Wednesday, September 19
Picture Leftovers
Anyway, hope you find picture leftovers just as great. =]
Me and the hooligans in the apple tree at Dorothy and Roberta's house.
In bucatarie este un frigider mai mare. (In the kitchen there's a very big refridgerator. [I've been practicing my kitchen vocab lately.] )
Strugul. (Grapes) These are off of the vine in our backyard. YUM.
Monday, September 17
Mental Stretch
But my personal paperwork process was quick and painless. I walked in and he flipped through everything, said "sign here and here" and that was that. I am visa-fied. Although before that, we all collectively had to leave the first building, go to another to pay for the visas, and come back with a reciept. Then they processed the paperwork. And when I say "they" I mean, "he". There was only one person working. =]
The way back home was groggy and quiet, until we passed through Tsigmadru which was my stop. I wanted to stay in Tsigmadru for the teen club. We joked that Dorothy could just slow down and I would roll out the window, but that's what it felt like. I was dropped off at the road to the church with a "la revedere" (goodbye) and off the rest of the crew went. Little did I know, Nelutu had just left the church (it was 5 and teens doesn't start until 7) and the only people there at the church were the two guys who do construction. They speak little-to-no English, but I managed to communicate in broken Romanian that I was staying for teens, but I was hungry so I was going to a magazin for some food...and I would be right back. I went and came back (with no food) and still no Nelutu, so I just sat outside and read for awhile. Then I got a call (much to my surprise...I had the cellphone?!) from Maurice asking if I had the keys to our house in Sighisoara. Indeed I did. Both pairs. WAY TO GO me!! Soooo, then I called Emil (our property owner, kind of) and communicated with him in some more broken Romanian that I was in Tsigmandru with both keys and Karen and Maurice were in Sighisoara at home with none. I managed to get him to understand and then I managed to understand myself that he would send Liana (his wife) with a key to the house for Karen and Maurice.
Alright, so finally 7 arrives and I think to myself...back to "normal"...back to what I'm used to doing at that particular time on this day. It wasn't so. Teens came and I said "buna ziua" (hello) and they said it back and we exchanged small talk (cause that's all I really know in Romanian) and I thought they were going to stay so I walked over and sat on the church steps. They left while Nelutu was upstairs doing something. One of the girls who's really patient with my Romanian came and sat next to me, but it was getting dark and no one else came. Nelutu came back and I joked "I scared them off" to which he laughed. But then he was upset, not with me, but with them for leaving. He ended up cancelling teens for the night and we left. I was lost in the midst of language confusion through it all. Sigh.
Note to self: Any given day in Romania will be different from any that you've already experienced. Expect the unexpected.
Saturday, September 15
Sensory Overload
Over the past week I’ve experienced several things that seem to have hit on each one of my senses individually in one way or another.
Taste: Every time I go out to Tsigmadru I’m offered a walnut. Right now is the beginning of walnut harvesting season and so everyone’s got them in their pockets and you can bet that at least one of a group is busy breaking, shelling, and eating them. They all laugh when I’m handed one because apparently, I don’t know how to do it right. But I get right to work and stomp on the walnut to try and break it, if that doesn’t work you get another one and squeeze them together in your hands, and if THAT doesn’t work, you resort to your teeth. Now mom, I know you would highly advise against this, but you do what you’ve gotta do. =] So yeah, it’s a lot of work for a little bit of nut. But they’re pretty good. And I can’t deny that I like the challenge.
Touch: This morning Karen, the boys, and I went over to “Miss Dorothy and Roberta’s” house to pick apples. Roberta told us that they were just going to go bad if they weren’t picked, so we went over and got them. It required climbing, balancing, stretching, and yanking on branches. It was a lot of fun. I was just thinking the other day that I wished we could go apple-picking. And so we have!
Smell: One of my favorite things about this time of year here in Romania is the grapes. I love the sweet smell of them! It’s the best when we’re walking somewhere and a waft of it comes from “nowhere”. Of course, with investigation it’s usually easy to locate the source. The running joke before we moved was that I wasn’t coming if we didn’t have a grapevine in our backyard. =] And guess what? We have one! =] So now I’m afraid I’ve been spoiled. Grapes from the vine is the only way to eat ‘em. And I think I'll always miss the smell, once we go back to the states.
