Budapest: Part 1

So, as some of you may know, we spent our last week on our mid-semester retreat in Budapest, Hungary. It began with an quite an adventure. We were all scheduled to leave Sunday night, Nov. 2, and arrive in Budapest around noon on Monday. Robby was in Bucharest with the visiting director of the International Field Studies program at BYU, and he was planning on meeting up with us early Monday morning where were to be switching trains. So, not being familiar enough with the train station here in Iasi, we waited on the wrong platform until about 5 minutes before our train was scheduled to leave, without any train being there at all, before asking someone what might be wrong. We were directed to another part of the station where there was a platform we didn't know about. Rachel and I were in the front (we both have long legs), and as we approached the platform and were looking for the car our sleeper-cabin was on, the train started to move. We hesitated, but quickly obeyed the beckonings of one of the conductors onboard telling us to get on. We didn't look back and hoped the rest of the group got on. They didn't. We didn't find that out until we got off at the next station to get to the right cabin. The rest of the girls missed the train and ended up leaving early Monday morning. To make matters more complicated, Robby's train was late to Cluj, which was where we were supposed to meet up with him, and his ticket had all our reservations on it. But, everything worked out eventually (as it always does) and Rachel and I made it safely to Budapest Monday around noon.

Monday: Upon arriving, we tried to get a phone card to call Robby, but couldn't get it to work. Fortunately McDonalds has free Wifi and Rachel was able to call him from Skype, as well as our hostel so that we could get directions. Once we figured everything out and got our public transportation pass for the week, we headed towards our hostel. That night Rachel and I enjoyed a night on the town just wandering the city, hopping on an off trams and buses wondering where they'd take us. I was reminded of my love for gyros (aka shaworma and Doner Kebabs) when we stopped to get something to eat that night. I had at least one (two on Friday) gyro every day we were in Budapest. We got back to our hostel that night and were please to find Robby there waiting for us. We called it an early night since Robby and I were planning on picking up the rest of the girls early the next morning. Sorry, no photos from Monda.

Tuesday: So, I've actually been to Budapest before, but it was only for an afternoon and I didn't want to spend any money, so I just wandered around the city and walked A LOT. This was June of 2007 and I was all by myself. It was neat because Tuesday afternoon, after the rest of the girls arrived and got all checked in, we wandered around a lot of the places I'd been before.

I'm not even sure what this place is called, but it's a hill that overlooks the Danube river and there are some statues and these cool pillars. I remember enjoying going there before, but it was even prettier now with all the fall colors.

This Photo was totally Robby's idea, so if you like it, he gets all the credit. Personally, I think it turned out pretty well.

Wednesday: After sleeping in Wednesday morning, we all went out to check out a couple sights and go out to eat before Michell M, Michelle N, Chelsea, and I split off to go caving. Here are some of the things we saw.

This is the Parliament building in Hungary. It's my favorite building in Europe. At least, on the outside. I was too cheap to pay to take the tour.

That's the Danube behind us. Not very blue.

BYU Romania Internship Fall 2008. Don't forget to insert Katie somwhere in there.

Oh yeah, I forgot to say, Tuesday evening I picked this little guy up off of the ground and carried him around. I wondered how long I could keep him and would let him crawl all over my sweatshirt. He ended up cozying up in my front pocket and stayed there all night Tuesday, and I had him until right before we were going to go caving Wednesday afternoon. I tried to set him free, but as he took flight, he happened to fly into Chelsea's face and she definitely struck him down.

I was a bit worried we payed $20 to do some cheesey walk through a dark tunnel, but our caving experience was definitely worth it. There were seriously some parts where we were crawling through these really tiny spaces and I'd get stuck for a second and just be like "K, so, I can't move my legs and my hips are wedged between two rocks. How do I get out of here?" But, it turned out fine and we had so much fun.

Photos from Thursday and Friday will be coming soon.

Happy Birthday, Sister!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Whitney Carol Blaesser. She is my sister, and today she turns 26 years old.

Halloween 2006

If I had to give an award to my sister Whitney - you know, like the awards that are given in a High School year book - she would get the "Most Changed" award in our family. Just to clarify, she's changed the most in a good way. Growing up, I remember Whitney being a "the glass is half empty" kind of person. But over the years, Whitney has become a spiritual leader and a righteous example to our entire family. She's always worked harder than any of the other siblings in our family and has been an example in that sense. But upon coming home from my mission in August of 2006, I remember noticing a spiritual change in Whitney. Like, a change in her countenance that could not be denied.

