The Real Raconteur

Friday

2009-01-20T05:59:00.002+02:00

Pastor Tony Campolo published a book back in the 80s based on his well-known sermon, "It's Friday, but Sunday's Comin'". I haven't read the book (or heard the sermon, I don't think), but today I've been living the feeling.

The Friday of the crucifixion had to have been the most hopeless day Jesus' followers experienced. Everything they had believed in, everything they worked for, all of their hopes and dreams for the future...with the death of Jesus, all of those things seemed to be wiped out in just a matter of days or even hours. Things appeared grim to say the very least.

But Friday wasn't the end of the story. Sunday* was coming. And with Sunday came the resurrection! All of the seemingly vain actions regained their significance. All of the seemingly broken dreams were restored. All of the seemingly baseless beliefs were fulfilled in unimaginable ways. Yes, Friday was hopeless, even devastating...but Sunday was coming, and with it came the rebirth of hope!

These last few months have felt like a perpetual Friday. Disappointment, even devastation. A sense of helplessness and even hopelessness.

This weekend, I heard a song several times that has challenged me to adjust my perspective, not denying the difficulty of what has been or what is, but reaffirming my belief that God is still in control and that He has good things yet for the future. The song is based on Campolo's sermon. "It's Friday, but Sunday is comin'!"

Have you heard the song "Sunday" from tree63? If not, it might be worth looking up!

Nothing’s sacred, the days are cheap
Truth is thin on the ground
Still our prophets are crucified
Nobody believes we’re stumbling

It’s Friday, but Sunday is coming
Someone’s saying a prayer tonight
For hungry mouths to be filled
Someone kneels in the dark somewhere
And darkness is already crumbling
It’s Friday, but Sunday comes

Sunday – Hallelujah – it’s not so far, it’s not so far away
Sunday – Hallelujah – it’s not so far, it’s not so far away

Broken promises, weary hearts
But one promise remains:
Crucified, he will come again
It’s Friday, but Sunday is coming
It’s Friday, but Sunday is coming

Sunday…

Indeed, it feels like Friday right now, but I believe Sunday is coming!

I'm Baaack...

2008-11-18T02:53:00.003+02:00

Bet you thought I was dead. Or at least, had fallen of the face of the earth. I'm not, and I didn't. I just really haven't felt like writing in a long time. About anything. The last time I wrote anything with any value whatsoever was back toward the beginning of September. That only got written because someone was depending on me to get it done & I had a deadline.

Truth - I still don't much feel like writing, but I'm going to force myself back into it. So, stay tuned for updates once a week or so. Probably Mondays. But not necessarily. I wouldn't want to be too predictable :)

Stay tuned...

2008-08-17T06:18:00.003+03:00

If you are still faithfully checking here for updates, I'm impressed! My unofficial, unanticipated, unannounced blog break will come to an end on September 1st when I "relaunch" this blog and launch another (http://theraconteur.blogspot.com) which will focus on ministry & prayer updates. Also coming soon...a website with even more fun information (and pictures!).

Church picnic...finally!

2008-05-31T20:33:00.005+03:00

I almost can't believe it, but I can finally say that I've been to Libertatii's annual church picnic!

Traditionally, May 1st is "picnic day" here in Romania. It is actually the international version of labor day and was a major holiday under communism, celebrating the army of workers with parades, demonstrations, speeches, etc. Since the fall of communism, it continues to be a big holiday, but the government now plays a very small role (other than making sure most people have the day off!). Even before that, Romanians celebrated May 1st as the coming of spring. Now, everybody celebrates by getting out of the city to wherever they can find "green grass" (the way they describe it) and having a picnic. The church traditionally has their picnic on the Saturday after May 1st.

My first year here, I was out of town, having my first face-to-face meeting with our publishers. Every year since, we have had gorgeous weather on May 1st, but it has rained on the Saturday after. Because of the busy wedding season & other events, the picnic was always cancelled rather than simply postponed a few weeks. This year, true to form, it rained on the Saturday after May 1st & the picnic was cancelled. However, this year, we were finally able to reschedule the picnic for 2 weeks later (May 17), and I finally got to go. I even got the sunburn to prove it!

It was a gorgeous day, not too hot & not too cold. A few minutes of rain mid-afternoon, and then back to the sunshine we had been enjoying. We also enjoyed hot dogs and mici (pronounced "meech") - a Romanian barbecue staple. And green grass. And quiet. And no traffic (well, except our train of cars & the occasional horse-drawn cart that went past). Fantastic!

Cristina & Nelutu's Wedding

2008-05-31T20:28:00.004+03:00

May 10, 2008

Progress

2008-05-21T19:47:00.003+03:00

Remember this? The train station in the shipping container?

They finally finished the REAL train station, and it's really nice...

...apart from the fact that there is still nowhere to sit and wait for the train. Some things take a little while longer than others, I guess.

Worlds Apart

2008-03-14T21:39:00.008+02:00

For an hour or so this evening, I forgot that I live here:

Because I was here:

(Here is one of the two new malls in Cluj, a two-hour drive from Targu Mures.)

I was an "Americanca" through and through tonight! I walked to the mall without a coat (oh no, you might die of a chill!). I wore jeans and tennis shoes, and I ate at Pizza Hut.

And I had a tall hot chocolate from Starbuck's for dessert. Just because I could. This Starbucks just opened on Monday, and it's the first one in the country outside of Bucharest.

I never went to Starbucks in the States. Never. Not a single time. And I never went to Pizza Hut by myself; it was strictly a group activity. So, why do I feel the need to go here? Because it's a taste of home. It's a little world unto itself, a little bit of sanity, civility, predictability, a little piece of America.

Preaching to myself, yet again

2008-03-10T22:47:00.003+02:00

Yesterday was another one of those days when I had to wonder if the lesson I taught in Sunday School was more for the kids (teens) or for me.

We're using the Firm Foundations curriculum from New Tribes Mission to study chronologically through the Bible. It's taken us 6 months, but we've finally made it to Joseph's story. Last week's lesson left off with Joseph on his way to Egypt, sold as a slave by his own brothers.

One thing that I love about this curriculum: when taught correctly, it doesn't get bogged down in all of the details of some of the Bible stories, but concentrates on the big over-arching themes of Scripture. Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all discounting the details of the Scriptural accounts...but many of our kids (and adults) have heard those details over and over again and can spit them back out upon command. What they can't always do is identify the "so what?", the take away value of those stories.

So, we skipped all of the details of Joseph's troubles, Pharaoh's visions, and even the incredible reunion scenes between Joseph and his brothers. We concentrated on the big picture: the fact that, no matter whether Joseph was at a high point or a low point in his life, every single moments was within the knowledge and control of the sovereign God. It's easy to look back on Joseph's life and understand how God used the hard things - being hated by his brothers, sold as a slave, injustly accused, thrown in prison, forgotten by those he had helped - to accomplish His plan of fulfilling His promises and delivering His people from famine. It's easy for us to say that the end result was worth all of the pain and suffering, because we can see the end result.

I'm guessing it wasn't always so easy for Joseph. I could be wrong, but I think he probably had days when he questioned, even doubted. Maybe he wondered if God had forgotten him just as Pharaoh's servants had forgotten him as soon as they were released from prison. We don't really know what Joseph was thinking most of the time, but we DO know what he did: he continued to be faithful, to be a hard worker, to inspire confidence in the people around him. He continued to live in light of what he knew to be true - that the sovereign God was still in control - rather than living in light of his circumstances, which often seemed to spiral out of control. He trusted in the midst of the storm, when the outcome was still unknown. I don't know about you, but I'm challenged/convicted by his example.

There is one time when we do know exactly what Joseph was thinking, and it's another powerful lesson for me. After God used Joseph to save Egypt (and Israel!) from famine, Joseph's father died, and his brothers got a little nervous. What if Joseph had only been kind to them out of respect and deference for their father? What if it was all just an act? Now their father was gone, and there was no longer any reason for Joseph to pretend. Once Joseph understood their concern, he immediately set out to allay their concerns.

"Yeah, you intended to do something horrible to me, no question about it. Lucky for you, God is bigger and more powerful than you are, and He took your evil intentions and turned them into something bigger and better than any of us could have ever imagined!" (that's the Becky paraphrase of Genesis 50:20). Another statement of Joseph's bold faith in the sovereign God. He didn't let them off the hook by ignoring what they had done, but he extended God's gracious forgiveness to them. A strong faith in the sovereignty of God is a powerful motivator for forgiveness! Because it doesn't matter what someone does to me, even if it is painful, even if it is blatantly intended to be painful, the all-powerful God can take those evil intentions and change them into something good, something useful, something that brings honor to His name. That's a kind of forgiveness that I need to learn to extend more often!

** Relax, I wasn't really preaching. Just teaching. It's ok. Really. I promise :) Teaching in Romanian is hard enough. I'll leave the preaching to others with much better language skills than mine (and a Y chromosome).

The truth

2008-02-18T21:33:00.008+02:00

The truth is, I just don't have time to write here at this point in my life. Life is crazy right now, but most of it is "good crazy". I'm really enjoying teaching, and I love the structure that it gives to my schedule. On the other hand, spending 3 hours in the middle of every afternoon at the school means that I need to manage every other minute pretty carefully.

Take today for example: I was at the office supply store when they opened this morning, bought the things I needed, went directly to the office where I spent 4 hours making photocopies. Then I came home, ate a quick lunch, and threw an apple cobbler in the oven while preparing for class this afternoon. The other teachers ate the apple cobbler while I stapled tests, also for class this afternoon. The first hour was supposed to be review, but, really, who wants to come to class to review more before taking a test? I could tell my students weren't really into it, and in their place, I wouldn't have been either. Just give me the stupid test and let me get it over with! While they took their tests, I graded another set of tests from youth group this weekend.

(That's right...we gave our youth group a test. Disguised as a contest, of course. It was interesting to see who learned what. No big surprises, but interesting nonetheless.)

Back to my day...after class, I came home, started dinner, and wrote some e-mails. Half an hour later, around 7:30, I discovered that the oven had gone out for some reason, so I restarted it. An hour later, dinner was finally ready. Some day I'm going to eat dinner at a normal hour again. Maybe. Now it's 10, and I'm contemplating which project to tackle next. Or whether to ride my stationary bike for a while (my leg muscles are screaming "NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT!).

While I consider the options, here are a few images from the last couple of weeks to keep you entertained.

First, a series of my favorites. Early last Saturday morning, I was headed to the store to pick up a case of copy paper. On the way, I was met with an unexpected obstacle. May I remind you, I live in the city. Not in a village. Not out in the country. No, in the city. And yet, as I was driving down the road, suddenly this was walking out into the road in front of me:

So, what does one do while waiting for a herd of sheep to cross the road in front of her? Take pictures, of course. I was a little slow on the draw (the camera was buried in my bottomless-pit-of-a-purse), so you don't get the full effect of seeing the donkey leading the sheep across the street; that's him in the left of the frame. Trust me, it was quite entertaining.

Typically, the shepherd follows behind the sheep rather than leading them. Is it like this in the rest of the world, I wonder? What does that do to songs like "Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us"?

On a totally different note, last week I made one of my favorite winter meals, hamburger soup, a recipe I borrowed from Sara Hile in South Africa & then modified. I spiced it up a bit by turning the ground beef into taco meat & then got rid of the green beans (which are much better by themselves than in soup).

This is pretty much the only meal I make in the crock-pot, so it's the only meal that cooks while I'm not here. Gas pressure is way too unpredictable to leave the oven on when I'm not home. I can't even describe how wonderful it felt to arrive home and smell something delicious before I even opened the front door. Hot and fresh! Good stuff. I think I might need to hire a cook to occasionally have a hot dinner waiting for me when I come home in the evening (just kidding, in case you were wondering...).

And, finally, a random shot of a random child taken while in the mountains with the choir last weekend. Hopefully, another post will follow before too long (as in, during the next few days) with more details about that adventure!

Okay, off to do some more work in PhotoShop before doing my time on the bike for the night. Happy Presidents' Day!

La Multi Ani!

2008-02-03T23:31:00.001+02:00

Happy 26th birthday to my "little" sister Sarah! (Someday I'm gonna start getting in trouble for telling everyone how old she is...but I think this year's still safe.)

Sarah, the choir enjoyed your birthday cupcakes tonight. I think. I really don't know for sure, because as soon as our break started, I went downstairs to grab drinks & snacks from the kitchen. When I got back, they were all gone. As in "not a crumb left in sight." Glad I left one at home. It was yummy! Sorry you didn't get one... I think that's the first time I've used a boxed cake mix & store-bought frosting together in over 2 years. Did I mention it was yummy?

So, since she lives in New Orleans and this is Mardi Gras weekend, she figures it's basically a city-wide celebration of her birthday. Oh, and that football thing everyone else is talking about tonight? That's the national version of her birthday party. Forget SuperBowl...think SuperParty!

Happy birthday, Sarah! I love you. Next year I'll make you a birthday cake you can eat ;)

And, for those of you who don't know her, Sarah's the sister on the right. The one in the middle is my older sister, Ruth; I won't tell you how old she is, since I'm probably already in enough trouble just for posting this picture...

Noah & the Ark

2008-01-30T00:01:00.000+02:00

That's what our Sunday School lesson was about this last Sunday. Teaching was a stretch for me, since I didn't know I was teaching until Wednesday afternoon & there just isn't a spare minute in my schedule right now. But, in the end, it came together okay.

While I was preparing, I started thinking about the story from a new viewpoint. What was it like to be one of those standing outside the ark when the rain began to fall? They had laughed & mocked for years as Noah built his big boat, gathered all of the animals and climbed aboard with his family, all the while warning of God's impending judgment. And, suddenly, God closed the door, and the rain began to fall.

I'm guessing their mocking and laughter came to a sudden halt. As the water level began to rise dramatically, I can imagine hoards of people pounding on the side of the boat, begging Noah to let them in, to save them. But God had given them a chance. Lots of chances, in fact. And they had ignored every one. Then He closed the door. The chances were over. It was too late. And now they were ready to listen.

