Winter's Here!

The view from my living room window this morning...

it's a little bit late, but winter is finally here.

A Day in the Life...

At ten o'clock this morning, I sat down to do some language study. Then the phone rang. The courier bringing the latest shipment of books from our publisher would be at the office in an hour and a half (several days earlier than expected), and I needed to be there to pay him. So I dropped everything, made phone calls to the men on our team who handle finances (didn't have enough money of my own to pay and get reimbursed), changed my clothes, walked to the bank to meet our team treasurer, got money, and took a taxi to the office.

By now, the courier is there, the books have been carried up to the office, & the guy is waiting to be paid. He, of course, insists that he doesn't have change since we are his first delivery of the day, so Gabi and I scrounge around to come up with the appropriate amount of money from the depths of our purses. I'm all for giving tips for good service - and I did, but not $8 for a $50 service. I might be a bit naive, but not enough to believe that every taxi driver or delivery person in this country just started their shift immediately before I came their way. It is, however, a good tactic for them to get extra money out of the unsuspecting foreigner. In this situation, it didn't help the man's case when he pulled out his wallet to "verify" that he didn't have change but did it in front of my face where I could see that he did in fact have the correct change.

Anyway, after all of that, looking through the new books to make sure everything printed correctly, walking back home, and eating lunch...now I'm back where I was 4 hours ago, ready to start my to-do list for today. This is a day in the life of a foreigner in Romania - seldom what I expect at the beginning of the day, sometimes frustrating, and often amusing. Hopefully, somewhat productive, too. On that note...

The Journey of a Thousand Miles...

...begins with one step. - Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher

And the journey of 360 kilometers with the first 6. Thus begins the journey.

Divaghez. I digress.

Divaghezi. You digress. Divagheaza. He/she digresses.

That's what I've spent my day doing, conjugating verbs. Bet you're jealous, huh? And you thought a missionary's life was all fun and games.

Digression finished. Back to work...

Random Occurrences

I'm having a staring contest with a bird right now. He's sitting outside my kitchen window, recovering from a big shock - that fact that he just flew, full speed ahead, into the window. Ummm...if my windows were even remotely clean, I might understand a little bit but I live on a main road in Romania - and dirt & I have become intimately acquainted. I don't even bother washing the outside of my windows in the winter, and you can bet I probably didn't in the late fall either. Obviously, not a very bright bird!

** And, obviously, today is Saturday & I'm not quite sure what to do with myself since I'm forcing myself to not work today. I suppose I could wash the windows. :-)

EDIT: 2:43 pm - he finally got up the nerve to try his wings and fly away. Over an hour later. He won the staring contest. I really do have better things to do than stare at a bird. And I'm really glad he didn't die on my balcony...I don't know what I would have done with him!

8!

Can it possibly be true? The phone rang in the middle of the night...it was snowing outside, the car wouldn't start, the other car was stuck in a snowbank...and my sister-in-law was in labor. A quick dash across town & then to the hospital, and a few hours later my nephew Gabriel was born. That's not the unbelievable part - the part I can't quite fathom is that it was EIGHT years ago!

The quiet baby sitting in his stroller and smiling through seminary classes...the laughing, giggling, crawling everywhere baby serving as mascot during quiz team practices...the easy-going guy whose grin spread across his face at the first notes of the VeggieTales theme song, before the "funny guys" ever showed up on screen. Alas, those days are gone, and my youngest nephew is now an 8 year old hockey-playing Boy Scout!

No, I don't have anything against color - but I didn't "convert" to digital completely until 2002 and almost of my pre-2005 pictures are archived on CDs (somewhere in my office that still isn't completely organized after moving last month).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GABE!

I love you & miss you bunches! - Aunt Becky

Two Years!

Last night I attended my 3rd "New Years' Concert" with a large group of people from church...the concert has become my "anniversary celebration". I attended for the first time less than 24 hours after I arrived in Romania!

Two years ago today, January 12, 2005, I arrived in Romania and took the round-about route to Targu Mures. You probably don't remember, but it's engraved on my mind. My flight from Vienna to Cluj (two hours away from Targu Mures) was cancelled due to fog. So, the airline graciously offered to fly us to Bucharest and then to Cluj (All the while, I'm asking myself "Why can an airplane from Bucharest land if one from Vienna cannot?" It can't.) So we flew to Bucharest. And sat for 6 hours or so. I met a lot of people, one of them another single missionary headed to Targu Mures! And then they announced our flight to Targu Mures, just as our luggage was finally arriving from Vienna. After a bit of scrambling, we (and our luggage) boarded the flight headed to Cluj. Or so we thought.

As soon as they closed the doors to the plane, they announced that we still couldn't land in Cluj due to fog. So we were flying to Sibiu instead and then taking a two-hour bus ride to Cluj. Too late to let anyone know since the door was already closed and we were taking off! Eventually, we made it to Cluj where my teammates had patiently been waiting all day. My first day in Romania - it doesn't really seem so odd, now. Much of life these days takes the "round-about way" to arrive at the desired destination!

So here I am, having successfully navigated the minefields of the first 2 years living overseas. Praise & glory be to Him who has worked in my weakness!

EU Fairy Dust?

It's official - at 12:01 am on 1.1.07 Romania became a part of the European Union. Romania still has a long ways to go, but how far they have come since the messy Revolution of 1989 and the years of repressive communism that preceded it!

