What's goin' on?

So here's the lowdown of what's going on around here lately. Last week Tuesday Karen, the boys, and I went to Sovata to a salt mine and then to a salt lake (pictures in the last entry). It was beautiful. The mine itself was a little bit wierd. Apparently Romanians think that spending time down there is good for your immunity and your health in general. So there are playgrounds and a church, and places to eat...all there for people to enjoy. It was intriguing just to see that. Despite it being strange, it was still amazing. The "cieling" was REALLY high and the ground was really smooth. The walls had salt all over them (go figure) and it had this damp, salty feel. It almost felt like you were at the beach at night. The salt lake was breathtaking to me. It reminded me of a lake in Algonquin, but it was a lot smaller and really deep. The best part of salt water swimming is floating!
While we were out in Sovata, Maurice stayed back and recieved our "new" car! It's a white, opel wagon. It's really nice and the perfect size for us. We've realized that driving people around could be a big part of our "ministry" living here. Many people don't have vehicles and if we can lend them a ride to Tsigmadru, why not? Maurice has actually done a lot of driving people around. There were about 3 teams that came from the Netherlands spanning over the time we got here until just last week. He's been helping tote them around and he's also worked out in the church of Tsigmadru with them. This week kinda feels a little strange with no team being here! =]
Karen and I participated in elderly club on Thursday and Friday. We made cards with them and it was a lot of fun. They loved it and one of the groups actually asked us if we would do a "photo shoot" with them next time. That will be a lot of fun. I guess I wasn't expecting 70-something-year-old Romanian ladies to have that much personality. But man, they have enough personality to float a boat. They were adorable. I'm really looking forward to participating in that more often this year!

As for the Beregan apartment ministry ideas/opportunities...it's on hold right now. We were waiting for Roberta to get back because she is in good standing with the director of the school there, whom we have to communicate with. Dorothy told us before she left for the states that's what we should do. Now that Roberta is back, there will hopefully be some new developments with that in the next two weeks.
This week Karen and I led worship together at church. It was great. Karen has been playing piano each week, but just these past 2 weeks, I got to sing. =] Maurice regularly helps with scripture reading. I am really starting to feel at home at that church. I thought it would be difficult going from a church family so big to one so small, but it turns out God knows what he is doing. I really enjoy being able to see people and know who they are and ask them how they are...I can pretty much ask everyone in the church! And I've realized that I still have my family back in the states too, they aren't going anywhere and are showing amazing support. (THANKS!)
This is me, Amelia (Magda B.'s friend) and Karen.
Next week Nolan and Liam begin school at a local private kindergarten. They’ll be in the same class along with two other English boys their age (Gabriel and Sebastian…Bethany and Mihai’s son), so be praying for them as they have to relearn how to live here and will be undergoing a lot of mental stress. It’s an English school, but the majority of the children are Romanian and therefore, speak Romanian.
This week, I will be going out to Tsigmadru and working with the teens in that town. I'm really excited about that and I'm hoping to be very involved in the programs with them. It's really a big answer to prayer. Hans and Nelutzu need a lady around and I'm here...and I've been wanting to work with youth out in Tsigmadru. Anyway, please be praying for that! That all goes well and I learn to work with them in a healthy way.
And that my friends, "is all I've got to say about that." =]

Accumulation of Photos

Okay, so the truth is I let time slip through my fingers this week and forgot all about posting. So forgive the excess and mixedness of the following:















Sunset out in the hills. We drove with our "new" car to one of the towns outside of Sighisoara and just climbed a random hill. It was beautiful.















The Sighisoara train station. This part is actually the nicest looking thing among a mess of a station. And this part is nonfunctional right now. =]



















The forest near the Breite. There's no shrubbery! (Shrubbery is probably one of my favorite words.)
















There is an explanation. This my friends, is me in a salt mine in Sovata. I was simply making sure that my money was well spent (like a true dutch girl) and that it was authentic. Indeed it was.















We spent the rest of the afternoon at a salt lake in Sovata! It was incredible. I laughed as I floated in the lake and recalled memories of swimming in the Mediterranean with some of my best friends. The difference here was that this salt lake was a "natural reservation" and could only be swum, swam, swimmed (I have never been able to figure out the past tense of that and I was a swimmer!) in from 3-5PM. No other times permitted! Haa.




















