CROQUET ANYONE?

Just for the fun of it, I sent a croquet set to Romania last week. I have a feeling this will be the Livada kids' first adventure with the fun game of croquet. It's a shame that the cost of shipping things is so prohibitive! There are so many fun things they would enjoy. They also recently received bikes, so I have a feeling maybe they will be more enthralled with their bikes right now -- but they'll get to the croquet eventually. It has always reminded me of miniature golf. I sure hope they enjoy it.

Anca is translating some books called character books. Each one has a short story about topics that will be very helpful to the kids -- topics such as courage, kindness, honesty, etc. There are SO many fun possibilities for things that will be of help to the kids as they go about learning "life lessons".

For some fun pictures showing both the Casa Nadia and the Casa Ana kids on vacation at the Black Sea, go to the blogs at www.khornsby.blogspot.com and www.acrownofbeauty.blogspot.com Some of the pictures are so fun you just can't help but smile and laugh right out loud!

CLOTHING ARRIVED ! HOORAY!

Received the good news yesterday that the 20 boxes of clothing (more than 600 pounds!) that were donated by my church, co-workers, and friends have arrived safely to Targu Mures, Romania. Seems hard to believe that the ocean shipment takes 8-10 weeks, but that's how it is. My other fear was that the clothing would be WAY too big -- as I'm sure some of it was. I do think somehow that we Americans are just slightly larger than the Romanians are! Anyway, I am grateful to so many people for having donated clothing and to Anca for having done all the work of laundering and neatly folding more than 150 pounds of baby clothing! What a job! I pray that the clothing will be a blessing to the abandoned babies and to the kids at Casa Rebeca, Casa Ana, and Casa Nadia. Some of the larger sizes will be distributed to the teens that are in Livada Orphan Care's care in the mentor apartments.

Thanks everybody!

SAD STORY

Had to add one quick sad story that I found out about last week. One of the little boys at Ludus Hospital fell to his death from an open window from the 3rd (?) floor. Apparently there were some wedding festivities outside, and being an inquisitive 4 year old as he was, he climbed up on a chair that had been left near an open window and fell out. He lived for an hour or so after the fall, but then passed away. Poor little guy. His name was Vasile, or (his nickname) "The Boss". He was the oldest of the kids being kept at this babies' ward, so he was pretty bossy with the other kids -- hence the nickname! I know accidents do happen, but also the ladies responsible for the care of these kids are pretty negligent. This happened on July 1st. I'm sure Vasile is in heaven, and I hope that God can bring some good out of this tragedy!