South Africa - October 2008

I look at what Whitney has done with her life and it makes me so happy. I'm so happy to know that my sister spends her days serving others. She recently returned home from distributing free wheelchairs as a part of her job with Free Wheelchair Mission.

Wedding Day - January 5, 2008

Whitney, you are so beautiful. I'm so glad you're my sister. I love you and I'm so happy for you and Adam. I can't wait to see you guys again.

Hai sa mergem afara!

= Let's Go Outside!

So, these photos were posted by Kinsey a long time ago on Facebook, but I thought I'd share them with you. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Kinsey and I hop on the tram at 8:40 to go to an apartment on the edge of Iasi in an area called Dancu where there are 3 orphans we get to work with. We're there from 9am-12pm, but there is always a worker there to take care of them. When it's nice outside, we get to take the kids to the park. This is from a day one of the kids stayed back with the worker, so we got to take some photos.

This is me walking with Ghiorcel. Ghiorcel is Autistic and has bowed legs. He is a big part of my research here. Just so everyone knows, I am researching reinforcement techniques and approaches to use with children with autism. There's more to it than that, but mostly I just keep track of the reinforcement preferences of the children I've selected to work with.

This is Claudia. She is one of the prettiest little girls I've ever seen. And I think she knows how cute she is, and she uses her cuteness to get all the attention she can get. But we don't mind giving it. She's great.

I have to admit, I really love Ghiorcel. When i'm with him I feel like "I could have come all the way out here just to work with him and it would have been worth it." 2 months ago, he only made a few noises. But now he's forming one and 2 syllable words. It's probably all just part of his typical development, but it's still exciting to get to be here for that.

The workers call Ghiorcel "Bobo" as a nickname. I've really felt a connection with Bobo, and, after thinking about it, I realize we're not all that different. Some things I see in Bobo that I see in myself:

• Brown hair, brown eyed man.
• Loves music and singing.
• Is very sensory driven and loves to touch things with his hands.
• He has an intense stare and can sit and study and look at something for long periods of time.
• He gets frustrated when he can't communicate his needs or how he's feeling.
• He gets fussy when he doesn't get his way.
• He's impatient when he doesn't get what he wants right away.
• Sometimes he just needs to be left alone and he'll feel better.
• He loves to laugh and smile.
• He's ticklish.
  
• He loves to explore new places and new things.
• He loves to be held and loved.

I really love Bobo. I didn't know I could have so much in common with a 33 month old Romanian orphan with autism and bowed legs.

Hump Day

This post is for all of you that have ever heard the quote (I think it's from John Bytheway) "Don't count time, make time count!" and cringed a little bit because you realize how much you're counting time. This is for all of you that have ever had a hard time waking up on a Monday morning facing a whole new work week. This is for everyone that has ever wished that you could always feel as good as you do Friday afternoon when you get off work. This is for any of you that have ever watched the clock. But mostly, this post is for me.

Today is Hump day, meaning we're halfway through our internship in Romania. In some ways, I still feel like we just got here. At other times, I feel like we've been here forever and we're never going to get to leave. That's when I step back and remember "It'll all work out". And I remember this:

I served my mission in Nashville, TN. I worked hard and I was obedient, but sometimes I knew I wasn't working as hard or as effective as I could have. As I approached the end of my mission, there was no way I would allow myself to get lazy and not make every minute count. So, during my last week, I was asked to give a training at the final District Meeting I'd ever be required to attend as a full-time missionary. As I prayed and studied and prepared all the things I wanted to share with the 5 other elders in my district (all of whom had been out for under a year), I wanted to tell them about how important it is to finish strong. That's when I wrote a poem that I call "Now is the Time". It goes like this:

There's something inside that makes some of us say,
"Sure, I'll do my best. . . but on some other day.
Today I'm too tired, too hot, or too cold -
I'm just not in the mood to do as I'm told."
Then we look back and think "That wasn't smart.
I wish I could go right back to the start."
"Too bad! You're too late!" you soon realize,
"Now is the time you must open your eyes!
You've learned and you've grown and you've found the right way."
But that something inside still wants us to say,
"Can't we relax and have fun and just rest?"
"No! Now is the time! You must do your best!"

