There were moments that we had to laugh to keep from crying or laugh while we were crying. But some moments were just funny. Here's our top three funny moments, I'm sure we forgot some!
Stephen:
1 - Dana falling twice during her first week in Bucharest, the 2nd time carrying a pizza (which she protected during the entire falling sequence).
2 - Missionary Steve Mather's daughter Sarah telling me and Eli (the intern) to "Be a Man!" and get into the freezing cold creek for our baths.
3 - During English class at the Bucur's working on the "ee" sound in English, Maria's 6 yr old friend Alexa pronounced the word "sheet" loudly with her Romanian accent. Her older brother Florine, realized what she said sounded like something else and told Gabby his Dad. Gabby told him to "shhh".
Dana:
1 - The Romanian Easter Bunny. Read the full story here.
2 - Accidentally buying A LOT of fornetti due to a translation issue. Read the full story here.
3 - Riding the horses to the pyramids in Egypt. Amazing, but I laughed so hard I was crying! Read the full story here.
Maria:
1 - When Mama forgot to weigh the apples. (This was last week and for some reason, I guess I thought I was already home in the states, but I didn't have my apples weighed and tagged in the produce department. The cashier just looked at me and we all started laughing. Then I jogged back to have them weighed!)
2 - Daddy got a speeding ticket. Read the full story here and here.
3 - When I was mistaken for a gypsy girl! Read about it here. I wrote the post myself!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Rainy Sunday
It's a rainy Sunday here in Bucharest. That's great since it's been so hot! This cool rainy day is a welcome relief. This is what we've been doing most of the afternoon.
Stephen is playing Civilization III and Maria is watching!
12 more days!
Stephen is playing Civilization III and Maria is watching!
12 more days!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Living Abroad
Traveling in Europe is very different from living abroad. Many people, including us, have traveled in Europe. It's great! You stay in a hotel or nice apartment. All of you are off work and on vacation together. Actually living somewhere is different and hard. The "usual" jobs must be done, only in a different country and with a different language.
This is the list of the three things that we each found to be the hardest about living overseas.
Stephen:
1 - Being away from family and friends - missing stuff!
2 - More stress when simple tasks get complicated (like driving, taking public transport, etc), especially if you are not in a 1st world country.
3 - Finding things to do during free time, since most cultural events and attractions are communicated in a foreign language.
Dana:
1 - Finding ingredients for our favorite meals. Basically when we first came I tried to make our stateside favorites. That doesn't work, it only makes us homesick. The key is to just create new dishes using the local ingredients.
2 - The staples of a kitchen are slightly different here. For example: the sugar is more granulated, the flour is finer, and the yeast isn't "double acting". All recipes have to be "tweaked".
3 - Paying bills. Here we actually go to the utility company to pay the bill. We don't have a checking account here so everything is handled in cash. I am used to paying bills online for the states.
Maria:
1 - Same. (I thought this was a great first response. Her world is close to the same no matter where she lives. I'm thankful we were able to make her feel secure in another country)
2 - People don't smile at you in the streets.
3 - Gymnastics.
This is the list of the three things that we each found to be the hardest about living overseas.
Stephen:
1 - Being away from family and friends - missing stuff!
2 - More stress when simple tasks get complicated (like driving, taking public transport, etc), especially if you are not in a 1st world country.
3 - Finding things to do during free time, since most cultural events and attractions are communicated in a foreign language.
Dana:
1 - Finding ingredients for our favorite meals. Basically when we first came I tried to make our stateside favorites. That doesn't work, it only makes us homesick. The key is to just create new dishes using the local ingredients.
2 - The staples of a kitchen are slightly different here. For example: the sugar is more granulated, the flour is finer, and the yeast isn't "double acting". All recipes have to be "tweaked".
3 - Paying bills. Here we actually go to the utility company to pay the bill. We don't have a checking account here so everything is handled in cash. I am used to paying bills online for the states.
Maria:
1 - Same. (I thought this was a great first response. Her world is close to the same no matter where she lives. I'm thankful we were able to make her feel secure in another country)
2 - People don't smile at you in the streets.
3 - Gymnastics.
It's Official - Steve is READY TO GO!
It's been a while, so I figured I would go out with a bang with one last "ugly American" rant. We went grocery shopping this morning at a large hypermarket (think Super Walmart - Euro style) called Auchan.