F.A.Q.s

Quite a few people have asked me the same questions about my trip since I've been back, so I thought I would put a F.A.Q. section. Here goes: 1) Would you go back to Romania again? I would go back in a heartbeat! I loved it!
2) What was your favorite part of the trip? It's hard to pick just one particular thing, but I loved meeting the kids that I sponsor (Adi and Simona) through Livada Orphan Care. That was one of the main reasons I went, and that was definitely a highlight! I enjoyed interacting with the abandoned babies too.
3) Would this be a good possibility for a church mission trip? I think it would be a great opportunity to introduce some different people to the joys of a mission trip. We mainly offer medical and construction trips through my church, and I think a trip to work with the abandoned babies would appeal to a totally different group of people. This is not something that Livada is currently doing, but I hope it might become an option in the future. I could see doing that plus spending time at the Livada houses (Casa Nadia, Casa Ana, Casa Rebeca) as a fun mission trip.
4) What did you think of the sightseeing? Wow! There is some genuine first class sightseeing in Romania. I would definitely go back to Peles Castle in Sinaia, and I would love to go to Sighisoara again. Besides these places, there are painted monasteries, and I would hope to see Bucharest some day too. Romania is very unique that in spite of being the size of the state of Pennsylvania, I believe it has 7 UNESCO World Heritage sites, which is really a lot. One drawback is that they don't really seem to be set up for easily offering day tours. I was hoping to be able to do something like a Grayline tour, but that didn't seem to be available. Maybe I was just not finding it!
5) How did you find the prices? The prices for different things such as hotel, cabs, food, and internet were very reasonable.The biggest expense of the trip was the plane fare.
6) What did you think of the food? Romania is a meat and potatoes kind of place to me. I thought the food was exceptional. The meat of choice seems to be pork, but there were plenty of other things to be had. There were lots of salads, veggies, soups, and for the less adventuresome there's always pizza and McDonald's.
7) Did you have any language difficulties? As always, you have a much more interesting experience when you can speak the language (sounds like a former foreign language teacher, right?), but there was always someone around who spoke English. The young people learn English in school, and most of them seemed to be able to speak and/or understand English fairly well. A few phrases and knowing the numbers always seems like a good idea. A couple times I tried Spanish or Italian and that helped a little!
8) When you refer to the place where you visited with the babies, you have referred to it as "babies' hospital", "babies' home", etc. What exactly is this place? I probably should not call it either one of these terms. It is the upper floor of a regular hospital. Since it is illegal to put a child under the age of 2 years in an orphanage, they have to put the abandoned babies somewhere, so they put them in a hospital. They're in a bit of a "pickle" though, because I don't know what they'll do with these kids. The idea is that they are hoping for domestic adoptions, since international adoptions are banned and they are supposed to be trying to close the orphanages down, not put more kids in them. So where these kids are supposed to go is beyond me. Already there are several kids there who are almost 3 years old, and there is a 4 year old in a crib that is showing the signs of minimal interaction with other people...You are probably thinking that this doesn't make much sense, and you're right! I have no idea what the solution is, but I think the first thing they have to do is make it a criminal act to abandon a baby, if they haven't already done so.

FLYING HOME -- LA REVEDERE ROMANIA

So here it was May 22nd and time to go home already. That time sure did go fast! Left my hotel in Cluj VERY early to get to the airport for my 7 a.m. flight -- do NOT picture O'Hare. There were 2 departure gates. And in case you find yourself in the Cluj airport -- there's no food to purchase, just so you know. Didn't feel like eating so early anyway. So we boarded our prop plane for the Cluj to Milan flight. I'm still trying to understand why it takes so long to go such a short distance. Two and a half hours?! These planes are safer than they look, but many people had very reluctant looking faces. Or maybe they were more afraid of the Tarom flight attendants. They are pretty scary looking too! They still think it's the Communist days, and their service (or lack thereof) was really dreadful. Also towards the end of the flight, I think one of them was in the bathroom smoking which I thought was pretty interesting -- considering they're the ones that are supposed to keep us from smoking! But then I guess smoking is a Romanian hobby! Not much time between planes in Milan, so on to the Alitalia 9 hour flight. Some day I want to fly 1st class!!!...Immigration and customs very crowded at O'Hare. Plus when they saw I'd been to Romania, I had to go through the U.S. Agriculture line. My guess was that it had to do with the bird flu!...I'm glad to put my feet on the ground! My mom and sister were there to meet me. Thank you God for giving me this vacation and for bringing me safely home.

SIGHTSEEING IN CLUJ

Sunday (May 21) I spent the better part of the day walking around Cluj and enjoying the sights. I wandered into an incredibly beautiful Catholic Church called St. Michael's. Mass was in progress, and it was so peaceful and the singing was so beautiful that I stayed until the Mass ended...Down the street the Orthodox Church was so full that not everyone could get in, and the service was piped to the outside so everyone standing outside could hear. Did some window shopping, had a little lunch, and took quite a few pictures. Most interesting statue was of a Hungarian king where the word "Hungarian" was removed. There's a bit of tension between the Hungarians and Romanians. Nothing terrible but just a subtle thing. Too complicated to go into here, but nonetheless it was very obvious that the word had been removed from this statue...Cluj definitely doesn't have the smaller town atmosphere of Targu Mures, but it seems like a nice city with a lot of cool cultural things to do.

GOOD BYE TO TARGU MURES--HELLO CLUJ!

All good things must come to an end, and it was hard to believe that the week flew by so quickly. Saturday is just kind of a blur -- went to Anca's mom's work and she gave me a wonderful facial. What a treat! Went by their apt. and had a lunch before we were off and on the way to Cluj. I had originally hoped to be able to spend some time with some Habitat for Humanity people who are working in Cluj, but things didn't work out. I was pretty tired from our long day Friday and didn't do too much for the rest of the day.

