Sunsets

The sun it setting on my time in Romania. It is just a few minutes before my ride comes and picks me up to say good bye and get on the train for Timisoara. Here are some actual sunsets I have enjoyed.

Another type of Sunset is the last of something I will do here in Romania for a while. We walked around the market (which is different than most market experiences I have had to date) and I took some pictures of things you may have misplaced that have made their way to Romania.

Misplaced the Remote? Its probably here.

Need any really old laptop/desktop parts?

Monitors and shoe, how can you go wrong?

Food - hmmm, I will miss some of the food for sure. They are big on salame, mici (pronounced meech), and fried dough. Hmmm hmmmm hmmmm, fried dough.

Mici, a very traditional pork sausage served with mustard and bread....

On the left, the best mici I had to date. On the right - hotdogs made from goat and sheep.

My favorite -Langosh - fried dough with cheese and herbs!

Mushrooms, Castles, and More

We went looking as some land the other week and stumbled upon this giant mushroom. Luckily, no one was hurt when we stumbled upon it.

Mushroom Steaks anyone?

Hunedora Castle - Hungarian in style and History

More beautiful scenery

One of the many endless fields of sunflowers

Village well.

My time has been good and I am not entirely sure what is next. Hopefully as the days progress and I recover from jetlag, I will have a better idea of the next steps in my life and dream. One thing I know for sure is that for some reason I felt like I belonged in Romania. Could just be my strange ability to adapt to wherever I am. Who knows.

In subsequent blogs over the next week, I will share tales of my journey back to the USA (which includes a stop over to see a friend in Antwerp Belgium) in addition to some of the things I did my last week in Romania and Hungary. My last week I spent volunteering for an organization called NetWorks (www.networks.org.ro). I spent several days playing and working with very poor city and village children as well as helping out in the office and cleaning cabins at the youth camp. There are more stories than I have time to tell right now.

Let the journey continue......

Seven Days of Adventure and Learning

Seven days, the number of days recorded for God to create the earth. Somehow I have to believe that His days had a different time value than mine (or He is way more productive). Most likely both are very true.

My last Seven days felt long although were packed with things to do and see, places to go, people to met and lessons to learn.

Things to Do and People to Meet:

1) Help Cerbu a Romanian who, with his New Zealander wife Nadine, provide shelter and a home for street kids (Association Mana). We spent a day painting Caleb House, the soon to be opened Boys Home.

Looking down on common area from second floor landing

Serving as "edging girl". Check out the ladder!

View from the second floor

Temporary restroom and electrical box

(yes the door to the restroom is missing)

2) Help a missionary friend pick some of the seemingly never ending fruit in his garden. We picked raspberries, mini pears and peaches. We left the apples, big pears and other fruit for another day.

Some "fruit" of our labors

3) Help Jackie Ramsey bag food for distribution to some of the Arad's poorest residents. Jackie has been here for over 15 years and her ministry is called Romanian Children's Relief. With the help of five Romanian volunteers and us three Americans we assembled over 230 bags containing oil, flour, corn meal, beans, rice, noodles, soup flavor packets, and cans of pineapple. And to celebrate the end of this project we all shared pizza and soda. It was a fabulous day. (Sorry, no photos of this event.)

Things to See and Places to Go:

Old plane made into a restaurant

Buzias, the beautiful town of mineral springs

Village scene

Romanians seem to love tile - check out this exterior wall!

One determined Billy Goat

Baby Porcupine - it was the size of a softball

Lessons Learned:

I really enjoy Romania, the people and the culture. Some of the things I really enjoy is that people will just stop by without calling ahead or making a plan. Of course, it does take some getting used to people just walking into the house without knocking.

Romanians are probably some of the most helpful people I have come across in all my travels. While at the tram kiosk purchasing "one way" tickets a woman approached us and explained that it is best to purchase a day pass since it is only 50 cents more than ours and you can ride as many trams as you want in a day. Then another woman made sure we knew where to stand and also explained the purpose of the three domes on the cathedral (which was across from the tram stop). Now just in case you think my Romanian has grown by leaps and bounds, we had a Romanian friend (Dea) with us who translated all these interactions for us. See how nice and wonderful Romanians are?

I continue to acquire (learn) more Romanian language and can construct a few sentences. Some of the kids I play with have taught me new words: Fund (someone's bottom) aroma - means "flavor", ie - what flavor ice cream, spune pronounced like our word "spoon" with an "eh" sound at the end - means "tell". My new "favorite", only because it is such a mouthful, is dumneazeu sa te binecuvinteze which means "God Bless You" in the church sense. Luckily, the way to respond to a sneeze, sanatate, is much shorter and wouldn't take me all day to figure out how to pronounce. Sanatate really means "health to you" or something like that.