It was a sobering lesson for our teens. They, too, have had lots of opportunities to respond to God's warnings of judgment. And like the people of Noah's time, some of them are more prone to mock or laugh than they are to accept the one way God has provided to escape destruction. Others just figure they can enjoy themselves for one more day, one more party, one more... But, the day is coming when God will close the door, and it will be too late. I just pray that they won't have to feel the raindrops falling on their head before they realize that God isn't joking when He promises to judge sin.

What Else Is Going On

2008-01-24T22:31:00.000+02:00

January in nutshell (so far!):
1. Baptism at Libertatii on January 6. Nelutu came to Christ this last year and absolutely couldn't wait any longer to be baptized. January 6 is also the day that the church in Romania celebrates the baptism of Christ, so that made it especially meaningful.

2. Team Meeting - budgeting, strategic planning, all that "fun" stuff.

3. Dinner with Gabi - Even though she is still doing some freelance work for us, we wanted to celebrate Gabi's time with us as she moves on to another full-time job. So, we took her out for dinner, looked at pictures from the last couple of years, and gave her flowers and a small gift.

4. Wrote letters to supporters, mailed packages to a bunch of other people. Going to the post office was quite an adventure, as usual. When I asked for 32 airmail stamps to the US, the lady just stared at me (has no one ever mailed that many letters before???) and then disappeared into the back of the post office for over 10 minutes. Then, it took quite a bit of convincing for her to believe that I really wanted to send my packages airmail even though it costs more (at least then I know they will probably get there this year!). And, of course, there is no such thing as self-stick stamps or computers that spit out labels with the exact amount of postage. So, after she scrambled around the office for another 10 minutes trying to come up with the right combination of stamps to make up the amount I needed,I got to spend another 20 minutes licking all of the stamps & affixing them to the proper envelopes. It took an hour, but, mission accomplished...eventually!

5. Finished collating and binding all of the teacher's manuals for quarter 8. (The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!!!)

6. Got a fun package from Jenny. Along with some weird looks from the postal workers (I pick up packages from a different post office than the one where I invested an hour of my life earlier in the week). Guess they haven't seen too many envelopes like this.

And the customs officer wasn't quite sure what to make of the customs declaration. "DVD, can of soup, random assortment of junk." I had some yummy tomato soup for dinner that night! And some good laughs, too.

7. After a long saga, I FINALLY received my license plates. It only took 10 trips to the police station.

8. Finally took down my Christmas tree last Friday (the 18th). Glad I did it then before I had to run out of town! I didn't feel too guilty about the fact it was still up since most of my friends here hadn't taken theirs down either. Of course, they also didn't put theirs up until Christmas Eve...
Since I won't be here for Christmas next year, I wrapped the tree up well so that it can be stored in less space. Each section is "trussed up" with leftover Christmas ribbon. And it stores in about half of the space that it did last year!

So there you have it...all of the "excitement" in my life in recent weeks. Truthfully, trying to keep all of the balls in the air and not let anything fall through the cracks is taking every ounce of energy and every moment of my days. But, I'll still try to update once a week!

The Best Laid Plans

2008-01-24T21:55:00.000+02:00

I promised a better update last weekend, and then didn't follow through. I apologize. My plans for the weekend took an unanticipated twist when I had to make a last-minute trip to Bucharest. We made the decision at 11:30 Saturday morning that I needed to go, and I was on the road by 1 pm. Despite a thick fog blanketing the entire country, the roads were pretty clear, and I was able to arrive in Bucharest around 6:30 pm. I had an extra hour in the evening, so I took a walk through downtown, praying and taking some pictures. What I saw...

KFC - haven't eaten there in a long time!

This is one of the big changes in Romania in the time that I have been here - the country is being taken over by casinos. In 1 kilometer, I passed 4 large casinos. It makes me sad and angry at the same time; sad that people who have so little waste it in such a foolish way, and angry that that their dreams and aspirations for a better life are targeted and taken advantage of by people who already have so much more than they do (I realize that this doesn't remove their own responsibility for the choices they make).

The Intercontinental Hotel at Piata Universitatii. We went to a steak house at the hotel just before Christmas...absolutely fabulous dessert...chocolate cinnamon triangles. Try 'em if you get a chance!

I made it home from Bucharest just in time for choir rehearsal on Sunday evening and then in time to start another crazy week.

Leaving comments...

2008-01-17T22:53:00.000+02:00

A couple of people have sent me e-mail messages asking how to leave comments. So, here you go:
1. At the bottom of each post, after "posted by Becky" and the time, you will see "0 comments" (or occasionally "1 comment"). Click on this.
2. You will be redirected to another page with a box on the left where you can type your comment.
3. ANYONE can leave a comment. If you have a blogger or google account, you can sign in with that. If not, just click on the "anonymous" box...but make sure you include your name in your comment so that I know who you are!
4. Click "publish comment" (I think that's what it says...my blogger is in Romanian, so I can't see exactly what it will say on your English page).
5. Congratulations! You have successfully left a comment. It should show up in the next couple of minutes.
**EDIT** This is important...don't click on the envelope to leave a comment. You click on the envelope if you want to send an e-mail link to someone else so that they can read what you just read. To leave a comment, click on the word "comments" NEXT TO the envelope.
You can practice now ;)

Still Here

2008-01-17T22:48:00.000+02:00

I haven't disappeared. Really. Just extremely busy, doing all the normal stuff, picking up the slack after Gabi resigned, and teaching 4 afternoons a week at the English school (which I agreed to do BEFORE Gabi resigned). I'm exhausted at the end of every day, but hopeful that I'll soon adjust to the new level of craziness and cope a little better.

Tomorrow's my "day off" (we'll see how that holds up...it's shaping up to be a busy day, no matter how hard I've tried to protect it...grrr!). At the very least, I'm looking forward to sleeping in a little bit. And spending some good, unrushed time reading the Word. One of my goals for 2008 is to read through the Bible; I haven't done that in several years. Just to make it a little more fun/challenging/fresh (choose one!), I'm reading it all in Romanian. Genesis was great. Exodus, a little more challenging. Leviticus...well, it's slow-going. Looking forward to some concentrated reading time tomorrow!

Tomorrow, I'll try to update with some pictures from the last couple of weeks. Until then...

The Romanian Diaspora

2008-01-06T00:55:00.001+02:00

That's what the newspapers call it, the fact that Romanians are leaving the country in droves. President Traian Basescu last year said that 8 million Romanians are currently living somewhere outside the country. Official numbers put it somewhere closer to 4 million, but that's still a huge percentage of the population (Romania's official population is about 21.4 million).

I was watching the news a couple of minutes ago and saw that 26,000 Romanians crossed the border in the last 24 hours to return to their workplaces around Europe after celebrating the holidays with family and friends. The lines at some border crossings are up to a mile long.

Where are they going? Italy, Ireland, and Spain seem to be the destinations of choice for most who are working beyond Romanian borders. Most likely, this is due to (1) the availability of jobs in those countries, (2) the already large Romanian communities in these places, making it easier to find friends, services, churches, etc. in their native language and (3) the similarity between their languages and Romanian (well, Italian and Spanish are similar to Romanian; Irish English not so much...but lots of Romanians know at least some English).

Why are they going? Generally speaking, to find better jobs or, at least, better-paying jobs than they can find here. Some settle in for life, but many others are looking only to save enough money to purchase a home, a car, and whatever else they think they need to make life here a little easier. Still others are sending money back to their families who remain in the country. Last I heard, over half of Romania's gross national product comes from money earned outside the country and sent/brought back into the country.

As you can imagine, this "diaspora" presents unique challenges for the existing church and for church-planting efforts across Romania. Churches are full of the young and the old, while the young adult generation are conspicuously missing. Some send money back to their home churches, but money doesn't make up for the vacuum left by their absence!

(The picture posted above is actually entering Romania, not leaving. It's one I took when we returned from Moldova in November.)

Video!

2008-01-05T00:23:00.000+02:00

It's not perfect, but here's a video clip of our choir singing on Christmas night. For more, you can look here. Eventually, I'll try to post links to video clips from caroling, the teens' Christmas program, and the kids' program on the 2nd day of Christmas (Boxing Day in former British colonies, return-gifts-to-the-store day in the US). And eventually, I'll receive the registration codes for the program I used to convert the video from the "proprietary" (unusable!) format in which my video camera records. Then I can get rid of the annoying message that flashes across the screen. But, you can get the idea at least!

Bureaucrazy Pt. 2

2008-01-03T22:08:00.000+02:00

I know you are waiting with baited breath for the rest of the story...so here it is.

Today I returned to the police station as instructed the last time I was there. In case you are keeping track, this was trip #8 in the process of trying to obtain my new license plates. Took my number, waited my turn - you know the drill by now. My number was finally called, so I fought my way up to the window (a lot of people still don't understand the "take-a-number" system, so they just crowd their way up to the window until the Man Behind the Glass tells them to go back downstairs to the entrance and take a number), presented all of my documentation, and waited around for a few minutes while the Man Behind the Glass sorts through a pile of license plates. No go. They aren't there. Come back next Tuesday.

Is anyone surprised by this? Because I'm not really. It's pretty much life as usual here. A couple more examples from today:

At 1 o'clock this afternoon, I took some pictures to the 1-hour photo place to have them printed . The lady asked if I could come back and pick them up after 6 o'clock. Umm, yeah, I guess. Although that's not why I came to the 1-hour place.
I needed to buy some envelopes to mail some gifts to the States, so I walked to the bookstore where I always buy this kind of envelope (bookstores here often carry a lot of office and school supplies). Closed for inventory until January 12. Later in the day I remembered another bookstore just a block away, so I walked over there to get my envelopes. Well, it was just a block away. Apparently it's not anymore. The windows are all covered over with paper and there are signs on the door stating where similar merchandise can be purchased (at the bookstore currently closed for inventory, of course!). Grrr...maybe I'll get my envelopes tomorrow.

And I wonder why some days it feels like I don't get anything done! Maybe because I don't.

Welcome, 2008!

2008-01-02T13:00:00.000+02:00

I was planning to travel this week with some of the teens and young adults from church, but decided to stay home, rest, and get some work done instead. So, I spent New Year's Eve with friends here in Targu Mures. We played games for a while and then ate dinner together at midnight (which is very traditional here...many restaurants offer New Years' specials that cost over $100 per person!).

Then we watched a movie together. Well, some of us watched a movie. Others slept. :)

I went home at 2:30, but the others, being good Romanians, stayed all night. I had a great time AND got a decent amount of sleep, so it felt like a good balanced way to begin 2008.

Here's to hoping I can strike that same balance throughout the year...

Irony

2007-12-29T17:10:00.000+02:00

Eighteen years ago, before the revolution, Romanians stood in lines like this to get bread, a couple of eggs, a little bit of sugar. And what do they wait for today? To pay their bills...for cable television and internet access. I dare say they didn't even dream of this 18 years ago!

I intended to pay my own internet bill on Thursday morning, the first time I spotted the line. However, I know that the line inside is only half as long as the line outside, and I've waited inside for up to 45 minutes before. With temperatures below freezing, I wasn't particularly interested in standing in line outside for up to an hour and a half and then inside for another 45 minutes. So, I went back later in the afternoon. The line was still outside. Yesterday morning? Still outside. Afternoon? When I finally took this picture. Although lines to pay bills aren't unusual, the length of this one definitely is an aberration. Truthfully, I can't figure out why they all stood there and didn't just come back later. When I was there just after they opened at 9 o'clock this morning, I was the 5th person in line (and still waited for almost half an hour!). My bill is paid, I had some amusement for the week, and I dare say I'm not half as cold as those people who stood there forever and are probably still wondering if they will ever feel their toes again.

Bureaucrazy

2007-12-28T23:42:00.000+02:00

Is that a typo? Well, kind of. It was a typo this first time I typed it. Then I realized it was pretty accurate, so I left it. Bureaucracy. Craziness. Put the two together, and you have an accurate description of the process I have gone through the last 2 days in order to reregister my car.

Here's a recap of the process (as best as I can remember it...honestly, I'm trying to forget it all in order to lower my stress level):
1. Call the police station. Verify that my new visa has arrived.
2. Walk to the police station; move fast so as not to freeze in place.
3. Look for the officer who has my visa in his desk. Not there. Go through doors marked "access forbidden", "authorized personnel only", etc. looking for said man. He's taking a break (with all of the other personnel in the building, apparently, precipitating the need to go behind said doors). Sign my life away, get my new visa (complete with no-smile picture...cuz if I smile, he'll make me take the picture again until I can keep a straight face).
4. Walk across town to another police station (we have different stations for every different police function, all in different parts of town).
5. Take a number, wait my turn, and ask the man behind the glass exactly what documents I need in order to register my car so that I don't run around like a chicken with my head cut off. Make a list.

Stick with me. This is where it gets good.