BIRD FLU?

One quick digression -- on the way back to Targu Mures from Sinaia, after we got beyond Brasov, there was a place where we had to slow down to about 5 miles per hour so they could spray something on our car that will supposedly help combat bird flu. They sprayed the tires. We also drove over some big thing that looked like a piece of fabric and was soaked with something. The bird flu is in the news a lot there right now, and I think there were some cases reported near Brasov...I don't think I have any strange disease yet. At least not that I'm aware of!

VILLA HELVETIA

So after talking with the girls while they messed around with their hair, we were off to the restaurant Villa Helvetia. For some reason I was thinking it was a casual place, but it was actually rather fancy with beautiful tablecloths and tableware. They have quite an extensive menu. Bethany and Jannes had big beautiful salads, and I had four cheese pasta that was really great. So I had three restaurants in mind that I wanted to try while in Romania, and I was able to make it to all three -- China Blue, Pizza Mix, and Villa Helvetia. All three were great and reasonably priced.

GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS!

On returning to Targu Mures after our long day, we stopped at Bethany and Angela's apt. for a minute. We had the pleasure of finding Simona, Maria, and Elis coloring their hair. They were SO funny and just being typical teenage girls. And you could just sense what a great relationship they have with Angela. Simona is such a sweetheart and was hugging and kissing me and pinching my cheeks. These three girls are just blossoming under the care of Livada. I hope they realize how blessed and how fortunate they are.

SIGHISOARA IS NEXT!

You would think after the long drive to Sinaia we would head straight back to Targu Mures. But wait! First a quick stop in Sighisoara. It was getting pretty late by the time we got to Sighisoara, but we made a gallant effort to do some (uphill) walking and checked out the clock tower. I have to check my guidebook, but I think most of the stuff in Sighi is from the 16th century. It also attracts a lot of Dracula fans, as it is the birthplace of the Vlad Tepes, whom I believe is the real Dracula.

Anyway, we did Sighisoara in 45 minutes, but I will go back again! I'm not sure that this is the kind of place where you would spend 2 or 3 days, but it is definitely worthy of at least a day visit. There were some interesting looking little shops, and I think there is an open air market one or two days a week.

Thank you to Jannes and Bethany for making the effort to stop when we were all very tired!

GOING TO SINAIA

Next thing Friday -- After picking up a few things to snack on (well, maybe more than a few! :-) ), we were headed off to Sinaia to see Peles Castle. What a treat to have the opportunity to do this! I would never be able to do something like this myself, but thanks to the kind invitation of Bethany and the expert driving of a Dutch friend (Jannes), we were off and running! Sinaia is approx. a 3 hour drive from Targu Mures, if I remember correctly. Oh and what a drive! I was sitting in the back seat occasionally doing some of my own braking, and I think I only screamed once. Almost the entire way is a two lane road with traffic coming directly at you whenever you pass. The only really scary part is through the mountains where it is nothing but one hairpin turn after another. Whew! I've always been very thankful that I don't get motion sickness, and I was especially thankful this time that I don't!...After much driving, we arrived only to find that we were a few minutes too late to get into the Castle. As luck would have it, a very nice security guard gave us a private tour of the outer grounds but could not allow us into the Castle. The good side of this is that I will now definitely have an excuse to go back again! Seriously though, what a beautiful, peaceful place. And the setting is incredible. I'm not sure that I realized previously that Romania had a King and Queen. So we know their King and Queen definitely had good taste when they built this place!

I really enjoyed this and hope I will see the inside on a future visit...Time to head back to Targu Mures. What a nice day though to see some of the most beautiful scenery in Romania. Also had a chance to see some of Brasov.