Liam and Nolan goofing off at the lake. They always make things interesting, that's for sure.



















This is Real (pronounced ray-al) in all her glory. Kidding of course. But she's a beaut, a real big one! (Steve Erwin anyone? His voice incessantly rings in my ears and my brain is beginning to hardwire itself to enjoy his little mannerisms. Animal Planet is one of the VERY few English television stations we get. And you better believe that with two boys, it's all that this house sees.)



















"Citadel." For anybody who wasn't good at history, that's pretty much a town square- a fortress used to protect a town. We live within the walls of the old historical fortress of Sighisoara.



















The bridge to the Orthodox Church in Sighisoara.















A view overlooking the "river" and onto the main "highway" that goes through Sighisoara.



I hope you enjoyed those, instead of feeling overwhelmed by the quantity of them. I will try harder to split up my picture taking and posting. Haha. Right now I don't have time to write much of an update, but one will come early on this week. I hope. =]
Thank you for your prayers!

Mastery in the Art of Baking

So it's Happy 1-month Anniversary to us! =] We've successfully survived (quite well, mind you!) an entire month in the country of Romania. WOOT.
So the accomplishment of the month on my behalf, is baking. (I know, I'm all about accomplishing things these days, but you've gotta set goals when living a completely new life!) And baking is a pretty grand one if you ask me. Let me share with you the wonders of Mel's Kitchen (okay so it’s not really MY kitchen, just bear with me):

Crepes. This was the last one of the batch. And the best. =]
Blackberry muffins! And I only burnt about 4 of them. Haha.
Anniversary cake. I give my good friend Betty some props on this one (it kinda came from a box.) The frosting however, is all my creation.

There have been more sweet, tasty goodies made with these crafty hands of mine, but I believe these to be the best of the bunch.

Now here is the reason baking is such an obstacle to be tackled:I don't know if you can see it. But this is our oven and the temperature reads: Big flame or little flame making it a little hard to judge what temperature the oven is when it has been lit. Also, it's a gas oven and has to be lit with a match. I can't take any credit for that part of cooking though, Karen seems to be the only one in the house who has conquered that feat.
In fact, Karen has mastered cooking in general. She makes us wonderful meals and I don't know how she does it half of the time...making "American food" with Romanian groceries is not the easiest thing to do. We've had our fair share of "interesting" flavors and unexpected textures, but all of us are willing to try new things and open to pretty much anything.

Liam is by far the most adventurous with food. That boy will put anything that even remotely looks like food in his mouth. And usually he'll chew it up and stomach it too, even when he doesn't really like it. The other night we were eating chicken off the bone, and he threw a piece of bone in his mouth, determined to eat it, and chewed for about 5 minutes. He gave up, but only when Karen reminded him that bone is not for eating.
And no matter what, he's always hungry. There isn't a day that goes by without hearing the words "I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry" fall out of Liam's mouth. Karen said that last night when he was passing the dinner table on the way to his midnight bathroom break, he declared that he was "ready to eat his dinner now". It was one in the morning. =]

Liam devouring some delicious chicken. One night he took the leftovers from lemonade and decided they'd make a good snack. I tried it, but could only make it through the picture. Too sour for me!

This past week we did some more exploring. Perhaps you'll find more pictures up later this week. =]
There isn't much to update with ministries, except that both Karen and I helped with worship this Sunday in the absence of Dorothy and Roberta (the two missionaries that live down the street). Karen has also been providing stories for the kid's sunday school and helping with that. Maurice did the benediction. It's been great to be an active part of the church and I'm excited to see where our responsibilities will fall "permanently" (for the year). Continue to pray as we earnestly seek his will for us here, and thank you for your prayers thus far!
Life here seems to have become "normal" to us. We're starting to find an every day ebb and flow that works for us, but not for long! The boys start school in two weeks and hopefully we will have begun things in Beregon by then...life will be up in the air yet again and living here will be a whole new wave of discovery.

