Monday, July 4, 2011

Happy birthday America! This day started out not so great for me... I had to visit an optometrist at the adult hospital. YUCK! Found out my itchy swollen eye was indeed pink eye :-( 3 different prescriptions...no work at the baby hospital...and no contacts for a week... WAH!!!

I just look a little tired here.. but when compared to my other eye below.. yikes!!

oops.. more Saturday pics AND Sunday, July 3, 2011

Emily typing furiously... trying to get those last few words in before her battery died!

Emily and Jane indulging me as I tried to get a good shot of the gas station so folks at home could see where we were chatting from...

the yummy looking cherry tree that was hanging over the fence..

A photo of the sign out front in case I needed to show it to a taxi driver to get us back there!

Ahh, I have always loved this flower sign... never knew how much it would mean to me this trip! LOL

Now, finally Sunday and back at the internet gas station.. Seriously the setting was great, the people were friendly, and I could buy Diet Coke.. how much better does it get?

Saturday, July 2, 2011

We decided to stay in Barlad for our 2nd weekend to rest up for our last week at the hospital. We walked to the cafe on the bottom floor of Galmondo to use their wifi... Jane and Emily are so happy... then

the wifi is "broken"...grrrrrr!! Is this a city wide problem with internet access?!?!?

Oh well, we decided to make the most of it and eat upstairs at the yummy Restaurant Galmondo...

Emily ordered a veggie pizza... it was literally covered with veggies: green beans, corn, carrots, peas LOL but she said it was yummy.

I had a tasty Bulgarian salad.

And Jane had the Dracula pizza.. lots of meat :-)

Then we decided to try out the internet place the other gals had told us about...

SUCCESS!! Internet in a gas station.. who woulda thunk it?! :-)

Emily is so happy to have a connection to home again! We all quickly forgot each other and became absorbed in our virtual lives.

The patio area was beautiful... so not only did we have internet but we also had a tranquil setting..

photos from Friday July 1, 2011

Our last day at the hospital with the 2 week volunteers..

Emily and Alina

Alina loves to talk to these bugs..

Ionut.. sweet boy!

Sweet Paula.. these are my last pictures of her. She left on Monday, July 4th for foster care and I wasn't able to go to the hospital that day because I had pink eye. :-(

Ion and Maiastra with the bubbles.. Paula doing one of her crib tricks in the background.

Valle.. whose name is really spelled Vali

Maiastra loves her bubbles!!

Alina wasn't too sure about the bubbles...

Lorry, Jennea, Jane, and Emily watching the kiddos play with the bubbles.

Emily blowing bubbles for Vali and Maiastra (hi Lorry!)

Maiastra

Maiastra and Ion with the bubbles

more bubbles.. Maiastra is the bubble queen!

Cristiana (another Romanian high school volunteer) and Ion

Dan, our fearless leader and Ionut

Maiastra and more bubbles

Lorry, Vali, and big Ana-Maria

Jane and baby Ana-Maria

Baby Ana-Maria *loves* playing with baby wipes.. specifically sniffing them

Marius playing his favorite game of throw a toy into a crib...

Vali climbing

Ionut enjoying the bouncy chair...

Alina and Marius

Krista's turn blowing bubbles for Maiastra

Marius loved to pop the bubbles between his hands

Ionut

Elena

Emily and big Ana- Maria

Raul

Raul and Coca playing... he loves it when Coca kisses his tummy!

He digs his fingers into her hair! LOL

Cristiana and Emily playing with baby Ana-Maria

Ana-Maria loves to roll over...

the girls are trying to work on getting her to stay in crawling position!

hanging out...

Maiastra in her modeling attire ;-)

Ana-Maria

Elena

Alina loves this crib... not sure why but she is always asking to be put into it!

Alina singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!

Krista and Vali doing a recording session with the microphone.

Alina modeling the sun hat.

Yummy cakes from the pastry shop above the Berlin supermarket.

Random pictures from the balcony during break time...

inadvertently caught Jane in this pic :-) (hi Jane!)

Emily was smart and napped while the babies did.. during our lunch break!

flowers on the balcony

the buildings near the hospital.. and a gorgeous sky!

birds playing near their nest

a delicious Viennese chicken dish for our last meal with the 2 weekers..

Kerry, Dan, and Krista

Jane and Jennea

me and Emily