Cleaning the Potty

One of my faithful friends and readers called and in the conversation she mentioned that she likes the everyday posts as well as the travel posts. She said, and I quote, "I need to know that you clean the pee-pee out of the potty too!"

Well, this one's for you Allison!

This morning I cleaned the bathroom! Now let me expound...there isn't just "normal" toilet yuck here. We frequently (read at least once a week) lose our hot water for a day or two. We once went a whole day without ANY running water! When the water returns it is a beautiful chocolate brown color, that is my favorite color you know. Now, before you germ-a-phobes totally freak out, I use bottled water in the kitchen! Keeping this brown water issue in mind you can imagine what my toilet generally looks like in the bottom. Even a day or two after a cleaning! This does not motivate me to clean more often, actually the opposite!

This lack of hot water issue does seem to dictate when you shower. I have broken down at the end of a three day cold water only stretch and showered in frigid water while screaming in a "semi" controlled manner! :) Since Steve runs frequently he has had to endure the cold shower more often than me. We have washed Maria's feet in cold water once (if you have ever done Rhythmic Gymnastics you understand what those toe shoes smell like!)

So for those of you that envy our ability to travel, it does come at a price. We think it's worth it and it makes the hotels seem simply luxurious by comparison! Have fun cleaning your potty today Allison!

Monopoly

We bought a new game. It is Monopoly, the European Landmark Edition. Maria and I saw it and the tokens are famous landmarks. We have been to several of them in person so I decided it would be a great overall souvenir of our time in Europe. They use Euros and the properties are the countries of the European Union in the order they joined.

We are having a fun time playing, but there is just one problem. I can't seem to win. Steve and Maria are still "duking it out" while I sit here blogging! We have played, no joke, for two weeks and I have won ZERO games.

You'll notice in the picture that the spot on the sofa is surrounded by lots of mortgaged properties and little cash. Yeah, you guessed it, that's my place. This was made one roll before they booted me completely from the game.

Steve said it was really just luck. If that were true, I should win about 1/3 of the games. I hate statistics!

Ramblings

This is a rambling blog post from my heart with no "real" news, happenings, pictures, or Romanian culture. Read on if you desire!

Since coming to Romania and starting a blog of my own, I have taken to reading lots of varying blogs from others. I think the reasons for this are multiple:

1 - There just isn't an abundance of reading material in English and in the states I average around 2-3 books a week!

2 - I am fascinated to see what others are putting on their blogs and what I find interesting.

3 - It is a way to connect with other homeschooling moms since I miss my support group.

I was reading a blog from a lady named Spunky. This Christian mom causes me to think outside my comfort zone and steps on my toes every once in a while. Anyway, I was reading her take on the school shootings this past week, especially the one in the Amish school house. I confess I am secretly enthralled with this lifestyle and read about them, fiction and non, quite a bit.

On this blog there was a comment from another reader wondering why the girls seem to be singled out. The response that stunned me the most was that since feminism and the goal of "equality" had taken away the respect and authority that the Lord has given the men, the men are lashing back. This made me pause. The post caused me to reflect on TV and the garbage that is there. In most families depicted, the husband is certainly not in authority. He is portrayed as another child for the wife to care for, along with all the other chores of the household.

The Lord then "two-stepped" me by way of an article in World Magazine entitled "The vanishing schoolboy" by Janie Cheaney. I think He has been nudging me to give Him the glory for what he has worked in my life and family.

In this article she states how our education system and I would add our public opinion in general has elevated girls above boys. Now don't get me wrong I don't believe women are inferior to men but we are certainly not equal. I, for one, do NOT wish to be. At one time I did. Thank you Lord for opening my eyes and heart to Your way!

She goes on to say that men are created to lead. I love this quote, "'Many are the plans in the mind of man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand' (Proverbs 19:21). Be not deceived; God is not mocked, and nature is not thwarted. In government and in crime, at the box office and on the streets, in heroic rescues and in shooting sprees, men lead. And will continue to lead, one way or another." Basically we can train our boys to lead us to victory or to chaos. But either way it is the men that will lead. She refers to men as drivers and women as stablizers. I find this to be very true for our family.

