't been doing much PT, and apparently there is another volunteer coming to work PT at Hospice next week, so there will be even less to do since I'll have to share. Today was the first day that work really got to me. On monday, a little boy who goes to Hospice died. I never met him, but it was still really sad. I think I'm just getting frustrated that they have the resources to give these children therapy, and I don't feel like they use it. Even the kids who are there overnight for the week don't get seen, because it's always more important to go to the park. Now, I get that that is important for them, and a lot of them aren't allowed to be kids. But I feel like PT is really important too, especially for some of these kids who have disorders of the muscles. This could increase their life or their quality of life. Hopefully work will pick up tomorrow!

Last night we went to an Irish Pub for karaoke night. There are a ton of volunteers here, mostly for a month. There are two girls from Scotland who are PT students, and they're super nice. We've been exchanging stories! It's weird to think that all of them will come and go while I'm here, but I'm really glad I still have lots of time here. It's flying by. I decided that everyone was being lame and not singing, so I organized a group. We sang Backstreet Boys, and followed that up with Barbie girl. People left in shifts, and eventually it was Manasa, myself, and Isabelle left together. We decided it was the appropriate time to go to McDonalds for McFlurries and fries (or as we call them here, chips). Good night!

So. That brings me to today! This afternoon, eleven of us (of the fifteen that are here currently) decided to go up Mt Tampa, the big mountain in Brasov that houses the hollywood style "Brasov" sign. We took the cable car up and then walked to the sign, where there's a big lookout. Here was the gorgeous view.

(Dear mom, you can skip this paragraph!)  I decided I wanted to get down to the sign, which in my defense wasn't too far off the path. So Nazim and I started heading that way, and Isabelle followed close behind. It was really simple to get down to the B, and Isabelle followed with no trouble. Eventually, Brittany and Manasa joined, and we got an epic picture on Brittany's camera. It was probably illegal, but totally worth it.  Here is a picture that Nazim took of us climbing down.

Sitting in that sign, on top of the mountain overlooking the beautiful city below us was really one of those "I'm actually here" moments. When I thought of coming to Romania and meeting all these random people who, like myself, had left home to come help others, this was the kind of moment I had always thought of. It was great to share it with ten awesome people.

So the last adventure was getting down the mountain. By the time we left, the cable car was closed, so we walked. I happily took front of our little hiking group, because rocky trails, after 6 years of cross country, are nothing. I was quite amused at how people had to slide down certain parts of the trail that I did fine on two feet, and had a lot of fun taking splitsies with Isabelle as she took one path and I took the other to determine the correct one to send people down. Sadly though, we saw no bears on our hike, but I think that was for the better. It was about an hour of switchbacks, muddy trails, and catching people as they almost fell, but I was in my glory.

Back in Brasov, we got well earned gelatto and all headed home for dinner. Now I'm exhausted and will probably sit in my pajamas for the rest of the night.

te iubesc,
Alyssa

ps. I started my PT school application!!!!!

Fourth of July Romanian Style

...consists of me wearing red white and blue! It was rainy today, so no picnic =(

This weekend! Yesterday we took a maxitaxi to Sibiu. We started at the piata mare, the center square. We got lunch at a cheap italian place with delicious food (bowl of pasta and sauce for $3!). The piata was really beautiful.

Then we got cheap passes to the national Brukenthal museums for the equivalent of $2.50. Thank gosh, again, for CMU id's! We went to the romanian art gallery, the european art gallery, the pharmacy museum, the fresca museum, and a museum of dead animals. All was pretty awesome, though some were not museums as I thought they would be, more like rooms. We also went in a room with sculptures of heads. See below =)

Then we walked by a big church that is supposed to house the biggest pipe organ in Romania, but it is undergoing renovation so it has been moved. Then we went up the council tower. The stairs were a super tight spiral and over a foot tall each, but it was absolutely worth this view!

Also on this excursion, I was told I had excellent directional sense, and was really good at reading a map. Just thought I'd share this tidbit =)

We got home and crashed. It was a long day! Tonight we're going out with all the volunteers for Lucy and Sarah's last night. A bunch of volunteers got here yesterday, so hopefully we'll get to meet a few. There's a 2 week special going on right now for people ages 16-19 that's a little more structured than what we're doing, but it will be neat to meet them. There's SO many volunteers here right now. I hope we all fit in the restaurant!

te iubesc,
Alyssa

Ciocolata Calda

Today we wandered around Brasov. It's been gross and gray, which apparently never happens here. I blame pittsburgh. Sofie is a new volunteer from Denmark and is here 10 days after I leave, so we've been hanging out a lot. We walked in and out of stores, got chocolate pretzels from Petru (Sofie is a chocolate girl too!), and got hot chocolate from friends cafe. This is how great it looks =)

Tomorrow we're off to Sibiu, which is a medieval town about 3 hours from here. We don't really have a plan, but it should be fun! Then monday we're having a fourth of july picnic with all the volunteers, even though only 3 of us are from America....

te iubesc,
Alyssa