Day 4: Picasso in a Wheelchair

I already mentioned that Day 2 was spent mostly traveling, so instead of filling up another blog post with pictures of a city, I am going to skip to Day 3 which is much more interesting. Plus, Europe is way ahead anyways so I figure this will catch everything up. :)

Today we went to a village outside of the city Oradea (where we are staying) called Lazareni. The ride out there was like a scene straight out of the Sound of Music (we even saw a Stork nest?!)

The entire village is practically split in half with a fence separating the Gypsy people (or the Roma) from the Romanians. It is incredible to see the prejudice and hostility between the two groups. Even our bus driver could not believe we were going into the Roma village, and when we were leaving he was very harsh with the children.  

Waddup Esmerelda!

The Lazareni village is fairly “new” and thankfully a small school has been set up for the many Roma kids that live there. We spent most of the day playing with them: they were overjoyed we were coming and made a little skit for us (kind of like A Bugs Life?). We provided lunch, all made shirts together, and simply enjoyed the company of such wonderful people (though I have to admit, I had to keep my camera and bag clutched tightly at all times.)

We have almost no way to communicate with the kids other than pointing and trying to mime (which really just ends being a comic act for them), but I had a child in my arms almost instantly, like there was no gap between us at all.  I have never seen such beautiful children. They all have darker skin, beautiful hair, and eyes that can see right through you. Take a look and try not to fall in love.

Look ma! No pants!

On the right--a shout out to Aaron for being so awesome!!

 About half way through the day we took a 2-mile walk to the water supply for the village. Beautiful view, but I can’t imagine carrying a bucket of water that far back. Oh yeah, did I mention the trek home is uphill?  

Compare the size of this "spring" to the child's shoe caked in mud.

My favorite part of the day came in a small little package and went by the name Cosmina. When we arrived this particular little girl would not smile, laugh, make eye contact or make any facial expression really. By the end of the day we were great pals and she even asked for a kiss good bye. I obliged with no hesitation. Experience the change in little Cosmina.