I know this has absolutely NOTHING to do with Bucharest but this topic has been on my heart for about 2 weeks and I'm tired of hashing it out in my mind. While walking the streets and riding the public there is lots of time to think. I guess it started when a song was on the bus radio from a rough time in my life and I started thinking about how far the Lord has brought me.

I think this list sums it up:

Age 10, Parents had authority and I accepted it, blessings and contentment
Age 15, Parents had authority and I rejected it, anxiety and discontentment
Age 20, Parents had authority and I ignored it, worldly blessings and strife
Age 25, Husband had authority and neither of us acknowledged it, worldly blessings and stress
Age 30, Husband had authority and I tenitively accepted it, blessings from the Lord beginning to unfold in our lives, peace and happiness in our home
Age 35 (really 34.5), Husband has authority and I rejoice in it, blessings flow straight from my Lord through my husband to me, contentment in all things.

I grew up in the "equal partnership in marriage" age. I thought that was what I desired for my life. I was so wrong! My husband cherishes me and loves me as Christ loves the Church, and let me tell you some days that is a tall order. I respect and accept his authority. At one time I believed that would diminish my "standing" as an intelligent person. When I accept Stephen's leadership I also accept the perfect path that the Lord has ordained for me. What could be better?

Now I'm raising a daughter. We are teaching her about what the Word says about authority. It's not about power and control, its about lining up where the Lord has placed you! I pray that somewhere, someone is teaching her future husband about Biblical authority and how to effectively lead his family in their walk with the Lord.

I just wanted to take this "public" stand to thank my Lord for changing my view of authority. His way is always best and His will for our lives is always the right course for action!

For those of you that actually finished reading my ramblings, thank you. I'll get back on topic next time!

Language Lessons

My good friend Mihaela, who is one of the moms at gymnastics, asked me if we would like to come to her house for English lessons. I told her I already knew English! Ha - she's a little unsure of my "humor".

She speaks excellent English and is my main interpreter at gymnastics although, most of the adults and all the older students speak some. Gabi, her husband, speaks a little English as well. They have two children, a 9 year old son and a 5 year old daughter. She has hired a lady to come to their house for private English lessons.

She invited us so we will hear the Romanian and English together and to give them a couple of native English speakers. Stephen and Maria are very excited since they both learn new languages very quickly.

We went last night for the first class. It was fun and we learned quite a few vocabulary words. Well, Steve and Maria learned quite a few. I smiled a lot. Language just isn't my thing!

Steve is very good about making the other kids try it - lots of times. The little girl finally moved away from him since he kept making her say stuff in English! It was too funny.

We are going again tonight and my goal is to learn how to ask, "are you getting off at the next stop?". After almost getting stuck on a bus two days in a row, I am very motivated to learn this phrase! I'm not sure how I will work eyebrow (a word from last night) into conversation. ;)

Murano and Burano - Saturday

We spent the day on Murano and Burano, islands north of Venice. Murano is known for their glass work. We visited the museum there to see the ancient glass and learn a little about the process of glass blowing and creating. We also shopped some for souvenirs.

When it was time for lunch we headed to a grocery store and picked up a roasted chicken, chips, and apples. We headed off a side street and ended up in a small square. All the benches were taken but we just picked a quiet, shady corner and sat down to have our $10 lunch. This lady stopped and starting telling us something in Italian. I thought at first that she was fussing at me for feeding my family from the ground. Steve caught the word park and he said let's go with her. We followed her and she led us to a great park with picnic tables and a play ground.

After lunch we headed to the island of Burano, known for handmade lace and colorful houses.

Our first stop here was the Lace Museum. They even had a couple of older ladies demonstrating the art. It was beautiful. We picked out a lace handkerchief with a "M"embroideredd on it. I told Maria we would put it in the cedar chest and she could carry it on her wedding day.