BACK TO THE BABIES' HOSPITAL

Friday started off with another visit to the babies' hospital. It was fun to interact with them again, but also very hard knowing that there is so much more that could be done for them to relieve their boredom. You can see by some of the cribs where paint is peeled off the walls where the babies are scratching. Just hope they're not eating any of that! We put a blanket down on the floor and were playing with a bunch of them. They don't have too many toys, but they have a few things. They were feeding the toddlers, and we were all trying to fathom a guess as to what on earth they were feeding them. It looked like bread that had maybe soaked in something. We can tell though that they don't like us to see them feeding them. Maybe if they'd tell us what they need we could help them a little bit...One bright note was that one little girl's mom came to pick her up and take her home. So there's a constant change in the number of babies who are there. We said they need a few strollers to walk the kids around in, even if it's only done inside. They never go outside which doesn't seem like a good thing. Already some of them are scared to death when you even take them out of their rooms. We did it anyway just to kind of acclimate them to something other than their rooms.

Hopefully Livada will eventually have mission teams scheduled to go in the hospital frequently to interact with the babies. I know they could do so much good there. This place we've visited is in Ludus which is about 45 minutes from Targu Mures, but I think there's another place closer to Targu Mures that they could possibly visit too.

If you have a prayer list, please add these possibilities to your prayer list. The kids definitely need interaction, and there's nothing at all hard about doing it. It's fun!

AMERICAN DIPLOMAT

Well, as I was waiting for my ride to the baby hospital on Friday, the director of Livada pulled up in his car. He was meeting the American diplomat who was here in Targu Mures. (Found out his name is Bob Gilchrist) He was not the ambassador but was someone from the ambassador's office. Bruce (Livada director) introduced me to him, and we were all talking for a few minutes. I understand that this gentleman went to the same baby hospital we've gone to, and he went to the orphanage in the same town. (Interestingly enough, found out about a week later that when they came out of the orphanage, Bruce's car had been "keyed" all the way around!!) One of the things Bob wanted to know at the baby hospital was if the babies lie on their backs all day.

Apparently this gentleman's specialty is Human Rights, so we'll see what happens in the future. At least Livada is getting some people to listen to them. So I guess they didn't get to talk to the Ambassador, but maybe this guy was second best!

CULTURAL PALACE

Enjoyed wandering around the Cultural Palace in Targu Mures. I happened to luck out and go in there when an orchestra was practicing. I started to listen with the intention of just staying for a few minutes, and I ended up listening for almost 45 minutes. It was fun to hear them practicing and to hear the conductor correcting them, etc. There were other things I should have looked at in that building, but for some reason I just couldn't figure out how to buy a ticket, and I really didn't see anyone selling tickets...Oh well, next time!

INTERESTING MENU ITEMS

Soup (ciorba) is a big part of the diet here. I noticed that the restaurant at my hotel has 7 kinds of soup on the menu. I tried chicken sour soup w/ vegetables, and it was really delicious. I'm not quite sure what makes it sour, but it sure is tasty.Of course I've seen the dreaded "ciorba de burta" on the menu. It is tripe soup, or as my guidebook describes it "cow innards soup". I love the rest of what my guidebook says. It has "the idea alone is enough to send some running". I consider myself one of the running. Tried goulash too -- what better place to try goulash than a place that used to be part of Hungary! Very delicious with a great mixture of meat, gravy, carrots, potatoes, little noodles, etc. Couldn't even fathom a guess at what "saramura de crap" was. I just don't know that I could go in a restaurant and ask someone to bring me crap. Turns out crap is the word for carp, and this term is grilled carp. I think maybe I won't try that.

AMERICAN AMBASSADOR

Several of the Livada Orphan Care people are having lunch today with the American ambassador to Romania. He is in town from Bucharest. They will no doubt be talking about the orphanage conditions, especially the conditions at one particular notorious orphanage.

Livada's director recently spoke at a European Union session to call attention to and create an awareness of some of the sexual abuse and abuse in general that has been going on in the orphanages.

Livada really loves these kids and is willing to fight for them! Wish I could attend the luncheon myself. Alas, no such luck!

CHECK OUT A FEW PICTURES

If you'd like to see a few pictures taken by Bethany with the babies -- go to
www.acrownofbeauty.blogspot.com She got a couple of very good shots!

