Krakow and Wonderfulness

Last night, as I was attempting to begin this email, I told my friend mm that I had just had one of the best experiences of my life. But as I began this email and look back upon the past week I am finding that every day has been full of such amazing experiences. This has in turn lead me to believe that there is something truly special about Romania that I hope I will be able to describe within my email. So here goes my past week!

As I told you last week, although the orphanage and hospital are wonderful they do have a way of wearing on a person so this past week we took trip to Budapest and Krakow, which as it turns out are just as special as Romania. Krakow truly is one of the coolest places I have ever been not only is it beautiful but it is not so big that you feel lost all the time plus according to myths Krakow was built on a dragon. My old roommate Charla, who is working in Liverpool this summer, met us there along with our friends from Moldova. It was so great to see them again! I think it was just the break that I needed. I had a wonderful time busting around Krakow as my friend Charla cracked me up by singing songs from The Flight of the Concords as we ate millions of Kebabs. But this is not the real reason we went to Krakow it was simply just an added bonus! We went because located near by are the Nazi death camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. After visiting them I am convinced that the world would be a much better place if it were mandatory for all people to make a pilgrimage to these almost holy sites. I think all people would be much kinder if they saw the reality of hate first hand, which this empty buildings embody. For example as I walked through one of the female barracks in Birkenau my hand slipped touched a row of bunks. It gave me the heaviest boots I have ever hand in my life. There was just so much sadness there. But when I looked up I saw fading murals some of the inmates had painted on the walls of children’s stories and my boots were filled to the brim with hope. Those images embodied to me what really makes such places sacred the beauty, humanity, and charity that can exist despite the hate. All of this reminds me of a quote I found in my brother’s room that goes “The greatest protest is beauty”. It is true.

Now as for my return which happed after millions of concerts, meetings of friends, late night talks, beautiful landscapes, Turkish baths, and night trains… Seeing my kids again was absolutely amazing but it seems since that point things have just gotten exponentially more amazing. Today while I was upstairs playing with my kids Teo, the physiologist, came running in and told me to come down stairs with her so I did and there was my Alex swimming in the pool with two of the other kids. Teo and I ended up going swimming with him and despite our best efforts we both managed to get soaked in the foot deep pool but it was more then worth it. I have never seen Alex that excited before. The as the hospital Marius walked for the first time! I am not sure if it was more amazing to see him walking or to see Teo’s eyes fill with tears. It really was a huge day for him. When he sat back down Teo looked at me and said “he won’t need any of us soon” and I smiled reassuring her that will be a great day. There are so many more things I could tell you about but I fear there is no time! And I am sure by this point you are all more then done reading. But as always I thank you for making it to this point… The world is really changing and is becoming more wonderful all the time. Believe in that and good night!

-elisa