Pictures tell the story better

      So here's a few of the pictures from the past 2 weeks.  Spring has sprung in Bucharest and they've turned the fountains on & planted flowers everywhere!  I'm loving all the crazy looks I get when I wear my flip flops and short sleeves because its only 65 degrees!  We're having a blast in art class, spending some sunny afternoons in the park, learning a lot in my Romanian lessons and practicing speaking with Kristie, loving on some babies a the baby hospital, and enjoying Friday night Bible study and getting to know the Alfa Omega gang better! :]

Drawing flip books in art class

My favorites (but don't tell the others!)

They were pretty proud of their stories coming to life.

Past & Present Roomies hanging out in the park

Isn't he precious? And he's smiling!  Anyone want me to bring him home for you?

The baby hospital for orphaned babies where I work.  There are 5 rooms connected like this with about 6-8 babies in each. 

My favorite room

Flowers & Fountains everywhere!! :]

My adopted family.  I'm so blessed.

We spent Palm Sunday afternoon at the Village Museum.  The have houses like the old days & lots of vendors selling hand-made items & Easter stuff.

Some traditional dances and outfits

Beautiful hand-painted eggs

Drawing pictures that remind them of Easter

Johnny made a whole labeled picture of the resurrection

Rose drew Jesus carrying His cross

Most of BCA preparing for the Annual Pie in the Face

Kristie & I sat by the lake in the park and practiced speaking in Romanian.  We're trying to do this twice a week to improve our speaking!

The parks here have a free bike renting system!

Roomies!

What a great way to spend a sunny warm day in Bucuresti!

A HOT chocolate kurtos mmm

Friday night Bible studies

Full house!  We usually have about 20 people coming!

The whole crazy gang! (minus Stefi)

I love my Alfa Omega family :]

Luckily, they're crazy too, so I fit right in :]

There are always more questions which Tom helps to explain after  Bible study.

We usually hang out for a couple more hours after Bible study.  Playing the Wii!

Anna & Sonia.  Love these sisters!

The crowds gathered for the midnight Easter (Paște) candlelight service.

At the big church near my apartment.  The Priest was singing/praying/chanting the whole time.

They all walk home with their candles still lit.

The special candles for the Easter service.

Kinder eggs & colored eggs make a yummy centerpeice.

The adopted fam at Easter dinner! 

The Golden Sands, Bulgaria

      Well I just got home from a weekend retreat with the ABWE team, but 1st I'll recap the last week.  I used the extra bit of motivation I have for my language studies and went back into my learning full steam.  I had a lesson on Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday mornings, and spent a good couple hours working on a bunch of homework on Wednesday.  I really think that break came at a good time & I since my brain hasn't felt like it's been on overload of Romanian grammar, I feel like I can understand more.  I haven't had anyone translate for me in church in over a month, and although I don't catch every word or every sentence, I know exactly what the pastor is preaching about.  And when Jess & I spent a half an hour talking (well Jess did the talking...) with our neighbor lady about the bills and just about life, Jess didn't have to translate what was going on for me.  It really is just a freeing feeling knowing that I can at least know what's going on around me & I don't feel so lost anymore.  But the speaking is a different matter... and I'm getting to the point where I've seen others get to, where they can understand and speak the basics, but since they don't push themselves to speak on a regular basis, they just can't.  I only ever speak it in my lessons, which really isn't that much, because Delia doesn't force me to the whole time, and when I'm trying to actually say something to her and be more understood, I always just say it in English.  And although you would think living in a country where everyone around me speaks Romanian would automatically mean I would have to pick it up really quickly, it doesn't, because everyone I ever have conversations with can also speak English fluently.  I'm so thankful that I can communicate with my friends & those around me, and since I 1st got here, but it really doesn't help my Romanian at all.  I feel like when I get to camp and most of the kids don't know much English, I'm going to have to learn to speak all over again or something.  But Kristie and I are kind of in the same boat, so we're going to start getting together once a week to just practice having a normal conversation in Romanian, outside of our lessons with Delia.  I really hope this helps both of us & forces us to actually speak it & that we'll get faster & faster.  And wow... didn't think I'd have that much to say about language...


