Romanian Experiences

September 29, 2007

Today was definitely a new Romanian day. I experienced a lot of things I haven't before! It was really fun. We started out by going to Aurelia's house. She is a investigator and she amazes me at how strong and happy she always is. She lives at a boarding school and she is an orphan. We went over and had a dance party with her. It was actually really fun. The school was definitely a little scary but we had a lot of fun. She taught us a dance and then showed us her ballroom salsa moves. I laughed a lot and it was fun to sort of let go and have fun.

After that we were suppose to meet the Sora's at the train station to go to the branch picnic. We almost missed it and that was a little stressful. The picnic was really really fun. It was down in the valley on the far side of Iasi. There was a little lake and a bunch of trees. We had Romanian pizza which is really really good except for the fact that they dont put pizza sauce on it, and we had some grapes and apples. It was nice to hang out with the branch and get to know everyone a little better.

I started to walk along the bank of the lake and it was disgusting. From a far it looks really pretty and serene. Up close is a totally different story. There was tons of litter lining the banks, there was leeches in the water and even a syringe with the needle still intacted. It was a little scary, definitely toxic waters. But anyway we had fun trying to catch frogs and taking pictures with them.

Some of the old men in the branch had fun trying to teach us how to whistle. They dont really care if they spit on you he he he.

After the picnic we played Saturday sports. It was really fun. I am starting to actually enjoy playing soccer. We had our girls night after that. We watched “13 going on 30” it was fun

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So I am not really sure whats going on in Baby City but I would liked to be filled in. Where's the baby?

A Girly Night

September 28, 2007

Today was a crazy day. We started out at the orphanage which is really starting to go well. I think it will keep getting better and better as I get to know the children and the workers. I just want them to be adopted so badly. I know that there problems will go down greatly because of that. It would help them so much. The chances of them getting adopted are pretty low though, no one usually adopts a handicapped child even with mild disabilities.

We took the Soras' and the Wrights to lunch today. We went to a restaurant called “Little Texas”. It was supposedly suppose to be like Texas and have American food. It was still Romanian-American but it was really good. They had Mexican food that i have missed having so that was nice to have.

After lunch Christina and I ran to Kaufland's with the Soras to get stuff for the YW's girls night activity. We shopped for a little bit and then headed home. We got lost. Sniff we have no idea how to get a taxi or a maxitaxi I almost started crying. We had walked there once so we started to walk home. It was pretty scary actually walking through the streets of Iasi not really knowing where we were going. We made it back but it took us forever. Sigh

The Girl's Night with the YW was so much fun. It was fun to be able to do girly things with them that they really never get the chance to do. I really think they enjoyed themselves and I loved watching the looks on their faces after the makeovers and nail polish.

Oh just a couple of side notes. I sister is having her baby tomorrow! YAY I am so excited!!! and also I have like 20 flea bites on my body, he he he I guess we have fleas in my apartment. The Sora's are going to kill them though so that will be good.

Hmmm Day

September 25, 2007

Today was a lot better day than yesterday! In the morning we went over to the orphanage apartment in Dancu. It took us about 30 min to get there but the kids were adorable. I really enjoyed going there and working with them. I played with the cutest little Down Syndrome boy. He could not speak so he would look at me and smile and laugh.

After that we came home because everyone was sick. I think there is something going around and I hope I don't get it. Christina and I are the only ones that have not gotten and let's keep our fingers crossed that we don't get it! Well anyway I made lunch for everyone and then Christina and I left for the hospital.

The hospital was amazing today. There were tons of Orphans to visit. In the time were were there we only got to check to floors and visit 4 little girls. They were so adorable. Consuela was a month old and so precious. Ana Maria she is a year old but about half the size of Consuela. She is the tiniest little person. You can tell she is older though because of the interaction she had with me and how she can hold her head up and smile. She has fetal alcohol syndrome so I hope I will be able to work with her a lot while I am here. She is really smart and so cute and funny. She weighs about 5 pounds but she is the funnest little girl. I really loved being able to go and interact with his little girls today. I wish we could have stayed longer to be able to visit all of the levels but we have to leave at 5:00.

Elder and Sora Wright the senior couple for the branch had us over for dinner tonight. It was amazing. Petru a sweet member from the branch cooked for us. It was so delightful to be able to sit and visit with them and eat amazing food. It really was so good, I am not sure if it is just the fact that I have not had a good meal in a while or if it really was good but I sure liked it!

I was starting to get stressed out about all of my homework that I have to finish while I am here. So I made a schedule and a calender and I planned out all of my projects. It makes me feel so much better when I have it all down on paper what I am going to do and when. Anyway this is getting really boring...

Cu Drag,

Dani

Sunday is a special day

September 23, 2007

I taught for the first time today in Relief Society. I said probably a total of about seven minutes worth of my lesson and the women talked the rest of the time. Well two women did ha ha ha. I taught about family togetherness time and how important it is. It was really different teaching that lesson to Romanians. The way of life and how they view things is so different. So different from the Utah version of the gospel. But I really like the challenge of creating the lesson for these sisters specifically. It makes things a challenge and it forces me to get to know the culture and the women of this branch better. I could never just go up and teach how I would back home. The women that way would either be offended or would learn nothing from the lesson.