I love the streets signs at this intersection near the front of the "People's Palace". The intersection of Liberty Boulevard & United Nations Boulevard. Striking! In front of the massive building constructed as monument to a megalomaniac, Nicolae Ceasescu, now stands the boulevard dedicated to Liberty - the one thing that couldn't be found in Romania under his regime.
Honestly, I don't have big expectations of EU membership or expect major changes to happen quickly...but Bucharest did seem like a different city today! Because of all the big parties last night, I assume many people slept the day away. Thus, the roads were clear and chaos did NOT reign, for once. We planned to visit the Parliamentary Palace today (like good tourists!) and were surprised to see how many others had the same plan. Then a reporter coming through the crowd asked if we were there because entrance was free - no, but a nice surprise! The building was opened to the public this week, and we even got to take pictures for free (normally, you pay an extra fee for a "permit" to take pictures).

This line is amazing...not that there are so many people, but that they actually stood in line. People don't really stand in line here; they are much more likely to mob an entrance and push their way to the front. And yet, today, people stood in line. Thus the observation by someone in our group that, when the president of the European Commission came to Bucharest last night, he must have sprinkled the city with magic EU fairy dust, instantly turning the city into a genteel, civilized city with polite and orderly people. Ummm...maybe not, but at least they stood in line today (and security guards actually confronted "cutters" and sent them to the back of the line!).


Ceasescu named this monstrosity Casa Poporului, "the House of the People" - a monument for the world to see the success of the social people's republic. Ironically, the people have few positive feelings about this huge building, surpassed in size only by the Pentagon. The people look at this extravagance of this building - 1000s of chandeliers, marble everywhere, ballrooms that stand empty, etc. - and see the unfinished pit that consumed millions of dollars while the people starved. Today, the building is finally being repurposed and put to use as the Parliamentary Palace, the meeting place for Romania's 2-house Parliament.

Another irony, as Ceasescu clearly never pictured Romania's flag here in the entry way - without the communist crest in the middle - and flanked by the flags of NATO and the EU.

"Palace" is definitely a more accurate descriptor than "House". The opulence is overwhelming, awe-inspiring, and sobering all at the same time.

The girls were inspired by the big empty ballroom and had to try out the dance floor!

Since we visited on a non-working day, we were able to go into the room where the Senate will meet. We entered through the doors in the front, those used by the president of the Senate and stood on the platform in the front where he is typically seated. I was again struck by how the "ugliness" of this building's past is being "redeemed" today...the men and women democratically elected to lead this country are now doing so from the very building Ceasescu intended as the seat of power for his dictatorship!

We were able to step out onto the balcony at the front of the Palace, looking down Bulevardul Unirii - the Boulevard of Unity. Sadly, all of the buildings that you see here were built in the '80s as Ceasescu had much of "old Bucharest" raized so that he could build an "efficient, modern" city and keep his subordinates close to him. The boulevard itself was designed to be just a little bit longer than the Champs Elysees in Paris, another attempt by Ceasescu to make a statement about the superiority of the communist, socialist state. This picture was taken from a balcony on the second floor of the building...I wonder what the view would look like from the roof of the building? I think I counted at least 8 stories from the outside (we only saw the bottom two).

I've seen the outside of the Parliamentary Palace many times & taken lots of pictures, but this was my first chance to see the inside. There was so much to see that I'm sure I only scratched the surface. They say that the "Open Parliament" week went over so well that they are going to open it 1 day a month from now on...I'll have to go back again!

Once in a Lifetime

On New Year's Eve, I felt like I was a part of history. Not that I did anything special. Just that I was in the right place at the right time...in the capital of Romania as our country officially became a part of the European Union! The street parties in the center of the city were huge, but we avoided the congested areas (for some reason, taking 10 children into the midst of craziness didn't see too wise!). We did go out, however, to see the fireworks at midnight. We were near the center of the city and so were able to see fireworks exploding around us in literally every direction. Time will tell whether integration into the EU will prove more of a blessing or a burden to the Romanian people...but for now, it's a huge milestone to be celebrated and being a part of it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me!

Not the world's greatest picture, but one of the big firework shows was launched from the front of Casa Poporului ("the House of the People").

After freezing outside for the fireworks, we were greeted back at the apartment with hot chocolate...thanks, Lisa! I think we were all pretty exhaustd by then - some more than others =)

A Road Trip to Ring in the New Year

After a less-than-stellar holiday season last year, I resolved to not sit home alone this year. I didn't have firm plans in place until a day or two before Christmas, but God worked things out perfectly!

Friends of mine who serve with a sister mission (Evangelical Baptist Missions) planned to visit Bucharest for New Years' while their pastor & his family were here visiting. But, rental vehicles are a little hard to come by here (unless you live in the capital city) and putting a family of 5 and a family of 7 in an eight-passenger van for a ten hour trip...well, just didn't seem like a great idea. So, I drove to their home in Arad (on the western border of Romania, a six hour drive), spent the night, and then made the 10 hour drive with them to Bucharest on the 30th. The drive to Arad was quiet, but I was kept awake on the trip to Bucharest by the sounds of GameBoys, children teasing and quarreling, and the other assorted sounds that come with traveling with kids.

The trip was long...but oh-so-worth it! I had some quiet times by myself since I didn't stay with the crowd, but I spent most of my time with them. I got my baby fix holding and playing with Carolyn and had lots of good "adult" times, too. Thanks, God, for good friends and times to relax together!

The whole crew (except Pastor Gary, who was behind the camera) outside of Holy Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, New Years' Eve

Evan, Philip, Erin & Michelle scoping out the balcony while moms and dads do the missionary thing...talking to everyone after church!