      Art class this week was a blast, although it was a huge mess.  I set up bowls with paint all around the room, and the kids dipped yarn into them & made awesome abstract designs on their paper with the paint-soaked yarn.   Of course all of our hands were covered in paint, which surprisingly disgusted some of them, and the paper that was covering the floor didn't always stay where it was supposed to.  So with kids whipping the yarn all over the place, needless to say me and Jess were scrubbing the carpet, walls, tables, and chairs after school.  But it was so worth it because we all had so much fun & created some beautiful works of art! :]

Jess & I wanted to get in on the fun too!

Oh Rose... She definitely ended up with her hands completely covered in paint too!

      So Jess spent the night at our apartment Thursday night, and we woke up super early Friday morning to head to the Graef's to meet up with the ROSO gang & Hillary.  I rode in Hillary, and of course there were great times jamming out & dancing with Wayne and Gravy.  We stopped at a mall in Varna on the way to get Subway, since they don't have any in Romania, and it was nice having a little taste of America, except that the menu was in those crazy letters.  We got to the Admiral Hotel, a supposedly 5 star hotel, early in the afternoon.  I shared a room with Jess on the 8th floor, and we had an amazing view of the Black Sea, a ferris wheel, and the Eiffel tower from our balcony.  Our room was sweet and they even had the big white bathrobes & slippers for us!  The 1st thing I did after we put everything in our rooms was run down to the beach.  The water and even the sand was freezing of course, but it's still amazing to be at the beach!  And it was my 1st time at the Black Sea!  After our feet were numb, we went inside and joined the Postema gang at the indoor pool & hot tub until dinner time.  We ate dinner at the hotel, and even though our waiter, Evilene, was really nice, it took us like 2 hours to get all our food because our orders got completely messed up.  Then we headed upstairs to the conference room we got free use of for the weekend.  

Wayne & Gravy, my pals for the trip

These are their "I haven't had Subway in years!" faces

Our plush room, complete with robes & slippers on our beds!

The view from our window on the 8th floor!  The only place where you can see the Black Sea & the Eiffel Tower at the same time!

Awesome cow chair... and check out the Eiffel Tower in the distance

It was quite amazing to read my Bible on the balcony overlooking the water in the morning.

      The Graef band, consisting of Tom on the keyboard, Dave on the guitar, and Hannah on the violin, led us in a couple songs, then we sent the kids to bed.  Dave and I sat in on the meetings the whole weekend, but the meetings were for the ABWE Romania South team, or the Graef's, Postema's, Kristie, and Jenny.  Tom just took the leadership position for the ROSO team, and the purpose of this retreat was to have a time for the team to discuss more of the business side of things & to evaluate & plan their ministries and the goals for the team as a whole.  I really enjoyed getting to see the more business side of a missionary's life, and I definitely learned a whole lot more about the planning and teamwork.  I've been thinking and praying, especially during this weekend, about going into full-time ministry in the future, if that's what God has for me.  I've keep saying how I don't want a full blown career in some job that I would hate, and that I don't want to go back to school and waste my time and money on something I'm not passionate about.  But full-time ministry just makes sense.  I would get to do something that I'm passionate about, which is the work that God wants me to do for the purpose of furthering His Kingdom and encouraging the believers.  And I don't anything about my future past September yet, but I just keep telling God that I'm up for anything & He can take me wherever He wants and use me however He wants.  So we'll see if He's got full-time ministry planned for me, whether that be missions or some other kind of ministry!  

The Graef band leading us in singing in our conference room for the weekend.

Gorgeous, but still a little chilly

Braving the wind & coldness to walk on the beach!