ZORRO'S BACK PACK

Zorro is a child who lives at Casa Ana. I had a gift from his sponsor to give to him, and I finally had a chance to deliver it yesterday. It was (drum roll please!!!) a Cubs back pack. It was SO cool! In each pocket, there was a little note or something for him to read. His 12th birthday was last weekend. He put on the Cubs cap that was inside right away, and he looked so cute! Until he came into Livada's care, he had never gone to school. So his mom will help him read the little notes and birthday card later. You could tell that he REALLY liked it and loved the attention. I can't get over how small he is for 12 years old, but then that's how all the kids are. I think years and years of poor nutrition haven't allowed them to grow much. I think the best word for them is "puny".

Zorro has finished the first grade and is already working on second grade materials. I think he's actually a smart little guy but just never had the opportunity before.

La multi ani Zorro!!! (Happy Birthday!)

CHINA BLUE

Finally had the opportunity to try the Chinese restaurant I've heard (and read) so much about. China Blue was delicious! I had some kind of pork with vegetables. I loved it! I was even able to figure out the money!

BIG BLUE

Had a chance to visit a place yesterday in Targu Mures that used to be called Big Blue. Don't know what it's called now. Awhile ago, this place housed (warehoused?) as many as 400 handicapped kids. Since these large places are being closed down, this is now a school for the handicapped. I enjoyed seeing their classrooms and learning about some of the activities they have for the kids. It's a VERY nice school and is nothing like the jail it used to be. I understand they used to just turn the kids loose in the big courtyard and it was quite a wild place.

They now have very caring people working with these kids -- some of them have Downs syndrome, some of them have AIDS (SIDA in Romanian), some have physical disabilities. What an improvement from the bad old days! The kids come and play sports, have classes, and are given a nice lunch everyday. We went into the cafeteria area, and the cooks were preparing some kind of soup that smelled delicious!

Little by little -- step by step. You can't fix everything overnight, but I give them A+ for effort.

MY NEW CAMERA

I'm doing ok with my new camera and finally learned how to display the pictures. I needed to figure it out, because I wanted to be sure the baby pictures were coming out ok. There are a lot of bells and whistles that I'll probably never even use, but it's a pretty decent camera.

LOCKED IN AGAIN!

What is it about me and locks?! I have to lock my room from the inside with a key, and this morning I couldn't get out of my room! I knew it would have to happen at least once. I did manage to get out -- thank goodness! And thankfully I wasn't in too much of a hurry!

TO CASA NADIA

After we finished at the babies' home in Ludus, we spent some time at Casa Nadia. I enjoyed seeing where Adi lives and seeing his room. He very proudly opened up his little closet and showed off where he keeps all of his stuff. He didn't have much, but I'm sure they are very happy to have their own private space. He has a picture of my macaw Buddy in his photo memory book. He still has the Spiderman gift bag I put his birthday gift in. He's a good kid! We sat and talked for a few minutes, and I was very greatful to have the translating abilities of Jannes (from Holland) to help me out. Adi was curious to know why I had chosen him for sponsorship, so it was fun to talk about all that stuff.

While there, we ate pancakes filled with chicken (delicious--reminded me of flautas!) and a bowl of soup.

These kids are living a good life there and have people who really care about them taking care of them. I think they understand how fortunate they are. God is alive and well and working in and through Livada Orphan Care!

TO THE BABIES' HOSPITAL

Went with some friends to the town of Ludus to the abandoned babies' hospital. Before we left, we went to Metro to buy some disposable diapers. Metro reminded me of a Sam's Club.

What an indescribable experience. Right now there are less than 30 babies, but what a handful! The women seemed very kindly, but it seemed to me that they were spending an awful lot of time smoking. Wish they would spend that time handling the babies! I was able to take 123 summer outfits that were donated by my church (that's only part of the donation), and they even used several of them while we were there.