It's a grocery cart, not a bumper car dude!
It was here in Auchan, that it became clear to me. I AM READY TO GO! I don't know exactly what moment this thought hit me this morning. Perhaps it was getting rammed in "the behind" by a grocery cart while waiting in line for checkout (3 CONSECUTIVE TIMES!). As far as I could tell, the only thing I was guilty of doing was NOT ramming "the behind" of the person in front of me. Seriously dude, where was I going to go!? Anyway, I didn't budge and kept my "behind" right where it was, thank you very much.
Reach out and touch someone
Of course, that wasn't enough. This 50-something yr old gentlemen (the age is important - I'll get to it) was not content with ramming my "behind" with his cart. After the 3rd try, he then moved to the side of his cart and put his body RIGHT BESIDE ME. Then, of course, he had to make contact and procede to ram his chest into my left shoulder (AT LEAST TWICE!). Are you kidding me? What is wrong with these people? As a final insult, you should know that in Europe (especially in Romania) 50-something yr old men are not known for their liberal use of deodorant. I can attest that this fact also came into play during this whole episode.
Steve J (ugly American)
It's a grocery cart, not a bumper car dude!
It was here in Auchan, that it became clear to me. I AM READY TO GO! I don't know exactly what moment this thought hit me this morning. Perhaps it was getting rammed in "the behind" by a grocery cart while waiting in line for checkout (3 CONSECUTIVE TIMES!). As far as I could tell, the only thing I was guilty of doing was NOT ramming "the behind" of the person in front of me. Seriously dude, where was I going to go!? Anyway, I didn't budge and kept my "behind" right where it was, thank you very much.
Reach out and touch someone
Of course, that wasn't enough. This 50-something yr old gentlemen (the age is important - I'll get to it) was not content with ramming my "behind" with his cart. After the 3rd try, he then moved to the side of his cart and put his body RIGHT BESIDE ME. Then, of course, he had to make contact and procede to ram his chest into my left shoulder (AT LEAST TWICE!). Are you kidding me? What is wrong with these people? As a final insult, you should know that in Europe (especially in Romania) 50-something yr old men are not known for their liberal use of deodorant. I can attest that this fact also came into play during this whole episode.
Steve J (ugly American)
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Top Three Travel Destinations
We considered the city/area itself, what we got to see, the cost, and anything else we deemed important.
Stephen:
1 - Barcelona, Spain. Read about it here, here, here, and here for trip 1 and here and here, for trip 2.
Definitely my favorite of the big cities.
2 - Florence (Tuscany), Italy. Read about it here.
Would have been nice to visit other areas in Tuscany.
3 - Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey. Read about it here.
The least expensive, if you can get there!
Dana:
1 - The Belgium Area. Read about it here, here, here, here, and here.
2 - Barcelona, Spain. One of Stephen's favorites too! The links are under his list.
3 - Vienna, Austria. Read about it here, here, here, here, and here.
Maria:
1 - Cairo, Egypt. Read about it here, here, here, here, here.
2 - Pompeii, Italy. Read about it here.
3 - Barcelona, Spain. See Stephen's list for the links. Evidently we ALL liked this trip!
We enjoyed all our trips but for many reasons these three stood out for each of us!
Only 14 days!
Stephen:
1 - Barcelona, Spain. Read about it here, here, here, and here for trip 1 and here and here, for trip 2.
Definitely my favorite of the big cities.
2 - Florence (Tuscany), Italy. Read about it here.
Would have been nice to visit other areas in Tuscany.
3 - Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey. Read about it here.
The least expensive, if you can get there!
Dana:
1 - The Belgium Area. Read about it here, here, here, here, and here.
2 - Barcelona, Spain. One of Stephen's favorites too! The links are under his list.
3 - Vienna, Austria. Read about it here, here, here, here, and here.
Maria:
1 - Cairo, Egypt. Read about it here, here, here, here, here.
2 - Pompeii, Italy. Read about it here.
3 - Barcelona, Spain. See Stephen's list for the links. Evidently we ALL liked this trip!
We enjoyed all our trips but for many reasons these three stood out for each of us!
Only 14 days!
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
The final days
As all three of us near our final days here in Bucharest, I wanted to do a final wrap up. I've chosen 10 different topics and all three of us are answering on our own. I'll post a new topic every few days. (That's very specific isn't it?)
