Day 7 and 8: We are so hardcore!

I feel really bad that I keep forgetting to blog, but I'll just try to catch up as much as I can.
Last night, Katie and I finally got to catch up a little bit on sleep and it was LOVELY. It has been raining for two days straight and this weather is NASTY. But as gross as the weather is, Romania is still the most beautiful country I've ever been in.

Yesterday ended our first week of teaching, and this weekend is Pentecost, so we don't have class on Monday. We had to help Attila find some clothes for his 10 year reunion, so we went to Targu Mures. We went to a mall first, but then ended up going to this outdoor market that had all kinds of clothes and shoes and accessories. It was pretty sweet. I liked it so much better than the mall, because the mall was too close to being back in the materialistic States. I just wasn't impressed at all. I'm definitely not missing that part of America AT ALL. In fact, really the only thing I miss is my family and easy macaroni.

While we were out shopping yesterday, Attila said the funniest thing. I can't really remember how it came up, but Katie and I were talking about cooking for him, and he said something about making a traditional Hungarian dish for us, but this is how it came out, "Oooohh! I will cook you!!"And I started laughing and said, "What will you eat us with?" And he said, "Mmmm, I will eat you with mushrooms." I thought I would die I was laughing so hard.

Last night we bought our plane tickets for Budapest!! I'm so excited that we're going!! I've always wanted to go to Budapest, and a little holiday will be nice for a couple of days. We still don't know where we're staying but we'll figure it out. And our tickets were so cheap it was amazing. I still can't believe we got such a good deal for the three of us.

I found out today from Abigail the name of those beautiful pink and white flowers that our children gave us on our first day here . She said they call them "The Rose of Pentecost" because they always bloom right around Pentecost. How beautiful is that?

On a more adventurous note: I tried raw pig today. Yes that's right, it was raw. Mom, maybe you shouldn't read this. I didn't know it was raw until it was in my mouth...and by that point I figured it was too late, so I just swallowed it. Zolie asked us if we would like to try ham, and I thought "Real homemade ham, heck yeah!" But then when it was in my mouth we were informed it wasn't cooked. I guess I should've known because it was a purplish-brown color but ohwell. I mean, I've eaten a lot of sushi in my day, but maybe raw pork is more dangerous than fish? It was really good actually, as far as raw meat goes. If I hadn't known it was raw I probably really would've liked it. It was really smoky and not too salty...ok it was really good haha.

We went to two different gypsy villages today. I will have to ask Zolie or Zozo what the names were because I forgot, but both of them are even poorer than Apalina. I am looking forward to getting to know some of the children from these villages at our second camp in July. I remember initially how slow our relationships with the Apalina children were until the camp, and then we just fell in love with them. Saturday is usually our day to go to Apalina, so I really missed my kids today, but I was glad for the opportunity to spend time with these new children. There is just so much hurt and hardship that I cannot even fathom in these little lives, and I know that there are villages like this all over Romania. My heart just breaks for these children, and I pray that God will continue to give hearts of ministry and servitude to people like He has done with Attila, Zolie and Zozo so that the people in the gypsy villages will come to know Him and His great love for us. These men and their families are so dedicated to bringing His word and spreading His love; it is incredible! "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!"

Day 5 and 6: Peanut Butter and Sour Pickles

Well, I think I'm on the upswing of this cold or whatever it is. I felt terrible yesterday, but not so much today, so that's a blessing. We had an AMAZING storm today while Katie was teaching the last class. It was so loud that she couldn't hardly be heard over the rain. I was excited though because I love storms, and Attila said that they really need rain here.

Yesterday at dinner Katie and I had an interesting experience. Attila had to go to a meeting at Reghin before the Bible study at Gornesti, and apparently he thought that Zolie would be at dinner with us, but Zolie had a meeting too, so we were alone. Katie and I ate dinner with a family of two of our students who spoke practically no English. Let me just say that it was one of the most awkward experiences of my life, but at the same time Katie and I were both kind of glad that it happened. We felt independent for the first time that we've been here, but at the same time I was extremely enlightened on how limited my communication is here.

We were in such a good mood after talking with Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Floyd on skype last night, that we decided to have a party, and just to show how hardcore we are, we broke out the Nutella. :) I'm a fan, it's no lie. And there is no bread in America like European bread, so that just made it even better.

Speaking of food, we had the funniest conversation with Zolie today at lunch. There is practically no peanut butter here, but Zolie actually knew what it was, unlike Attila. Anyway, Katie and I were talking about our favorite way to eat it, like peanut butter and bananas, peanut butter and apples, etc... normal stuff. Anyway, Zolie is sitting there listening and he says "ooohh yes, I love it too. Especially with pickles. Sour pickles.(!!!) And sometimes with ketchup." Can you believe that? I kind of want to try it now just because Zolie was so enthusiastic, but at the same time it's kind of revolting.