But no matter how many days go by, I still wake up every morning and smile to myself. I am living in Romania. God is so good!=]

Love is in the Air

This week has been spent exploring, investigating, accomplishing, and enjoying. Hence, there are plenty of pictures to share.
This is one of my favorites. The flowers here are beautiful. And I'll spare you from meaningless millions of pictures of them because they're much better to see in person, in context.

Karen, the boys, and I went on a "hike" earlier this week up into the hills of Sighisoara. We went as high as we could and this is a taste of what it looked like:

I tried to do this panoramic thing with my computer. It didn't quite turn out like I'd hoped. But no worries, I have a video for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9s8HJwlA5s

Zoomed in picture on the citadel/clock tower area.

Karen and I also tromped down to the market yesterday. It was "market day" and I really love going on those days. There are a ton of people. The little old Romanian ladies smile wide at me and I smile right back. The atmosphere buzzes. I can't get enough of it!

This picture doesn't do the market justice. There will be plenty more to follow throughout the year though.

And this is just the accomplishment I'm most proud of this week. My closet. Woot woot.

Rope and nails: about 5 lei
Having a closet: priceless

The reason for the title:
I sat on my back steps last night after the boys had fallen asleep and Karen n' Maurice were on a walk. I spent time to just absorb the not-so-silent silence. The wind picked up fast and the trees bent and swayed. The grapevine twisted every which way and exposed the silver backs of grape leaves. I felt the left over heat of the day mix with the oncoming storm coolness and brush against my knees and face. The skies flashed behind the hills that surround us and the ground rumbled. It was fantastic to once again be reminded that our God is fierce, a God to be feared.
I absolutely love storms. And they seem even more intense here on the hilltops of Romania.

God romances me stupendously.
It's good to know he can never be outdone and will keep at it forever. =]

[Did I scare anyone?]

Boys will be boys.

I think it's about time for another update. =] This week has been busy, which I am actually excited about. I've watched the boys several times and they are a riot. One minute you love them and the next they're asking for food. Haha. They are funny though and I'm learning how to live with them peacefully. =] This week they've been doing lots of outdoors "camping" and this is their tent:

Liam on the left. Nolan on the right. They also just got new rain boots this week. They absolutely love them and wear them everywhere. Even while walking into town! Nolan once wore his shorts with his bright orange boots and went for a walk with Maurice. He got a few sideglances, but he was unaware and could care less. It was quite the comical sight.
This is a huge snail they hunted down one afternoon. It was a good hour of entertainment.

So here's what I've learned so far from living with two younger "brothers" :

-There are unpredictable substances everywhere. Hence I sat in silly puddy and had a puddy tail this week.

-Bodily functions are loud and proud.

-Anything I'm doing is worth investigating.

-There is no correct position for the toilet seat.

-Noise at any time is a good thing: growling, yelling, stomping, tractor engines

-Hands in the pants is A-okay in their heads.

-The Princess Bride is NOT the best movie ever because of the story. It's ALL about the sword fighting.

So yeah, life here is a daily adventure. I spent one day this week out in Tsigmadru working in the church to do some organizing (scary, huh...me organizing!). Roberta asked me to work on building shelves out there. When I went to see what the job would entail this is what I encountered:

A pile of mismatched shelving with all different sizes, shapes, and other foreign objects lodged in there. So I took the day to just try and sort through it all. And here is the result:
WOOOooo. All organized by size, color, where certain holes were in the wood, and whatever else I could find differences in. Still I don't know if I will be able to conquer the task of assembling them. I think I'll need the assistance of someone who either took them apart or have put similar shleves together...because there is just too much! And wood glue, dowels, and screws are who knows where in the church. We shall see.
Today, Maurice and I went out to Tsigmadru and ended up not doing any construction. We brought the team out there lunch, talked with Hans a little, and then decided to get further supplies for the other construction workers. So we came back to Sighisoara to the hardware store and attempted to buy paint with no luck, they were out. We're not too upset about it though, because that's the kind of stuff Roberta (the other missionary here) does all the time. And if we can do it to be of any help and relieve her (although, she's back in the states on vacation right now =] )...then it's well worth our while.
Anyway, Karen and I just got back from meeting with a couple of people about starting a ministry in "downtown" Sighisoara. It went well, we think. Our next step is to talk to the director of the school in the area in order to try and get use of the facilities. We are hoping that goes smoothly. Please pray for us as we continue to pursue starting ministries here. Thank you so much for your support!
Pe curand! (See you later!)

