Townsend Park

Part II: When in Romania...

I knew it would be difficult to leave Romania and the orphans at Casa Dorca, so I shouldn't have been so surprised when it happened.

Romania is a beautiful country, with the most hospitable people I have ever met. The children at the orphanage were adorable, and despite a language barrier, we were able to connect and spend quality time together.

An important factor to bridging the language barrier was to find universally understood nonverbals, such as:
- The fist-bump from Big Hero 6 [Balalalala]
- John Cena's 'you can't see me' gesture - A giant dinosaur costume
- Beatboxing
And what quickly became the kids favourite game...
- Being chased by a grown man acting like a gorilla ['Unde ya Gorila?'].

As well as painting, helping around, and supporting my friend Nate (who had already been there for 2 months) I hope my time in Romania was as beneficial to others as it was to me.

Romania: Part I

Man this will be embarrassing if I only post once...

Following a wonderful trip to Toronto, a flight through Germany, and a broken down car driving through the mountains, I arrived safely at Casa Dorca Orphanage, where I will be spending the length of my stay here in Romania. 

We arrived very late at night when our car shut off in the mountains outside the village of Prilipet, but the stars were beautiful, and we received a lot of help to get to our destination. 

Our first day we were able to meet most of the children who stay here (who are simply too adorable), as well as climb a nearby part of the Carpathian Mountains. It was invigorating as it was exhausting. We were shown around the nearby village and up the mountain path by a caring and charismatic man named Charlie. Charlie had great perspectives in life which he shared with us during our journey. Even the hike itself was became an analogy for growing perspective one gains through spiritual growth as if one were getting a better view from the top of a mountain.
My personal favourite insight came when I took off my bandanna and Charlie put his arm around my shoulder. Undoubtedly noticing my baldness, he reminded me that 'stupid hairs fall off a clever head', a sentiment we both seemed understand too well as we covered our heads back up.
...He seemed less insightful once we found out the end of our trip was us climbing a decommissioned communications tower.

It has been a uniquely tiring and challenging experience, but I'm glad to be part of it in some small way.

Here's to safe travels and clever heads.

We climbed that.

(L to R) Our Translator/Companion Cipi, Our Guide Charlie, Nate, and his father, Darrell.