Romania Day 1

30 hours of traveling, and 12 hours more of being in Iasi, and I am loving it. 

Things I loved:

1. Lamar. On the airplane ride from Seattle to London I sat sandwiched in between two men- one in his 50s from England, and another fat black guy- Lamar. Lamar is a chef for a Jewish cafe in Seattle- and he was on his way out of the country for the first time, too. We both did a little cheer when we first saw land over North Ireland. He was taking a long-awaited vacation to Dublin, London, and France to try all the food. Didn't talk much-mostly slept uncomfortably sitting up like you do on airplanes. I tried to sleep over the Atlantic so I wouldn't be so scared. Hitting turbulence over nothing but wide open ocean wasn't good for my nerves. But, I liked being excited with Lamar.

2. London. Seeing the eye of London out the airplane window, and the Parliament building, and the river Thames, and all the cool bridges. It's a shame I left and didn't stay to enjoy it all. Everyone there was just like you might picture people in London to be: very fashionable, very proper, with awesome accents, and they like the word "Cheerio!" Does that mean be happy, or are they promoting the cereal business for Malt-O-Meal? No idea. Cool word though. I liked talking to an older couple who was on their way to Miami for a cruise, and watching the British television news, and seeing an Indian (with red dot above her head) girl toddler and British boy toddler chase each other around the waiting area. Their parents didn't even make eye contact, but the kids were having the time of their life together. I think there's a good lesson there.

3. Catalin. A Romanian man about 43 that sat next to me on the flight to Bucharest and his boss that sat next to him. Extremely friendly- not creepy though. Until the last 20 minutes when they were drunk. The first part was really enjoyable though. The 4 hours flew by in conversation. The boss wanted to know about the prospects of his son applying to an American university, and what the process and costs would be. I didn't bring up religion, but Catalin saw my Romanian Book of Mormon, and said this wasn't the time or place to talk about religion, and then proceeded to go on an atheist rant for 45 minutes. Smile and nod. Smile and nod. He believes in souls, though. That souls give order to the mind, and the mind gives order to the body. Very fascinating philosophy, actually. I asked a lot about Romanian holidays and customs and Eastern Orthodox church and school. They said Romanians are different than Americans in that they won't ask to be invited over for dinner, and then stay just one or two hours. They'll invite themselves over and stay for 4. They're friendly- they like conversation. They like honesty too. He told me I was too young to travel, and not prepared enough without a better foundation of the language, and stupid to come. I liked his honesty. He's probably right in some aspects, but I don't care, and I'm excited to be here. He said Romanians are honest, so if you don't want a bad opinion, don't ask for an opinion at all. They'll just tell you. "This food isn't good." :) He asked, "So, how much are they paying you to come and do this work?" "Nothing. I have to pay them. I really wanted to come." "You had to pay them? Really?" Proceed to rattle off in fast Romanian to his boss. They thought I couldn't understand, but I could. They said they were very surprised, and it's like the American movie "Pay it Forward". The last 20 minutes they had had too much white wine. He showed me pictures of his wife and I said she was frumoasa (beautiful). "Yes-", he said. "-well, it depends. If you are drunk everyone is frumoasa. You are frumoasa." Creepy. Luckily the plane ride was pretty much over at that point. The best advice he gave me was to not get emotionally involved. If I sympathize too much with the orphans, I will be too depressed to bring them any of the happiness they need. Their life is going to be tough whether or not I am depressed about it, but their life can be happy if I am happy. I like that. 

4. The Shock. The airport had two staircases- a clean one for connecting flights, a dirty one for arrivals. The whole place reminded me of a shady gas station. Smelled like one too. Smokey. A van driver picked us up. He spoke Romanian. I successfully asked where a bathroom was and how long it would take to get there. All other language was an epic fail. He understood what I said- but I didn't understand what he said. If I can see the words, my brain puts pieces together with Latin roots and I can understand the main gists. But with speaking- and accents- I have no idea. Sometimes even in London when people were speaking English, it took me a while to realize- it all sounded so different. The guy was a trooper to go through the night though- 6 hours from midnight to 6 from Bucharest to Iasi. The roads were much better than I expected- newly paved, well marked, but windy, like OIE. I was bummed it was night and foggy- I couldn't see the country. Oh well. More traveling ahead. The road signs were more  often and more informative. In america sometimes you miss a sign, and then you don't know your information for the next 5 miles or so- speed limit, time to a new city. Here it was like every minute they reposted all the good info. The country was so dark. It looked like no one lived there in the middle of the mountains, but then all of a sudden you'd drive by a neighborhood. You just couldn't see it there- no one had porch lights on or steet lights- not even hallway lights in their homes. I almost didn't notice entire neighborhoods were there. If there was one word- it'd be "ghetto". But- the city was completely different. City lights could be seen after we came around a hill, and it was cleaner, bigger. Not better- just different. 

5. Mario. Our in-country facilitator. She is very nice, very beautiful. About my own mom's age I think. And she has a great pace. Not painstakingly slow, but she isn't in a hurry to do anything, and she walks nice and easy. I'd like to be more like that. Her English is very good, and her accent is very beautiful, too. Romanian is a beautiful language. 

6. Exploring. Our apartment is nice, but I was excited to go out today. We went to a huge shopping center and tried the famous Romanian shoarma- cooked chicken and cabbage and french fries all rolled together in a pita-bread taco. Good. :) We met the missionaries there who will take us to church tomorrow. I loved seeing the monestaries, church buildings, beautiful palaces and castles. Yet at the same time, there's tall, square communist bloc buildings- no creativity- all in a row. I want to go next Monday and Tuesday and explore. And go ice-skating in front of a castle.

7. I learned 2 things: 1)  I must be attractive, and 2) sharing the light of Christ isn't always the safe thing to do. Why? Well- just being more normal excited self- I'm saying hi to people, and then they keep looking at me. Especially boys. I don't even have to say hi, and I'll feel their eyes on me, and they'll keep staring you down until they pass you. So- perhaps I should downplay my friendliness for a while. Let your light so shine before men- unless they're creepy men. Pretty sure that's how that scripture goes. 

8. Grocery shopping. The supermaket we visited today was huge. Similar foods- different brands. Instead of half of one isle being dairy like in the US- two whole center isles were just for cheese, one whole center isle for yogurt, another for milk in cartons and butter. Then two for meat, and then two for bread. And the widest variety of olives I have ever seen in my life. In the US your olive choice is small, medium, or large. And it just depends on how big your fingers are. Here there were like 10 different colors. Wow. That's what they eat here, I guess- meat, cheese, olives, and fruit. I can't wait to try it all. the money is really pretty too- lei- colorful with a see-through part. The US should make some pretty, colorful money. :) 

It feels so different. So different. I dozed off on the van ride over and when I woke up and looked out the window and couldn't believe I wasn't actually in America. Kinda scary. Kinda not. The fear of the unknown is the most widespread fear, and the most ridiculous.