Over the next couple of says I should have a better idea of what my last three weeks in Romania will look like and what might happen next. Until then "Dumneazeu sa te binecuvinteze".

Same Same but Different

It has been quite a few days since my last post partly because I was quite busy and partly because sometimes there is so much to say, it is hard to figure out what to talk about.  This post is about the things that are "Same Same but Different".  In Asia it means, well, it is the same thing, but different.  In Asia you will hear this phrase most often when you are in a shop looking at, lets say, a pink shirt and you ask the shop keeper if she has the shirt in blue.  She will point to the blue shirt and say something like - no blue, you take pink, same same but different.  

I find the phrase to be true about people as well.  We, as people, are all the same deep inside. We long for the same things: safety, love, community, food, shelter, happiness.  We are Same Same yet different in how these "core needs" are expressed through culture, experiences, .....  

Today I want to show the cultural bits are "same same", yet still different.  

Street Corners:

You must wait for the pedestrian light to change so that you can walk across or you will get a ticket.  Sounds familiar, right?  Or Same Same.  The difference is that sometimes neither the street lights or the pedestrian lights are actually on and working.  Frogger anyone (remember the old video game)?  

The main roundabout in town (same same) with seldom working traffic lights (different).

Sports:

They have sports and games just like we do although I have not seen the two main American sports of baseball and Football (USA version known as Football American in other parts of the world since most countries use the word football for soccer).  There was even an aerobics studio in the center of town.  In the parks old men (mostly) gather and play cards, chess, and a form of Rummy Q. 

Bowling (same same), the rich man's game in Romania (different)

Construction:

I did mention I was a bit of a geek, right?  Well, I like to observe how countries do basic things like roadwork, construction and sidewalk/road repair.  

Building curbs (same same) using cement blocks (different)

Upgrading a building (same same) putting color only in one section (different)

Fast Food:

There are many fast food places in town, although they are a bit different.  In a future blog I will devote more to food.  Here I want to share some "funnier" fast food items.

McDonalds (same same)

Notice the trash can on this side of the street with the M.  These trash cans are up and down the street going at least a block each way from McDonalds (different).

Fast Food Big Belly - you are what you eat  ;-) 

This is actually a very popular fast food restaurant in Romania

We traveled to Timisoara (Teemeeshwara), this past weekend for a wedding.  Timisoara is the city where the 1989 revolution began.  While in Timisoara we went to the mall (same same) with some Romania friends for lunch on Sunday (cuz then everyone can get what they want). The Romanian friends all got Kentucky Fried Chicken (chicken strips and fries with garlic mayonnaise for the dipping, yum, yum).  I went to a Romanian "buffet" and got Chicken Snitzel, Fries, a few hot dogs pieces and a drink.  As I sat eating my food I realized I was eating Kentucky Fried Chicken Romanian style (same same but different).  Novelty is all in what you can't get all the time.  

Weddings:

Getting married in Romania can take a long time as they have two different ceremonies, something maybe the US should consider.  As in Latin America, the Romanians have both a civil ceremony and a church ceremony.  The services aren't necessarily held on the same day.  Lucky for us, the wedding we attended held both services on the same day.  And boy was it a long day.  Civil ceremony was in the "wedding chapel" on the roof of the Mall (different) at 12:10pm and it ended with the couple kissing and then walking through a "tunnel" of their friend holding flowers.  The wedding chapel has services every 10 minutes.  

The Happy Couple in the Tunnel of Friends/Family

After the civil ceremony there was a light reception. 

Homemade yummies for the civil service reception

Then at 2:00pmish, was the church service, which was really a church service with a few moments for exchanging vowels at the end of the 2 hour church service.  During the service the bride and groom sat in a special bench just for them.  They did light a candle together although there was NO KISSING.  The reception started thereafter and usually they receptions last around 8 hours.  Lucky for us, the couple was an older couple (mid 30s) so their reception ended a midnight rather than the usual 3:00am.  

Young People:

Just some photos so you know what they look like.  

Young Couple "in love" notice the "same same" clothing

Young men on a stroll.  On left same same fashion. 

 On right, "man capris" with a "man bag" very popular (VERY different)

Graffiti:

Same Same, (not really different)

Train Travel:

Trains are a main source of travel here, as in most European countries.  And here they have two different kinds of trains.  The "old" trains that are rickety and very affordable for everyone so you get a larger cross section of the kinds of people who ride on the train.  There are no assigned seats so it is a "first come first serve".

