Update on the Bug

I survived

;)

AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I seriously just saw a really big bug scurry across the floor of my room, and now I'm totally freaked out cause I can't find it and I'm afraid it's going to crawl in bed with me during the night...

This was not intended to be a funny post, but I know you are probably all laughing and rolling your eyes...seriously, not funny!

The Simple Life

So, I am literally living on a farm...and here are the pictures to prove it! It's actually very pretty, and the cows don't usually smell too bad ;)

"You want to do What?!?"

Since there is wireless internet here at the hotel, I brought my laptop with me to Romania. However, the first time I needed to charge it, I realized that I couldn't because the plug for my computer has three prongs and my power converter only takes plugs with two prongs. Since that was on like my second day here, I've been without my computer for a little over two weeks. Thank goodness for my iPod (I knew there was a reason I bought the iPod Touch, haha)!

Anyway, the cord for my laptop is actually two cords that connect - one goes to the computer, and one goes to the power outlet. Someone told me that I could buy a cord here that plugs into the outlet to use instead of the American one, and I was so excited! So, yesterday, I went with Lois to Real (it's kinda like Walmart, and then there are other little stores inside - kinda like a mini mall...) and we looked for the cord, but none of them matched. I was so disappointed! As we were leaving, we noticed a small computer store, and though I knew they wouldn't have the cord I would need, I figured it wouldn't hurt to look.

So, we go inside, I find the guy that speaks English, and explain my situation. He looked at my cords and said that I could only get the cord I needed in the U.S. (I was so sad...); however, he's like, we can just cut the cord and put a European plug on there. I was like, "you wanna do what?" So, he explained it to me again, and when I asked how much he was like, "I don't know, we've never done this before" and laughs. Ummm...

He ended up quoting me 10 lei (that's less than 5 dollars!), so I figured, worst case scenario: they ruin my power cord, I don't have my computer while I'm here, and I have to buy a new one when I get home. So, I decided why not :)

I'm happy to report that I am typing this on my laptop as it is charging. My cord is totally ghetto now (it has electrical tape holding it together, haha), but I don't care. It works!

So, now I can post pics on my blog (yay!). Check back in a couple days, and I probably will have added pics to my older posts! Love and miss you all :)

Bored...

So, since the Delaware team left, I've been pretty bored, there really isn't much going on, so all I do is go outside and play with the kids. I mean, it's fine, but I'd really like a more structured schedule...

Dinner

While the Delaware team was here, we went out to dinner at a very nice Romanian restaurant. The food was great (as I'm finding all Romanian food is), but the service certainly left something to be desired.

After the salads came, a HUGE centipede came crawling out of Brian's. I thought he was going to throw up; his reaction was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Needless to say, after that, most of the salads didn't get eaten. Then, we all got our main dishes, and Brian got a meal that was completely different from what he ordered. When we told the waiter what had happened, he said that they had run out of what was ordered, so they just chose something else for him...strange. But, after the bug in his salad, he wasn't really hungry anyway. Then we got our desserts, and I'm waiting and waiting for mine to come, and it never did, so, once again, we tell the waiter, and they had run out of what I ordered, so they just didn't bring me anything!

Once again, this was a really nice restaurant! I'm just attributing it to cultural differences... :)

Oradea

So, I've been into town a few times now, and it's very cool. All of the building are very old and very European; most of them are pretty tall with a shop on the first story and apartments on top.

What's so great about Romania???

Everyone is short here!!! Seriously, I'm like average height for a Romanian. It's kinda nice for a change :)

Two Funny Stories :)

So, I forgot to mention two funny things that happened while I was with the choir...

At the first church, I was sitting next to this guy who helps out with the choir (though I'm not exactly sure what he does!), and he was really trying to make conversation with me before the service started even though his English was very poor. However, he was asking if I knew any other languages, and I said that I spoke a little bit of Spanish - and I definitely stressed the "un poco", and he said that he spoke a little bit of Spanish as well. About half way through the worship service, he said that he would translate what was going on into Spanish for me if I would like. So, I'm thinking that would be amazing! I thought he would just tell me what they were doing, but no, he started translating every single word for me! So, now, I'm not only hearing one foreign language, but two!!! Plus, I didn't understand much of what he was saying! I kinda just sat there nodding my head because I felt bad, and every time I thought about the situation, I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing!

