Our Day in Barlad

The hotel where we are staying is in Barlad. There was a baptism party last night at the hotel (apparently the party spot for families in Barlad).. the music played until about 5am this morning LOL... some baptism party!

We met in the restaurant downstairs for breakfast at 9am. Then Mihelea (I know I am spelling that wrong, I'll have to look it up later) came at 10am and we started our orientation meetings.

I am part of a group of 7 volunteers -- Team 126, I think she said. I'm going to describe them just a tad here but since I didn't really get permission I'm just going to use initials...

R. is my roommate.. a super sweet girl from New Zealand, she'll be turning 19 while here in Romania so we are going to have her a birthday bash!

K. is 21 I think... a nursing major from Boston.

S. is 18.. the baby of our group -- barely but the baby still! LOL She is from San Diego but attending college in Arizona.

L. works in human resources for a law firm in Philadelphia. She is older than me but I'm not telling her age! ;-) She will only be here for 1 week.

E1 is a human resource consultant from San Francisco. She is a returning volunteer this is her 3 or 4th trip to Romania and she has done several other trips with Global Volunteers.

E2 is a librarian from Toronto. She is also a return volunteer. She and E1 actually volunteered here together once before...

Along with Mihelea that rounds out the group!

After lunch today we walked around the city of Barlad. Wow was it ever cold!! The wind is vicious... but it actually felt good because our hotel room is about 100 degrees!! I have never been so hot in my life as I was last night... this morning I stood outside on the balcony in just a t-shirt and jeans... Trish-- after all that packing we did to think I could have just brought shorts and tees for the hotel!! LOL Then E2 told me they keep the clinic stifling hot as well!! WAHHH!!! We'll see though!

Ok, back to the city of Barlad... as we crossed the street and walked through the market parking lot we were immediately hit upon by 2 beggar children. We have been instructed to say no firmly and not give them a penny. :-( Pitiful and hard to do...
Being with all these college girls is hilarious.. you should see the Romanian guys checking them out while we walked around!

Ok, apparently I don;t have a lot to say about the city of Barlad... it is a mixture of old and older.. nothing really looks new.. there is this HUGE red house you can see from the main street -- we were told it was the gypsy leaders house! I will definitely take a picture of it to post soon! Miss you guys but truly like all of these people I am with!! :-)
Take care,
Love,
Terri