6. Go home. Gather all documents on aforementioned list.
7. Return to the police station (visit #3 today, if you are keeping track).
8. Take a number, wait 45 minutes for the 3 numbers before me to be called.
9. Give the man behind the glass all of the documents he told me to bring. "Umm, where is this? and this?" Umm, I don't know, since you never told me I needed those!
10. Go back home, pick up another document.
11. Go to the office next to the police station, pay them to type up a request asking that my car be registered and to make copies of my passport, visa, etc.
12. Go back to the police station (visit #4). Take a number, wait in line, blah blah blah.
13. Give my stuff to the man behind the glass again. "Why isn't this document stamped by the mayor's office?" Umm, I don't know. Maybe cuz no one ever told me that it needed to be. And there's no actual place on the form asking for the signature or stamp of the mayor's office. Apparently, my mind-reading skills have failed me.
14. Walk across town to the mayor's office. Stand in another line. And then another. Get the stamp that I need on my papers (Romanians have a love affair with stamps...I need to get my own!).
15. Stop at home to take the old plates off of my car (during visit #4, the man behind the glass told me to bring them with me).
16. Back to the police station again (visit #5). Take a number, wait in line.
17. Talk to the man behind the glass. "Where are your tax receipts?" What tax receipts? "Go to this office, pay this much for this tax and this much for this tax, then come back." Thanks, think you could have told me all of this the first time I was here? Or the 2nd? Or the 3rd? Or even the 4th?
18. Go to said office. Stand in line to pay taxes. Actually, there was no line. I just stood there, waiting for the clerk who was clearly bothered by the fact that she had to help me. I told her what I needed to pay. "You can't pay those here." This is where I was told to come. "Well, you can pay the first one here, but then you have to go over there to pay the other one." Pay tax #1. Go stand at another window. Wait for clerk who is clearly ignoring me while filing her nails. Eventually, pay tax #2.
19. Return to police station (visit #6). Take a number, stand in line. Man behind the glass sees me standing there, tells me to come ahead to the front. "Okay, everything looks good now." Wait. "Come back tomorrow morning." Guess I shouldn't have been surprised by that. Wouldn't want to make it TOO convenient!
20. Walk home...
21. ....and the next morning, walk back to the police station (visit #7). Take a number, wait my turn. Show my receipts, tell them what I came for. Wait. Wait. Ah, there they are. Sign for the registration paperwork for my car. Wait some more. They can't find my license plates anywhere. 15 minutes later, someone else comes out and tells me I have to come back next week to pick up my plates. Boy, that's a shocker!!!
22. Walk home, scan old plates (which the man behind the glass decided he didn't really want after all yesterday), change the number, print them, cut them out, cover in clear Contact paper, put fake plates on the car (This is legal...really! I have all of the legal paperwork for the car, including the number assigned to my plates, so I can make temporary plates with that number until the new ones are ready. Most people use a black marker on a piece of cardboard.).
23. Next week I'll go back and pick up the plates. Not bad...by the time the process is completely done, it will have only taken 1 1/2 days, about $60, and 8 trips to the police station.

Can't wait to do it again next year...

Christmas Caroling

2007-12-26T23:08:00.000+02:00

Unless you've been Christmas caroling in Romania (or elsewhere in Eastern Europe), just forget whatever mental picture you might have based on the title of this post. I promise the experience here is different than anything you've experienced.

This is my third Christmas in Romania, so I've learned some important lessons. First of all, Christmas caroling here is an all-night experience (for the purists, at least). The first year, I showed up at church at 6, expecting to be home by 8, 9 at the latest. Since it had been a busy day, I figured I would eat dinner when I got home. Big mistake! This year, I made it home by 2:30 am (we're a little bit older and have a little less stamina than the purists!).

I've also learned to dress in lots of layers. Two years ago, I wondered if I would ever warm up after a long night of caroling. Last year we had a very mild winter, so it wasn't so bad. This winter is FREEZING! I was as prepared as possible...boots, scarf, gloves, long wool coat, 2 pairs of socks...and I still felt like an icicle. I came home and shivered for several more hours. Not sure if I can call that a lesson learned or not???

So, here's the night in pictures:

We drove around a lot in our caravan of 6 cars,

...we did some singing,

...and we were served lots of Christmas goodies and drinks.

I walked around all night with my big camera bag & alternated between the digital camera, the video camera, and my mp3 player (which makes decent audio recordings). Once in a while, I even put all 3 away and actually sang. I love Christmas caroling Romanian-style, though I must confess that one night a year is sufficient for me!

Remembering

2007-12-20T22:09:00.000+02:00

Dad entered the presence of his Savior Jesus Christ 4 years ago today, December 20, 2003. I found this poem earlier today, and I think it might be the poem that we included in the funeral program. But, honestly, those days are a blur & I'm really not certain. And in the unheaval of moving to the other side of the world the next year, I'm not sure what happened to my copy of the program. Maybe it's tucked away somewhere.

Christmas in Heaven
I see the countless Christmas trees around the world below,
With tiny lights, like Heaven’s stars, reflecting on the snow.
The sight is so spectacular, please wipe away the tear,
For I am spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year!

I hear the many Christmas songs, that people hold so dear.
But the sounds of music can’t compare with the Christmas choir up here.
I have no words to tell you, the joy their voices bring,
For it’s beyond description, to hear the angels sing.

I know how much you miss me, I see pain inside your heart.
But I am not so far away, we really aren’t apart.
So be happy for me, loved ones, you know I hold you dear,
And be glad I’m spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year!

I send you each a special gift, from my heavenly home above.
I send you each a memory of my undying love.
After all, Love is a gift, more precious than pure gold.
It was always most important in the stories Jesus told.

Please love and keep each other as our Father said to do.
For I can’t count the blessings or love He has for you.
So have a Merry Christmas and wipe away that tear,
Remember, I’m spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year!

- Wanda Bencke

'Tis the Season

2007-12-13T22:05:00.000+02:00

What's up with YOU?!?

2007-12-13T01:47:00.001+02:00

I'm not a big fan of December around here, so I'll spare you the details. But, you can click on "comments" below and let me know who you are and what's going on in your corner of the world. It'll brighten up my gray December days!

Till then...here's some snapshots from the first 10 days of December.

December 1 is Romania's national holiday, not so much an "Independence Day" as a "Unification Day" when the three provinces were joined to form one independent nation.

During that same weekend, we took a group of teens and college students to a youth conference in Alba Iulia. Maybe someday I'll write about the somewhat traumatic process of getting there...

As part of the conference, each group was sent to a village church or church plant to minister during the Sunday morning service. Our kids did a great job in the little village church in Daia. For many of them, it was their first opportunity to minister in a church other than our own.

Also during that same weekend...the first mall in Targu Mures officially opened. It took me a week to finally get there, and I won't be rushing back anytime soon. But then, I'm not a big mall fan anywhere. Rumor has it that KFC might be coming to the mall someday soon, but I'm not holding my breath.

Last week we had our annual team meetings, talked about dreams & vision, and worked on next year's budget. Just as we were wrapping things up, the courier arrived from the publisher with student book #8 - The Exile and Return, hot off the presses.

Saturday we started rehearsals for the teens'Christmas program. Last night (Tuesday) they recorded the soundtrack for the program.

Some took the process a little more seriously than others. :)

And that's all I've got for you tonight.

Doing The Winter Shuffle

2007-12-05T21:22:00.000+02:00

No, it's not the latest dance craze. Rather, it's a "new" way of walking that I rediscover with the first significant snowfall of each winter. Sidewalks are rarely cleared or salted here, so snow turns to mush, which turns to uneven ice, which in turn makes for a somewhat tenuous walking situation.

Unless you learn the winter shuffle.

It goes something like this: lift left foot (careful, not too high!), carefully slide it forward a bit, establish somewhat sure footing, lift right foot (remember, not too high...you can't be TOO sure that the other foot will stay exactly where you put it!), carefully slide it forward, establish somewhat sure footing, repeat as many times as necessary to arrive at your destination. NOTE: Multi-tasking while doing the winter shuffle is strongly discouraged. This is an activity which requires all of your attention. Failure to focus properly could have painful (and potentially embarassing) consequences.

My Precious

2007-11-26T22:53:00.000+02:00

I've been looking for a new perfume since the beginning of September (haven't had one I like for several years). I found one toward the end of September, but it was expensive...way more than I was willing to pay. But, it went on sale for Christmas a few weeks ago, and I snaped it up.

Here it is, "Precious" by Oriflame (a Swedish cosmetics company).

Can I tell you a secret? Although I love the perfume, the bottle makes me chuckle almost every time I see it. See the "design" on the top? It's a ring, right? So, every time I look at it, I hear (in the voice of Smeagol from the Lord of the Rings, of course): "My Precious..." And I smile and chuckle to myself. It's no wonder people think I'm losing it.

Sorry for the interruption...

2007-11-26T21:36:00.001+02:00

...but I decided to take an unannounced break for Thanksgiving. So, now I'm home again and will catch you up.

Wednesday, Nov. 21 - The drive to Bucharest

Guess what happens when you are on a 2-lane "highway" thru the mountains and there is an accident? Traffic stops. And, since there is no where to go, everyone just sits. And sits. And sits. Until finally the accident is cleared away and traffic starts moving, ever so slowly, again. Five kilometers in 45 minutes isn't exactly what I had planned for the day. Until then, I had made good time and was looking forward to being through the mountains and almost to Bucharest before dark (5 pm, these days). Post-accident, there was no hope. Combined with unusually crazy city traffic...the 6 hour trip became 8 1/2.

But I arrived safely, and that's all that really matters. I stopped at the grocery store for the last couple of things, spent a little bit of time with the Postemas, and then baked my pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving dinner.

Thursday, Nov. 22 - Happy Thanksgiving!

I enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner, relaxing, and playing games with the Postema family, the Staab family, Terre Ritchie (Leah's mom, here visiting) and Donna Messenger (visiting on the journey from Singapore to the States). Lots of good food. Even more great fellowship with friends! Donna and I spent a long time talking tonight. Good times!

And I had my very fist Starbuck's, too! Hot chocolate of course. Cuz coffee still doesn't taste anywhere near as good as it smells.

Friday, Nov. 23 - Happy birthday, Allen!
Today was my "little" brother Allen's birthday. I tried to call to wish him a happy birthday, but he was gallivanting around Washington D.C. and didn't answer his phone. I haven't talked to him since June or July :(

I walked a lot today and played the bum for the rest of the day. It was great!

Saturday, Nov. 24 - Christmas already?

Leah cooked breakfast for us today...yum! I don't eat hot breakfast very often (and when I do, it's usually breakfast foods for dinner!) because I don't feel like cooking just for myself in the morning. So, that was a nice treat.

Postemas bought their Christmas tree and put it up today. While they were gone, I went with Donna to the pharmacy to pick up some antibiotics; she picked up some kind of respiratory infection, we think. Gotta' love the fact that I can just walk into the pharmacy and tell the pharmacist what I want, and she gives it to me without a prescription (doesn't work with everything...but with antibiotics, it's no big deal). After dinner, we all went to Staabs and played an out-of-control game of Pictionary. Rummeys were there, too, so it was a good size group. Note to self: Pictionary with this group of people is not suitable for apartment living, at least not during quiet hours. Man, were we loud! In fact, there were MANY times when I was shouting at the top of my lungs and couldn't be heard by the person drawing.

We ended the day back at Postemas' apartment where they opened Christmas gifts from Grandma Ritchie while she's here. Holidays are so much more fun with kids!

Sunday, Nov. 25 - Happy birthday, Dad!

Today my dad would have been 55. He died about 3 weeks after his 51st birthday, almost 4 years ago. In some ways, it seems like yesterday. In other ways, it seems like a lifetime ago. I know I'm not a little girl anymore, but I still miss my daddy.

Today was a beautiful day for the drive back to Targu Mures. Two of my friends from Tg.M. came to Bucharest on Friday and rode home with me. It was nice to have company, even if they slept most of the way home :). I made it back in time for the 1st choir rehearsal at 4, then the choir sang in the evening service. During the 2nd (normal) choir rehearsal after church, I had a tough time staying awake. I love to travel and had a fantastic weekend away, but I'm glad to be home!

Monday, Nov. 26 - It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
I have about 20 bazillion things to do in the next 2 weeks, and I have no idea how I'm going to get it all done. So, what did I do with my evening? Keep working on the book I need to finish? No. File expense reports? No. Respond to e-mail? No. Nope. None of it. I decided, for one evening, to be completely irresponsible and ignore all of that.

I cleaned my living room, moved furniture (I've been wanting to do that for 2 months!), and started decorating for Christmas. I don't go all out. Few people other than me will see it, anyway. But I did put up my tree and my nativity sets. They make me smile :)

Whew...thanks for sticking with me to the end. I won't let another week go by until I post again!

Let Me Be A Woman

2007-11-20T23:59:00.000+02:00

That's the (English) title of the book one of my Bible study groups is working through right now. It is actually a collection of letters written by Elisabeth Elliot to her daughter as a wedding present. If you keep that in mind, it's got some really good content (don't expect profound theological insights or even Scripture-searching).

Tonight was my turn to lead the group (3 of us take turns), and something caught me off guard. The book doesn't have a study guide, so I read through the 4 chapters, jotted some notes, and then developed a couple of discussion questions related to the text. Toward the end of the meeting, 3 of the ladies all made comments about the way that I was leading the group, not just talking about it the text but trying to take it a step further, figuring out how it relates to my relationship with God and, even beyond that, how it relates to how I minister to others. Honestly, my style didn't seem like something all that unusual to me ;) . But, having sat through a lot of Bible studies here (with several different groups of people), I can tell you that it is kind of unusual.

My new mission? Helping the other 2 leading our group to develop "questioning" skills. Because, as any one on our team can tell you, I am the queen of asking questions! Now if I can just get everyone else to appreciate that skill as much as our Bible study group did tonight...

What? No. 2

2007-11-19T21:54:00.001+02:00

I've got tons of these (odd pictures to post as "What?", that is). This one is much less obvious than the last one (that was just a warm-up). If the answer to this one seems as obvious as the last one, you probably need to guess again. I promise that it is not. There are 2 parts to the correct answer for this one:

1. What is the object?
2. Where is the object?

Again, there is a prize involved for the first person with the right answer!

Missionary Appreciation Night

2007-11-18T22:17:00.000+02:00

This evening, our church invited all of the missionaries who typically attend the church to come and share testimonies, prayer requests, blessings and struggles of working here in Romania. There are quite a few of us (about 15 last night), working with several different organizations, and with varying degrees of involvement in the church. There are so many of us coming and going that, often, I don't think many people in the church know who we are or what we do. In fact, someone just asked me last week, "Aren't you a teacher at the English school?" I've only been here for almost 3 years...and yet there are people in our church who don't know who I am or what I do (the church isn't THAT big...probably around 100 most Sundays). So, I was glad for this opportunity to share with them what I actually do do. After being pressured for several months, I also sang again last night.

I don't enjoy singing in church here. Truthfully, I was spoiled by the soundtracks I used in the States and by the really good accompanists who spent time rehearsing with me ahead of time, etc. (I miss you all!) It's much more challenging for me to find tracks here with which I can sing. Anyone who uses them gets them somehow from the States. I have a lot of tracks...but not for songs that have been translated into Romanian (and my translation skills DEFINITELY don't stretch to translating poetry with meter!). So, I have to either sing acapella (hmmm...no) or use an accompanist with whom I've only rehearsed once or twice right before the service. So, I'm more nervous here than I was even when I first started singing in the States. Which means that my breathing stinks. Making the whole thing sound not-that-great.