The newer trains are usually used for the "accelerated" (fewer stops) and "inner city" (only stop at cities) trains and are more expense so the "wealthier" tend to travel.  The train seats aren't necessarily more comfortable for long hauls (can't sleep well in them) although the bathrooms are supposed to be "usable".  And, apparently, you have assigned seats on these trains.  We learned that the hard way this weekend.  

New train on left, old train on right.  

Project Update

To give a brief update on the project and progress, well, it is slow.  We did start the process to register the project as a non profit.  And we revisited the property we were planning to use starting January and we discovered that it really won't be able to serve us the way we had anticipated so we are on a hunt for some new land.  

We are traveling back to Timisoara tomorrow (Wednesday) to help a friend paint in their new boys home.  On Thursday another friend is taking us out to see some property somewhere at the base of the mountains.  It should be a pretty drive and I am looking forward to seeing more of Romania and finding more things to share with you.  

Romania - the first six days

It has been six days that I have been in Romania and I have been trying to think of how to best describe my time so far.  Not much has been accomplished in getting the project going as we have been settling into life and trying to pick up the language.  Romanian is a latin based language so, in theory, I have a head start with knowledge in Spanish and Italian.  Italian seems to be the closest to Romanian in terms of pronunciation and sounds which means I can understand quite a few things.  Now if only I could reply in Romanian instead of the default Italian or Spanish.  Gives the folks something to chuckle about anyway.  

Speaking of language, let me share a few tidbits.  The first is the formal word for "you". OK, are you ready?  Here goes:  dumneavoastra.  Yup, that is what I thought too, "easy peasy". Luckily if I know the person I can default to the informal "tu".  Whew.  Oh, and I learned to be careful when saying "Okey Dokey" (spelled phonetically not correctly) because it means "close your eyes" not "fine".  Learned that the hard way when playing with two kids ages 3 and 7.  We still had the ability to engage in rousing games of freeze tag, tag, and "where's Marc" (you know, when kids partially hid under something and you pretend not to be able to see them).   

Back to the beginning... I arrived in Arad last Thursday and spent the first two nights with Maria and Jon Luca.  They don't speak english so I had a crash course in Romanian.  I also got to sleep in the coolest "sofa bed" ever.  The bed is actually in a drawer under the couch and "pops up" when you open the drawer.  It was quite comfortable - no bar down the middle of the back like our sofa beds.  

Sofa Bed Romanian Style

The second day I negotiated with Maria that I could go for a walk by myself.  Maria was worried I would get lost so we agreed that she could call the police if I wasn't back in an hour. While on my walk I was exited to learn about several things:  how they collect trash (I know I am 'different'), the latin based word for stop, and how playgrounds are designed.  It was quite an "educational" walk as you can see.

Dumpsters Romanesk

"Stop", Romanian for, well, Stop

Play is good!

Now I am staying with Scott and Carolyn in the house of some missionaries who are home for the summer.  I will miss Maria and figuring out how to communicate with her.  Plus she was just fun and funny.  By the way, the romanian word for "joke" is "gluma" - pronounced "gloom". Maria loved telling me that one.    Her favorite phrase was in english, "you very hungry".  I quickly learned "foarte plin" (very full).   I taught her some english "long grained rice" a translation from the rice package "orezc cu bob lung".  "Bob" what a great word for grain. Maria would quiz me on words she taught me and phrases I knew.  When others would come around she would tell everyone I already speak Romanian.  Of course she would get mad at me when I couldn't translate things for her.  I told her to give me two more days and "nu problemo".  She must have forgiven me because she still gave me homemade donuts to take to the house with me.  Yum Yum Yum Yum!  

Today I went for another walk and saw some fun parks and sports centers.  

Smiley Sports Club - a great name!

Chess or Tile Rummy anyone?  

http://www.pagat.com/rummy/romtile.html

Community Gardens

Military Tanks, cows, and mothers with babies

Cool iron sculptures

If you want to see the rest of the photos I took so far, click play below 

(you will need quicktime). 

Will work for food and lodging

After a few days in Chicago area, I decided to travel around and visit friends and relatives, many of whom I had not seen for a minimum of 9 years.  It was a great month of travels and I was able to help people along the way with different projects they just never have time for.  In exchange I had some wonderful meals and cozy places to sleep.  Some of the visits were just visits, which was also nice.  My route, adventures, and labors:

• Indianapolis IN - Visiting my friend Carm and her husband - we worked in LA together way back when.  Nice to meet her two great boys (around 7 and 4 yrs old) and play with skates, bikes, soccer balls, swings, scooters and makeshift baseball.  
• Cincinnati OH - MBA classmate and her husband.  Had a wonderful time catching up and reveling in Dutch accents!
• Harrisonburg, VA - got to spend several weeks playing with my now 1 year old niece (Valerie - she is pretty cute isn't she?).