     Saturday morning we had a buffet breakfast in the hotel, during which Andrew went over the camping "Arrow," which is a list of the accomplishments, resources, and goals that all point to the ultimate goal of the team.  We've got about 8 weeks of camp for this summer set up so far, and I can't wait until it begins!  Then we went back up to the conference room for more songs and then the team "Arrow" discussion time.  In the afternoon, Kristie, Jenny, and I went on a walk on the beach, but it was only pleasant for a little while because the clouds decided to cover the sun and the wind blew the sand which felt like little needles on my skin.  So we decided to hit up the indoor pool, hot tub, and sauna instead!  It was amazing just getting to relax & feel warm for a change, and to swim with all the kids.  That evening we ate at the hotel again, which went a whole lot smoother, and then had our last meeting discussing the team's plans and goals.  After the meeting we had a girls party and watched all the German, Bulgarian, Romanian, and French channels on tv, with random ironing, singing, & dramas that we just made up the words to.  It was pretty hilarious, especially with our group & late at night after a long day.  


      After breakfast on Sunday, we had a time of just worshipping God and sharing verses and what we'd been learning.  Then we packed up Hillary and went back to the mall to get Subway again & do a little shopping.  A little into our trip home, we stopped at a city called Shumen and spent about 2 hours exploring the ancient ruins of a fortress there that was built over 3,000 years ago.  It was freezing, but fun climbing on everything with the kids.  Then we got on the road again & had some more good times jamming to the Beach Boys of course.

The whole team!

Shumen Fortress

The oldest/biggest? mosque in Bulgaria

      I know it may sound like this missionary life is pretty plush since we get to take team retreats to the Black Sea, and I'm not going to lie, it is pretty sweet that traveling here is so easy and cheap.  But it truly was a great weekend of team bonding, discussion, and worship.  I am so blessed that I get to work alongside this team, and that they've taken me in to their families.  They are all just amazing people who love the Lord, daily give their life to the Lord for His work, and also just know how to laugh and have fun.  I thank God for them & for all that I'm learning through their lives.  

ROME, ITALY

       Ancient Rome...It's not like home...


      This is the start to the song that Kristie and Jenny wrote during our trip that has been stuck in my head since then, and after you hear it, you pretty much don't have to even go for yourself.  We recorded it so you can probably check it out on facebook soon! 


     So Monday night, I spent the night at the Graef's, and we had to wake up at around 4am to  be ready to be picked up by 5.  We all packed super light and fit everything into just a bookbag.  I really didn't bring much stuff and the heaviest things in my suitcase were my camera and lens.  Our group consisted of me, Gela, Jess, Hannah, Leah, Grace, Kristie, Jenny, Becky, and Kathy. So we all piled into Hillary, went to the ghetto cheap airport of Bucharest that as Kristie describes it, has the feel of a bowling alley, and flew out at about 7am.  We landed in Rome at about 8 am their time with the hour difference, and waited for the coach bus to take us into the city.  On the bus, this man with the longest handlebar mustache I've ever seen sat down next to us.  We kept trying to sneak pictures of him and at the end Jenny finally just asked him to take a picture with her pig, and that picture is definitely one of the top picks of the trip.  Oh and Jenny's stuffed animal/puppet pig named Gravy is her travel companion who gets his picture taken every where they go together.  I started a collection of pictures of Jenny taking pictures of Gravy.  But anyways,  we got to the Termini bus/metro/train station, got on the metro towards where we were staying, and then tried to find the right bus stop.  Since we were behind schedule, Kristie came up with the bright idea that a couple of us should take all our bags and check in at the convent, while the others go ahead to the Vatican to make sure we get in on our tour. So Kristie, Jenny, and I loaded up with everyone's bags, went to the bus stop, and after waiting forever, decided to start walking.  We were quite the spectacle walking down the street each carrying 3 bookbags.  We finally asked a guy where a taxi place was, since you can't just wave one over in Rome, and the taxi driver took us to the convent.  When we walked through the gate of the Regina Pacis convent, it felt like a little piece of heaven.  There was a long straight driveway lined with big palm trees and flowers and lots of green grass.  The nun that helped us check in was adorable, and obviously didn't catch that we were kind of in a hurry.  We did our best to communicate with her in English and Romanian, and to our pleasure, the Italian language and accent is exactly what you hear on TV!  She actually said "mamma mia" quite frequently and when she kept saying "allora," (which I googled when we got back...it means "then" or like "therefore") Kristie said, "Laura?  I don't know any Laura's. We don't have a Laura in our group."  She also showed us that my friend Peggy had checked in earlier, so it was a relief knowing she found the right place, but she had already left to look for us at the Vatican.  The nun finally showed us our room and called a taxi for us to take us to the Vatican.  


