Romania 2008

Today was the last full day we had to stay in Romania. It has been so much fun being here and spreading the word of God throughout all the children and adults we have met along the way. This is nothing like most of us expected it to be, there is so much.... more i guess you could say. By that i mean, before we got here I didn't know what to expect out of any of this. I thought it would be a country straight out of communism and all the buildings were gray and everything was depressing. No, this is not how it was at all. There are many churches for all different races and all of them had its own unique design, unlike anything I have ever seen in the U.S. There is a mall with tons of different stores... stores seen in the U.S and different stores I have never heard of before, mostly clothing that were all bright colors, and all of them had different designs with them. Along with that there were a lot of restaurants that had very good food that expressed Romanian culture and other cultures around the world... for instance McDonalds! Haha we didn't eat there but they have one which is very weird to see. Our host familys are great, Nate and I are really enjoying them, Our family includes Dana (mom), Vio (dad), and Felipe which is the son who is 17 years old. That was very cool to see that our family had a son so close in age to Nate and I. Dana is an amazing cook and made a very good dinner on tuesday night. She is also an accountant. Vio owns his own printing shop and is a very funny guy. Felipe is just a normal teenager who is a lot like Nate and I ourselves. Their english skills are excellent and each of them can speak at their own level.

So now we'll explain what we did today but we don't know if Andrea and Emily already covered this... So i guess we'll just remind you . Today we started off waking up at 8:45. It has been different for Nate and I the entire time we have been here, they wake us up at different times every day. It is fine though because the breakfast they had ready for us every morning was delicious. This morning we had Nesquik cereal which our leader told us was a special treat because most Romanians don't eat cereal. Then after that they had scrambled eggs with ham, bread, homemade jam, goat cheese, and orange juice. Every day they have made us something different, most of which Nate and I have never tasted before. Those stories will have to wait until we get home because they made us so much.
 
After breakfast Vio brought us to our taxi which was right across the street. Every time you get in a taxi here you wonder if you'll actually make it to your destination because these drivers are crazy!!! We don't know which is more exciting; driving in a Romanian Taxi or Riding the scariest roller coaster you have ever been on in your life. Don't worry nobody got hurt or in an accident which is a very good thing.... Anyways we got to the school we meet at every morning and headed off for Rozmarin, a school for children, grades kindergarten through second. The kids, as like the other two days we went there were very excited to see us and gave us hugs the second we walked in the door. We were all split into three different groups, Emily Byl's class was the kindergarteners, Nikki Byl's class was the 1st graders, and Andrea Byl's class was the second graders... I think that is how it was. Nate was with Emily's group and I was with Nikki's group. It was such an amazing experience to play and learn with these kids at this school.

After the school which we were at for only about an hour and a half, we got back to our school rally point and had lunch. Then we had free time for about an hour and forty five minutes, where we were free to roam about the city wherever it was safe. Once we got back from our free time we had to take a vote on what we wanted to do, because our orphanage that we were supposed to go to cancelled out on us so Todd gave us three choices;
1. Gypsy Village
2. We could go around the city and ask people questions
3. We could help out around the school we rallied at.

After a huge fuss and commotion about how we wanted to set it up... We raised our hands for Gypsy Village.... 6 votes. We raised our hands for polls.... 0 votes. We raised our hands for helping out the school.... 6 votes. 3 people hadn't voted. I will not state their names and after another huge outbursts in "ifs and buts" we came to our conclusion that whoever wanted to go to the gypsy village could do that and whoever wanted to stay and help could do that. Nate went to the gypsy village while I stayed around to find out we would be painting on the walls at the school.... No problem right? WRONG!!! We had to make the school logo on one wall of every room and my partner was Will.... Not that Will is a bad painter because I am worse than he is but we were not cut out for this job. When the leader came into look at what we had done, he walked out of the room and started laughing but we knew it was bad already so we didn't care.

When the group got back from the gypsy village we waited around for a half an hour and then went out for dinner at a very fancy restuarant. Nate had very good chicken while I ordered the ceasar salad (I don't know why....) to find out that there were more tomatoes than there were slices of lettuce and chicken. Anyway after dinner we went and got ice cream from a place called Gelado's. Ice cream in America is a lot different than ice cream in Romania. It is delicious here but I don't know what it is about it. Then we went back to the school and recapped the day and it finally sunk in that it was our last day here.

