Buturugeni

Servus! Yes, I have arrived safely in Romania, WITH all my lugguge! As always, it was a long trip with little sleep. However, both of my flights were on time and I managed a short nap at Heathrow so I arrived in pretty good shape. Liviu and Ana were at the airport and, after we carefully loaded my three large and one small suitcase into their hatchback, we drove through Bucharest, around the heaviest building in the world and out into the country. Even though we arrived in Buturugeni around 1:00 am, all the suitcases had to be opened and their contents examined before going to bed. :)

As promised, I am staying in the village with Liviu and Ana, in Ana's grandmother's house. I have the guest bedroom, which is very comfortable. I have often said that I can handle just about anything that Romania could throw at me BUT I draw the line at "squatty potties". Apparently, God's line is slightly different from mine (stop laughing, Mom!) because my first night there I got out my flashlight and Liviu introduced me to the "facilities". Yep...half-way down the garden, against the fence, a nice metal outhouse sheltering nothing more than a hole in the ground covered partly with boards. (Apparently indoor facilities are planned for NEXT year!) I laugh but hope that I will get used to it sooner as opposed to later. The rest of the facilities include a bucket of wellwater, a mug, and soap...on a bench outside the kitchen door. There is a small kitchen in the house where Liviu and I will cook. It really is like staying at a rustic cottage, for which I was mostly prepared. :) Some of you reading this will actually remember this life, which is still very much a day-to-day reality here.

Ana's grandmother was born in the house 76 years ago and has lived there ever since. Ana'a mother also grew up there. Ana's parents have two gardens in Buturgeni and they harvest the vegetable and herbs for the farmer's markets in Bucharest. They also keep two pigs and several chickens at the house. I am growing used to the smell of manure. :) Sadly, many people have to "market garden" like this to survive. Almost two years after Romania joined the EU, prices are the same as in Canada but the average wage is still only $250 per month. On the other hand, some must be making good money because we went to Carrefour today to buy the rest of the supplies we need (imagine Superstore crossed with Walmart crossed with HUGE) and there seemed to be thousands of people in there buying things. Mind you, school starts on Monday so I imagine there's lots of last minute shopping happening. It was a wee bit overwhelming for my jet lagged head!

Tonight was bath night in Bucharest. We drove into the city to stay with Ana's parents and "clean up". It feels good. Ana's mother also fed me sarmale and bread with honey, my two favourite Romanian foods.

It has been wonderful to re-connect with Liviu in person after six years and to meet his new wife and her family. Once my brain has fully arrived (I think it's still in transit somewhere between here and Heathrow), I look forward to exploring the village and getting to know the children who will come to our program.

I must be off to sleep now. Tomorrow morning we're up early to head back to the village for church. Liviu is preaching. Apparently it's a Romanian tradition to pull the ears of a birthday girl so I might need to cover mine up for the day! Whatever happens, it is sure to be interesting!

Count-down

T-2! 48 hours from now I will be in the air on my way to Romania. Two of my four suitcases are packed full of ministry supplies and are ready to go. The other two are standing hopefully in my bedroom, surrounded by the flotsam and jetsam that washes up from all parts of the house as I wander about deciding what to take. I have three more things to do:

1. continue to figure out what I might be doing, gather my thoughts and ideas together on my computer and then print it all out. An email from Liviu yesterday confirmed my tentative in-country itinerary and added a speaking engagement with some youth who can communicate in English and a visit to a different church. I'm apparently on a need-to-know basis and I don't need to know any further details until I arrive. :) From past experience in Romania, it's quite possible that I will be picked up on Sunday, September 21 by a pastor whom I will meet in the car and taken to another village to attend church there. I really need to practice my Romanian on the plane...
   
   
2. finish cleaning my house so that my colleague, Andrea, won't be scared when she comes to live in my suite while I'm gone. She's currently homeless and my landlord (who is 89) likes to have someone around, so it's a great arrangement. Fortunately, I've only been living here for a month and a half so I haven't had ample opportunity yet to really mess the place up.
   
   
3. finish packing. And check off all my lists.

No problem! I think I'll go to bed now.