I'm would never consider myself a poet and I know I've shared this before, but I wanted to share it again now. Little did I know that a poem I wrote over 2 years ago in the mission field would be helping me stay motivated while working with orphans in a city called Iasi, Romania during the fall of 2008.

Sfanta Parascheva

Only in Iasi, Romania, from October 5 to October 15, there is a religious festival called Sfanta Parascheva (meaning Saint Parascheva). Basically it's another religious holiday that has become another excuse to eat lots of overpriced food and buy overpriced souvenirs. But all I can say is I sure am glad I got to be here for it.

This is what the area between the Scala and Buc apartments looked like for about 6-7 days. There are still a ton of black soot marks on the ground all over the place and it smells pretty bad walking through that area.

This is what the streets looked like on the last night. I've seriously never been anywhere in my whole life where there were so many people in the streets. It was awesome.

For this photo, I'll give a shout out to Monica Thomas and Jeff Billen, the two biggest meat lovers I know. There were literally at least 20 (probably more) grills that looked just like this one all over the place.

Yeah, I like meat sometimes. But I <3 chocolate all the time.

I already ate about 1/3 of it. Lot of sausage.

These two ate more than I ever thought two girls could eat. Kinsey and Chelsea, you are impressive.

Way to go, girls.

Monasteries!!!

I probably wasn't acting as excited as I look in the photo. Maybe I was. You'll never know, unless you were there.

Just so everyone knows, I got that sweatshirt I'm wearing when I was a Freshman in High School. When I was fourteen. 9 years ago. 9 years ago the other girls in my group were 11 years old.

Me and the Michelles

Pretty

On Saturday, we went with our wonderful Romanian friend Mario (employed by BYU to be our connection for this program within Romania) up to some monasteries near the border of Moldova. It was wonderful to get away from the city and see how beautiful the countryside is here in Romania and gain a better appreciation for the Orthodox religion.

Unfortunately, I don't currently have all the names of the monasteries we went to, but they were really cool. This was the first one we went to and was originally built in the 13th century.

Next to one of the monasteries, there was a place that had a few animals. Not really a zoo, but sort of. Either way, I love animals.

This gives you a slight idea what the monasteries look like. The cathedral is in the center with the dormatories and other rooms surrounding it.

This was one of the favorites for everyone. There were actually two Cathedrals - one built in the 13 century, and the one behind us in this photo that just finished being built 2 years ago.

It was a lot of fun to get out of Iasi for a day and see something so historical and such a big part of the culture here in Romania.

Orphan Fund

This is me with Cristina. She's at least a year old, probably more, and at the hospital she won't get fed much more than formula. In this photo, she's actually chewing on big piece of banana that Kinsey broke off for her. We got that banana from one of the other mothers in the room that had been nice enough to share because they know this girl has no mother or father to bring her any food other than what the hospital feeds her. This is when I had an idea.

As some of you know from reading the blogs of other girls in my group, we have a small fund specifically designated for purchasing diapers to bring when we go to the hospital. After several trips to the hospital, I've realized the kids there could use a lot more than just diapers. We bring toys and balloons and bubbles to play with the kids while we're there and spend a lot of time holding the little ones. So, I was hoping that if anybody would be interested in helping, that I could offer an opportunity for anyone to contribute to a fund for not just diapers, but all the little things these kids needs that we can provide. While I'm sure we could find a way to pay for all these things ourselves, maybe you'll want to send $5-10 that we can put to good use for these kids. I hope no one feels obligated, but if you want to help out, that would be great too.

Michelle N. and I are helping Costel, a cocky little 13 year old kid that got hit by car. He's pretty funny, I'm pretty sure he stole that cap he's wearing out of one of the nurse's rooms. The little guy trailing behind us is Marian. He's actually one of the kids from the orphanage that is currently staying at the hospital. He's only like 2 years old, but still more charismatic than I'll ever be. He's just so excited and enthusiastic all the time, he's a celebrity on the 3rd floor and everyone loves him. Notice his little bonnet. More Romanian culture, for you. That also goes along with the "currant" idea that I mentioned before. Basically, kids will get sick if air or wind blows threw their ears, so they must be covered at all times. Any time we go outside with the kids, they have to wear full on beanies to cover their heads.

So, if you have some loose change to send, you can send it to:

Rhett Billen - Orphans
13391 Anawood Way
Westminster, CA 92683