Good thing I'm not singing for the applause of men anyway. Cuz they (and I!) would be sorely disappointed these days.

Temptation

2007-11-17T21:28:00.000+02:00

Tonight I taught the lesson for youth meeting, a lesson from Genesis 2-3 about the strategies Satan used to tempt Eve into sin and how we experience those same things.

Before the meeting started, I had a bowl of chocolates sitting in the front of the room with a sign next to it saying, "Do not eat!" (in Romanian, of course :) ). I didn't ask him too, but our pastor did a great job of ignoring the sign and eating some of my candy (which the kids just basically ignored for one reason or another). I'm glad he did, because the illustration wouldn't have worked as well if everyone just ignored the temptation. Because life doesn't generally work that way...we aren't very good at just ignoring temptations that are sitting there calling out to us.

When I asked the kids why they didn't eat the candy, their answers were pretty simple. "The sign said not to." "I wasn't allowed to." (Even though I basically left the stuff there unattended and even left the room for a few minutes.) "I knew I couldn't have it, so I stayed away from it." Truthfully, I wish my response to temptation were always so clear cut and easy..."I know it's wrong, so I'm not going to do it. Period."

Instead, I too often seem to be like our pastor (who really ate the candy just for the sake of the illustraton...or so he says!). "No one was watching." "What would happen if I got caught? It's not like there would be consequences." "It was sitting there, no one was watching, and I just kept looking at it, getting closer to it, until I couldn't ignore it anymore." It took a while, but eventually at least some of the kids began to understand that they use these same excuses for sin in their lives.

For example, cheating is rampant in this society. In fact, it's pretty much expected...by the teachers as much as by the students. Teachers allow (and sometimes encourage) cheating because good test scores make the teachers themselves look better. Even Christian kids rarely think of cheating as wrong. So we talked about how Satan lies to us, just as he did to Eve, making us believe that it something really isn't wrong even though God has forbidden it. And we looked at Scriptural principles regarding cheating (accurately translated as "stealing" in Romanian).

I love it when a lesson that I am asked to teach has a very strong, very practical lesson for the kids. Even though that lesson may not be easy to hear (or easy to put into practice). I love knowing that they can see how Scripture applies to their everyday life rather than just being a bunch of ideas and theories. Tonight was one of those nights!

Yummy

2007-11-16T23:21:00.000+02:00

My options for dinner weren't quite as dire as these, but I have to tell you, it was a little disappointing to find the fast-food places closed this evening. Friday evenings are tough because we have Bible study from 4:30 until 7 or so, and I never feel like cooking dinner when I get home between 7:30 and 8 pm. Tonight I stopped at the grocery store on the way home to restock my yogurt and granola bar supplies. Then, I was going to grab something on the way home. But, apparently, "no water" also means "no fast food." Oh well. I'm probably better off without anyway.

P.S. If you come visit me, I'll take you to a restaurant where you really can order crap. Seriously. Don't believe me? Come and see! ("Crap" is the Romanian word for carp - we used to be able to buy cans of crap, but I can't find any anymore.)

The one thing I forgot...

2007-11-16T11:36:00.000+02:00

...is that, in this land of hot-water radiators, "no water" means "no heat." There's nothing I could have done to prepare for it, but it was a rude awakening this morning. Especially since today's predicted high is only 39 degrees.

When my heat works, this apartment is VERY warm. But when it doesn't...well, it's like living in a concrete cave. There's no warming up until the heat comes back on. Whenever that might be. If you're looking for me tomorrow morning, I'll probably be the lump under the huge pile of blankets on my bed. Hopefully that lump will not be frozen solid.

You know you're in Romania when...

2007-11-15T22:34:00.000+02:00

...you receive a notice in your mailbox saying that all of the water in the entire city will be shut off for 24 hours. Something about upgrading the system to meet European Union standards.

Not "don't drink the water for 6 hours or you might die." (I've gotten this message before.)

Not "you won't have hot water for the week of..." (I get this notice every summer; since the water is heated elsewhere and piped here, there's no hot water for a week in the summer while they clean and repair the hot water pipes.)

But "there will be absolutely, positively NO WATER for at least 24 hours" (the original notice said 48 hours). No washing dishes. No doing laundry. (Ooh, beginning to sound like vacation!) No flushing the toilet. No taking a shower. No swimming (the pool is closed). And, once the water comes back on, it will probably be cloudy and dirty for the first couple of days.

So, tonight I've been running around trying to think ahead & figure out how I can best prepare. Fill up the bathtub. Put a bucket of water in the other bathroom (for toilet-flushing purposes). Fill a pot of water to set on the stove (just in case I decide to make something for dinner tonight that demands water...I can't think that far ahead). Fill up the sink in the kitchen to put dirty dishes in, since I can't rinse them. Shower taken. Bottled water in the kitchen for drinking, teeth brushing, etc. The only left to do tonight is wash lettuce for the next couple of days' worth of salads.

I hope I'm not forgetting anything, because it won't be easy to "fix" it if I did. Since no one else in the city will have water, either.

Can't imagine what it will be like in the hospitals or restaurants here in town. I think I'll stay home for the duration :)

Wednesday, Nov. 14

2007-11-15T22:19:00.000+02:00

Today I got to go back to the pool after the weekend away and then being sick. A couple of weeks ago I discovered the community pool here in Targu Mures and to my delight found that it is actually clean and chlorinated! I've been swimming 3 days a week & loving it. Proximity to the water is one of the things I've missed most here in Romania.

If you're expecting a picture of me at the pool, well, don't hold your breath. It's quite the sight, I assure you. Swimming caps are required. You'd be impressed with my swimming cap. And it's not even one of the disposable shower caps they sell at the entrance for those without the real thing.

Unfortunately, swimming was REALLY irritating my chronic sinus infection. I looked everywhere for ear plugs, but none were to be found anywhere in town. Mom suggested looking at the hardware store which is very logical. If you live in the US where people working with power tools think about protecting their hearing. Here, the man with the jackhammer digging up the street is more likely to wear flipflops than steel-toed boots. No ear plugs at the hardware store.

Remember my trip to Moldova last weekend? We spent a couple hours walking around Saturday evening, and guess what I found at a little hole-in-the-wall in Chisinau? Yup, ear plugs. A very practical souvenir, if I do say so myself.

That ranks right up there with the dictionary I bought during my high school senior trip to Florida. Which I still use, by the way. That's right, laugh at me. But Webster is still helping me remember how to spell in English...almost 15 years later. And I haven't had a single problem with my sinuses now that I have my ear plugs.

Monday, Nov. 12 - Driving Home

2007-11-15T21:46:00.000+02:00

If you want...

to see sheep on a regular basis, this is the country for you. They're much cuter when they aren't walking down the main European highway.

your cow to come home on time, don't salt your roads. Because the cows will stop (again, in the middle of a main European highway) and lick every last grain of salt off of the road. Even with logging trucks trying to gently edge them out of the way. And car horns screaming in their ears.

to get carsick, feel free to ride in the backseat of a car across the aforementioned "European highway" - which is actually just a two lane road that winds its way through the mountains - for 20 hours over the course of 4 days. Sometimes the road is nice and smooth, and other times it's...well, not so nice and smooth. I did really well on the way to Chisinau and okay for the first half of the trip home. The last half of the trip...not so great. But I've recovered now.

to see some of God's great handiwork, drive across the aforementioned highway. No, the highway itself isn't the greatest of handiwork (God didn't make it!), but the views are pretty spectacular.

too see snow, come visit. I'll take you to the mountains. We saw LOTS of snow there. And, just after we got back to Targu Mures, the snow started falling here. It melted off overnight, but I'm sure more is on its way! Here's the Monday evening view from my living room window (you can just make out the falling snow in the streetlight). So, come on over. The guest room is waiting ;)

Sunday, November 11 - Happy birthday, Mom!

2007-11-15T21:30:00.000+02:00

Since I archive all of my pictures every couple of months, I don't have many pictures of my mom on my computer (last time I saw her was April 2007). But I did manage to find one...one of the last pictures I have of Mom and Dad together (at my sister's wedding in May 2004).

And we drove back across the border into Romania. After a bit of hassle with my new passport, they let us back in and we spent the night in Iasi.

Saturday, Nov. 10 - Teacher training in Chisinau

2007-11-15T21:24:00.001+02:00

Our colleagues Dave and Penny Winget, who serve in Kharkov, Ukraine, met us in Chisinau. Dave taught Saturday's teacher training workshop on using object lessons. He has hundreds of ideas! In this picture, he's balancing 10 nails on the head of a single nail.

This is always one of our favorite teacher training sites because the Sunday School teachers are always so receptive and eager to learn.

Friday, Nov. 9 - On the Road to Moldova

2007-11-15T21:15:00.000+02:00

Cheia Bicazului (yes, that's snow on the top of those VERY tall evergreens)

And the newest addition to my collection of Romanian road signs that make me laugh...

I'm home

2007-11-13T23:35:00.000+02:00

I'm also sick. And very tired. So I'll try to catch you up on the weekend tomorrow, okay? Off to bed...

A Study in Contrasts

2007-11-08T22:56:00.000+02:00

I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel for pics to post...I think I need to take some new ones. I had to go back 6 weeks or so to find these.

The first, a sports car we spotted while driving back into the city from Ikea. I'm not even going to venture a guess as to the make of the car...I'm sure I'll get it wrong and then you'll all have to correct me. It's better that I just say "sports car" :) The second, taken earlier the same day as I came up out of the metro. That's one of the many contrasts in Romania...the flaunting of wealth alongside the desperation of poverty.

If you don't hear from me the next few days, I promise I'll be back soon and I'll even post "make-up" posts for the days I'll miss. We're off to Chisinau, Moldova early tomorrow morning for a teacher training session. Back to Romania on Monday, so I'll be back then!

Thanksgiving

2007-11-07T11:06:00.000+02:00

DISCLAIMER: This post was written by an American from a purely American perspective and, yes, with a bit of sarcasm that doesn't necessarily come through in writing. Rest assured, no offense is intended and I beg your indulgence for a few brief moments.

Romanians don't celebrate Thanksgiving, at least, not the way we Americans do (surprisingly, they don't quite get the whole pilgrims & Indians thing...maybe that's because some of them live in houses older than our country). Yet, since coming to Romania, I've celebrated more Thanksgiving than ever before.

You might remember that I have Canadian teammates. Being a bit strange in the north-land, they celebrate Thanksgiving on the first Monday in October (let's face it, Thanksgiving on Monday is just plain weird!). The turkey dinner is always yummy, and I don't mind eating it more than once a year. But I always get the urge to get my Christmas decorations out the next day. I have to keep reminding myself that I need to wait another six weeks until the real Thanksgiving ;) .

Romanian churches have somewhat adopted the custom, and many set aside a "Thanksgiving" Sunday some time in the fall. Every church has a different date; last year, Libertatii (our church) celebrated on the last Sunday of October while I was in Turkey, and this year they celebrated on the second Sunday of the month. Gotta' confess...sarmale, no matter how good it is, still isn't Thanksgiving dinner in my mind. But it is a good time of fellowship, testimonies, music, etc., followed by Romanian food in the church basement. (Sarmale, in case you do not know, is a cabbage roll stuffed with ground meat, rice & spices. The ladies in our church made over 1000 of them for Thanksgiving this year!)

But I'm excited for the real Thanksgiving this year. I'm excited for turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie (which I can't stand the taste of, but love the smell) and all of the other good Thanksgiving "stuff". I'm looking forward to traveling to Bucharest with some Romanian friends (who want a shopping weekend in the city) and then spending a day with American friends in Bucharest & not having to run back to my computer to get more work done.

Until then, here are some pictures from Romanian Thanksgiving this year.

Pastor Nicu Stremtan

Deacon Vio Gaga

Giving away all of the goodies...they asked questions from the different Sunday School classes and those who answered correctly got to take some of the fruits and/or vegetables home.

Edible decorations :)

What?

2007-11-06T23:58:00.000+02:00

There's a prize involved for the first person to tell me what this is. Leave a comment.

Tineret

2007-11-05T23:54:00.000+02:00

Youth group, that is. Or, more accurately (from a North American perspective), young adults. In Romania, "youth" = young adults. And here are some pics from an evening of just hanging out with the youth in the church basement a few weeks ago.

We'd love to do something like this more often, but there doesn't seem to be a good time. People are working, taking classes, going to Bible study, etc. most weeknights. Fridays are worship team practices, Saturday evening youth group (ummm...that is, adolescents...teenagers), Sunday evening after church is choir rehearsal. We'll keep thinking about it...if God wants it to happen, someone will figure it out at the right time!

More fun with Flat Stanley

2007-11-04T23:49:00.000+02:00

I posted pictures of my adventures with Flat Stanley on Facebook a couple of weeks ago, but I'm aware that some of you aren't there. So, to let you in on the fun...

Stanley and I set out early one Monday morning & picked up the other 2 ABWE women in our area. We were headed on a road trip to the mountains just outside of Brasov.

Once we arrived, Stanley was banished to the hotel room for a while since this was a "girls only" trip. We did let him come out for a while at dinner time, however. Here he's eyeing the strange looking garnishes on my plate. Meanwhile, I was enjoying some amazing curry chicken & rice.

We were tempted to go for a swim, but decided not to when we saw the "danger of drowning" sign. Or maybe we were put off by the putrid green water and the freezing temperatures. Either way, we refrained.

Stanley had all kinds of fun inside "Dracula's castle" at Bran. We decided not to tell him that Dracula never really lived there. He was already misbehaving (who kept tripping those alarms & triggering the recorded "please do not touch the objects!"???) - we thought it was probably better if he was at least a LITTLE afraid of the vampires.

There you have it...the abridged version of Stanley's Great Romanian Adventure. Aren't you glad you stopped by today?

Everybody needs new shoes occasionally, right?

