Could you hear us?

I wanted to post this on Sunday but I left my camera at church and we only got it back from Pastor Shane today!

We have two new instruments and the past two Sundays they have been awesome! You could probably have heard us in SC if you were up around 2:30am that morning. :)

One is a violin, but the lady plays it like a "fiddle", if you know what I mean! And then there is a drum set that looks like a speaker box. The man just plays different areas and different sounds are produced. It is so cool to watch him play it.

The musical worship time for the past two Sundays has been especially fired up!

Getting Ready

I have been busily marking off things on my "to do list". We leave for Egypt on Tuesday night at 11:30pm. It is less than a 3 hour flight! We will be in Egypt until early Sunday morning. Then Maria and I head to the states on Tuesday at 8:30am. So we only have 3 days left in Romania.

I don't have much to do for Egypt but I have lots to do before leaving Romania. I have to stock the fridge and figure out how to pack everything we need to bring back. We simply MUST bring back at LEAST 100 lbs. of books or we'll end up with too many here. I should wash the sheets before I head out too, because that's a full day's job so they dry in time for bed (no dryer). Lots of little things like that to make life easier for Stephen while I'm gone.

Maria has been preparing for our trip to Egypt too. She'll be better than a tour guide by the time we arrive!

Upside Down Bananas

First, some background about me. I tend to be fairly set in my ways about most things. Believe it or not there is a "correct" way to load my dishes into my dishwasher and if you do it incorrectly I will "reload" them. I knew what this "perfect" way was from the first time I opened the dishwasher.

On to the bananas...I have ALWAYS eaten a banana from the stem end first. I'm not as picky about apples but when I started thinking about it, I always have the stem end at my thumb!

So imagine my shock and amazement when this lady, sitting next to me on the bus, started eating her banana UPSIDE DOWN! I wanted to help her out and turn it around but I didn't know the Romanian translation for, "oh no, wait, that's upside down, the universe will crash if you eat it that way!".

I secretly watched her eat the entire thing, upside down. I couldn't take my eyes off her! But as I watched, I started really analyzing the logistics of banana eating. First, the things that "gripe" me are the last inch that I have to use my fingers for and carrying the peel to the trash. This upside down eating had eliminating these issues. She very neatly held that stem and ate all the banana and then carried the peel off the bus by that same stem. No banana yuck on her fingers. Very cool!

I will be trying out this new method next time I eat a banana! Maybe I'm not as "set in my ways" as we all thought. Ha!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated our own little Thanksgiving tonight before language lessons. Our menu was Romanian turkey (chicken), dressing, green beans, and pumpkin pie.

The turkey (chicken) was yummy and as close to turkey as I could find. The dressing was a little "iffy" at first but in the end it came out good. Not quite like usual, since we have no corn meal, condense soup, or chicken broth but I adlibbed and it worked! The green beans were ok, not as fresh as last week. The pie was delicious!

Maybe I should have had Granny ship the whole meal to us but that would have cost us our entire moving allowance!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

The Beginning

These are quotes for Abraham Lincoln's address that made Thanksgiving a National Holiday in 1863.

"The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God."

"They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens."

So as one of those "sojourning in foreign lands", let me say to each of you, Happy Thanksgiving. I will be remembering you before the throne, especially tomorrow. Each of you are blessings from my Lord. You have blessed our family this year especially, with prayers, calls, cards, packages, and blog comments. I pray I always remember the One who stirred your heart to these actions. Thank you.

Thanksgiving - step 1

It dawned on me about 3 weeks ago that I didn't have a "plan" for Thanksgiving. Now, we are currently living in a country that obviously will not be celebrating an American holiday. We are more than willing to celebrate on our own, however, this country doesn't have an abundance of turkeys, cornbread, condensed soup, canned pumpkin, or pie plates. Yikes! My first thought was, "Can I 'do' Thanksgiving without all the above?".

Enter the Granny! She shipped me the ingredients for a pie. This is, without a doubt, the most expensive pie ever when you add in the $25 shipping charge! (Talk about holding your breathe while something bakes!) I used a pie crust mix since I can't get homemade crust right even in America. I started looking for a pie plate. No luck. So what you see below is the ingredients for one pie baked in the tops of my casserole dishes.

They smell yummy and Maria said the batter tasted "just like Granny's". So I think our meal tomorrow will at least end good!

Tune in tomorrow for the outcome of the rest of the meal.

Running in Romania

Maria loves to run with her Daddy. They competed in a 5k (3.1 mile) race shortly before we left for Romania. This winter he has started doing a long run on Saturday and likes to "rebound" on Sunday with a shorter, easier run. So he takes Maria with him.

For those of you who read his blog, Steve J's Running Blog, you know that he ran around the People's Palace yesterday. He has quite a bit of history on it so check it out by clicking on the blog name in the previous sentence. He is also running a contest right now and you could win some jelly beans! Don't think this is strictly a "runners only" blog. Steve is actually quite funny and I think my mom is one of his most loyal readers! He tends to know more of the history of things than me.

When Maria heard that he ran to and around the palace she wanted to as well, so off they went this afternoon. This time they drove to the palace since the run around it is 1.75 miles. They finished it with a sprint finish and a time of 19 minutes, 19 seconds. Very impressive!

Steve made some pictures of her, just like the ones on his running magazine that always makes the runners look like conquering heroes. They seem to lay on the ground to take their pictures!

Here is our conquering hero:

I have found heaven on earth!

We have a new shopping area close to our apartment called Auchon. I went today while Maria was in gymnastics since the grocery area opens at 8 am. As I was walking through to see if anything new had opened up I saw a bookstore. I was starting to walk on by, but the "reader" in me had to go in, even though I thought everything would be in Romanian.

I wandered around a little then on my way out I tried to ask if they had anything in English. After I gave up on trying to ask in Romanian and just said, "books in English?" the lady smiled and answered in PERFECT English, "yes, right over here". They had two whole shelves of Classics in English! I was so excited. English books within walking distance! If I ration them out they may last through the next year.

Now if I could just convince a family member to come visit us every other week I would lack for nothing!

UPDATE: Maria has already snagged one of MY new books! I guess she was feeling a little new book deprived too!