A Drive in the Country

The weather here has been cold and dreary, with lots of fog in the mornings and overcast days.  The temps have been in the low 40’s during the nights, warming up to the upper 50’s, low 60’s – nothing that inspires outdoor activities, until this past weekend.  Saturday started out like the rest of the mornings – fog – but the temps were warmer and it started clearing out around 10a.  So Dennis and I hit the road for some fall colors and shopping.

We left Targu-Mures with a destination of Corund.  This town has a clay mine that they use for pottery.  Dennis was also thinking that this was the place where the lady hand-knitted wool sweaters (the cost for a hand-knitted wool sweater: 80 lei = $25).  With a deal like that waiting for us, we were excited to leave the apartment.

Being the adventurous couple that we are, we decided to try a new route.  Yes, I know, a new route doesn’t always mean the best route, but hey, we’re in a new country so let’s see what’s out there :)  I’m including a copy of the road map so you can see exactly the path that we took…and believe me, there were many kilometers that were nothing more than a path.

So, from TM we took Hwy 135 headed east towards Miercurea Nirajului.  It was a beautiful drive, with little traffic.  We continued on 135 to Drojdii before turning south on 34, thru Abud to Ghindari.  In Ghindari, we hit 45 to Solocma.  At the fork in the road, we veered left headed towards Siclod, then on to Praid.  We drove about 7 or 8 kilometers past the fork when we decided this wasn’t the right road (it became gravel right before the fork).  So we turned around and headed back into town for directions.  After inquiring from a local, he advised us to go back to Ghindari and head southwest to Sangeorgiu de Padure.  So we did just that.  Then Dennis got the atlas out again to look at alternate routes.  Hwy 135A looked like a pretty good road, so off we went again.  And it was a good road……..for about 10 kilometers, then it was gravel….again.  At least it was 2 lane gravel, and in decent condition, so we continued to drive.  Along the way we found Lake Bezidu…..what a surprise!!! 

We stopped for pictures and to get out and stretch (by now we’ve been in the car for about 3 hours).  The water was still, with a few people fishing.  We continued around the  lake, stopping on the other side for more pictures.  At the end of the lake was Bezidu Nou (which was nothing more than a few houses along the other side of the lake).  At the turn in the road stood a wall with a statue in front.  Dennis was sure that this was some type of memorial to WWI.  He took some pictures of the engraving so that we could ask later (found out today that the memorial was for the town that was consumed by the lake). 

The drive from here to Criseni was quiet….just a gravel road to travel down.  But it was at Criseni that our real adventure began.  As we left town, the road dropped down to a bridge was wasn’t much wider than our car.  Again, we wondered whether we were on the right road, but there was the road marker and it said 135A.  Across the bridge we went, then waved hello to the man and woman tending cattle on the other side.  They were the last people, or living thing, we saw until we reached Atid.  That was the longest, and loneliest, 8 kilometers we ever drove!  There were no cattle, sheep, goats, snakes, mice, buzzards, or birds to be seen.  The road, and I use that term VERY loosely, wasn’t much more than a wagon trail. 

We definitely took our vehicle “off-roading”.  What a blessing it was to see Atid.  But the excitement didn’t last long, as the town took about 3 minutes to drive through (and that was because we could only drive about 20 kmh).  Ok, the road from here to the main road (13A) had to be better, right?  Wrong!  Although there were places in the road where 2 cars could pass, the condition of the road wasn’t any better, in fact, I think it was worse.  Now we were driving on gravel that had, at one time, been paved.  Every now and then, a chunk of pavement would come forth, surrounded by potholes and more gravel.  The scenery was wonderful.  We continued to climb on the drive, so the hills were splattered with color.  Just another 12 kilometers and we’ll be at the main highway.  Oh, did I forget to tell you that the 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) took almost an hour.  Before we hit the main road, we did find some blueberry bushes along the path.  We were excited to stop and pick some.  I was excited to stop and find a bush (my bladder was full and the bouncing around on the rough terrain wasn’t helping the situation).

As Dennis tried one of the blueberries, he informed me that they weren’t ready for picking.  What?  Blueberries should have already been picked.  So I tried one too…..bitter!!!!  Don’t worry, I told him, nothing that a pound or so of sugar won’t fix :)J  So we picked about a quart of the berries and then kept going.  We figured that if I could make the blueberry jelly taste good, then we’d go back for more (only the next trip wouldn’t include any “sightseeing”).