2007-11-03T23:33:00.000+02:00

Okay, so "need" is probably not the right word here, but I really wanted some new shoes. A lot of my clothes these days look better with brown shoes than black, but my fall/winter shoe wardrobe hasn't kept pace. I own several pairs of brown sandals (like I said, "need" is not the right word!), but no brown shoes. I stopped wearing sandals a couple of weeks ago, mostly for other peoples' sakes; it was making them cold to look at me. I also did it to protect myself from the constant stares while walking down the streets or the question I must hear at least a dozen times a day: "Nu ti-e frig?" (Aren't you cold?) Nope, if I was, I woulda' worn something else. Nonetheless, for their sakes, I put the sandals away. Along with the half of my wardrobe that no longer had matching shoes.

But yesterday I finally broke down and bought my first pair of dress shoes here. Not because I can't find shoes I like. Who wouldn't like a $100 pair of Italian leather shoes? It's just pretty rare to find (1) a pair of shoes I can afford, (2) in a style I like, (3) in a size that fits my fat feet. Add to that my perfectionist tendencies (ie. "I am NOT spending $50 on a pair of shoes that I don't REALLY like!") and maybe you'll understand why it's been a while.

But, here they are. Not really my style, I don't think. But I like them. They are somewhat stylish (in a retro kinda' way). They fit. And I didn't have to bankrupt myself to buy them.

Too Much Pressure

2007-11-02T23:10:00.000+02:00

So, apparently I put myself under a bit too much pressure with my promise for more "beef". It's not that I don't have things to write about. In fact, I'm starting a pretty impressive scrap collection with the beginnings of different writing projects. It's just that I don't have time to develop most of those ideas right now. As much as I love writing, it's not my highest priority at the moment (if it were, I'd be making time for it!).

Guess you'll have to settle for more pictures for now. I found quite the random collection on my camera when I downloaded pics earlier tonight.

Which of these things is not like the others? Which of these things just doesn't belong? Flat Stanley joined me on a road trip earlier this month (if you aren't familiar with the Flat Stanley project, look here). Stanley was surrounded by ladies the whole trip since it was a short retreat with all of the women on our team and 3 visiting ladies from Northridge Church in the Detroit area. While they were all shopping (cuz that's what a group of ladies does!), I amused myself by taking pictures of Stanley for my friend Jenny's 3rd grade class in Atlanta.

This is the first decent picture I've gotten of traditionally painted eggs.

Iulia and Hilya at Bible study last Friday evening. We're studying through "Experiencing God" right now. This study is a mixed group of young adults. Earlier in the week I have a study with young women from church (half married, half single); we're planning to begin studying an Elisabeth Elliot book next week (I'm not sure what the English title is).

Last Saturday night I went to the National Theatre here in Targu Mures for the first time, even though it's right in my back yard (if I had a back yard). The occasion was a concert given by the Messengers, a group of Romanian Americans, ie. they were born here but moved to the States 20 years ago. They return to Romania every year for a tour. I appreciate very much the fact that they write almost all of their own music (instead of translating and recycling English music...which doesn't always work so well, since what takes 2 syllables in English might take 5 in Romanian or vice versa). I'm not sure who to compare their sound to in the American Christian contemporary music world...maybe Phillips, Craig & Dean.

The colors are almost gone now, but I saw more beautiful colors this fall than I have in the past. I would say that we still have more variety, more rich colors in Michigan than any that I have seen in Romania. At least on the trees. I spotted these colors on a climbing vine of some sort on the apartment building next to mine.

Last, but not least. This one boggles my mind. Romanians always seem to have a disparaging word to say about Americans' love affair with fast food. But, if you go into an American fast food restaurant here (in Targu Mures, we only have McDonalds, but Bucharest also has KFC and Pizza Hut), they are always packed with people. I don't ever want to hear another Romanian talking about lazy Americans eating at McDonald's instead of cooking for themselves. Why? Because a couple of months ago, the McDonald's in our little town starting offering free DELIVERY!!! Yup, as long as your order is worth 20 lei (approx. $9 - 2 medium size value meals), you can get it delivered to your door. Unbelievable!

NaBloPoMo

2007-11-01T22:41:00.000+02:00

Know what that is? National blog posting month. I'm guessing that "national" doesn't refer to the nation in which I live. But probably to the nation from whence I come. Nonetheless, the idea is to try to post something every day of the month. You are probably going to see lots of pictures from me. Just think...if I post a picture that I actually take each day, you'll get to see what I see for the month (not sure if that will happen...might have to reach back into the archives some for old pictures I never posted). Or maybe I'll come up with some words of wisdom some day. Don't hold your breath.

Where's the Beef?

2007-10-10T20:18:00.000+03:00

This Wendy's slogan encapsulates my feelings about my blog lately. Where's the beef? Because there's nothing "meaty" here. And that has always been intentional. I didn't intend for this to be a place for devotionals, ministry updates, etc.

But lately I've been thinking that I could probably make better use of this forum. I could write about something that actually matters, rather than just what I ate for dinner tonight.

Which was this. After standing in the pantry door staring at the options for about 2 minutes (none of which caught my attention), I decided to go with the old standby. Macaroni & cheese (courtesy of Jenny when she visited a few weeks ago) and applesauce (courtesy of my obsessive canning this summer/fall). No, I'm not five years old. I just eat like it sometimes.

Keep checking back...I promise some "beef" in the days to come.

I Splurged...

2007-10-01T21:08:00.001+03:00

...since I was on vacation. I've toured Peles Castle several times and never been remotely tempted to spend the extra $14 or so to take pictures. That's how they get the tourists here in Romania - charge one price for a ticket and another price (often much higher) to take pictures. At Peles, the normal tour costs 12 lei, but the "picture permit" costs another 30 lei - and even with the permit, you aren't allowed to use a flash.

I was at Peles with a group 2 weeks ago, and our guide mentioned that on the last Tuesday of the month, the tour also includes the 2nd floor (the normal tour is only a part of the ground floor, about 10% of the castle). Since I was already planning to be in Sinaia the next Tuesday, I decided to take advantage of the somewhat rare opportunity. And I decided to splurge and pay to take pictures.

I can't say that anything turned out fantastic. It was an incredibly beautiful fall day, which meant lots of light coming in through the huge windows, light that couldn't be evened out with a flash. Add to that LOTS of dark wood & hundreds of ugly, modern fluorescent light bulbs (the kind that you can put in any light fixture) and you definitely don't have ideal picture taking conditions. Nonetheless...thanks to a good camera & a computer program that helped lighten things up a bit...you can at least get the idea, if not the full effect!

Without further ado...Castelul Peles.

Castelul Peles...the "Extended Tour"

2007-10-01T20:28:00.000+03:00

Entering the private part of the castle...

The concert hall

The piano on the stage was played by George Enescu,

one of Romania's most famous composers.

This organ has over 1400 pipes!

It also has 2 keyboards, one in the concert hall and one
in the next room; both engage the same set of pipes.

Outside the entrance to the Royal Suite

The Royal Suite

Home to King Carol I and Queen Elisabeta

If you look closely in the picture below, near the center you

will see the bed in which King Carol died in 1914.

The Roccoco Suite

Designed to host visiting heads of state

The Empirial Suite

Designed after Emperor Franz Joseph (of Austria) visited and stayed in the Roccoco Suite; the king decided that something better was needed to host visitors of the Emperor's stature in the future. Unfortunately, the Emperor himself couldn't fulfill his promise to return because of political events at home (which eventually led to WWI).

The top of the chandelier is designed to replicate the Emperor's crown.

And that's where my camera batteries died...

Fortunately, I didn't miss much...a couple of rooms where the

queens' maids did her hair & makeup and then we were ushered

back to the entrance and sent on our way.

As Jenny likes to say, "This is a REAL castle!"

Back in the Saddle

2007-10-01T20:16:00.000+03:00

I went back to work last Friday, but today really started hitting things hard. In fact, I started at 7 o'clock this morning, and I'm having to force myself to stop now (it's 8:20 pm). Not everything was work...but even the "non-work" stuff was interspersed with work stuff.

I met my goal for translation projects for today (unfortunately, this doesn't happen too often, since I'm very good at overestimating what I can get done in a day). I'm working on the simplified English version of the last teacher's manual in the series! That means the end is in sight. Gabi's on target to finish right on schedule next June with the student manuals. I'm having to slow down the teacher manual translation so we don't get too far ahead (the books are too closely interrelated, and we need to be able to refer back & forth in the final translation). Student book #8 has been done for awhile, but the courier actually takes it off to the publisher tomorrow. Book #9 is ready for proofreading. Did I mention that the end is in sight?!?! :)

So, while I was typing today, I also made & froze taco meat, did laundry, and cleaned the kitchen. While my car was being washed (inside & out - it was to the point of DISGUSTING!), I caught up on most of my e-mail correspondence. And this evening, I alternated between the living room, where I was responding to an audit request, organizing financial receipts & getting ready to do reports, and the kitchen, where I was making barbecued chicken, rice & broccoli (dinner tonight and 5 more dinners in the freezer). And I cleaned the kitchen again.

If I were really dedicated (or a workaholic), I'd be working on filing all of those financial reports right now. But I'm trying really hard not to be a workaholic. So I'm catching up the blog instead. Aren't you glad?

A Month in Review

2007-09-27T23:01:00.001+03:00

So, what have I been up to during the last month while I've been AWOL? Here's a quick look...

After depleting my stock this summer, it's time to restock the pantry. So, when I've been home, it's been applesauce, apple butter, pizza sauce, pasta sauce, peaches...whatever I can preserve and stick in the pantry for winter!

Jenny helped stuff my pantry, too, when she came to visit. So now I've got good homemade stuff and good not-so-homemade stuff. : )

Now I just need to work on stocking that freezer that I'm babysitting while the Windham family is in the States...

But, I really haven't been home that much. Tonight will be my 7th night in my apartment in the entire month of September. The month started with meeting guest speakers in Bucharest and then taking them to our teacher training retreat.

After the retreat, we went back to Bucharest & enjoyed a fantastic concert with the Oslo Philharmonic. It wasn't at the Athenaeum (pictured below), but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

The team left on Sunday and Rebecca came to visit from Budapest. My goal is to see something new everytime someone comes to visit (so I don't always go back to the same old places), so we explored some and found the Kilometer 0 marker, the place from which all distances in Romania are measured.

A couple of days later, Ruth came to visit, too, and the 3 of us went to visit Peles and Bran castles.

A week later, Jenny came as we prepared to say goodbye to the Windhams. The four of us had an all night girls' party. Here they are singing and dancing to Veggie Rock. Relient K singing "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything." Quite entertaining...

Don't we look fantastic at 5 in the morning? Our sock puppets were in much better shape than we were. Even the plastic whistling gnome looks better than we do. Sad.

A day after the Windhams left, Jenny & I headed back to Bucharest.

Then she, too, left me to my wanderings around the city and in the mountains. And that brings us up to this week.

Today I came home, and I'm planning to stay here for a while! Maybe I can actually write something other than a travelogue now. Maybe.

Libertatii Camp Pictures

2007-08-24T19:23:00.000+03:00

The last day of camp, my task was to gather pictures & put together a 10-minute slide show. The kids loved seeing themselves (and all of their friends) up on the big screen. We actually saved most of the best pictures, because tomorrow we are getting all of the kids together to watch video and look at more pictures. It's a good way for us to maintain contact with kids who don't normally come to church (probably 3/4 of the kids who were at camp are not from our church). Thankfully, someone else is responsible for this slideshow! Not my forte...

As promised, here are some more shots from church camp.

I was gonna' be good...

2007-08-23T23:40:00.000+03:00

...and update you on everything right after my last post. But, alas, I was somehow distracted (can a 32-year old be diagnosed with ADD???) and am just getting back to it. So, where were we? Yikes, I just took a peak at my last posts and realized just how far behind I am. In short:

1. The water leak finally stopped after a week and a half. By then, it was leaking down the outside of the door, someone noticed & called the building administrator, he shut off all the water to the building, and my landlord finally realized I wasn't exaggerating. The electricity was fixed a week later (still scary, but at least it works), the door that I had been body-slamming to open or close was "trimmed" around the edges so that I can get in and out of my apartment again, and the mold continues to grow rampantly. My landlord promised to deal with that when he gets back from vacation...we'll see.

2. I taught a week of English classes at Bethany Baptist Church in Tarnaveni, about an hour's drive from Targu Mures. My students were a mixture of intermediate and advanced, so it was, ummm, interesting. A good start, though, considering the fact that we haven't done anything like this before. A couple of our students were from outside of the church (the true target group!), so I'm praying that the church will have opportunities to further develop relationships with them.

3. English camp ended the same day that our church kids' camp began. The church has used the camp facilities of Livada Orphan Care for the last couple of years, and this year we moved "with" them as they moved camp to a newly purchased property. That meant camp in army tents for this year. Unfortunately (read that sarcastically), this was the same week as my water leak, so I ended up coming home and sleeping in my own bed each night while waiting for my landlord to come (which he never did, that week).

What do you get when you mix together a huge piece of linoleum, a hose, and a botte of baby shampoo? A "kill-two-birds-with-one-stone" activity! The slip-n-slide was a favorite for the kids because it helped them cool down in our 100+ temperatures (at a camp with NO shade). The adults liked it, too, because it doubled as bath time for the kids :)
I have almost 1000 pictures from camp, so I promise more in the days to come.
4. After camp, I made a whirlwind trip back to Budapest for a 3-day vacation. No pictures from that trip...Rebecca and I were having too much fun shopping (ugh!), relaxing at the mineral baths, etc.
5. The next day, I traveled with my team to the Transfagarasan Highway, a highway pass through the Fagarasi Mountains. The road is only open in July & August. The cars were overheating half-way up, so we took the cable car the rest of the way up & enjoyed the view from the top. Can't say that I'm sad to have missed the ride on this road...

