Yesterday I played soccer with some coworkers and a bunch of local kids. It was the first time playing since my injury. It felt really good! NuNu (excuse me I don't know how to spell Romanian names, so it will be my best guess) one little boy who we played with was so cute. He kept saying "its a goal" and "Katie" over and over and over again, because thats all the English he knew. I think he was alos suprised to see a girl playing that was half decent.
Its interesting with the language barrier, actions become so much more proment. A smile means, a high five, a hug so much more than it may otherwise. Most of the kids are just excited if you want to interact with them and be a friend, even if you do not have a fullly perspective on what is going on. Its suprised me how you can find other ways to communicate- Most of the older kids know at least conversational english which help alot too :) Some are eager to practice, others are a bit more shy about it. And slowly, I am picking up Romania here and there.
This weekend I attended a theater performance put on my a few of the IMPACT clubs for the local community. We took the maxi taxi ( a local public transportation system) to Utacon, a mining town further down in the valley. The performace was part of a campign agianst domestic violence. About 100 people mostly kids from the community. This is a really big deal for Romania, espeicialy the Jui Valley area. Nothing like this has been done, especailly by youth. And domestic violence is high in the valley, since it is a mining area and miners are known for being 'very tough'
Tomorrow I going to be diong some traveling to Southwestern Romania. This trip is mainly for pleasure just to see more of Romania, one of the supevisors, Diana has some business down in the local area, so she is bring me and the two other Americans here, Charity and Andrew with her. Charity is doing her socail work internship for Gordon College with the Foundation. Shes my roomate, she is cool! Andrew is doing a International Development internship for Calvin College.
I promise pictures are coming soon. I am having some technical difficults with the software for my computer.Thanks for reading- Love you all and miss you!
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3 comments:
Katie!
I'm glad you're safely there and settling in!
Do you know about flickr?
it's a free photo sharing website.
It's awesome.
And they have a feature that you can use to blog the photos that you upload. You tell them which site you use (blogger) and your username etc. and then you just click on the "blog this" link on the photo you want to share!
I know for a fact it works. I use it with my livejournal.
I love you!
Rachel
Katie,
Good to read your updates, girl! I hate to be so lame as to quote and old school, once CCM song, BUT, I think the idea is pertinent: "LOVE is any language..." Loving people definitely trancends those cultural barriers. I realize this is easier said than done, but I'm confident that God is working through you and using your sweet spirit to communicate this to the kids you are interacting with. Keep me posted.
Oh! I'm getting to know your friend Heather Bixler (she's working with L'arche in this area). We were so thrilled when we made the connection that you are a mutual friend!
On another note, I just read your friend's comment about flickr. You should check it out. If you're interested, you can go to my blog and click on the "what's this?" link associated with my flickr badge. This will be an easy way to set up a flickr badge on your own blog.
Thanks for the updates. Continue to keep us posted.
pax,
Jen
You write very well.
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