Hearing: Yesterday I heard that there would be a pipe organ concert at the local German church. So when 6 rolled around I made my way over to the church. I figured that it was something I’d never really experienced and it would be interesting, even if I didn’t really enjoy it (I wasn’t planning on liking it really.) Wow, was I surprised. The man who played was amazingly talented and it was quite the experience just to sit in this old, beautiful German church and listen to him play for about an hour. The organ was up in the balcony and everyone sat down on the floor facing the opposite direction of where he was playing, but the reality is that it didn’t matter where you sat because the music engulfed the church. You could feel it in your bones. So after I had taken in the surroundings of the ancient-looking sanctuary, I put my head down on the pew in front of me and just let the music fill my head. I can’t explain just exactly how it made me feel, I can only say that it was an experience I won’t forget. I tried to “record” some of the music on my camera. Of course it doesn’t come close to the real thing, and there’s not much to see from the recording because there were actually “no cameras allowed”. I figure you won’t rat me out though. If you’re interested in hearing a bit of it…here’s a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxA0jLRwZag
On squat: Okay I know “squat” isn’t a real sense. But if I could’ve had a 6th sense for these past two months, it would have been a sense of “squattage”. Let me explain. Any time anything was needed from the refrigerator, one would have to squat to get it. You better believe my legs were feeling the burn from that, sensing that if food was involved, so were they. Some would say that is an advantage of having a mini-fridge. In fact, that should be a selling point… “Will give you quads of steel!” Well anyway, although my sense of squat was highlighted the past two months, my legs have recently been relieved of that sense. We got a big refrigerator! With more than one shelf! And a freezer!! I was so excited. I’m not sure why, because we’ll probably get relatively the same food and plenty of people live without fridges everywhere. I guess it's just a comfort of home that I'm grateful for (and wasn't really before I had lived without it).
Last, but definitely not least...
Sight: Well, I had an experience this week in Tsigmadru that left an impact on me. On Thursday I went out to practice music with Karen and Hordu (not sure how to spell his name) because we are going to be helping lead worship at the Sunday night service out there. The service will actually be a special memorial service for Magda’s mama. We practiced in the afternoon and then I stayed out in Tsigmadru with Nelutu for teens later that night. We had a break before teens and so Nelutu told me that we were going to bring food to some people from the village. He told me that they lived in the poorest part of the village, and that their daughter had some mental problems. That daughter was actually the one we were bringing the food for. I thought that was awesome that Nelutu did that for the family and was pleased to go with him. However, I don’t think anything could have prepared me for what I saw. The house (if you can call it that) was about the size of a small bedroom and was made of brick, although there were holes and gaps in the walls everywhere. The roof was made of sticks and recovered sheets of plastic. The floor was dirt and none of the children (of which there were at least 4) had shoes. There were about 4 beds scantily clad (does that phrase work here?) with dirty, old blankets. There was one wooden cabinet that was old and broken against the wall. It was hardly functional, but it held the one piece of meat that I’m sure had served as food for the past few days. The girl was obviously thrilled that Nelutu had brought her food, although she could not talk and was bed ridden. The parents looked thankful, but sad and tired. There had to be at least 8 people living in this tiny space. I describe it not to degrade the people, but to try and covey just how sad the condition is. When we left I couldn’t help but cry. How can I be even the slightest bit unhappy with my life? God has given me so much and blessed me beyond what I could ever need. And yet my heart is ungrateful and selfish, always requesting more. The realization that I want to use my life to help others was cemented that night. I can’t imagine doing anything else.
Tuesday, September 11
Time takes its toll on us.
Have I become a soul so numb
All too familiar
Words of gold have all grown cold
Over and over
I need to see you in the sunrise
Time takes its toll on us
And it tries its best just to steal our love
And we bend and we break but we don't give up
Time takes its toll on us
From the start you touched my heart
And turned it in to something more
Beautiful, you're beautiful
So why does it have to be so hard
To see you in the sunrise
Time takes, time takes away
Love remains, love remains
It's a really good song, highly recommended. =]
Although I've felt down, I can also feel God holding my hand through it all. He knows what he's doing and he's definitely trying to teach me something...even if I'm oblivious of what exactly that is right now. It's a continuous cycle of learning here. Although I'm learning completely different things than if I were in school, I'm convinced that they are just as valuable...if not more so.
And in the midst of this funk, there is still an untouchable sense of joy. God has given me the means and the will to be here! I still smile at the simplicity of it all, the citadel, the sunsets cast over the hills of Sighisoara, playing Uno with the elderly (who have their OWN set of rules), walking the boys to school in the cold of the morning, the changing color of the leaves on the trees, breathing deep upon smelling grapes nearby, and playing "futbol" in the street with the boys' friends. God is faithful, and will be to the end.