After lunch we went to Zolie's house because we have a break for a couple of hours, and we must have looked pretty rough because Abigail kept trying to get us to take a nap, but we kept insisting that we were fine - unfortunately we ended up falling asleep on accident. I was kind of embarrassed haha. I think we only slept for about 25 minutes though.

Oh funny story: we wanted some bottled water yesterday while we were teaching so Attila went and bought us some from the store. The name of this particular brand of water was...get ready...Mountain Dew. :) I was so excited hahaha.

Katie drove the "gypsy wagon" today on one of the back roads in Reghin!! She was so excited. I was really impressed. Attila claims he's going to teach me manual, but I'm terrified haha. I couldn't believe how well Katie drove; I'm pretty sure I am going to kill that poor car.

Today marks the end of our first week here. I can't believe how fast it's going by.

Day 4: A Gypsy Virus

Today was our first real day of school. For some reason I woke up with a terrible sore throat and I'm worried that I might lose my voice, so please pray for me. That is not something I want to have to deal with, and as much singing as Katie and I do, I really don't want to lose my voice for a long period of time. Like more than one day. :) Attila says he thinks I caught something from the Apalina children; some kind of virus is going around. Not very encouraging haha, but hopefully it won't last very long.

Teaching class went very well; today was a long day, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. All of our students are very attentive and eager to learn(every teacher's dream) and so far I don't think I've confused anyone beyond repair hahaha. I've decided to discard pretty much all of the plans that I had made before coming here because I want the beginner class to move much faster than I originally thought. Also, Katie and I couldn't really know how to teach the Advanced class until we were able to test them, so most of our planning is done at night. Of course, I don't like planning all of my lessons at night because we don't get back to the apartment until kind of late, but I think in the long run, it will be much better this way.

I learned a new song in Hungarian today! Apparently, it's a love song; the text is from Song of Solomon, and Attila sang this song to Adele when he proposed. I was very impressed. Zozo and Attila told Katie and I that we needed to learn it so we can sing it to our husbands hahaha! Of course, Katie and I agreed that 'Jovok Eled' is still our favorite song, but I'm excited to expand my repertoire. :)

This paragraph is for Aunt Bonnie. :) We spent all of the time that we weren't at school in Zozo's house again, and we really missed you today! It just doesn't feel right being there without you. You'll be glad to know that everyone keeps asking when you are coming, and Zozo asked me to send you his greetings. :) We definitely cannot wait to see you in July.

Tonight, Katie and I were able to spend some time with Zoltan and Abigail who work with a gypsy village even worse than Apalina. They are both so open and full of love for what they do and the people they work with. We enjoyed spending time with them and speaking about the sacrifice involved in mission work. Zoltan has some amazing stories! Almost every day, I am humbled by the seriousness of the way that people take their faith here. I think I am beginning to understand why God has called people like Attila and Zoltan to spread the gospel here. It takes specific people to be able to do the work that they do.

Day 2 and 3: Getting over jetlag

Unfortunately, the internet has been down for the past couple of days, so I'll group Sunday and Monday into one post. Sundays are truly days set aside for worship here. Attila preaches at four churches every Sunday. And he preaches on something different at each one! I cannot imagine how he could do this every Sunday, but he is used to it. Next week is Pentecost and I'm very grateful that Attila is going to let me go to mass that day. I will probably miss one of the services with him and Katie and then go to the other three, but I'm just so happy to be able to attend mass while I'm here! Apparently, Pentecost is such a big celebration for them here that we will not teach school the Monday after Pentecost but instead we go to all the churches again!

We were asked to eat lunch with the Vass family Sunday. They are one of my two favorite families here in Romania. The Vass' are a very old couple who don't speak a word of English but they have the most beautiful hearts; it's easy to forget that we can't speak the same language when Mr. Vass will take my face into is hands and smile the most grateful smile at me, like I've just given him the most amazing gift in the world, and I think "I haven't done anything at all!! You're the one feeding me!" They are incredible. They told Katie and I that we are like their grandchildren and they love us. How amazing is that? I remember last year Mr. Vass told us that he and his wife have never had a fight in all of their marriage(they must be in their 70's). He said, "Do you know why this is? Because she is ALWAYS right." hahahaha. He is a wise man. :)

On Monday, we had our first day of school. I didn't actually teach a class because we had everyone in the same group, so Katie just gave a quick review of some things, and then Attila told us who would be in each group: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced. We have five classes a day, Intermediate and Advanced in the morning and then Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced in the afternoon. I'm a little nervous today because I have to teach the Advanced class in the morning and apparently there are teachers in this class! Different people come to the morning and afternoon classes because of work and other conflicts, but Attila said we will have ambitious students who come to every class too.