      We got in on the 1pm tour of the Vatican, with still no sign of Peggy.  We got little radios and headphones to be able to hear our tour guide lady without standing right next to her.  It was interesting listening to her Italian accent and the stuff she was saying about the Sistine Chapel at the beginning, but eventually we all pretty much zoned out on her or took out our headsets while we took pictures and she droned on about every single painting and statue in the whole place. Once again, I can't even begin to describe the ornateness of the Vatican City, or country I guess, but every single room, hallway, ceiling, and door had some sort of paintings, carvings, statues, tapestries, or maps.  Of course I took way too many pictures in there, but there was just so much to take pictures of!  The Sistine Chapel was one of the main highlights of the tour of course, and although we weren't allowed to take pictures in there, I got some pretty good ones just from holding my camera at my waist and pointing it up.  I got pictures of the famous part with God and Adam touching fingers and of the side wall that was the Final Judgement.  I still can't believe Michelangelo painted the whole thing on his back for 4 years, and then came back 30 years later to paint the Final Judgement scene!  The tour ended at Saint Peter's Basilica, which was of course ginormous and ornate.  The statue of Mary holding Jesus was in there, along with the mummified bodies of some pope who died 40 years prior but whose skin was still in tact.  The whole tour was 3 hours long and we were plenty tired and hungry afterwards.


     After the Vatican, we found a nearby restaurant where we sat in the sunshine outside and enjoying being off our feet and eating authentic Italian food.  Most of us hadn't eaten a thing all day, and somehow the like 8 ravioli's I got didn't quite fill me up.  We all described our Italian food as decent, but not life changing.  After dinner we walked to the Fountain di Trevi, where we got gelatto and enjoyed it sitting on the edge of the fountain.  We of course all threw in a coin to guarantee we get to come back someday.  We then headed to the Spanish Steps, which would have been a lot prettier if there weren't as many people there and you could actually see the steps, but I got some great night pictures there!  Then we started heading back to the convent, and of course after getting off the metro had to wait for the right bus for a while.  But we eventually made it back, settled into our rooms, which were very nice and clean and had comfortable beds, and then crashed.  I stayed in a room with Kristie, Jenny, & Becky.  I left a note on Peggy's door, but she still wasn't back when we went to sleep. The next morning we found out that she had been essentially following us around all day since she had the schedule, and had a fun time trying to get back to the convent by talking to many different bus drivers and eventually having an off-duty bus drive her there! 


      So at breakfast at 7:30 on Wednesday morning, I finally met up with Peggy!  I can't believe it had been almost a year since graduation when I saw her last!  For breakfast they gave us rolls that we could put nutella or jam on, yogurt, fruit, and they had a nifty coffee machine.  The 1st thing we did that day was go in the Castel Sant'Angelo.  It looked like your typical ancient castle with dungeons and hidden stairways inside.  It just blows my mind that it was built in 135 AD by Hadrian!  There was also a great view of the city and the Vatican from the rooftop.  After we explored the castle, we went and saw some cool fountains and churches, which were everywhere and I honestly don't remember the names of them.  Then we headed to the Pantheon.  It's basically a large circular church with a giant dome with an open hole in the top of it.  I really don't understand how it has been preserved so well with a column of water coming down in the middle of it every time it rains or snows!  We grabbed some sandwiches outside the Pantheon, then started heading towards the Colosseum.  On the way we saw a huge marble museum, some ruins of a portico kind of place, and a column that had carvings that described their conquering of the Romanian people.  

