Romania, Day 7

The day began with a visit to Ecce Homo Association "La noi" Social Centre. The house was large, spacious, bright and open. I was so relieved after the visit to the neurologic clinic yesterday. As we toured the house and observed the colourful bedrooms, personalized bed areas and bathroom areas, I was so excited. The rooms were full of colourful comfortable bedding, bright soft throw rugs and toys. There was even a very large aquarium with huge goldfish. The program seemed excellent, with 3 social assistants present during day hours and 3 ladies who stay overnight. There were 15 children, the oldest girl was 13 and the oldest boy 15. Ecce homo also fights to keep siblings together. The worker made me even happier and more relieved when I learned the children kept a garden, played games/activities every night, outings on the weekends, chore responsibility, and vacations with volunteer host families. It was so different from the impression I developed during Monday's lecture. I was so pleased and wondered if this program was the best of the best.

This is the garden that the kids planted and tend.

Next, we drove via taxi into the city centre to Strada Universitatii. A large group dined at Cafe River on Strada B-dul Eroilor, an outside Cafe. I enjoyed my usual lunch: corn thin with peanut butter and cherries and had a caffe de lapte.

A little Roma girl approached our table and started speaking to us, apparently asking for money.Our waitress angrily lectured her and the girl moved on. I decided to offer to buy her an ice cream. The waitress translated for me. The little girl declined the ice cream but again asked for money. It was heartbreaking to see her dirty face and clothes, and her hair uncombed and messy. The general consensus was that she was working and being watched... but she really did seem to want the ice cream.

Centrul de Recuperate a Copilor Cu Hanicap Motor was such a happy experience for me. The program provides services for 80 children, including speech, psycho-cognitive, kinetic, and occupational therapy. The facilities were bright, cheerful, and very welcoming. It very much looked like a very hapy children's facility. I was thrilled to hear that group events and trips are held to focus on the development of social skills. It was such a drastic change from the neurologic clinic. I had the pleasure of observing three children in therapy and to speak with the parents and children. The therapists were very positive, nurturing, and used positive reinforcements such as verbal praise and tangible rewards, such as stickers. The facility was certainly equivalent, if not better in some ways, than the American version.

We walked to Gradina Botanica and explored the gardens for the next hour or so. I was fascinated with the Romanian iris, which, according to Mihai (our grad assistant), is closely related to the orchid. We explored the Japanese and Roman gardens. It was beautiful and peaceful, and I hope to get back to further explore.

In the evening, we dined at Euphoria Irish pub in Piata Muzelul. I had my second salad in Romania. It was enjoyable but not quite as good as the Pizza Roma salad in Brasov. The feta cheese is a bit strange here - it's like the red-haired step child of feta and goat cheese.

One of the definite highlights of my cultural visits thus far was to a Romantisme Hebraique Concert at Liceul de Muzica. The program included Bruch, Achron, Perlman, Lalo, Bloch, Saint-Saens, Williams, and Warshawsky. I had goosebumps as I got lost in the performance - the acoustics were amazing in the incredibly old performance hall. It was a very touching experience for me, especially when the theme of Schindler's List was performed. I can't imagine that there was a dry eye anywhere in the house - mine certainly were not. The musicians were so good that there were 2 anchors!

I found my wine! It is actually called segarcea. I discovered a bottle for sale at Chios Teresa, though I ordered white instead of red. I am looking forward to going back for a glass of cabernet sauvignon. We sat on the outdoor deck watching the paddleboats go by. It is really incredible how long the daylight lasts. It is bright from about 6am until after 9pm. I've certainly surprised myself in being able to stay asleep in the early morning as we don't have heavy curtains in our room. I am quite enjoying basking in the sunlight.

There is no way to get an accurate weather forecast. Every time I check the current or future forecast it predicts rain or states that the current condition is a thunderstorm. It is never correct! It has been decided that the weather forecast is permanently predicted as rain and thunderstorms. This makes dressing very challenging in the mornings.

The most amusing part of the day was finding a ping pong ball on our balcony. I threw the ping pong ball back onto the balcony of our neighbors, which requires successfully overcoming a wall obstacle. Next thing Mallory and I know, a milk carton, sneaker, plastic water bottle, and finally, a medium saucepan were thrown into our room via the balcony. We are holding the saucepan hostage for 2 RON and a bottle of Segarcea. Thus far, the ransom has not been paid.