All of the babies were soaking wet, and we were all very wet just from handling them. Talk about adorable though. Some people would just kill to adopt these kids I'm sure, and maybe some day international adoption will be reinstated. The most heartbreaking of all is a developmentally disabled child who is 7 years old but looks as if he is 2. I couldn't believe his age. The youngest baby was about a month old. Some of them are gypsy babies, but not all of them...Two of them were scared to death to come out of their cribs, but we took them out anyway. A couple of them are really at that age where they mimic everything, and if I said, "la,la,la", then this little guy said "la,la,la". I tried "rrrrrr" and a couple other noises too, and he mimicked me. I dropped something and said "oops", and he did too. It was hilarious! There was one little guy I was sort of petting on the head, and I stooped over to pick something up, and he started petting me on my head with this BIG smile on his face. That was probably the first time in his life he had touched someone else's hair. He was so sweet!

We will go back for a few hours on Thursday. Words just fail me right now.

TO THE BALLET

Happened to notice yesterday that the Budapest Ballet Academy was performing at the theatre right next to my hotel. I just walked up at the last minute to see if I could get a ticket, and the man I was attempting to communicate with didn't understand a word I said. Finally asked in Spanish where I could buy a ticket and he pointed out the way. The ticket saleslady didn't speak English either, but we somehow managed to understand each other. What she was attempting to tell me was STANDING ROOM ONLY. I figured what the heck. I had no idea what my ticket cost, but I knew it was 30 cents, $3.00, or $30.00. (Turns out it was $3.00).

What great fun the ballet was! First 1/2 was a mixed progam with a lot of very (wonderful) mournful Hungarian music. Second 1/2 was one of the acts of La Bayadere. I'm so glad I made the effort to go. And it was a great treat that three minutes after the program was over, I was "home".

One number was two guys who came out in these Russian looking boots and were stomping around and doing knee slapping. I can't even explain it, but it was SO cool. Reminded me of STOMP, only with people. The audience went crazy for it!

That was quite an unexpected treat.

SMOKE, SMOKE EVERYWHERE!

Oh my gosh -- I've forgotten how icky it is when people are allowed to smoke everywhere. In the restaurants, in the internet cafe, everywhere! Bllaaaahhhhh!

INTERNET USE

I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I can use the internet here for an hour for less than a dollar. The internet cafe I'm going to is probably barely a block from my hotel. So, it's pretty handy. I got the idea to do this from the Livada Orphan Care gals. It's free, and all you do is go to www.blogger.com to create your blog.

I am finding it to be kind of relaxing to just come in and sit down and space out and type!

ABC NIGHTLINE SEGMENT

Don't know how many of you saw the ABC Nightline segment on Romania last Weds. It was pretty disturbing and showed the grim life of some of the handicapped here. Well, I was very fortunate to have an opportunity to see how Romania is making strides and is trying to improve things -- although you can never change things overnight.

Victor took me to see a place where he works. There are 8 homes of 10 kids that are built around a circular area (a field). In the middle the kids are able to play sports and just "hang out". The houses are VERY nice, and we were able to look around inside and see. One of the kids was all too happy to show us his room. These kids are all mildly retarded or handicapped in some way, from what I could see. I would say they were living a pretty decent life. These group homes are one of the ways that Romania is trying to meet the European Union requirement for shutting down the larger orphanages. Victor was telling me that there used to be an orphanage of 400 kids that is now closed. So this is definitely an improvement.

Good thing about the ABC segment -- Livada Orphan Care had 10,000 hits on its website two days in a row, and the following day it had 500 hits! Maybe something good will come out of the rather negative publicity. I'm sure many people wanted to find a way to help once they saw that program.

LUNCH AT McDONALD'S

Original game plan was for me to go out to the house and have lunch with the kids, but I decided it would be more of a special treat just to take the two of them to McDonald's. Their American "moms" (Bethany and Angela) went along for translating (thank goodness). Also enjoyed meeting Jannes, the Dutch young man who is here doing a six month internship with Livada. So we all walked over to McDonald's after church service.

The kids LOVE McDonald's and actually both got the Happy Meal! I thought they're a bit old for the Happy Meal, but they love the toy that comes with them. I guess the giveaway right now is some cool pen that they all love! Couldn't get over the way Adi chowed down on the fries. He absolutely loves them. They accidentally gave us an extra order of fries, so after he finished his first order of fries, he patiently waited to see if anyone else would eat the extra fries! I guess the kids all LOVE ketchup, and he devoured his ketchup. You have to pay for ketchup and mayo here.