Elder Loveland translated Sunday school for us today. He is a pretty funny guy. He has been out for about seven months so he is definitely still getting used to the language so it was funny to see him sort of take a round a about way of telling us what they had said. He was such a nice guy for translating for us!

We attempted to make hamburgers tonight for dinner. Something went wrong with the meat and for some reason the hamburger would not stick together. We ended up making sloppy joe hamburgers. Ha cooking in Romania is so funny. First of all the timing is always off. Like cooking rice for instance. We only have the non instant variety so normally in the US it would take about 20-30 min, here is takes 5. We just cooked jiffey muffins that we brought from home and they took five min as well. It is going to be hard to get used to going back to our slow cooking methods in the States.

Another train ride....

September 22, 2007

Well we almost did not make it home to Iasi today. We seriously got on the train and it started moving. It was crazy. I was ready to go on time.....

The train ride was really really long. Luckily the conditions were not as bad as the ride there. We played games and listened to Vasile and Mihai play the guitar. It was fun but also very boring at the same time. I really started to get home sick and miss my friends and family at home. I had not been able to really talk to anyone while i was gone so it started to make me sad. But I shook it off and realized that I would be home in a few hours and be able to talk to them then:)

And then we got home and I am so glad to be home. I never really thought of this place as somewhere that I would call home for four months but I am glad that it is starting to become that for me. I missed my mattress on the floor and my internet ha ha ha.

Anyway I have to go to bed I am teaching tommorrow! yahoo

A Beach / Crazy Day

September 21, 2007

We decided that we wanted a little girl time this morning. So we got up early and left the boys to hangout by themselves. We went and walked around to the shops and did a little bit of shopping. It was really fun to number one hangout with just the girls and to number two go shopping! Ha my favorite past time:)

We then went back to the apartment and go ready to go to the beach. Besides the fact that it was about 40 degrees outside, we were excited. We all jumped into our swim suits and went to take some pictures on the beach. We did not actually swim but we got wet and had fun. The Black Sea is really dark and mossy. I am used to the clear blue water of California. It was definitely a change but it really was beautiful. We did not stay for very long because we were freezing but that is okay we walked on the beach later that day.

There was a special Dolphin show going on while we were there so we decided that we would go. It was definitely not Sea World. I loved it for the fact that it was so original and completely Romanian. I dont really know how to describe it besides saying it was fast and efficient. Not really the American show we are used to but I did not come to Romania to get American situations.

After coming out of the show were saw a large group forming on the side walk of the street. We went and looked at what was happening. I guess a man had committed suicide by slitting his throat and was found with the doors locked in his car. I will never forget the image of that man. What disturbed me the most was the way the police handled the situation. IT was sort of in a callous and harsh way that had no feeling. They never covered the body or blocked off the road. They let things run as normal like nothing different really was happening. It made me feel really blessed that I am American. Not just in the fact that our police handle things differently but that I have the gospel and that I am able to feel safe in my country. Not that I don't feel safe here because I do, but it is a different feeling of safe. I don't know how to describe it but it just really made me glad to be an American.

After that we tried to have a little shift in atmospheres and took a nice long walk on the beach. It was so beautiful to walk on the beach at sunset and collect sea glass and shells. Sea glass is my absolute favorite and I got tons. I also found some huge shells on the beach. It made it really fun to be able to find cool things like that. Normally I end up with a few tiny oyster shells:)

Next we went to the Villa and watched a movie for their outreach night. It was really fun and strange at the same time. A investigator in there branch asked me out, luckily there was this really cool missionary in the room and let him know that that was not allowed. Ha he and I laughed about it later on. He asked me out merely by the fact that he knew I was a ballet dancer and he was very strange about it. Like at the birthday party he asked to take a picture with me and wanted me to do an arabesque and I of course declined but none the less it was awkward. We ended up watching A Night at the Museum. It was fabulous. I really liked it, it was super funny and clean. Yay!

A Constanta Day

September 20, 2007

So we slept a lot of the day today, until about noon. We were all completely exhausted from the train ride. Once everyone was up and going we decided to get a tour of the city. Our friend Vaislae who is currently going to college in Iasi but is from Constanta showed us around. It was great having someone there who knew the area and was willing to help us out.

We went and walked by the beach and saw all of the old parts of the city. It was really cool because we saw the remnant of walls and foundations that were from 400 B.C. When Constanta was actually under Roman rule.

We also went to the mall. I am really starting to not like the cigarette smoke. Everyone smokes here and everywhere. They don't really have laws against smoking in public places and since everyone smokes it can be sort of overwhelming at times.

Then we went over to the villa for the Constanta branch. They were having a surprise birthday party for one of the member of the branch presidency. It was really fun to go to an actual Romanian birthday party. It was of course Americanized because all of the missionaries were American and we were all American. One of the missionaries there taught me how to play Backgammon. I guess it is a really big thing here and that everyone plays it. It is actually really really fun. I was a little confused at first but I caught on and it was fun.