Our last morning was spent with a special "popcorn staff edition of hotseat" in which we got to ask the staff members some of the questions we had been asking each other. Then it was time to clean up, and head out to the airport.
The flights home were relatively uneventful, I slept quite a bit more than I had on the ones over. Our transfer in London was only slightly less of a whirlwind than the first time (and that was probably because we'd only just got off a 3 hour flight rather than a 10 hour). Some amusement was provided when Stephen ended up by himself on the tram to the other terminal, oops, haha
We made it back safe and sound to LAX and had the usual delays when you come back from internaitonal flights, but made it back to Biola. Stephen and his girlfriend gave me a ride home, and I crashed for the night.
And now...I'm trying to figure out how and when I can get back to Romania.
Showing posts with label Romania. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Romania. Show all posts
Thursday, March 18, 2010
6-3 Debriefing and Final Day at Peris
(I'm ashamed that it's 9 months later and I'm still finishing these)
As a special treat for us on our last full day in Romania, Jim announced a "special breakfast edition of hot seat". This was mostly so we could get through everyone before we headed home, but it was fun. Following breakfast, those who still needed to do some shopping (mostly for gifts for sponsors) went to take care of that while the rest of us helped clean up the team house. Most of our cleaning was organizing the things we were leaving for the kids.
When the others came back, we began our debriefing process. It wasn't until I got home that I truly appreciated that this was a part of our trip. I really went through a major culture shock when I got home, which I wouldn't have expected if Jim hadn't told us about it.
Jim had us all go around and say our highs and lows of the trip, and three words we would use to describe our trip. For me they were as follows:
Lows: thinking about the babies at the baby hospital during the thunderstorm, and having to leave the kids
Highs: worship at Alfa & Omega, and Marius' huge smile at Voluntar on Children's Day
3 Words: love, sovereignty, and fellowship
We paused our debriefing here for lunch, and our final visit to Peris. I spent my time there chasing Alina around the play yard, giving her and Ana piggyback rides, and laughing at some of the older boys giving Brinn a hard time about Volle. Goodbyes were hard, especially when some of the younger ones got emotional, but the H2H staff eventually ushered us back to the vans and got us back to Pipera.
We were given Schwarmas for dinner, and then ushered off to finish our debriefing by writing our story in one page, and then in one paragraph. We finished off the night with the final edition of hot seat.
As a special treat for us on our last full day in Romania, Jim announced a "special breakfast edition of hot seat". This was mostly so we could get through everyone before we headed home, but it was fun. Following breakfast, those who still needed to do some shopping (mostly for gifts for sponsors) went to take care of that while the rest of us helped clean up the team house. Most of our cleaning was organizing the things we were leaving for the kids.
When the others came back, we began our debriefing process. It wasn't until I got home that I truly appreciated that this was a part of our trip. I really went through a major culture shock when I got home, which I wouldn't have expected if Jim hadn't told us about it.
Jim had us all go around and say our highs and lows of the trip, and three words we would use to describe our trip. For me they were as follows:
Lows: thinking about the babies at the baby hospital during the thunderstorm, and having to leave the kids
Highs: worship at Alfa & Omega, and Marius' huge smile at Voluntar on Children's Day
3 Words: love, sovereignty, and fellowship
We paused our debriefing here for lunch, and our final visit to Peris. I spent my time there chasing Alina around the play yard, giving her and Ana piggyback rides, and laughing at some of the older boys giving Brinn a hard time about Volle. Goodbyes were hard, especially when some of the younger ones got emotional, but the H2H staff eventually ushered us back to the vans and got us back to Pipera.
We were given Schwarmas for dinner, and then ushered off to finish our debriefing by writing our story in one page, and then in one paragraph. We finished off the night with the final edition of hot seat.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
6-2 Trip to Rossiori
Tuesday was a very early morning for us. I believe we were on the road by 6:30. I spent a bit of the time sleeping, but was awake to see a couple storks' nests as we drove past and the city of Alexandria as we drove through. The big exciting thing on our drive was passing through a gypsy village. Oh my was that interesting. Everything was very extravagant looking, big ornate houses. Jenny told us though that those are all fronts, the real house are quite small and behind them.
Our home base for the day was at a local church in Rossiori. We set up and put on a concert and carnival just like at Peris, except that these kids were crazy. It was kind of scary doing the cake walk with them because they were doing so much running and shoving.
We recovered over some lunch and then had free time. I did a bit of shopping, tried authentic Romanian sausage (called "meech") and bought a scarf.