He's a great kid even though he is a little rough around the edges. I couldn't get over how small ALL the kids are. The internet makes everyone look heavier, so they're much smaller looking in person. I have a feeling the orphanage food wasn't too nutritious!

I look forward to getting together with them again and will most likely see them on Tuesday.

MEETING ADI & SIMONA

What fun to finally meet Adi, the little boy I sponsor through Livada Orphan Care. It's hard for me to believe that he is 12 years old. He is SO small. He seems like a great kid though, and he was trying to get me to speak Romanian. He knows a little English. I had sent him some of my pictures of my parrot Buddy, and one of the first things he said to me was "I like Buddy -- especially when you said he waves his foot and says bye, bye." He asked me all kinds of questions including --how do you like Romania? --If you arrived on Fri., why didn't you come to visit us Sat.? --Will you come back again? --Are you married? and on and on. The kids are so curious -- it's really funny.

Simona is absolutely adorable. She's so cute and huggable. She is a really sweet 15 year old, soon to be 16 in July. She kept holding my hand and looking at me all the time! It was pretty funny. I haven't communicated by mail as much with her as I have with Adi, but I still feel like I know her through reading the blog postings that her house mom posts.

I've only arrived and they're asking me if I'll be coming again. Simona wanted to know if I'll be coming when they have camp (which is in June, July, Aug). Wish I could, but I don't think so!

MICI, SARMALE, AND PRESENTS

I went to Anca's parents' apartment and enjoyed visiting with them. We went out and ate mici (spelling?) which are little grilled sausages. I only ate 2 small ones, but they were VERY tasty, and I really enjoyed them. After that we went back to their apartment and visited for quite a long time. I enjoyed bringing them little presents. I never expected the miniature tennis ball keychain that said U.S. Open to make such a hit with Anca's father. He was so tickled with it and put his keys on it immediately.

We talked forever about past, present, Romania's entry into the EU, and future life in Romania. I was really fascinated by all their comments and insights into life here in Romania. They were also very helpful in explaining (or trying to explain!) the money system to me. I was happy when they said it's even confusing for them!

Anca's mom (Naty) had prepared sarmale, and we ate a few of those. They are SO delicious. They are cabbage rollups stuffed with ground pork and rice. They are SO delicious that it's hard to be polite and not eat twenty of them!!!! I did manage to control myself though.

What a fun evening! Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Dan!

JET LAG / TIME CHANGE

I'm doing great in the jet lag department. It was almost 6:30 p.m. when I arrived at my hotel on Fri. night, so I just spaced out for awhile and then went to bed. My sleep medication really helps me a lot. Got up feeling totally refreshed on Sat. and pretty much was on the go from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Amazing how much energy one can have on vacation!

PIZZA MIX

I knew it wouldn't be long before I'd have to have my first pizza. Bethany and I went to Pizza Mix (pronounced Meeks) for lunch. It's within walking distance of my hotel, and am I ever glad of that! It was delicious! The interesting thing was that there was not a whole lot of sauce on the pizza, but they asked whether we wanted sweet or spicy sauce. They brought what looked like a bowl of hot sauce to the table, and you add more sauce to your pizza if you want to. It was SO delicious! We had a nice leisurely lunch which gave us a chance to go through some plans for when we will go to the baby home, when we'll go buy disposable diapers, etc. I really enjoyed Bethany's company and found myself thinking that it seems like we've known each other for years!

MET BETHANY

Sat. morning at 10 a.m. I met Bethany from Livada Orphan Care and we walked all over. She showed me where the church was that I would be attending Sun., and we stopped for her to run a few errands. It was fun for me, because she is looking for a new couch. It was fun to see what a Romanian furniture store was like! She was explaining a little bit to me about the money system (why does it seem so hard?!), and just about life in general in Romania. She's quite an interesting gal and is SO dedicated to their cause over here. I find it interesting that none of the Americans are paid a salary by Livada. They all have to raise their own support in order to come over and work. What an experience though! I'm pretty impressed with their Romanian language skills. They're way ahead of me! I think I've said "thank you" and excuse me twice and that's about it!