Imagination makes it happen

I wanted to share just a couple of photos to hold you over for the next couple of days. =]
This is a picture of a pathway I found on the way to the market. I'm not sure I'll ever see it again, because I got lost. This place is beautiful though. Everywhere and anywhere begs to be photographed.
My favorite accomplishment of the week. I suggested that we hang on to our plastic bottles because they'd make good shelving. So we had several laying around from the past couple of weeks and now that we have a Brita filter we don't need them...to hold water! Karen cut out holes in the top of them and took a pot and banged some nails into the beams and wah-lah! A nice, cheap shelving system. =] Nails in the beam also work great for keeping our pots off the counter and reserving space in the shelves. Take that functional fixedness.

Welcome!

Well I think it's due time that you all see where I live. This is my (well, our) humble abode.

This is the front of the house. The top floor is the one we live on.
This picture is just a better view of the street that we're on. It's called cojocarilor because there is an old historical tower to the left of where this picture was taken that we're pretty sure a clock maker worked in. Our house is where he lived. Hence we have clocks all throughout it. Hopefully, you'll be able to see that in this video! =] Just click the link and it will take you there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7xwUDjnPGU

It's all in the...food.

Of all the things I could be missing...friends, family, smokeless rooms, quiet mornings, big refrigerators, air conditioning, dish washer, driving/having a car, and the list goes on...I found myself missing Wegmans the most the other day. I remember Lindsay coming back from France (only two weeks ago) and being uber excited to visit Wegmans. At the time I thought it was strange, but little did I know I would shortly be longing to dance in the aisles of excess sustenance. I know it sounds ridiculous, but everything around this house seems to do with food. If we're not eating, we're thinking about what to make for the next meal and/or how to acquire the food it requires. Then taking steps (literally) to get the food is quite the production. It all depends on whether or not we have a vehicle to use. If we do, we can buy "as much as we want." If we don't, we can only buy as much as we can carry or as much as we can fit in our college-sized refridgerator, whichever comes first. Buying what we need means going to at least 2 different locations and usually 3. Everything comes from all over the place, no organization involved. Call it selfish, materialistic, acquisitive, or avaricious...but Wegmans = bliss.

That is why my adventure to the city of Târgu Mureş today was great. We went to a store called Real and it is possible that it's larger than Wegmans. It's like Wegmans and Walmart made babies and this is what popped out (painful birth if you ask me). There are entire aisles devoted to one single thing like this one:

Behold, the milk aisle.
There was also a cheese aisle. Mainly the dairy stuff held it's own. And although this is what I found myself missing, walking down the glorious aisles seemed not so glorious. It actually felt kinda wrong. I have no idea how many Romanians actually use a store like this (obviously enough to keep it running), but most cannot. Why do I find myself attached to having so many options? Ya git whatchya git. Be happy with it. Basically, the trip quenched my thirst for Wegmans and made me feel content (for the most part =] ) with the open air market, the meat market, and the 3 alimentare stores that we like, which was really nice. And don't get me wrong, these stores do not exist all over Romania...we travelled over an hour to get to Real.
It was a gorgeous drive...

The view from my window.
The trip home required some flexibilty and agility on my behalf because Hans (seen on the left hand side of the photo) and Roberta had to get some supplies. And so did we.

You can't see it, but there are piles of Styrofoam over my head.

Here's the list of "stuff" we had to get:

-Frying pan

-Peeler

-Spatula

-Sink drain strainer*

-Bread pan

-Cake pan

-Brita filter

-small fan

-Strainer

-Plastic table cloth

It may all seem random. That's because it is. It's all stuff that wasn't available in our town, Sighisoara.

*We discovered the necessity of this by experience. Our sink clogged and was overflowing into the neighboring drawers and onto the floor earlier this week. When our landlord came to fix it he detatched the little "S-curve" thing and pulled out a watermelon seed and said "Nu." Simply "no." Ha. He must have been thinking "stupid Americans." We got the point though, no food down the drain...no matter how small.