      Being in the Colosseum just seemed so surreal.  Although it wasn't quite as well preserved as most of the structures in Rome, you could still easily picture it like it would have been back in the day.  At one point, we all sat down and talked about all that had gone on where we were standing.  Gela and Leah challenged us to think about how many Christians were tortured and killed for sport in this arena, and if we would have the courage to stand up for our faith like they did.  It made me really appreciate the religious freedom we have today, and reminded me that I should live every day of my life in light of the eternal hope I have in Christ.  Outside of the Colosseum, we got some great pictures with the guys dressed up like Roman soldiers, and then walked over to the Roman Forum ruins.  Pretty much as soon as we started down the path, it started hailing!  And of course it would hail/rain at the only place that isn't a building!  We all got soaked but tried to hide out under some rocks or under a tunnel.  Thankfully it stopped about 15 minutes later and the sun came out again.  The Forum was a river, but it was still awesome to see the ruins of what used to be the large covered area where all the important things of the city took place.  Next to this was the church where supposedly Peter and Paul were put in jail.  Some of them went in to see it, and the rest of us sat outside and dried off because we didn't want to pay the entrance fee for a 10 min walk through.  


      We then went to the Mouth of Truth where we all got a picture of us sticking our hands in the statue's mouth.  Then we walked to the Circo Massimo where they used to have a stadium for chariot racing, or the ancient version of Nascar as I would say.  Leah said she would give 10 euros to whoever could run around the entire thing, and me and Hannah were the only ones who ran the whole circle without stopping.  I guess all this walking has been good for me, but my legs and feet weren't too happy with me after that run!  We found another little restaurant for dinner, and I got a 4 cheese pizza that was really good, once I added some sauce to it.  We did a little souvenir shopping, and I got a mug to add to my collection since they apparently don't have a Starbucks in Rome.  Everyone was beat so we started heading home, but I wanted some night pictures, so Jenny, Kristie, Jess & I walked to the castle & the Vatican to take some pictures of it all lit up.  We then waited for the bus for about 40 minutes which gave Kristie & Jenny plenty of time to add lines to their song and perfect it.  We got home a little before our nun curfew and once again did not have any trouble falling asleep. 


      The next morning after our breakfast, we took the metro to this pyramid that we don't really know anything about, and there waited for a bus for over an hour.  The bus took us out of the original city wall on the Appian Way to the catacombs.  These were the catacombs where supposedly Peter and Paul were buried at one point, and where the Christian would somewhat secretly bury their dead.  We wandered all through the tunnels with rectangular holes cut out of the side of them where the bodies were once buried and covered by a stone.  The tour guide pointed out to us many of the Christian symbols of the fish, the anchor with the hidden cross, and the symbol of Christ.  The tour was very interesting and educational, and this was definitely a highlight of our trip.  We then headed to Saint Paul's Basilica, which was another very large and impressive church, where supposedly Paul was beheaded and buried.  It was gorgeous and had a lot of carvings or paintings that showed the stories of Peter, Paul, & Jesus, but it was also just sad to see how much they worshiped the saints or the pope more than they worshiped Jesus himself.  


      That was all the time we had for sightseeing, so we headed back to the main metro/train stop, bought our tickets, grabbed some food, and then literally ran to catch our train.  This was my 1st real train ride and it was actually a really nice 30 min ride out of the city to the airport.  We got on our plane at about 6:30 pm and got picked up by Hillary and Andrew at about 10 that night.  It was a trip of a lifetime, and I loved hanging out with that gang of girls and getting to know them better!  But I've also found that the more I travel out of Romania, even to the epic cities of Paris and Rome, that I appreciate living in Bucharest more and more.  I love that it isn't a big touristy city, even though I'm kind of a tourist, and that it's way cheaper and we use lei where I can divide by 3 to know the dollar conversion, that the public transportation is reliable and consistent, that there are pastry & bread shops every couple feet, and that they speak a language that I can somewhat understand.  So yes, Paris & Rome were so amazing to visit, but I'm so thankful that God's placed me right here in Bucharest for the time being! :]


      Oh and once again, I took about 1,000 pictures, which totals about 3,000 in the past 3 weeks... so please be patient while I try to go through them all and post them!