Then, we got to the second church a couple hours early so that the choir could set up their sound system and rehearse. So, after they finished rehearsing, a lot of people layed down in the pews to rest. Since we had left at 6:00 that morning, I of course decided to do the same. I'm not really sure how long I slept, but when I woke up there was this old lady standing over me because I was in her spot! I was sooo embarrassed!!! I sat up and moved as quickly as I could, and then one of the pastors came over to speak with me (I'm not sure if he was going to reprimand me or what) and I tried to explain that I was with the choir, but I wasn't getting anywhere, so he finally left. The choir was back up on stage practicing (I had woken up when the music came on), so of course all the kids saw what was happening and were cracking up - so much so that the choir director turned around and started laughing too! It was pretty funny!

Traveling with the Choir

Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to travel with the choir to a nearby village where they had two performances. (For those of you who don't know, Caminul Felix has a choir that does concerts to help raise money for the orphanage.) The concerts were performed at two different churches that were very different from each other.

First of all, church in Romania was pretty different than church in the U.S. The morning service begins at 9 am and ends at 12 pm - yep, that's right, three hours! The worship part of the service consist of singing a couple songs, then someone coming up and talking (I think they may have been reading scriptures, but who knows!!), and then everyone prays individually - but audibly - and then they start all over again; this continues for the first hour and a half. Then someone does announcements, and then the pastor preaches for the final hour. For someone who doesn't speak the language, this is an exceptionally LONG service!

If I were to describe the first church in one word, it would be "genuine". The people were friendly, and a couple of them came up to try to speak to me (I say try because my Romanian sucks!). When they prayed individually, it really seemed like they were genuinely crying out to God (once again, "seemed" because I have no idea what was actually being said, haha).

In the second church, the atmosphere just felt so oppressive. All of the women wore scarves on their heads (the younger girls had their's folded into headbands, but they all had something on their head); plus the men sat on one side of the church, and the women and children sat on the other. The order of the service was the same, and when the congregation prayed individually, it didn't seem genuine in the least. It was as though they were just making noise so as to seem as though they were praying. At the end of the service, when the fed us dinner, no one came up to speak with us at all. They kinda just handed us our food, stood back, and watched us eat. I also got some very strange looks since I was sitting with the congregation and not wearing anything on my head!!!

The second church really got me thinking about two things:

1. Why do we go to church? Are we there because it is expected of us or because we genuinely want to be there? And, if it's only because it's expected of us, should we even be going at all?

2. How do we treat new people who come to our church? Do we welcome them and try to make them feel at home, or do we stand back and hope someone else will talk to them so that we don't have to?

Delaware People...

Amidst the jumble of Romanian words that I hear throughout the day (practically none of which I understand!!!), I often hear words thrown in like Brian, Stacey, and Brad. Know that you are missed, but not forgotten :)

Sports Camp!

So, last week I got to help a team from Delaware put on a sports camp for the kids. It was a great way to meet people and so much fun. I mostly helped get the lunches ready for the kids (since we all know I'm not exactly an athlete!); however, when I wasn't doing that, I got to help with the little kids (ages 5-9). Naturally, some of the first Romanian words that I learned were for "sit down" and "listen" haha. On Friday - the last day of the camp - an altar call was given, and over 40 kids accepted Christ into their hearts. I literally broke down in tears when I heard them praying the sinners' prayer. It was amazing and something I will never forget!

The Flights

So, I flew out of LAX last Friday (June 20), and, though we arrived at the airport in plenty of time, I barely made my flight. Here's how it all went down ;) ...

