Sunday, February 15, 2009

It is Sunday morning in Galati and I amstarting my fourth full day here.
They trip here was fairly easy, if not a little tiring. We got into Bucharest a little before midnight on Tuesday morning and finally to bed about 2 am. Apparently shortly after we went to sleep about 40 cars drove by our (open) window blarring their horns and I just slept right through it. All of the other 7 people in the room woke up, but I was dead to the world.
Morning came and we caught a noon train from Bucharest to Galati and from there we took buses to meet our host families. I'm staying in the living room of my home, but it has a door I can close for privacy. I am sleeping on a pull out couch and I have a small cabinet to put my things in. It is not what I expected, but after a few days I think it will work. The home has a flushing toilet (that you can put toilet paper in) and warm water, so that is wonderful. My host mom has hosted several other girls, but she doesn't know any english so that can be challenging. I start language lessons tomorrow so that will help.
We've spent every day at the Community Center run by Word Made Flesh. The first day was a little overwhelming, but I think I will settle into it nicely. We've mostly been doing orientation/get to know you stuff, but we have eaten lunch with the kids as well as participated in play time. I'm curious to see what my role in the center will be as time progresses. There was talk today of me possibly teaching a ballet class with the girls once a week. No need to tell you that I would love that.
Next week, starting tomorrow, we are going to look at different places we could volunteer in the city outside of the center. I know working with special needs kids is one and helping at a nursing home is another, there may be one or two other options. My prayer request at this point would be guidance on which to choose. Part of me feels drawn just to stay at the center, but I also want to get involved in and see as much of the community as possible.
Today we are going over to our team leaders' home for lunch. I'm not sure what the day will hold after that.
Thank you for your prayers. Like I said I start language tomorrow and I anticipate that being a big challenge for me so please be praying about that too.

Let me know if you have any questions or if there is any other aspect of the trip you'd like to know about.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Caitlin - it is great you are settling in. It sounds like you have several choices to make. My prayers are that God makes his will known to you and you have the ability to recognize and follow it. This will be the big week for me in the job search, a phone interview on Monday and an in person interview on Thursday. Your prayers on those are much appreciated. Amy says she was up last night and saw you on Facebook.

Love you so much.. miss you.

Dad

Anonymous said...

so glad to hear from you. was praying for you this morning on my way to church. Will continue to pray for discernment. How are things with your team? Is the family you are staying with big or just one lady? hope your week is great!
becca

Lele said...

Caitlin! So good to read a post on how your days have been! I really hope you get to teach ballet...that will be so fun for you.
We miss you lots and are praying for you every night!

love you.

annalise said...

Working with special needs kids sounds so much fun! If you need any advice or anything, please let me know! It sounds like things are settling down, at least somewhat... You are amazing. Let me know when to start sending you fun things. Also, did your bags make it? Did you have to walk far? Did that red bag stay together?! I love you so much! It is good to finally hear some things about what is going on...

acp