Woohoo!!  We finally hit the main road – all paved, with 2 lanes.  Now south to Corund.  We hit the town around 4p and did a little shopping.  No sweater for Dennis, but we did find an indoor kurtos kolache grill.  Kurtos is a Hungarian pastry that is roasted over coals.  Everytime we’ve seen them being grilled, they are over a large pit.  The set that we bought has 4 skewers and the grill pan sits on the stove.  Can’t wait to try it out!!!  After an exhausting 20 minutes of shopping, we looked for a restaurant (we hadn’t eaten since 9a).  Nothing satisfies the hunger like some good old snitel de pui with cartofi pureed.  Dennis feasted on porc gratar with cartofi pureed.  The young man who was our waiter, spoke English, so we enjoyed visiting with him.  He shared with us his plans to move to either the US or Canada (he has family in the eastern part of Canada and NY area).

We’ve now filled our bellies, and we’re tired.  Let’s go home.  If you look at the map, you can see that there are no direct routes from Corund back to Targu-Mures.  So, we go north to Praid (pronounced Pride), then to Sovata (about another 8 kilometers north).  In Sovata, we hit 13A again and head back to Ghindari and Sangeorgiu de Padure.  Turn north on 135A to Miercurea Nirajului, then west on 135.  By the time we headed west, the sun was just below the window visors.  Ugh!!!  The only good thing about the trip back was when we passed some type of Hungarian processional.  My thoughts were a wedding party.  Anyway, we passed them and then stopped to wait on them for pictures.  As we waited, Dennis thought they stopped, so we loaded back into the car and turned around.  As we got near them, we realized that they were still moving – now in the opposite direction from us.  So we turned around again, passed them again, stopped again and waited on them, again.  This time we were patient and it paid off.  Dennis reminded me that I had dropped the flip camera in my purse, so I pulled it out and handed him the Canon.  As the folks galloped near, they saw us taking pictures, and were very accommodating.  Enjoy the short video.

After that, the rest of the ride home was pretty calm.  What a day it had been.  The celebration that we had just witnessed was like the cherry on top of a sweet sundae.  Thank you God for allowing us to live in this beautiful country!!!

The Container Has Finally Arrived!!!

The day that Dennis and I have been waiting for arrived yesterday, October 17 – the arrival of the container!!!  We began sending things to the Buckner warehouse in Dallas in early May, knowing that we would see them again sometime in October, in Romania.

Moving overseas meant that we had to be selective in what was shipped, as these things would become the property of Buckner Romania, and will remain in Romania after we leave.  It’s hard enough selling everything you have to move overseas, but knowing that the few things you did keep, would at some point in time, not be yours either (I’m sure that this was a run-on sentence – sorry English teachers).  Most of what we did pack to ship were things that we decided could easily be replaced when we return to the states, and would be beneficial to those we serve while here.  Even though we were told that our “winter” clothes would be of no use to us here, we decided to send most of what we had – figured it would at least get us through fall and early spring.  We’ll see.

Back to the arrival of the container.  The container actually arrived in Constanta on Tuesday, Oct. 9.  It is here that customs does their inspection, based on the inventory list that is sent.  Ok, no big deal……..that is until the customs department requires you to have the inventory list officially translated  into Romanian, then certified.  So what’s the problem?  The inventory list is already in Romanian!!!  The question now is, how do you translate something that is already translated in the correct language?  Customs can’t answer that…..just that you have to do it in order for the release of the container.  Another government office at work!  Now that delays the release of the container into “our” custody.  So off to the official translation office to get translated into the already translated language….and don’t forget the fee!!!  Once that’s done, the “official translation” is overnighted back to Constanta for approval.  The contents of the container are loaded onto an 18-wheeler and finally released on Monday, Oct. 15 with an estimated arrival in Tarnaveni on Tuesday.

So all is well……….not so fast!  The truck can’t leave on Monday as originally planned (who knows why).  Yet another day to wait.  I learned many years ago not to ask God for patience, for His way of giving it to you is by putting situations before you that require a LOT of practice…..no instant gift of patience L  Guess God knew that I needed another chance to practice.

The truck arrives in Targu-Mures on Tuesday and once again, has to go thru customs……what?  How many custom checks must one shipment go through?  Apparently 3 (don’t forget it has to clear US customs before it’s ever shipped).  Will this shipment ever see Tarnaveni?