One more night of Italian food and we'll head home in the morning!

And yes, Maria made the picture of me and Steve on the street of Burano. I thought she did a great job!

Florence - Friday

We took a train to Florence today. This was a new and exciting experience for all of us! Our train left at 6:44am, so we had to get up and moving early and then had to figure out how train travel works in Europe. We made it on the train and enjoyed the trip quite a bit. We got to watch the sunrise while traveling through the Italian countryside.

After getting off the train we purchased day passes for all the city transportation. Then we hopped on a bus and went to the Piazzale Michelangelo. There is a great view of the city from here and we were able to get an overview and pick out all the sites we were going to attempt to see today.

Then we went to see the Santa Croce. We chose to just view this church from the outside.

While wandering around the area, we found a "pizza by the slice" shop with lots of locals inside. Steve decided this must be tasty and cheap! He was right. It was outstanding and very reasonable.

Next we paid to potty. Yes, you must pay to tinkle in Italy. This was around the time we agreed that anytime we saw a "free" potty everyone must try! I had to take a picture of my potty since it was what we have dubbed "a squatty potty" in our family. I actually like these since the only thing that touches the potty is the bottom of your shoes. They flush and everything. It seems much cleaner than sitting on the pottys at walmart in the states!

Next we headed over to a piazza that had lots of reproductions of famous artwork. Of course they had a copy of the famous David and many others.

Then we walked across the Ponte Vecchio. This is a famous bridge with shops all along it. It was the only bridge left standing after World War II. A couple from New York City made our picture for us and we made theirs.

We also toured inside the Santa Maria Del Fiore. This church is still active and very beautiful inside.

We had about 3 hours to burn before our 8pm train back to Venice so we rode around on a bus until we went to a late supper. I had the best lasagna that I have ever eaten! Steve enjoyed the other half instead of finishing his meal!

It was a late night. We walked back into our hotel room around 11:30pm but it was a fun day.

Venice - Thursday

This morning we took a bus over the bridge and into Venice. Our first stop was the Piazza San Marco. We went to the museum that has lots of antiques from the reign of the Doges. We enjoyed the museum and watching from the windows as tourists bought the bags of pigeon food and then were, no joke, attacked by pigeons!

In the museum there was this stone face with a mouth and of course the "Fowler" came out in Maria and she had to put her hand in it and then the "Fowler" jumped out of me and I had to scare her and make her jerk her hand back out and then she had to pose for a picture so we could put it all on the blog!

We spent a good deal of time just wandering and looking and getting lost and finding our way again. While wandering we found this great little shop where a gentleman was hand-making the famous Venetian masks. We went in and bought a couple and watched him work for a while. Maria played with their dog and laughed and tried out masks that the man handed her.



At one point while we were walking there was a man playing this romantic song on a guitar and Maria was looking in a store window. I leaned over to Steve and said, "if we were dancing when she turned around, she would FREAK". And Steve said, "let's see." So we started dancing and sure enough she turned around to find us and when she saw us dancing on the streets of Venice, she FREAKED. We are just so embarrassing. The guy playing the guitar was smiling and so were the other people sitting around!

We had discussed riding in a gondola. I mean it is Venice after all. But when we found out it cost around $100 for a 30 minute ride we just couldn't bring ourselves to do that. Then Steve, being the awesome provider that he is, went on the internet and found out that they use the retired gondolas to shuttle people across the canals at various locations. He found one of the locations and paid $2 for all three of us to ride in the gondola! Yeah!!!

We ended our day by walking across the Ponte di Rialto. It is the oldest of the main bridges in Venice. It was last rebuilt in the 1500s. After that we went back to the hotel and out to a late supper.

I'll end with a few random pictures of the streets of Venice.

Mestre - Wednesday

We arrived in Mestre around lunch time today. Mestre is right outside of Venice. It is a smaller community and the room rates are cheaper and the food should be as well. We will just take the bus over the bridge to Venice when we go.

After getting settled in our room we walked around the town and found the grocery store and some restaurants within walking distance.