6. Next was a week of day camp at Libertatii. A family from Cincinnati came to do day camp with one of the orphanages in the afternoons, and they ministered to our church kids in the mornings. I have lots of pictures from this week, too (especially since I had no responsibilities...I just followed everyone around with my camera and helped out occasionally!) Just one pic for now (I used someone else's camera for most and haven't gotten copies yet) -

7. Finally, two weeks of our ABWE camps. I drove back & forth a lot (1 1/2 hours each way), alternating between time at camp and work on translation projects at home. The first week there were 100 teenagers & the 2nd week there were 50 young adults. I was able to spend the last 1/2 of the second week staying at the camp, enjoying great activities, singing, chapel time and all of the other good stuff about camp!
The teens loved the activity called "fight night" - I called it the World's Biggest Food Fight (here, they are flinging buckets of wet spaghetti at each other).

During young adult week, they decided to have the World's Biggest Campfire, instead.

Now, I'm staying home (for a few days, at least), catching up on translation stuff, and preparing for the next round of craziness. More pics to come, soon. I promise...

Romanian roads – 40 times more dangerous than the EU ones

2007-08-05T20:53:00.000+03:00

Romania, one dead in every three accidents, UK, one in every 93, according to a report by the Romanian Academic Society (SAR) made public Thursday.

In Romania, there is an average of one death every three accidents, while in Germany the average one death in every 63 accidents, and in Great Britain, one auto accident fatality in every 93 accidents. At fault are the faulty designs of certain road sections, late maintenance works, the lack of ring roads. Auto traffic in Romania is excessively concentrated on national roads. Motorways, useful as they are, are not always priority no 1 and nor do they represent a solution to all traffic problems. One-third of national roads are in a terrible state, infrastructure is unsafe and an obstacle to economic development. All of the aforementioned reasons SAR experts say, lead to accidents with a very large number of victims.
Moreover, the study “Works under repair? SAR report on transport policy in Romania,” shows that the network of county and local roads should be urgently redone, so that a great part of the existing auto traffic could be redirected, which requires only a percentage point of the funding allotted to motorway construction.
Another conclusion of the study: in Romania, the cost of building a kilometre of motorway is twice more expensive than that in other countries in central and eastern Europe, such as Poland or Hungary. Moreover, some of the maintenance and operation costs are also double the average price in the European Union or the United States. The current institutional structure of Romania’s national railway operator CFR and the National Company of Motorways and National Roads in Romania (CNADR) are financially bankrupt actually. Instead of operating independently, they suffer are year in and year out the impact of political changes at the Ministry of Transports. At the same time, there is noticed a trend of substantial increase in auto traffic, at the expense of railway traffic. If the trend continues, the passenger section of the CFR (CFR Pasageri) risks to go bankrupt by 2020 from lack of customers.
Money, programmes and … fanciful strategies
Romania only has 264 kilometres of built motorways and numerous strategies for expansion which however have been dragging their feet for years now. By comparison, Portugal, a state half Romania’s size, has 1,500 kilometres of built motorway. SAR experts say that the motorways and expressways announced for the interval 2007-2013 are fanciful, as they suppose an investment absorption capacity of EUR 2 to 3 bln per year, although the actual absorption capacity never exceeds EUR 500 M. These great national road and railway projects are advancing at an extremely slow place, despite Community funding being available for several years now.
Compromise solutions: sensitising the public
If a great many years pass until infrastructure-related problems are settled, the Government decided to at least take different types of measures. The Tariceanu Cabinet decided Wednesday that the World Commemoration Day of Victims of Auto Accidents should be held on the third Sunday of November. Several ministries – Interior, Health, Transports, and Education, respectively, will organise public awareness and sensitising campaigns, together with NGOs, other legal entities and private individuals.
Severe accident at Mangalia
Four more persons died in a severe auto accident at the entry to Mangalia. The car with the four passengers on board, running at 150 kilometres/hours, hit an oncoming minibus. The four passengers in the car died right away and three of the passengers in the minibus were injured – two of them seriously. The minibus driver broke one leg in the accident, and local traffic was detoured. According to Police, high speed and driver tiredness could be responsible for the accident.
by Alina Munteanu

...and you all thought I was exaggerating the dangers of driving in Romania. Turns out it's actually much worse than even I thought!

- from "Nine O'Clock", an English language newspaper published in Bucharest

Entryway Makeover?

2007-07-20T13:26:00.000+03:00

I've been contemplating a makeover of the entryway in my apartment as a birthday present to myself. Something along the lines of these goodies from Ikea, I'm thinking...

...and possibly some black tile on the floor to replace the blackish indoor/outdoor carpet currently residing there. My hallway has turned into the "gallery" of black and white photography that I love while allowing the rest of the apartment to contain lots of color. I'd like to sharpen up the look a little bit and make it a little more functional (including getting rid of the "Leaning Tower of Pisa" coat tree).

Now, I think my hand has been forced...

Yesterday, I started noticing a water stain on the ceiling right next to the front door. Throughout the day, it crept lower and lower on the wall. Meanwhile, the neighbors upstairs won't answer their door (we had this same problem the LAST time there was a water leak...grrr!), and my landlord is in Hungary. The wet smell started getting a little annoying, too.

Today, the annoyance turned into a major problem. You see, right above the front door is the fuse box to my apartment. And right next to the door is, well, a tangle of wires going to who knows what. This morning the water and the wires met, and the result was a bright orange flash and a big bang coming from the wall. The electrical box hidden in this wall is normally covered with a plastic faceplate (like the one you see behind the light switch in the first picture). The "minor explosion" in the wall knocked it halfway off (two of the four screws came straight out of the concrete), and I finished the job to see what was left back there and make sure nothing was smoldering. I also pulled up the carpet, hoping to salvage it before it got too wet.

(If you look closely, you can see a rusty drop of water forming at the top of the box.)

As you can see, the wiring was a little scary to begin with. And the water just finished off the job. I now have no power in the back half of my apartment (that is, every room except the living room!). Sound familiar? I lived with only power in the living room for almost 4 months last year. That time, I ran extension cords & plugged the refrigerator and washing machine into living room outlets. I'm not ready to do that, especially given the fact that the fuse box to the entire apartment is still in the "path of destruction" and I could easily lose power in the living room too at any time. I'll be emptying out the freezer in a couple of hours and bringing stuff to my teammates to either store in their freezers or eat (I'm a sharing person, but I'm keeping those 2 pints of blueberries that I paid a half a fortune for last week and then spent several hours removing stems, leaves, bad berries, etc.!).

Since it's 100 degrees outside today (and has been the last two days, as well), I really won't miss having my stove or oven. I'm not likely to use the dryer soon, either. But, 100 degrees without a refrigerator or freezer? Oy...at least I can plot my entryway makeover which, from the looks of things, might be happening sooner than I planned.

Bridges '07

2007-07-15T20:02:00.001+03:00

I returned home last Wednesday from a fantastic 3 weeks in Budapest, Hungary where I taught English. It was nice to feel in my element for once (teaching English, not being in Hungary...which is definitely NOT my element since I can't make heads nor tails of the Hungarian language). I remembered how much I love teaching; I teach here, but always either through a translator or in a language that I'm still not 100% comfortable with. I taught the Advanced class, so it was refreshing to talk with my students, explain things, and feel competent for a couple of weeks. I was glad to come home, but am struggling with returning to my "incompetent" role after being comfortable with a while.

For your viewing pleasure, here's a pictorial recap of the last couple of weeks.

Istvan and Tunde, two of my morning students

My evening class picture (unfortuntely, missing 2 students)

The huge pot of traditional Hungarian goulash that we enjoyed during orientation week (this pot seriously has a diameter of 2 feet!). "Real" goulash is more of a soup/stew.

While in the city Saturday afternoon, we stumbled across a human chess game. Interesting!

And the obligatory picture of the famous Chain Bridge, linking the two original cities of Buda and Pest into the one modern-day city of Budapest (there are actually 7 bridges).

Happy Blog-Day!

2007-07-15T19:58:00.001+03:00

I'm back. Are you surprised? Jenny says I need to post, and she's probably right. It has indeed been awhile. For a while, nothing was happening. And then, too much was happening and I just didn't have time. Now...well, I'm just out of the habit. Then I looked at my post history and realized that today is the one year anniversary of my first post...Happy Blog-Day!

Maybe later this evening I will post something of a little more significance...

Forewarned is Forearmed

2007-06-09T20:13:00.000+03:00

After much hassling by a few certain someones, I'm caving and posting, even though I have nothing to say. Don't say you weren't forewarned...

So what have I been doing for the last two weeks? Mostly, the same thing I'm doing right now, sitting on my couch with my computer on my lap, typing. One of the first steps in a translation project is developing a simplified English version of whatever is going to be translated. We're hoping to make some serious headway this summer, so I needed to get the simplified English versions of several books finished so that translators can keep working while I'm out and about for the summer. So, over the last two weeks, I've "rewritten" two 120-page books. Add in a quick trip to Bucharest to renew my passport and another trip to Cluj (2 hours each way) to drop off a friend at the airport, and that's pretty much my life for the last couple of weeks. See why I haven't posted? Really, there's not much to say!

But I did promise a brief list of ways to torture yourself in Romania, so here goes...

1. Try to drive. Anywhere. At any time of day. It was bad when I got here two and a half years ago, but I'm pretty sure everyone of legal age has purchased a car since then. This city (ok, this country!) was not built for cars. The police are valiantly trying to bring order to the insanity, but what do you do when there are 3 times as many cars as there are parking spots? Stop in the middle of the road, and leave your car there, of course! The other drivers can figure out how to get around you.
2. Try to be a Romanian woman with smooth legs. Most women here don't shave. Nope, they have another great invention for maintaining smooth legs and, at the same time, torturing themselves. It's called an epilator, and it grabs each individual hair and yanks it out by the root. They tell me it gets less painful as you get used to it, but I'm not buying it yet (the "less painful" part, that is...I already bought the appliance). The "less painful" logic says that, because those hairs you yank out the first time have been rooted in your leg for, say 20 years, it really hurts when you pull them out. The next time, the root will be young and not so strong, so it won't hurt as much. Uh-huh...we'll see.
3. Have a white kitchen. White anything isn't the greatest idea, but white everything? Pure torture, especially if you have obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Cabinets, refrigerator, washing machine. They were all beautiful, sparkling white when I bought them two years ago. And the white walls were freshly painted as well. Not so beautiful anymore. Seriously, I don't know where all of the dirt comes from, but I've never seen so much of it (it's not like I live in the desert or in a village with dirt roads!). But I do know where most of it goes...into MY kitchen! Now, I realize that this is my own fault...I chose the white. But all I can do is plead ignorance (I really didn't know when I moved in and purchased all of these things!) and hope that no one else notices that everything is really more of an "off-white" color these days. Despite days like today spent keeping the entire cleaning-product industry in business.
4. Ummm, that's all I can think of right now. I'm sure there are more, but really, I don't notice most of them anymore, at least enough to remember a couple of hours or days later. That's probably because I've already tortured myself into a state of insanity. Pretty sure.

Flying By

2007-05-23T16:30:00.000+03:00

Yet another week has flown by. "They" say that the older you get, the faster time goes. So apparently I am VERY, VERY old because time seems to fly by these days!

I don't really have much to say today. The last week has consisted mostly of meetings and bonding time with my computer and the photocopier. Not the most fun days, but really the meat of my life! Too bad you only read about the "fun days" here.

The most exciting thing that I have done this week is bake cookies. LOTS of cookies. Now my freezer is full and ready for summer. Hurrah for summer! (And, hopefully, a little less bonding time with my computer!)

As Promised

2007-05-18T08:07:00.001+03:00

Amazing

2007-05-16T13:12:00.000+03:00

As I was driving home from Arad on Monday (a 6 hour drive), I spent some time thinking about how privileged I am and how many things I take for granted. I have so much to be thankful for, and I often don't even realize it. This line of thought was prompted by the opportunity to visit Vienna this weekend with some friends. Really...who gets to just drop everything and visit Vienna for a weekend? Not most girls from Grand Rapids! I don't spend a lot of time or space on this blog with either serious writing or "devotional" writing - but I do want to encourage you to stop and think about all of the good gifts that our Heavenly Father showers us with. I had to stop and realize that I really am a spoiled brat, often wanting what I want and ignoring the good gifts I've been given. Ungrateful. Unthankful. Lord, change my heart.

For the first time since I bought this camera, I filled up the memory card (this is not due to the fact that I take few pictures, but to the fact that I almost always have my computer with me and download from the camera frequently!). Just a few pictures for now...maybe more to come later. The one above is actually a composite of 4 pictures of Schonbrunn Palace, the former summer home of Austrian royalty. The next two shots are of the "backyard" of Schonbrunn.

Also in the "backyard" is the Schonbrunn Zoo, "one of the world's oldest and most modern zoos." It was founded in 1752. A little bit different from the zoo I visited last weekend...

The jellyfish tank under black lights.

The giant panda exhibit is huge. Yummy bamboo.

More later...

My hero

2007-05-07T23:28:00.000+03:00

After a weekend spent with the teenagers, this is my new hero. Or, at least, the "one" to whom I bear a striking resemblance.

I'll refrain from posting (or even taking) any pictures, but suffice it to say, yes, I am red, and yes, that hurts. The sun and I have a love/hate relationship...I love the sun (at least when I am inside), and the sun pretty much always hates me.

The youth group from a church in Alba Iulia came to visit with our teens this weekend, so we spent all day Saturday outside. The original plan included a picnic and hike in the woods. What actually ended up happening was several hours of sports, hanging out, taking walks, etc. where there was no shade. So, while I was thinking bug spray, what I really needed (and obviously did not have) was sunblock. At least I can say that I got the first "good" sunburn of the season out of the way!

Where's the Self-Respect?

2007-05-07T23:05:00.000+03:00

On Sunday afternoon, we went to the zoo with the teenagers from church. I have to ask...where's the self-respect? Seriously, these animals are pathetic.

First, there are the monkeys who will take sunflower seeds straight out of your hand (ok...that's probably not too unusual). But then...,

...there's the buck who will walk straight up to you as long as you wave some leaves at him (forget the fact that he is surrounded by trees with leaves in his reach).

And what self-respecting lion willingly shares his cage with a dog? Although rumor has it that he is regularly fed the stray dogs picked up on the streets around town...

