Two Years!

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

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

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

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

EU Fairy Dust?

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Once in a Lifetime

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

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

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

A Road Trip to Ring in the New Year

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

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

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

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

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

Christmas in TM

A Doua Zi A Craciunului - the 2nd Day of Christmas

While much of the English speaking world celebrates Boxing Day (and those in America celebrate after-Christmas clearances & long lines for returns), we in Romania celebrate "the second day of Christmas." In the village of Bahnea, the children's Christmas program was held on the 26th. Our team has worked with the church in Bahnea for several years, and our translator Gabi was responsible for planning and directing this year's Christmas program - so a bunch of us loaded up in the car & made the trek out to the village to enjoy the show.

And what a show it was! I'm not sure where Gabi got the idea, but she decided to tell the Christmas story as a news broadcast. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, she and the kids spent a lot of weekend and evening hours recording "interviews" with the shepherds, the angels, people on the streets in Bethlehem, etc. Then she edited all of the clips into a news broadcast. Most of the kids got to do the "hard part" ahead of time, without an audience (which helped eliminate the nerves, giggles, etc. that often punctuate children's programs), leaving only the two "anchors" to do their parts live during the service while cutting away to "on the scene" reporters shown on the monitor. SOOOOO much work, but excellently done!

The anchorman & anchorwoman (on the right) speaking to a

"prophecy expert" (on the monitor).

All of the kids involved in the program

After the program, the kids all received their Christmas boxes from Samaritan's Purse & Operation Christmas Child. The boxes are such a blessing to our kids - and it was so much fun to watch some of them open their boxes and discover the treasures inside. For those of you who helped packed shoeboxes this year, thank you for your sacrifices on the behalf of children around the world. (In case you were wondering, this year it appeared that the boxes distributed here were from the UK.)

What Is Christmas?

For our kids' Christmas program (at 5 pm on Christmas Day - the 2nd service of the day), a group of the teens presented a skit that we had seen at the youth conference in Bucharest a few weeks earlier. The lines & music were all on a prerecorded track, so all they had to do was lipsync & act (a huge relief for most teens!). The skit, entitled "Ce este Craciun?" or "What is Christmas?" is about a kid entering the library, looking for information about Christmas. The librarian hauls out her mega-size Bible concordance, and all are shocked to find that the things they normally associate with our celebration of the birth of Christ are nowhere to be found in Scripture (things like the word "Christmas" itself, the word "Noel", the concept of a silent & still night at the manger, a little drummer boy, etc.). After all of their misconceptions are exposed, the teens are left to ask, "Then what IS Christmas?" That's where the pastor jumped in with a reading of the Christmas story and the younger children took over with their songs and poems about the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of the Savior, the incarnate Son of God - one of the events in history that is far beyond my ability to comprehend!

Choir

Christmas Eve, before caroling, was our choir program. A couple of days earlier, I had managed to talk my way out of the solo descant part I was supposed to sing (no one wants to hear a soprano singing flat, and I just wasn't hitting it right), so I was much more relaxed than in the preceding days. Just singing with the choir & playing my flute for one song (yes, Sarah, I know it's still technically your flute...but possession is 9/10 of the law, right? And you're on the other side of the world...if you want it, you'll have to come and get it!). The choir did a great job, and it was nice to see some extra faces in the congregation, too.

Colindat

I wish I had (or knew) a way to attach sound files to my blog. As I learned last year, Romanians take their Christmas caroling seriously! Last year, I showed up at 6 pm on Christmas Eve as instructed, expecting to be home by 9 or so. Nine came and went...and ten...and eleven...and midnight. I finally arrived home at almost 2 in the morning! And that was only because I told pastor I really had to go (silly me...I thought I could just eat dinner when I got home...by 2 a.m., I was in trouble!).

This year, I was prepared for the all-nighter (I made sure to eat dinner first!)- and we were all prepared to sing, because we had had several rehearsals in the weeks preceding (I told you they take their caroling seriously!). The result was an incredible harmony, which was only enhanced by the acoustics in concrete stairwells. I have several short recordings...I wish you could hear them!

We finished at the "last" stop at about midnight and shuffled passengers so that people were headed home to the correct areas of the city with their drivers. But we weren't REALLY done yet. One of the men took Dani, our choir director home, and then the rest of us reconvened near his apartment and surprised him by caroling at HIS door.

Pastors' Wives' Fellowship

On December 13, the ladies on our team hosted a brunch for pastors' wives from our partnering churches. After a nice breakfast (especially nice for those of us who rarely cook breakfast!), we made a Christmas craft, sang some Romanian Christmas carols, and then spent some time praying for each other. Overall, a great time - and I'm sure a nice change of pace for these pastors' wives who rarely have opportunity to fellowship with others "in the same boat" as they are.