MILAN EXPERIENCES

Just a little digression back to Milan. I knew I was in Italy when everyone was eating pizza at 7 in the morning. Personally, I didn't feel up to it, but maybe on the way back. It looked and smelled delicious. Wonder how I'll pay in Euros?!

Maybe it was lucky I had extra time in Milan, I went into the bathroom and couldn't figure out how to get out of the bathroom stall. For the life of me I couldn't unlock the door! I was very glad that I knew the word for "HELP" in Italian, just in case I needed it.

WHO IS ANCA?

I keep mentioning Anca, and I'm sure some people are wondering who that is! She is a kind-hearted coworker of mine who is from Targu Mures. Her family still lives here, and they are kindly helping me out while I am here. She used to volunteer with the organization Livada Orphan Care, and she is the one who got me interested in the organization. It's a great organization, and for anyone who has an interest in looking, their web site is www.livada.org

Thanks for everything Anca! :-)

$$$$ CONFUSION

Oh my gosh -- who can figure out this money system?! They have old and new money, and it gets incredibly confusing when you pay in old money but they give you change in new money. I went and changed $40 and bought 2 Diet Cokes, and when I got back to the room I thought I had been totally ripped off. It seemed that I had paid $10 for 2 drinks! Anca's parents helped me figure out everything that I had spent, and it seemed that I was ok according to all the change I had left. But boy is it confusing!

THE WEATHER

Hope this great weather continues -- it's made to order! So far it's been very sunny and pleasantly warm with a few clouds. Couldn't ask for anything much better.

MY HOTEL

I really like my hotel. I'm in a great location and can walk to many things. The room is very comfortable and modern, and it's in a quiet location. I like having the breakfast included each morning. It's very nice w/ scrambled eggs, cheeses, cereal, yogurt, toast, and many things that I enjoy!

THANK YOU

Thank you to so many people who helped me or encouraged me to make this trip. It will be unforgettable!

Thanks to my sister for her help with packing, shopping for me, washing clothes, etc. Thank you to Anca for having washed more than 150 pounds of baby clothes. Thank you to my Mission Ministry at church for encouraging me in a clothing drive. Thank you to several people who gave a donation so I can buy disposable diapers for the abandoned babies' home. Thank you to my parents for encouraging me to go, even though my dad has been in the hospital. Thank you to Victor and Cristian for picking me up, and to Victor for helping out with hotel arrangements.

Multumesc foarte mult!

ALONG THE WAY

Although I was really, really tired, I was trying to stay in the moment to enjoy the sights along the way. We passed through a lot of interesting little towns on our drive to Targu Mures, which is about 100 kilometers from the airport. It definitely felt like a foreign country when horses were on the roads!

It was a very strange sight to see gypsies and their houses too. There were several large gypsy mansions which my friends pointed out to me along the way. They're these great big gaudy looking things, and you can always tell they are gypsy mansions by the silver odd-shaped roofs that they have. They almost look like fun castles we would have at home! Very strange looking! And talk about bizarre -- they build these huge mansions but then don't live in them. If you look out back, they have a little shack where the family is all crammed in this little place together. I guess they want people to know they're rich. In the winter it would be really rough (and expensive) to heat these huge places that are usually at least 3 stories.

WHAT A FLIGHT!

Wow -- that is a long haul! 9 hours to Milan, 4 hours wait in Milan, 2 1/2 hours to Cluj, and then an hour and a half drive to Targu Mures. Thank goodness Anca's father (Victor) and brother (Cristian) were waiting for me. I was dead tired! It was impossible to sleep since the plane to Milan was so warm. I made it though, and both pieces of my luggage made it too -- which was a miracle!

I think it would have been pretty difficult to fend for myself at that point, so it was a real blessing to have a ride waiting for me.

SETTING UP MY BLOG

Well, here's my first test run. Let's see how it goes! I hope to be able to use this during my trip to Romania. I'm not too computer literate, so we'll see what happens! :)