Katie and I love Mondays because we have a Bible study at Zozo's house, and on this Monday, we pretty much spent the whole day with them. Zozo's family is our other favorite family here in Romania. I have never met people who are filled with as much joy as they are. It is beautiful. Zozo told me that it's because they are gypsies, that is why they're happy all the time. Hahaha. But I know that it is the love of Christ in their hearts that fills them with so much joy. One of the things that blew me away last year, and still continues to overwhelm me now, is how much these people just want to give all the time. Zozo's parents told us they have been waiting to see us and spend time with us since Attila told them we were coming, and that they were so honored we were in their home. So they had lunch and dinner with us, and then insisted that we come to lunch the next day too! Although the only one of them who can really speak English is Zozo (one of his brothers and his sister-in-law are in our Intermediate English class) but I don't think Katie and I have ever really felt the language barrier so much with them. I don't know why, but we just feel so at home with their family. It's hard to explain, but I think it must be why we love them so much.

One of Zozo's neighbors has the most precious daughter named Lisza; she and her mom came and sat with us at one point for awhile because her mother is in my Beginner English class, and when her mom left, Lisza apparently cried to come back and sit with me and Katie, so Isti(Zozo's brother) brought her back. She just crawled right into Katie's lap, and later mine, but she never said a word haha. She is a gorgeous child. I think she was about two, probably my nephew Aidan's age, but I will try to put a picture of her up soon, because I think she has the most beautiful eyes of any child I've seen here.

One thing that I have loved about the Bible studies here is the music. Everyone sings these Hungarian songs so loud and passionately, it's really powerful! I almost cried last night at one point, because Zozo started to play these really familiar chords on the guitar and everyone broke into "Shout to the Lord" in Hungarian. Katie and I sang in English and all of a sudden these two cultures came together as one, united by our Savior. It was like every barrier came down because we were both just worshiping the same God and it didn't matter what language it was in because we were saying the same thing. We had been singing all these Hungarian worship songs which are beautiful, but then all of a sudden it was one that we knew, and I could feel God's presence with me at that moment.

I'm going to wrap this up because I have to go prepare my lessons for today. Hopefully the internet will decide to work for the next few days at least!

Day 1: The Adventure Begins

I never thought I would be one for blogging, but considering my circumstances, I'm going to give it a try. :D
Katie and I are finally here in Romania after two long days of travel. We got to Rhegin around midnight last night. By God's grace and because of His incredible plan we made it here. I don't know how much of the jetlag I am feeling or if it is just apprehension about what the next nine weeks hold that is so tiring. I know that there are adventures and experiences waiting for us that we cannot even fathom and it is hard not knowing. This trip is going to be life-changing; Katie and I have known that since we started to plan, but as cliche as it sounds, after today I can feel huge things in our future.

Today we went to Apalina and surprised our children with our visit. They have known we were coming this summer, but Attila did not tell them exactly when. The girls ran to us and hugged us immediately, but several of the boys were a little reserved at first, and just shook our hands, but soon warmed back up as they had last summer. :) I may have embarassed my "son" Alex at first by running and grabbing him in a huge hug, but after about an hour when we were outside, he was the first child to pick one of the many flowers of the day and brought it to me. I of course told him that I loved him and he grinned and responded, starting a chorus of other voices asking if I loved them too. I am not one to throw around that term "love", but I can honestly say I have never experienced love so quickly as I did when I met these children.

After singing and playing games with the children, we went out to a huge field above the village to run around with them and at some point they found some place Katie and I never did see that had beautiful pink and white flowers. They ended up picking us more flowers than we could ever take back to our apartment. Those children must have picked us more than 200 flowers. Isn't Florin precious in this picture?? I am guessing with my very small knowledge of flowers that a few of them might have been peonies, but I'm really not sure. Once again, I was blown away by the beauty of these people and the overwhelming eagerness to love and to try to show it however they can. They love us, simply because we love them. And isn't that exactly what we're called to do?

Being with the children again made me long to be able to speak freely with them. I can understand a little bit of what they are saying; just single words here and there, but my heart hurt everytime one of them would rattle off a long sentence full of unknown words and look questioningly into my face. I was constantly reminded of this barrier that we have in our language differences and I long for the day when we can speak without having to translate every word. My goal is to have at least one decent conversation with someone in Hungarian before we leave, even if we have to talk about the weather!

Tomorrow we have four meetings for church, and I assume Katie and I are expected to speak/sing at each one, so I should probably start to prepare.