The Top Three Things We Have Missed About Living in the USA:
Stephen:
1 - Pizza without ketchup, Buffalo Wings, Good Steak
2 - Roads big enough to actually fit cars
3 - People who know how to stand in line
Dana:
1 - My family living close
2 - My Kitchen (with all the gadgets and conveniences I enjoy)
3 - My washer and dryer
Maria:
1 - Home school activities
2 - Family
3 - A big house
The Top Three Things We Have Missed About Living in the USA:
Stephen:
1 - Pizza without ketchup, Buffalo Wings, Good Steak
2 - Roads big enough to actually fit cars
3 - People who know how to stand in line
Dana:
1 - My family living close
2 - My Kitchen (with all the gadgets and conveniences I enjoy)
3 - My washer and dryer
Maria:
1 - Home school activities
2 - Family
3 - A big house
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
The Daddy is coming too!
Yipee!!!
Steve got the "go-ahead" to have Lockheed book his final return trip to the states for September 19th! Only 12 days after me and Maria!
When we booked our tickets we just had to take a guess at when he would be finished. Lockheed only pays for his tickets so we needed to book round-trip for me and Maria to make them as inexpensive as possible.
I think 12 days apart is pretty good. We were dreading a possible 2 months.
It will be so good to all be home together again!
Steve got the "go-ahead" to have Lockheed book his final return trip to the states for September 19th! Only 12 days after me and Maria!
When we booked our tickets we just had to take a guess at when he would be finished. Lockheed only pays for his tickets so we needed to book round-trip for me and Maria to make them as inexpensive as possible.
I think 12 days apart is pretty good. We were dreading a possible 2 months.
It will be so good to all be home together again!
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Camp Report
We spoke with the Mathers at church this morning. They were tired, but pleased with how camp went this week. These are the things they mentioned that I can remember:
Weather was great - no rain at all while the kids were there!
They went through 80 loaves of bread daily.
None of the kids had the "stuff" they needed for camp. Last year the missionaries went in and packed for the kids. They thought they would remember what to bring. No. Most didn't even bring a change of clothes. Some had tennis shoes but no flip flops. Some had flip flops but no tennis shoes. It has to be so hard to remember that these kids don't have an adult to help them pack.
The bus cancelled 18 hours before picking up the kids so they had to schedule two vans instead.
They had 6 year olds up to 18 year olds.
They had more discipline issues than last year. Perhaps due to more kids at once and the boys were added to the mix this year.
Several of the children had "melt downs" during the week.
They really seemed to absorb the Word of God. The focus of the Bible study was on trust.
One boy decided on the last night to run away so he could stay, instead of going back to the orphanage. It took three grown men to literally drag him back to camp. Then Cami just sat on the ground and wrapped her legs and arms around him and just held him until he would listen. She had tears in her eyes telling me...I did too.
The last day all the kids were just weeping because they had to leave camp.
Praise the Lord for men and women who offer their lives in service to the Lord! You can tell that they pour out their heart and soul to these kids on a regular basis.
Weather was great - no rain at all while the kids were there!
They went through 80 loaves of bread daily.
None of the kids had the "stuff" they needed for camp. Last year the missionaries went in and packed for the kids. They thought they would remember what to bring. No. Most didn't even bring a change of clothes. Some had tennis shoes but no flip flops. Some had flip flops but no tennis shoes. It has to be so hard to remember that these kids don't have an adult to help them pack.
The bus cancelled 18 hours before picking up the kids so they had to schedule two vans instead.
They had 6 year olds up to 18 year olds.
They had more discipline issues than last year. Perhaps due to more kids at once and the boys were added to the mix this year.
Several of the children had "melt downs" during the week.
They really seemed to absorb the Word of God. The focus of the Bible study was on trust.
One boy decided on the last night to run away so he could stay, instead of going back to the orphanage. It took three grown men to literally drag him back to camp. Then Cami just sat on the ground and wrapped her legs and arms around him and just held him until he would listen. She had tears in her eyes telling me...I did too.
The last day all the kids were just weeping because they had to leave camp.
Praise the Lord for men and women who offer their lives in service to the Lord! You can tell that they pour out their heart and soul to these kids on a regular basis.
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