We put on one more concert for a second group of kids and another carnival. These kids were much less hyper than the first ones, thankfully. One little girl was very cute, when given her candy she exclaimed in Romanian "I've won something!"
After carnival we packed up, got sack dinners to go, and made the drive back to Pipera. We could tell on our way home that a storm was blowing in and just as our van got back to the team house, rain drops started falling. These were HUGE raindrops. I made a ran for the porch, and no sooner had I made it up the steps then it started pouring buckets. This was absolutely the biggest thunderstorm I have ever seen.
Some of the others were not quite so lucky and were drenched by the time they made it inside. Gusting wind, pouring rain, and booming thunder...definitely a good night to be inside. There was pizza waiting for us for a little extra dinner, now that's a good pizza delivery service!
Tues night was when I hit my low of the trip. I was sitting on one of the couches pondering the week and the storm, and then it hit me. I thought of the babies at the baby hospital, lying in their little cribs, alone, in the dark, in the middle of this storm. Babies who don't have parents to rush in and comfort them if they're scared and crying.
It only occurs to me now, several months later, that this could be an analogy for unreached people: alone, in the dark, in the midst of storms, with no one to shed light into their world. How important missions are for all the lost and lonely people in this world!
After pizza consumption we had night light and hot seat. Hot seat quote, Ryan to Katie D. (who are dating) as he picks up paper and pen "Describe your perfect date..."
Our home base for the day was at a local church in Rossiori. We set up and put on a concert and carnival just like at Peris, except that these kids were crazy. It was kind of scary doing the cake walk with them because they were doing so much running and shoving.
We recovered over some lunch and then had free time. I did a bit of shopping, tried authentic Romanian sausage (called "meech") and bought a scarf.
We put on one more concert for a second group of kids and another carnival. These kids were much less hyper than the first ones, thankfully. One little girl was very cute, when given her candy she exclaimed in Romanian "I've won something!"
After carnival we packed up, got sack dinners to go, and made the drive back to Pipera. We could tell on our way home that a storm was blowing in and just as our van got back to the team house, rain drops started falling. These were HUGE raindrops. I made a ran for the porch, and no sooner had I made it up the steps then it started pouring buckets. This was absolutely the biggest thunderstorm I have ever seen.
Some of the others were not quite so lucky and were drenched by the time they made it inside. Gusting wind, pouring rain, and booming thunder...definitely a good night to be inside. There was pizza waiting for us for a little extra dinner, now that's a good pizza delivery service!
Tues night was when I hit my low of the trip. I was sitting on one of the couches pondering the week and the storm, and then it hit me. I thought of the babies at the baby hospital, lying in their little cribs, alone, in the dark, in the middle of this storm. Babies who don't have parents to rush in and comfort them if they're scared and crying.
It only occurs to me now, several months later, that this could be an analogy for unreached people: alone, in the dark, in the midst of storms, with no one to shed light into their world. How important missions are for all the lost and lonely people in this world!
After pizza consumption we had night light and hot seat. Hot seat quote, Ryan to Katie D. (who are dating) as he picks up paper and pen "Describe your perfect date..."
6-1 Children's Day
(ee gads I need to finish my Romania journaling)
June 1st is Children's Day in Romania. It was established during Communism, which didn't make sense to me at first, why a communist dictator would care about children. But, if you think about it, children are a very important resource, and are easily brain washed, so it's prudent for a dictator to try to win them over.
Anyway, Children's Day still exists as a national holiday. Many museums offer free admission for children and there are all sorts of parties and carnivals for the kids.
Due to the late night we had had Sunday in combination with thelong day we were about to have, breakfast was made optional so people could sleep in a bit. I, however, never skip breakfast if I can help it. I ate rather quickly and then went with a few others to the Mega Image grocery store. I bought some more chocolate for gifts and some other Romanian snacks I had become fond of.
Back at the house we had worship and devotional time led by Matt and Amy Beth. Then the day got interesting.
The original plan had been: eat lunch, then go do a concert and carnival at Peris. However, after lunch we were informed that the orphanage directors had taken all of the "good kids" to an event at a different orphanage being put on by the Chinese ambassador. Instead, we went to where most of the kids were (an orphanage called Voluntar) and put on a concert there.
Favorite moment #1 of the day was as I was putting together my clarinet. I felt a little tap on my arm and turned to see Marius with the biggest grin on his face. I successfully said hi in Romanian as he gave me a big hug and asked him "che fach?" (how's it going?) his smile widened as he exclaimed "bine!" (good!) and ran off to greet other Winds members.