We left at about 8:00 that morning, which was in plenty of time to make my flight that left at 1:55. Traffic was great the entire way there, so we stopped at In-N-Out for lunch (mmmm...) and got to airport at probably like 11:30. I bought my tickets online and the email I received with all of my flight information said that I was flying on LOT Polist Airlines, so we're driving through the airport, looking for the terminal (there are seven) that I need to go to; we made it to the last terminal (which was for United) where I then got out of the car to ask which terminal I needed to go to. I was told to go back to terminal 3 where all of the international airlines are, so we started the loop all over again. At terminal 2, we stopped again to make sure that the information the last person had told us was still correct, this was confirmed, and we continued on to terminal 3, found parking, and went inside. However, LOT was no where to be found. So, we asked at the information desk and they told me that LOT does not fly out of LAX (I know!!!) and that I would actually be flying United - which, if you remember, was terminal 7 where we first stopped to ask for directions. By this time, it's already like 12:00, so we're rushing. We go back out to the car, drive to the parking garage for terminal 7 and go inside, where there are TONS of people waiting in line to go through security. Being the experienced traveler that I am (as in, not at all), it was pretty overwhelming. I checked in on the computer monitor, checked my bag, got what I thought was my boarding pass, and got in line to go through security. I made it through the first checkpoint where I said goodbye to my family, and got in the next line. At the next checkpoint I was told that the ticket I had received when I checked in was not my boarding pass and that I needed to go back. I had to wait in line to get my boarding passes for a really long time because there was a lady asking stupid questions at the front. I finally got back to the line for security at 1:25, and now I'm really freaking out. I finally got to my gate at 1:53 (no lie) and luckily my flight was delayed (thank God!). Once I got there I was able to relax, and we didn't end up boarding the plane until like 2:15. However, the plane didn't take off until 3:05, so then I was worried about making my connecting flight. When I got to Chicago, it turned out that I had to get on a tram thingie (haha) to get to another terminal which meant that I had to go through security again. I literally walked onto the plane minutes before we took off. The flight from Chicago from Poland was good; I slept about half the time, so the flight didn't seem too long. It took about 2 minutes to go through customs in Poland, so then I had three hours to sit in the airport to wait for my next flight. I was soooo bored; seriously, there is only so much you can do in an airport when you don't speak the language ;) The flight from Poland to Budapest only took about an hour, and when I got there, they didn't even check my passport or anything. I was really amazed at how different security is from country to country. John and Lois (a U.S. missionary couple from Caminul Felix) picked me up at the airport with a group from Delaware who are here for a week, and we made the four hour bus ride to Caminul Felix. Hungary was beautiful (the pic is of Hungary); it was very green and lush and all of the houses were very European and cool. The sun actually does not go down here until 10:00 (crazy!), so I was able to see things for the first couple of hours. We finally got to CF at about 1 in the morning and, of course, went straight to bed! :)

Way Overdue...

Sorry, everybody...I know I haven't posted in a while, and you're probably all wondering how things are going in Romania; however, you will have to wait a little while longer ;) Things are really busy here and I haven't had enough time to actually sit down and write, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I did make it here safely and I'm having a great time! There is another group here right now, and I'm helping them with a sports camp. As soon as I get a chance, I will update you all on all the exciting things that are happening!

XOXO

Some days, it's tough being blonde...

Okay, so I bought my plane tickets today, and it was surprisingly complicated. I need to arrive in Budapest (where I will then be picked up and driven to Romania) on June 21 which means that I need to leave on June 20, right? Well, that's what I thought, but then as I started looking at all the flights and times, I got sooo confused! Especially when I was looking at flights coming home - I will actually arrive home on the same date that I leave Romania/Budapest. I literally had to call my parents, tell them all the flight times, and make sure that I had all of my dates right. Anyway, I finally got it all figured out and bought my tickets; I leave on June 20 and return on August 5. Next step - let my contacts in Romania know when I will be arriving and pray that they are there to pick me up!!!

Romania!!!

As most of you know, I am going to Romania this summer to work at an orphanage. I'm creating this blog primarily to keep everyone updated on the planning and everything that goes on while I'm there, and then I'm sure I'll become addicted and keep it going once I'm back, haha. I'm not really sure what else to say right now, but I'm sure I'll have more to write soon. Hope you have fun reading :)

btw...why don't they have the option to make my font pink??? i'm quite disappointed at the moment... ;)