Yes!!!  The truck finally pulled into Tarnaveni around 11a on Wednesday, Oct. 17.  Dennis and I were at the Point of Hope when the call came in.  I had just begun playing a color game with my 1^st year students when I was told it was time to go help unload.  Well, you know that when you start a game with 3 year olds, everyone needs a chance to play, so I had to stay until all had a turn.  When we got to the warehouse, the crew of volunteers had already unloaded a couple of pallets of shoes.  We jumped right in and began carrying boxes and boxes and boxes of shoes.  Approximately 9000 pairs of shoes were shipped – with an average of 10 pairs of shoes per box, that’s 900 boxes with just shoes!!  Then there are the boxes of socks, shoelaces, clothes, blankets, school supplies, medical supplies, and oh, don’t forget, our stuff!  There were 19 pallets of boxes on that truck, all unloaded by hand.

As we got down to the last couple of pallets, I was beginning to worry…..I hadn’t seen anything that looked like the containers that I packed our things in.  Of course not!!  Everything that I carefully packed had been unpacked and repacked according to Buckner Dallas’s required shipping procedure.  Are you kidding me???  Why didn’t you tell me before I dropped everything off with you?  I could have, would have, repacked it myself…….keeping all our things together.  But then, where would the fun have been?  As it is now, we get to look through 100 boxes or so, searching for the things that we need now.  It’s like having Christmas everyday for a while.  Sad part is, I don’t remember half of what I packed.  Is that really sad?  Probably not.

Thanks to everyone who contributed items to the container!!!  I can’t wait until we start giving out the items to the children, and community…..what a joyous day that will be!

Paul (group home dad) and Dennis

Peter (Point of Hope counselor)

 

starting the stack of boxes

a pallet jack finally arrives!

just a portion of the boys shoes

the stack continues to grow

bringing boxes of shoes

waiting for the next pallet

adding to the stack of girls shoes

unloading clothing boxes

loading the car with our stuff

getting close to the end

the trailer is finally unloaded!!

Peter and Dennis with the last box!

Dacian (Director, Buckner Romania) with clean up duty

some of the boxes with clothing items

Peter (Board of Director member) and Dacian having lunch

Peter and Paul

Gabi (Missions Director) and Orsi (group home tutor)

Wine Festival

This weekend is the Wine Festival, held in downtown Targu-Mures.  While running errands yesterday morning, I noticed a pig on the skewer and vendors setting up - looked like it would be a big event.  So, Dennis and I head downtown this afternoon to check out all the excitement.  Decided to park a little ways away and walk (traffic is usually horrible around downtown).

The first thing we saw was the music venue.  Huge stage, with lots of speakers.....but no one playing.  Guess the live entertainment was later.  When we got to the downtown area, we crossed the street into the center section and began to wander through the area.  There were quite a few vendors who would love for you to try their wine......some were manufactured through a company, many were home made.  There were a great number who were bottled in recycled 2 liter soft drink containers, or any other plastic bottle that could be found.  Dennis asked if I wanted to sample any, and my answer was no (I don't care for wine - unless you call Welch's grape juice wine, then I'm all in!!!).

 There were a few vendors selling their wares.  We watched one man whittle and carve wooden spoons; another was blowing glass.  We saw several booths with Romanian/Hungarian wear.  There were a couple of booths selling fruit.  One man had honey, honey products, and pollen for sale.  Flowers were available if that's what you were looking for.  You could find "sweets" (which are really not sweet at all) made of chocolate, cheeses in all shapes and color, food of various kinds.

Overall, I was disappointed.  Guess it would have been better if wine tasting was actually on my "to-do" list.

As we walked back towards the car, we stopped by the music venue.......still no live music.  We did, however, see a couple of live people setting up a keyboard......no more.  Guess we hit the party too early in the day.  I'm betting that by 7p tonight, the party will be in full swing, and the wine will be flowing freely.  Hopefully, the Pumpkin Festival is coming soon.........that I'll probably participate in.

Watch Those Hands!

Well, I had my first complaint last week from a parent...................

I'm teaching some sign language along with English.  We've learned good morning, good afternoon, stand up and sit down.  The kids seem to enjoy the sign language and are doing well with it.  The sign for morning is the left hand in the crook of the right arm, with the palm up and lifted (simulating the sun rising).  Seems that one of these precious children went home and told the parent "good morning" using their sign language.  Awesome!!!  But, instead of an open hand with the palm up, they use a clinched fist.  I guess some sign language is universal in it's ugly meaning (fortunately, the regular teacher was there to explain that the child just made a small mistake).  So, the next day we practiced over and over using an open hand and palm up.  Let's hope that the child remembers the correct hand gesture; if not, I may be a short-term teacher :)

Tomorrow I start with the 3 year olds.  You can sure bet that I'll be watching very closely how they use their hand signs!!!