The Best Babycakes Ever! 

I also helped my brother, sister in law, and my mother with some organizing and cleaning out projects. After three rooms and a pantry I think I am ready for my own TV show, or something! I didn't get to see all the friends I wanted to see while in town so... next trip.

• Lancaster PA - Can you believe I hadn't seen some of my relatives for over 9 years? For some it had been even longer; almost 15 years.  Never again!  I had a great time catching up with the local cousins from both my dad and mom's side of the family.  Two of my cousins even took me for craft day at the local bead shop and I went a little crazy on three pairs of earrings while they did a bracelet and earrings.  It was a fun fun day.

Craft Day outcome!

• Philadelphia PA - I took the train to visit my cousin for a night.  Nothing like traveling the farm country by train and getting to hang out in a very cool city with a wonderful cousin and a well known train station (think the movie Witness).

Infamous Statue in Philly Train Station

• Lancaster PA - spent great time helping a cousin and an aunt with yard work: weeding, mowing, mulching, bush whacking, repotting plants, digging for wild onion and garlic, removing ivy, and creating more garden space by removing sod.  For relaxation I organized a garage and laundry room.  I know, I know, not everyone's idea of a good time but I sure had fun.  When one doesn't have a full time job and is transient, having tasks to check off a list is fabulous; particularly if you can immediately see the fruit of your labors.  I will work for food and lodging.

I loved this tree and its brilliant colors (as you can tell)

A Garden in the Making

• Stamford CT - helped a friend reorganize and pack for easy moving with her "move every six months" job.  Next time I am going to get to NY city (a short train ride away) and see good friends there.  
• Ithaca NY - Spent a few more days with my niece, sister in law and her parents while they were finishing up some things in NY.  I had a great time playing with my niece! 

Valerie Playing Peek-a-Boo with her mom

Tomorrow I head off to Romania for six weeks.  I will be back at the end of July and not sure where I will go next.  

Have any projects you need done?  

Will work for food and lodging!

Road Trip

I left Monrovia California on Easter weekend and drove to Phoenix to spend Easter Sunday with my Great Aunts (Mabel and Miriam) and lots of cousins.  My cousin Paul and I put our names in raffle at church to win a 1965 Mustang convertible in excellent condition.  I think they lost my telephone number to let me know we won.  

From Phoenix I drove to Denver to spend a night and day with another cousin, Judy.  It was great to just relax for an evening with great people and fabulous food (homemade humus is the best!).  Ruth, a friend of Judy's from NY was there and she and I got to talk Caribbean stuff since she is from the Caribbean.  

Denver to Lincoln, NE was unadventurous (probably good) except that I took the wrong highway accidentally and headed south through KS instead of north through NE.  The best part of the trip was getting on back roads to work my way up through KS to Lincoln.  It inspired me to plan and see quirky roadside touristy things on my way through Iowa.  I Googled the idea and found a website,  www.roadsideamerica.com, where you can see what's available in any state you want.  

The next day I got to see some of America you just don't see if you stick to the freeways. I was bummed that I took a wrong turn and missed seeing the worlds largest revolving jail. Apparently the jailer didn't want to walk around to check on his "guests" so they built a three story jail on a giant lazy susan (which doesn't work anymore apparently).  I highly recommend these little side trips.  It took a little longer but I got to meet some fun people along the way (a nice couple in a restaurant taking a similar route, and the kind people who helped when I lost my way) and it was so much fun I was energized when I arrived at Chicago rather than exhausted.  

What a great name for a fun little town (my middle name)

Shadows are cool in the town of Lynnville

World's Largest Truck stop with full service Truck parts shop, full semi truck and two truck cabs on display and for sale.  Some truck driver thought I might be for sale as well.  You can imagine he was disappointed to learn I was there because I thought it was super cool (having always been fascinated by semi trucks) not because I wanted to be in the "service" industry.

Sculpture made from Iron Wheels

Fence around of Sculpture made from Iron Wheels

A Smiley Face water tower - I need to move here!

Danish Windmill brought over by the residents of Elk Horn IA

Giant daddy long leg spider made from a VW bug car.  It was at least 6 feet off the ground!