The concert was one of the most disorganized ones I have ever done, but considering it had been planned an hour before we put it on, not bad. After being thanked by the Chinese ambassador and the orphanage director, we loaded the vans and went to Peris where we did the same concert, but for ALL the kids.
Then, chaos ensued, carnival time. It was amazing how much we had been able to pull together. We had popcorn, face painting, hair wraps, magic show, limbo, ring toss, balloon animals, crafts, games, the fishing game, and a cake walk. Katie D. and I ran the cake walk. I took care of controlling the music and she did the number picking and candy giving.
After a few rounds we figured out we could just pick the number by looking at which kids had not had candy yet. I think only a few of them figured out we were rigging it, lol
Favorite moment #2 for the day was when Katie picked the number for an older boy and as she leaned down to get candy, he grabbed the little girl behind him and pushed her into his spot so she would get the candy instead.
We began the clean up when the kids were summoned for dinner and returned to Pipera for our own dinner. Night light was filled with excited chatter about our favorite kid moments of the day and instead of hot seat we had a special guest interview afterward.
Kostel is Jim's Romanian counterpart. He shared about his personal experience in the Revolution and about the effect of H2H's ministry in Romania. Kostel is extremely passionate about ministry and God, and also a very funny man. Favorite Kostel quote: talking about Jim always wanting to expand ministry "Jim like sin, bigger and bigger, but I like it." lol
June 1st is Children's Day in Romania. It was established during Communism, which didn't make sense to me at first, why a communist dictator would care about children. But, if you think about it, children are a very important resource, and are easily brain washed, so it's prudent for a dictator to try to win them over.
Anyway, Children's Day still exists as a national holiday. Many museums offer free admission for children and there are all sorts of parties and carnivals for the kids.
Due to the late night we had had Sunday in combination with thelong day we were about to have, breakfast was made optional so people could sleep in a bit. I, however, never skip breakfast if I can help it. I ate rather quickly and then went with a few others to the Mega Image grocery store. I bought some more chocolate for gifts and some other Romanian snacks I had become fond of.
Back at the house we had worship and devotional time led by Matt and Amy Beth. Then the day got interesting.
The original plan had been: eat lunch, then go do a concert and carnival at Peris. However, after lunch we were informed that the orphanage directors had taken all of the "good kids" to an event at a different orphanage being put on by the Chinese ambassador. Instead, we went to where most of the kids were (an orphanage called Voluntar) and put on a concert there.
Favorite moment #1 of the day was as I was putting together my clarinet. I felt a little tap on my arm and turned to see Marius with the biggest grin on his face. I successfully said hi in Romanian as he gave me a big hug and asked him "che fach?" (how's it going?) his smile widened as he exclaimed "bine!" (good!) and ran off to greet other Winds members.
The concert was one of the most disorganized ones I have ever done, but considering it had been planned an hour before we put it on, not bad. After being thanked by the Chinese ambassador and the orphanage director, we loaded the vans and went to Peris where we did the same concert, but for ALL the kids.
Then, chaos ensued, carnival time. It was amazing how much we had been able to pull together. We had popcorn, face painting, hair wraps, magic show, limbo, ring toss, balloon animals, crafts, games, the fishing game, and a cake walk. Katie D. and I ran the cake walk. I took care of controlling the music and she did the number picking and candy giving.
After a few rounds we figured out we could just pick the number by looking at which kids had not had candy yet. I think only a few of them figured out we were rigging it, lol
Favorite moment #2 for the day was when Katie picked the number for an older boy and as she leaned down to get candy, he grabbed the little girl behind him and pushed her into his spot so she would get the candy instead.
We began the clean up when the kids were summoned for dinner and returned to Pipera for our own dinner. Night light was filled with excited chatter about our favorite kid moments of the day and instead of hot seat we had a special guest interview afterward.
Kostel is Jim's Romanian counterpart. He shared about his personal experience in the Revolution and about the effect of H2H's ministry in Romania. Kostel is extremely passionate about ministry and God, and also a very funny man. Favorite Kostel quote: talking about Jim always wanting to expand ministry "Jim like sin, bigger and bigger, but I like it." lol
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
5-31 Alfa & Omega Church
Sunday was a nice restful day for us. The service at Alfa & Omega didn't start until 1:00, so we had some chill time in the morning. After breakfast Matt led us in worship and Alan led a short devotional. Then we loaded up and drove into the city. Bucharest is a lot calmer on the weekends. There aren't people commting into the city for work, so traffic is a lot lighter. The church meets in a building they rent in a multipurpose type room.