Between Paris & Rome...

      Well I was about to just start writing about my trip to Rome, and then I realized that some pretty big stuff happened in the 5 days I was home between Paris and Rome.  I got a roommate and a 5 year visa! 
     
      So on Thursday, I taught my 1st art class, and then had to have a sub cover my other 3 classes because we went to the visa office.  There weren't too many people in front of us in line until some crazy Chinese people kept letting more and more people in front of them.  So after waiting in line for over an hour, we got up to the window.  We had all the papers we needed, we just didn't notice the line in Tom's apartment contract that said he's not allowed to sublease to anyone.  So Jessica got her picture taken after showing them her birth certificate and proving she was Tom's daughter, but since I'm not family, I couldn't get mine.  So we started calling people and trying to figure out another another way to get me a legal address.  We called Mihai, my landlord, Kristie, and emailed Tom's landlord.  But none of those panned out quick enough because I needed to get this taken care of in the month of March, or else I had to go back and wait forever at the health insurance office again & pay for the month of April.  And then I would be cutting it super close to my 90 tourist days I'm allowed in the country.  So Gela ended up mentioning my whole situation to Delia, my language teacher, and she said she could help me draw up the papers saying I live with them.  So Monday morning, Delia's husband, Bogdan, and her mother picked me up and we ended up going to 5 different notaries before we could find one who would do what we needed.  Some said that since I didn't know enough Romanian yet and didn't know exactly what I was signing, we would have to get a translator involved, which would be a big ordeal and take a lot more time.  The last one we went to, Bogdan knew the lady because she does all of his legal paperwork, and she agreed to do it and have it ready in an hour!  So we went to Starbucks while we waited, but of course, this is Romania and nothing happens that quickly.  So we waited at the office for another hour or so, then signed and got everything stamped and whatnot.  And 3 hours after we set out, I had a legal residence!  I then went directly to the visa office, where miraculously there was no line!  This just doesn't happen here and I didn't know what to do because I was assuming I would have to wait for a while, and Pratt would have time to get there and help translate, and I could fill out the forms.  But thankfully I found a pen, filled out my forms, Pratt showed up, we handed everything over to the guy, and there were no problems!  I probably look ridiculous in my picture because I was just so happy it was done but I wasn't allowed to smile.  So praise the Lord because I officially have the little piece of paper saying I have a 5 year visa to Romania!! 


      I also have a new roommate as of Friday morning at like 2am!  I found out she was coming for sure Wednesday evening when I got home, so I spent most of the day Thursday cleaning and getting everything ready for her.  Her name is Rachel Griffin and she's a 29 year old American, but has been living in Prague in the Czec Republic since October.  She's been teaching music classes and choir at a Christian school there.  And the reason she's now living here is because of her visa issues, and we nicknamed her the "visa refugee."  She's way over her 90 days and has turned in her paperwork and is waiting for word to come back if her visa came in.  Then she will have to mail her passport to a friend, who will go out of the country to pick it up for her, then mail her passport and visa back to her. She really has no clue how long this will all take, so she's just hanging out in Romania and helping out with music at BCA until she can go back to Prague.  It's been great having a new friend and showing her around the city some.  It's also kind of nice not being the newbie anymore and knowing more Romanian that somebody!  But after only being here for 4 days, I left her to go to Rome, but she was fine and did a lot of exploring the city and some parks and museums, so now she has to show me around Bucharest!