At least the tiger seemed to keep a bit of her self-respect. Like any good cat, she was napping away the afternoon. We figure she earned the right to do so since she had just given birth to 3 little tiger cubs the day before. If you look closely at the second picture, you can see one of them nursing and the other two up near mama's front paw.

Just what you always wanted to know!

2007-05-04T01:03:00.000+03:00

I occasionally "browse" through the online version of The Nine O'Clock, an English language newspaper here in Romania. Most of the content is (bad) translations from a variety of Romanian newspapers. And every once in a while I learn something interesting...

Tonight I was reading an article about the town of Sinaia(really more of an extended travel advertisement), and I learned that President Gerald Ford was here in Romania the day that I was born. For your reading pleasure -

"If you travel by train, the first contact you will have will be with the Station. It is one of the places with an important historical past. The first one was built by the Demeter Cartner company in 1913 and the second one a little later and was exclusively reserved fro the Royal House and its guests, such as foreign heads of state. On the platform of the Sinaia train station you will find a commemorative plaque for the Romanian prime minister I. G. Duca who was murdered by the Romanian Iron Guard in 1933 here. The death of the Romanian high official could be easily turned into a crime film script. Immediately after election, Duca was mysteriously summoned to Sinaia to see King Carol II. He caught the first train without being aware of his assassins’ travelling in the next carriage. In Sinaia his talks to the king was reduced to two hours as the PM was needed back in Bucharest on the 9:15 PM train. At about 8:30 PM, I. G. Duca was informed that his train had been delayed for more than an hour. At 9:30 PM, while he was walking to the official carriage, a cracker was fired in front of him, and it caused a blast. In the panic of the moment, Iron Guard activist Niki Constantinescu tapped him on the shoulder and than fired five bullets into the back of his head. Duca died instantly. The first one to run away was exactly the man who had the task of guarding the President of the Council of Ministers. Niki Constantinescu immediately put his hands up and surrendered himself.

Apart from this episode, the place is an important stop, the halt of the Orient Exprses or Arlberg express in the beginning of the century. As for the Royal Station standing a few tens of metres away, it was built after the plans of architect Duiliu Marcu in 1939. It is a stone building in the Romanian style that used to carry the royal signs of Kind Carol II at the time. The building was designed in such a way as to accommodate the entire royal train. In front of the station there is a large square where the heads of state would be greeted. The central hall of the station accommodates a mural painting (5,50 x 5,50 m) representing a noble wild bore hunting scene with eight characters riding horses, in natural sizes, with an inscription in Latin: Basarab Voievod 14th century.

The station continued to be used during the communists as well. A presidential train took US President Gerald Ford and Nicolae Ceausescu to Sinaia, on August 6, 1975. The Royal train station is not open for the public."
by George Grigoriu

www.nineoclock.ro

In My Mailbox

2007-04-30T02:03:00.000+03:00

So, in the last two weeks, I've actually had mail. Twice!

Package #1: Tax papers...not that exciting, but at least the envelope was entertaining!

In case you can't read that, it says, "Why you should love me forever..." and shows Jenny standing in the long line at the post office (thus giving her time to draw on the envelope!). And the cultural observation, "At least they stand in line here" (here as in Georgia, not Romania, where we just mob).

Thanks, Jenny, for being my chief-mail-forwarder and for making mail even more exciting!

And THANK YOU, too, to the TumSuden family who sent me a fun (and very unexpected!) package from New Jersey.

Since I've had little appetite and absolutely no motivation to cook for the last 2 weeks, it's nice to have some things that take little time or effort!

And thanks to my Father, too, who knows exactly when I need unexpected blessings like these to keep me sane.

Unfortunate

2007-04-27T11:49:00.000+03:00

Today I'm working on writing an article for ABWE's Message magazine and was just reviewing some pictures to find some possibilities to accompany the article. I came across this one, taken in the city of Tulcea in March 2006.

Unfortunate name. 'Nuff said.

(And, no, that one's not in the running for submission to ABWE!)

It's True...

2007-04-25T23:41:00.000+03:00

I saw it with my own eyes. We will soon be eatin' good in the neighborhood!

is coming to the Bucharest Mall!

Um, of course, that means we won't be eatin' good in my neighborhood (not really in the cooking mood these days)...but at least there's a good reason for a road trip!

Playin' At the Park

2007-04-17T21:44:00.000+03:00

The kids were all on Easter break this last week, so we took advantage of a beautiful Friday to have a picnic with the teenagers from church. Walks through the woods, group games, good food off the grill, and a little bit of sunburn - all in all, a great time!

Ultima Zi

2007-04-15T20:22:00.000+03:00

The last day that Sarah was here we tried to fit in all of the things we hadn't been able to do before - all on our way back to Bucharest for Sarah's flight out early Wednesday morning.

The first stop was the ancient Saxon city of Sighisoara, about 50 km. from Targu Mures.

In a quiet room somewhere in this house, Vlad Tepes (later known as Vlad the Impaler, the "real" Dracula) was born. Do you see the "Dracula" in front of the door? There is now a restaurant in the ground floor, complete with Dracula-costumed waiters if you arrive at just the right time.

So while we were up in the walled part of the Old City, Sarah decided to take a look over the side of the wall. Nice...we felt so safe.

From Sighisoara, we went on to Brasov for lunch (the oh-so-Romanian KFC) and a quick tour of the Black Church and the downtown area.

Next stop, Castle Bran, traditionally known as Dracula's castle - even though the only real historical connection between Vlad and this castle was the time he laid siege to it. It was however a home to Romanian royalty, specifically Queen Marie, the last queen of Romania. And now a nice tourist trap, complete with bottles of "Dracula's Blood" wine.

After a kind-of-scary drive through the mountains with a misbehaving van, we made finally made it to Bucharest, and Sarah enjoyed her first visit to Ikea (seriously...we don't have such things in Grand Rapids!).

Late night dinner at "La Mama" ("at mom's" - Romanian homestyle food), and then we crashed at the guest apt. in Bucharest for a few hours. Most flights to the US with connections anywhere in Europe leave here between 6 and 6:30 am. Factor in two-hour-early arrival time and a 45 minute drive to the airport and...well, it was an early morning. But the misbehaving van and I made a bit of peace (at least enough to get to the airport and back). Then a quick trip to the doctor's office in the nether regions of Bucharest and then a long train ride home. Sleep for a week? Wouldn't that be nice!

Adevarat C-a Inviat!

2007-04-14T23:03:00.000+03:00

Beginning on Easter morning, people greet each other - at church, on the street or even on the telephone - with "HRISTOS A INVIAT!" ("Christ arose!") and respond with "ADEVARAT C-A INVIAT!" ("It's true that He arose" or, as we say in English, "He is risen indeed!") On Easter and the days immediately following, even newscasts open with that greeting. That will probably continue for another week or so. Oh, that more people here would truly understand what Christ's resurrection could mean for their lives!

The teens and the children all had parts in the "2nd Day of Easter" service Monday morning. I wish I knew how to edit and post video - little kids with microphones are always good for a little entertainment :)

Easter Sunday I invited the staff from the English school here in town over for dinner. I have a hard time finding good ham here, so we had a good turkey instead (makes up for the ultra pathetic turkey I had at Thanksgiving!). More importantly, we had a great time just hanging out together and celebrating Christ's resurrection.

Coming soon to a blog near you: Ultima Zi - the Last Day

Trip to the Countryside

2007-04-14T22:48:00.000+03:00

Some of our teammates from Hungary decided to come to Romania for Easter weekend and take a quick tour of some of the Transylvanian sights (Transylvania has changed hands between Hungary and Romania several times and there are still areas - including Targu Mures - that are predominantly Hungarian). They came into town Thursday evening, and on Friday we drove out toward some of the Hungarian villages with them. After about an hour on the road, they went off in one direction and we headed toward the village of Korund, where a lot of the traditional Romanian pottery is made. More souvenir shopping! And, of course, more picture taking, too!

Storks' nests are pretty common here, and now's the time of year when they are finally occupied again. Sarah jumped out of the car (after I stopped...) and ran back a bit to catch this picture.

Next Up: Easter

Holy Week in Targu Mures

2007-04-14T22:45:00.000+03:00

We spent the second week of Sarah's visit at home in Targu Mures. After being on the road for almost two weeks (one for ministry, one with Sarah), I was glad to finally get home, sleep in my own bed, do laundry, and cook my own food.

This week was Holy Week, and in Romania that means church...and lots of it! The church program is designed to help believers remember and really think about the events leading up to Christ's arrest and crucifixion - all in preparation to celebrate His resurrection, victory over death and sin. In total, 6 services in 5 days (some village churches have more!), starting with the Lord's Supper on Thursday and continuing through the "second day of Easter" which is apparently celebrated in many places around the world. I'm still not used to Romanian Easter music, much of which sounds more like a funeral dirge to me than a resurrection celebration (cultural adaptation never ends...my ears aren't there yet).

After church one evening, we did make time to go take pictures of the city. I'm still playing with my little camera, trying to find out just what it is capable of (or what my brain is capable of telling it to do). I'm still trying to figure out night shots - but here are a couple of tries!

Bet your city doesn't have random "Happy Easter" lights...

Going Home

2007-04-14T22:37:00.000+03:00

As promised, here is the next installment of the "trip across Romania" travelogue. Sunday, April 1, we went to church at Holy Trinity Baptist Church in Bucharest in the morning and then immediately hit the road so that I could make it back to Targu Mures in time for choir rehearsal that evening (I had already missed the week before and we were preparing several songs for Easter). Sarah wasn't a big fan of the road from Bucharest to Targu Mures, especially the sections going through the mountains (it's hard to sleep in the car when the car keeps throwing you from one side to the other through those hairpin turns!).

I manned the steering wheel, so Sarah manned the camera. Actually, the video camera...which doesn't really take great pictures, especially when moving at 60 kph! But here are a few shots, anyway.

Up next: Holy Week in Targu Mures

A Day on the Town

2007-04-12T21:33:00.000+03:00

By Saturday, I think Sarah & I were both a little tired of traveling, so we stayed in the city and did the tourist thing. We visited "old town" Bucharest (or what's left of it...Ceaucescu had much of it destroyed to make way for new "modern" construction), Piata Unirii (the "Times Square" of Bucharest), and Piata Revolutiei, where there is now a large monument to the 1989 Revolution. I didn't take any pictures, since I already have lots from all of these places. But, never fear, there was still a lot of day left and a lot of space on my camera card :)
From Piata Revolutiei, we walked to the Romanian Athenaeum, a beautiful concert hall in the heart of the city. The interior is even more impressive than the exterior; I went to a symphony concert there not long I arrived in Romania.

Mihai Eminescu, one of Romania's most famous writers, stands guard at the entrance to the Athenaeum.

And the pigeons stand guard over the entrance.

From the Athenaeum in the center of the city, we drove to the Village Museum at the edges of the city. The village museum was constructed to exhibit the different styles of village houses, churches, etc. from all around the country and from different time periods. Actual buildings were "deconstructed" in their original locations, transported to Bucharest, and then reconstructed in their new setting on the edge of a huge city park. Some are furnished and decorated as they would be in the traditional village setting.

This was my first visit to Muzeul Satului, and it was the absolute best time of the year to visit. Each year during the week preceding Palm Sunday the Village Museum hosts an exhibition of traditional village crafts and music. So, craftsmen from all over the country were exhibiting and selling their wares - all in one place. Sarah had the best souvenir shopping opportunities of anyone I've taken shopping in Romania! We also saw traditional singers and dancers in Romanian national costume. The men's chorus from Bucovina had amazing harmonies and the dancers, well, they were Romanian dancers. They basically shuffle 6 inches in either direction and then back the other way. Sarah says they dance like Baptists :)

I'm not sure that the copper still really qualifies as a "traditional craft", but I guess...

The next shot is my favorite from the whole day (although some of the pottery shots come close). It might even make it into a frame and onto the wall in my black-and-white hallway.

Coming up tomorrow: Going home

Going on a Train Trip

2007-04-12T20:52:00.000+03:00

One of the experiences I wanted Sarah to have here in Romania was riding the train. So, we rode the train...but not like the average Romanian. By some strike of luck (?) the train that we caught north to the mountain town of Sinaia was the "Sageata Albastra" or "Blue Arrow" train - the most modern and clean train on the rails here. Coming back, the train wasn't quite as nice, but it was still clean and relatively comfy. Oh well...she still got to ride the train, even if it wasn't quite the same as the "normal" Romanian train ride.

After an hour and a half on the train, we arrived in Sinaia. Sarah enjoyed the train, and I enjoyed missing the 2 1/2 hour drive and crazy Bucharest traffic!

I hadn't visited the monastery in Sinaia before, so I enjoyed seeing something new along with the "standard" Sinaia sights. These paintings are characteristic of all of the monasteries that I have seen thus far. Here, they comprise the domed entrance to the original church in the monastery.

"God bless our comings and our goings."

The "new" church built outside the original monastery walls.

Peles Castle, once the summer home of Romanian royalty.

Grave of "an unknown Romanian soldier" at the World War I cemetary and memorial. I was surprised to see graves of men killed in battles in nearby towns - I guess I need to brush up on my WWI history, because I had no idea there were battles fought in that area. There was also an interesting monument to American aviators killed over Romanian territory, but we couldn't read most of it because it was so weathered that the text was too light to read; I might go back and make a rubbing of it some day just to figure out what it says.

Next up: A Day on the Town

Back to Bucharest

2007-04-11T22:07:00.000+03:00

On Thursday morning, we loaded up the car again and headed back to Bucharest. I'm trying to learn to enjoy the journey a little bit more and not be as "single-focused" on the destination. So, we stopped to take pictures of this church that I spotted in a little village on the way out to the sea. If this one piques your interest, check out Todd's site of church pictures from around the country.

After Sarah slept for, ummm...a few more hours...we went out around midnight to take the mandatory pictures in front of the Parliamentary Palace. Nice hair...

Tomorrow: Going on a train trip

Home Alone

2007-04-11T21:39:00.000+03:00

For the first time in over a month, I'm home alone, and I'm not quite sure what to do with myself. Sleep would probably be a good place to start since I only slept about 2 hours last night (in 15 minute segments) before taking Sarah to the airport for her 6:20 flight home. But I think I have hit that point of exhaustion where I just can't fall asleep. So, I'll catch up a little bit here first.