Monday, September 10
A Loss in the "Family"
Obviously this is a difficult time for the church and especially to the Cini family. Please be praying that in this time of grief, they would be comforted by God's loving touch. That an unexplainable peace would overcome the church and it's people.
Thursday, September 6
Things are picking up.
*Discovering there is a cat living under our house...the only entrance to "under our house" is under my bed. Leaving it tuna last night and hearing it eat it in the middle of the night.
*A big storm on Wednesday that brought some very cool weather.
*Building my first successful tower of cards ever!
*Sleeping in yesterday...9:30AM Woooohoo.
*My first language lesson with the American students studying abroad (I knew everything already!)
*Meeting Annie (the nurse) and spending the afternoon with her in Tsigmadru, helping tend to patients in the doctor's clinic
*Learning how to take blood pressure and what the numbers mean. (WOOT!)
Annie, the nurse. =]
Me and some patients. The baby has a umbilical hernia (I now know what that looks like!) and the little boy has a huge burn on his foot that was infected.
*Dancing with the little Romanian girls in the street to some very techno-esque Romanian music (malene).
*Playing "special rules" UNO with the teens last night. They said all the rules in Romanian. Needless to say, I was lost. I was the last one to "go out" (AKA: the loser) and so I was punished with running around the church 5 times.
*The drive home with Nelutu and him turning up his Romanian music after we had both declared "Suntem obosit", or "We are tired."
I've had a very busy week, but it's been a lot of fun too. It's good to have the boys in school and begin to have a more regular schedule to live by. I'm loving it! =]
I still inhale deeply when I walk outside, take a look around, and sometimes pinch myself. It's all real, I live in Romania! Holla back to God for that. =] Haha.
Sunday, September 2
School's out for SUMMER....wait, what happened to summer?
Bring on the year! I'm ready for it.
This week has been great. Although I posted on Tuesday, I'm not sure how I managed to hold in my excitement of getting a new guitar and not say anything! Well, the "secret" is out. I got a guitar from a place called Reghin. It was about an hour and a half away and I got up around 7 to go (that in itself proves just how excited I was about this...). Karen, Maurice, Hans, the boys, and I packed into our nice Opel wagon and hit the road. Once we got there we discovered that the Hora guitar factory was closed, but they had a store located elsewhere that was selling guitars. So we ventured over there and after much deliberation (and with the help of my handy-dandy dutch friend, Hans) I decided upon a cherry colored "Western" guitar. =] And here are my "artsy" pictures of it:
Okay, I know. Posing with the guitar= really cheesy. But I love it. I'm even considering what to name it. You see, I have a fascination with naming things. My car is Butch, my Vaio laptop is Lappy (clever, eh?), my camera is Snappy... (okay I may have lied about the last two things). Anyway, I think I'll name it a guy name just to offset the pinkish color. Suggestions anyone? =]
The guitar is actually a gift from my parents. It's my graduation present! And I am SO grateful for it. And thankful that I can afford something like this. It's such a blessing!
Hopefully, through spending plenty of quality time with it...I can improve my "skills" and eventually play for worship here at church! I really hope that I can use it to bless others in the future.
Alright, moving beyond Tuesday... the other major update from this week is that I spent some time out in Tsigmandru. Thursday I went out at night for their Youth Group and Friday I went out for Kids Club. I really enjoyed both of them. One thing it made me realize is how anxious I am to continue with Romanian language lessons. I really want to know how to speak it! And understand it (of course). Even with the little Romanian I know now, I had fun trying to communicate with the teens out in the village. They seemed really accepting of me and really kind too. It was another answer to prayer and blessing from God to me. Hopefully I will continue to be a part of the Youth Group in whatever ways I can, including attending their meetings on Monday and Thursday nights. The Kids Club was amazing too. I went to help, but Neluțu didn't really need it. I was astonished as I watched the group of 50 plus kids sit and listen to him talk for at least a half an hour. They were all respectful and attentive. 50 plus kids! How crazy is that? One man keeping that many kids under control for that long...it was extraordinary. I bet that I will be learning a lot from Neluțu this year.
Today has been spent making French toast and reading. A nice, relaxing Sunday. This morning I finally got myself in a picture in "front" of the clock tower. This may be my first "tourist" picture? Okay, not my first...but it doesn't matter...
So this is just a "hey" from me to you. Know that I'm missing you all and really appreciating your prayers and encouragements. Thank you so much!