After a very emotional, long, and interesting discussion about what we liked, how God changed us, and what we thought of Romania, it was time to go back to our host familys. By that time it was 10:30 at night and Nate and I were hungry... So we went to a place right outside the school that our host family recommended us to eat at. We waited in line for a very long time so by the time I got up there we just ordered fries and shared them. Then we walked across the street to McDonalds to find only one group left waiting for taxis.... Riding in a taxi here late at night is like riding in a taxi in the U.S late at night.... Its really scary. Soooooooo Nate and I being the brave men we are decided to ride back with Julia and Nikki because their host family was right across the street from ours. Apparently the taxi driver didn't know where their apartment was so he just assumed and he brought us down all these dark, neighborhood roads. We were afraid he had decided to abduct us but then at the last moment we saw Nikki and Julia's apartment so we got out and walked the rest of the way. It was a very eventful night and now we are sitting in our room typing this blog to everyone so you can share our experiences.

It is not over yet... we still need to get home, so if you can please, PLEASE! pray for us on this last day of traveling ahead of us, it would be awesome.

- Nate and Zach

None of us can believe that this is our last full day in Romania. Leaving the children at Rosmarin today was so hard. After three days of marshmallow towers, straw painting, storybooks, and many rounds of the hokey pokey, we've grown really close to these kids. There have been many threats of stowing a couple in our suitcases on the flight home... haha. We left the children with goody-bags full of candy, chapsticks, balloons, and pencils. Seeing the absolute joy etched on their faces was unbelievably heartwarming.

It's hard, knowing that we're going back home, and we won't be able to really help these kids anymore. A lot of the children at Rosmarin are from the gypsy village that we visited twice this week. So it was neat to visit the village again after working with some of the kids in a school settting. But it's difficult. Knowing that these children live in shacks with three to four other families is just heartbreaking. A lot of us were bothered by the whole cycle of poverty in the gypsy villages. The parents don't seem to value education at all, and often doom the children to an unemployed, impoverished future. Rosmarin, the school we work at, is an attempt to get these kids out of the cycle. Rosmarin actually comes and picks kids up from the villages, and provides all of the pencils, pens, etc- school supplies we generally take for granted.

But Rosmarin only goes until second grade, and then the kids are supposed to go to public schools. Yet most of their families can't afford any type of school supplies, and so the children simply stay home. At home, their opportunities are drastically decreased, and many turn to begging and prostitution. It is a sad, vicious cycle.

Yet in the children, there are signs of hope. There is hope in the creativity and excitement they exhibit, as they color and create. There is hope in the kindness they show to each other, sometimes putting the needs of younger siblings above the needs of themselves. There is hope in the compassion they've shown to us; their inherent ability to love.

And while we weren't able to completely heal the gypsy community over one week, at least we've been able to add to that hope- add to their chances for better futures, and better lives.

-Emily and Andrea

Rember when Jesus fed the 5,000 with the small number of loaves and fish?  Well with our limited number of extra bags we gave each child at the gypsy day care school this morning a wonderful goodie bag filled with candy, pencils, balloons and other treats.  (36 kids in all.)  All of these items were donated by the church and other friends of the kids.  We also gave a bag to each teacher at the school  filled with toiletries and other items.  We wanted to let them know how appreciative we were of letting us come into the school to spend time with the children.  The smiles on the children's faces were priceless.  They touched our hearts. 

We're about to have our lucnh at the school which usually consists of sandwich meats, bread, apples and drinks.  After this we are off to Life and Light  which is a group home for homeless/orphan children between the ages of 6 and 16.  We'll play games with them outside and then sing and tell stories inside.  It is very hot.  Last time we were there Leslie and Mary led a group of mostly girls in jump rope.  It was fun to see them laughing--no translation required.

Today is Julia Austin's 16th birthday.  She doesn't know this yet but we have many prizes in store for her.  Tonight we are supposed to be going to one of the best restaruants in town.  There will be a celebration.

Thanks for sharing your kids with us.  They have been amazing.  We can see Jesus Christ present in all of their lives.  M and L :)