Since my brain isn't functioning well (me without sleep is NOT a pretty picture!), this will pretty much be a travelogue. Enjoy your trip across Romania...

Our journey around Romania began with a quick trip to the Black Sea (just so that Sarah could say she had seen it...not recommending the Black Sea in March, in case you were wondering). It was beautiful but oh-so-cold!
The view from our room at the bed & breakfast on the beach (approx. $32/night!).
While in Constanta we also visited some of the ancient Roman ruins common in that part of the country. The wall Sarah is sitting on is part of the original city wall.

The cutest of the random gnomes outside our bed & breakfast; random statue in downtown Constanta (maybe not random...I just have no idea what it represents, and Romanians aren't always very good at labelling their statues).

Mamaia, the resort area where we stayed, is actually a strip of land between the Black Sea and a large lake. On Wednesday night, we watched the sunset over the lake. And then on Thursday morning, we woke up to this beautiful sunrise over the Black Sea.

Next stop: back to Bucharest.

Jet Lag by Proxy?

2007-03-30T06:53:00.000+03:00

Is is possible to "catch" jet lag? I'm sitting here at 6:45 in the morning - on vacation! - and wondering what in the world I am doing awake. My sister Sarah is here visiting (arrived on Tuesday) and sleeping on some weird schedule, and that's messing me up. Of course, she's falling asleep at like 7 in the evening and getting up in the middle of the night. I'm staying up until at least midnight and then being woken up early. I think today might be the day to force her out of jetlag mode...

I haven't uploaded pictures from my camera yet, but we went out to the Black Sea (at the port city of Constanta) Wednesday & Thursday. There's nothing quite like a dead resort town! The city itself was still bustling with activity, but the resort area of Mamaia was like a ghost town. Many of the hotels didn't even have curtains hanging in the windows. Such a contrast to the summer months when the place is choked with so many people everywhere! But Sarah got to see the Black Sea, and that's what she wanted.

Today we head to Sinaia, home of Peles castle & a monastery. We are going by train (another cultural experience she must have) and I am very thankful since I've driven about 25 hours in the last week. My car and I will be enjoying a day apart from each other =)

For your viewing pleasure, a few images from the last week...

Teacher training in Tulcea on Saturday; leading a devotional at the beginning (all in Romanian...yay!).
Teacher training in Bucuresti on Saturday

Piata Traian, one of the markets here in the city.

Epuizata

2007-03-16T21:59:00.000+02:00

Exhausted. That's the only word I can find to describe me tonight. It's barely 10 o'clock and I'm fighting to keep my eyes open to post this (since I know you are all waiting with bated breath).

First, it's time for a celebration! Tonight I taught my first lesson completely in Romanian! I had intended to teach a Sunday School lesson last month in Romanian and was prepared to do so until, just before class began, a whole big group of Americans walked in; if I had taught in [bad] Romanian, someone else would have had to translate into [bad] English...and that would have been doubly frustrating for me. So, yay for having finally jumped the hurdle! Not sure that I will teach Sunday School this week in Romanian, but we'll see how tomorrow goes.

Second, a bit of an explanation. The Budapest picture from my last post wasn't completely random. I actually spent all of last week in Budapest at an ESL conference led by Michael Pasquale. In the evenings, we did a little bit of sightseeing & picture-taking. Now more than ever I would like to switch to a digital SLR camera...maybe someday! I've been looking at film SLRs on eBay since so many people are now switching to digital & getting rid of their film cameras. Until then, my Canon PowerShot does the job with a little bit of coaxing.

Oh, yeah...we were there for a conference, weren't we?

I drove back to Romania last Friday and brought a colleague from Slovakia with me. Nancy is helping us for a couple of weeks with our quarterly teacher training sessions; I'm sure the teachers are enjoying having some fresh ideas and a fresh face in front! Nancy stayed with me until our Monday night team meeting and then moved to another family's home for the week.

This week has been crazy busy with finishing a promotional brochure for the teacher training conference in September, helping teammate Jeff Broome pack up his family's belongings to ship back to the US, and being sick the last couple of days. Between all of that, I didn't have a lot of prep time for teaching tonight (probably good...no time to freak out about teaching in Romanian; just jump in and do it!).

For Kris' sake...here are a couple of pics from the container packing this morning. Sadly, I was in the container helping with the baby grand piano, so I have no pictures of the piano on the forklift. Or maybe that is for the better...

The loading crew...

Closing the doors...

And that's the short version of the saga that was this week. Maybe if I write more often I won't have quite so much to pack into one post, huh? Ok, it's off to bed for me. Have a happy Friday evening!

Budapest

2007-03-11T15:23:00.000+02:00

Bursting At The Seams

2007-03-03T14:10:00.000+02:00

When we started our Friday night youth meeting last October, we averaged around 15 teens each week. By December the numbers had dropped to 10-12 each week, and I was a little concerned.
When we went to the youth conference in Bucharest in December, we took the Friday night kids, the Sunday morning kids (some of whom never came on Friday nights), and a couple of teens who had been to camp with our teens before.
Over the last couple of months, these different groups have started to integrate a little bit more. We still have a sizable group that comes on Sunday morning but not Friday night (most of them orphans from either group homes or mentor apartments...they have their own "youth meeting" on Thursday evenings). But we don't really have a "Friday only" group or a "camp" group any more; they've all started coming on Sunday mornings. And another new group of boys has started to come as well. Last week we had 27 teens and 7 adults stuffed into a little basement room. Last night we had 24 teens and 8 adults. We're bursting at the seams!
Even more exciting than experiencing growth in numbers is watching spiritual curiosity and growth in the teens. It's fun for me to hear their questions and see their excitement for learning things from Scripture that they have never heard before. Two weeks ago, our pastor ended his sermon with a very direct salvation invitation, which is pretty rare here. Four of those teenagers (3 of them "camp only" kids and one a sibling of a "camp only" kid) responded and made decisions to repent of their sin and make Jesus Christ Lord of their lives! That makes giving up my Friday night "veg out" time not just a sacrifice, but a true joy and blessing to me, too!

Halfway!

2007-03-01T00:51:00.000+02:00

Today we hit a major milestone - the halfway mark in this huge translation/publishing project that consumes most of my days.

The 6th (of 12) student manual came back from the print shop a couple of weeks ago, and today we finally finished the printing and binding of the accompanying student manual. We do the set up for both books - "we" being Gabi and I...she does the student manuals (much more complicated!) and I do the teacher manuals. The cost of "professional printing" for the teacher's manuals is prohibitive, so we do these pretty much "in-house." The student manuals are printed by MultiMedia International in Arad, a print shop started with the help of EBM personnel. Our print run for teacher's manuals, however, is only 65 - not worth firing up the big presses! So, when everything is ready for print, my trusty flash drive and I make a trip to the local copy center, get the original printed and copies made, and then head back to the office.

We use plastic comb binding for these books to help keep the costs down and make the manuals teacher-friendly at the same time. The binding machine and I have passed many hours of "bonding" time together. It's good for the arm muscles :)

We're going to have a celebration time soon with all of the translators and proofreaders who have worked on the project so far. I want them to know how much we appreciate their investment and how important this "halfway" milestone is. Now that we're halfway done, I'm starting to figure out how this whole translation/publication process works!

Revenge of the Killer Dust Bunnies

2007-02-27T23:28:00.000+02:00

I'm not the cleanest person in the world, but I tell you...I have never seen dust bunnies like the ones that grow to amazing sizes and reproduce at an alarming rate in this apartment! The amount of dirt that collects in my apartment in a very short period of time is nothing short of incredible.

The craziness that is spring has begun (even if the weather that is spring has not yet). I leave on Sunday for Budapest for a 3-day ESL workshop and return the following Friday with a houseguest. A colleague from Slovakia will be spending a couple of weeks here, leading our March teacher training sessions around Romania and Moldova. She'll spend the first couple of days here with me, so I decided that evenings this week would be dedicated to a good spring cleaning.

Which for me means moving furniture. I get bored with the look of my apartment and feel the need to completely rearrange furniture every 3 months or so. I started with the bedroom since it really hadn't had a deep cleaning in a while. Can you say "disgusting"? I moved the bed...the first mistake, I suppose. Since my air is so hot and dry during the winter, the window is always open. And since the bed was on an angle in front of the windows (which are in the corner), I haven't cleaned behind the bed/under the windows in a really long time. Like since I moved the bed there...last summer, I think.

Apparently all of the stray dust from the street had settled on the floor behind my bed. Well, almost all of it. The rest of it was coating the plastic storage boxes under the bed. Seriously, who has to clean the tops of their storage boxes? If they were stored in a garage or basement, I would understand. But this is my house! Where does all the dirt come from?

Next step in the process (I won't bore you with too many details...suffice it to say, I conquer the record-sized dust bunnies in the bedroom and moved on) - washing curtains. I had done the ones in the bedrooms not long ago since they are white and easily show dirt. The ones in the living room and kitchen, however, are navy blue. They really don't show dirt at all. Nonetheless, I figured that a good spring cleaning meant washing curtains whether they needed it or not. Whether they needed it or not really wasn't the question...everything in this apartment needs washing. They just don't show it. Until you put them in a washing machine full of water. Which swiftly becomes mud. I probably should have washed them again, but couldn't justify the extra water/electricity.

The living room gets cleaned relatively often, so it was more a matter of dusting. And moving furniture, of course. After two years, I think I've exhausted the options in this room. But that's okay...it hasn't been like this for at least a year.

And since crazy spring is here, it can stay this way for a while. I won't be home enough to get tired of it :) Or to stop the revenge of the killer dust bunnies from recurring. Oh well, that battle can wait for another month!

On the road again

2007-02-23T23:49:00.000+02:00

After 3 months, I'm so thankful to have my car legal and on the road again! Someone asked me where I would go first when I could drive again. I predicted it would probably be the grocery store (since grocery shopping trips have been the times when I've missed my car the most). But, once I got the plates & put them on the car, the first trip was to the office. Blessed convenience of making a quick trip rather than having to plan for a 1/2 hour walk to the office, time there, and then another 1/2 hour walk home! Next week I'll go back to walking for most of these in-town trips, but this week I'm enjoying the privilege of driving my car.

The not-so-happy news was that they can only give me plates valid until 1 month BEFORE my visa expires and I can't get new ones until I get my new visa. Since my visa expires the 31st of December and everything is closed around here until at least the 3rd of January usually, that means that we can't start the registration process (which takes at least a week) until the offices reopen after the holidays. So, theoretically, I'll have to do w/o my car for 6 weeks every Dec/Jan, unless I somehow receive a visa valid for longer than a year or register the car in a Romanian's name. Not going to worry about this for now...November is still a ways away!

On a sunny Saturday,

2007-02-17T22:12:00.000+02:00

I decided to go walking. Here's where I went today. Missing are pictures of the first two signs, from Chendu and Balauseri, due to a technological blip (ie. the person using the camera wasn't too smart and didn't notice that one of the batteries was in upside down & then couldn't figure out why the camera wouldn't turn on). I'll have to go back to take those some other day.

And the pitstop for this leg of the race is...

What's cookin' in my kitchen...

2007-02-12T21:52:00.000+02:00

...or rather, "who's cooking in my kitchen?" Not me! Last week was cooking week for the month, so now my kitchen just looks pretty and is the place to put dirty dishes.

The freezer's more full than it has ever been. I even had to take the shelf out since I couldn't figure out a way to make everything fit with it in. Current contents: 14 single serving lasagnas; 10 egg casseroles; 5 barbecued chicken/rice/broccoli meals; 3 roasted chicken/rosemary potatoes/green bean meals; 1 hamburger soup; 1 large container chocoloate chip cookie dough; 1 lg container peanut butter cookie dough; 1 lg container mashed potatoes; 1 small container green beans; 8 spaghetti/pizza/all-purpose-tomato-based sauce; 4 bags corn; 1 bag carrots; 1/2 bag french fries; and 1 container blueberries, currently being hoarded for a special occasion yet to be named (blueberries only appear in the market here for about a week each summer, and I've managed to miss that week both summers I've been here. A kind soul had mercy upon me and shared hers this year). So no more cooking for a while =)

Happy Birthday, Sadie!

2007-02-04T14:15:00.000+02:00

Today my one & only niece turns 6 - happy birthday, Sadie!

A Quarter of a Century!

2007-02-03T15:53:00.000+02:00

Today is my baby sister Sarah's 25th birthday - happy birthday, sista'!

I always make Sarah a birthday cake (and then send her pictures while we enjoy her cake over here!). This year she said she wanted a hamster-shaped cake. Not being a cake decorating genius, 2 questions immediately came to my mind: (1) how in the world do you make a hamster-shaped cake? and (2) who in the world would want a hamster-shaped cake, anyway? The answer to the second was obvious...my somewhat strange little sister. =) And the answer to the second? Well, after resorting to a Google image search, I came up with this. It is almost as random as the original request...

Yeah, I still haven't figured out the frosting thing...it doesn't seem to matter what I do, it always comes out soft. Then you put it in my overly warm apartment, and the frosting starts sliding off the side. Romanian powdered sugar has a different consistency, so it tastes okay, but isn't quite the same as a can of Duncan Hines!

The girls here thought we should have ham(ster)burgers, too, to make the meal complete. Don't you wish you were here, Sarah, so you could celebrate your birthday, too? Actually, Sarah celebrated her birthday by purchasing her plane tickets to come visit me at the end of March; maybe I'll make her another cake then (probably not shaped like a hamster's rear end, though).

Winter's Here!

2007-01-30T16:18:00.000+02:00

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...

2007-01-23T14:12:00.000+02:00

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...

2007-01-20T20:51:00.000+02:00

...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.

2007-01-17T14:45:00.000+02:00

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

2007-01-13T13:18:00.000+02:00

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!

2007-01-13T11:19:00.000+02:00

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!

2007-01-12T22:43:00.000+02:00

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?

2007-01-02T00:57:00.000+02:00

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

2007-01-01T00:49:00.000+02:00

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 =)