The service started with our first concert as Symphonic Winds in Romania. In this way it felt a lot like a typical Winds tour, except all of Mr. Feller's program notes had to be translated :o)
Abe and Rachael Mitchell gave their testimonies and then the sermon began. I really liked the pastor. If I could always have a translator with me I would totally go to that church. He spoke on James 1, which can be applied in any culture. It was definitely interesting on this trip being on the receiving end of translation. After the sermon was worship, and oh my goodness. I wish every worship session I was in was like that. There was so much passion for God in that place, and so much community.
It kept striking me, as we were singing the English words to worship songs they were singing in Romanian, that that is a small glimpse of what eternity will be like with all nations together. There was even one song that I happen to know the words to in Spanish, so we had some trilingual action going on there, haha
By the time the service ended it was almost 3:00, so we skidaddled over to a mall (different from the one on Saturday) for lunch. The clarinets shared a margarita pizza from "Springtime" in the foodcourt. Apparently in Romania they eat ketchup on their pizza, because they were automatically giving it to everyone, but they asked us if we wanted it.
I also took advantage of the gelato stand nearby and tried chocolate and watermelon. I would for sure have both again. yum!
There was time upon return to the team house for a quick nap before heading out to fellowship with the church members at a local park. Parks are very important in Romania because most people live in block houses with no backyards. Their parks are enormous and quite beautiful with lakes and trees and lots of roses. Most of the fellowship time was playing volleyball and soccer, neither of which are my forte in life. I sat and watched people's purses and chatted with Brinn and Krista.
Brinn is a veteran H2H team member. She and her friend Katy were on their 8th trip to Romania. Krista is a new H2H staff member who just began a 2 year stay in the country.
We left the park around 9:00, had a driving tour of "Bucharest at Night", and returned to the team house for a light dinner of pasta salad and homemade chocolate donuts, lol! We had nightlight, skipped hot seat, and went over job assignments for the children's day carnival.
The service started with our first concert as Symphonic Winds in Romania. In this way it felt a lot like a typical Winds tour, except all of Mr. Feller's program notes had to be translated :o)
Abe and Rachael Mitchell gave their testimonies and then the sermon began. I really liked the pastor. If I could always have a translator with me I would totally go to that church. He spoke on James 1, which can be applied in any culture. It was definitely interesting on this trip being on the receiving end of translation. After the sermon was worship, and oh my goodness. I wish every worship session I was in was like that. There was so much passion for God in that place, and so much community.
It kept striking me, as we were singing the English words to worship songs they were singing in Romanian, that that is a small glimpse of what eternity will be like with all nations together. There was even one song that I happen to know the words to in Spanish, so we had some trilingual action going on there, haha
By the time the service ended it was almost 3:00, so we skidaddled over to a mall (different from the one on Saturday) for lunch. The clarinets shared a margarita pizza from "Springtime" in the foodcourt. Apparently in Romania they eat ketchup on their pizza, because they were automatically giving it to everyone, but they asked us if we wanted it.
I also took advantage of the gelato stand nearby and tried chocolate and watermelon. I would for sure have both again. yum!
There was time upon return to the team house for a quick nap before heading out to fellowship with the church members at a local park. Parks are very important in Romania because most people live in block houses with no backyards. Their parks are enormous and quite beautiful with lakes and trees and lots of roses. Most of the fellowship time was playing volleyball and soccer, neither of which are my forte in life. I sat and watched people's purses and chatted with Brinn and Krista.
Brinn is a veteran H2H team member. She and her friend Katy were on their 8th trip to Romania. Krista is a new H2H staff member who just began a 2 year stay in the country.
We left the park around 9:00, had a driving tour of "Bucharest at Night", and returned to the team house for a light dinner of pasta salad and homemade chocolate donuts, lol! We had nightlight, skipped hot seat, and went over job assignments for the children's day carnival.
Friday, July 3, 2009
5-30 Jim's "Revolting" Reveolution Tour
You'll see why the H2H staff nickname it the revolting tour by the end.
Breakfast was special this morning. Friday night they told us to be in the dining room half an hour before we usually were, or we'd miss out. The surprise was a H2H tradition: bomblets! Omelets made in freezer bags. You put the eggs, cheese, and other desired omelet ingredients into a freezer ziplocks, mix well (done by squishing, rather fun actually), and drop them in boiling water for 15 minutes. It's amazing, easiest omelet I've ever made, you should try it!
Once our bomblets had been consumed, we took advantage of having all of our group back together again and had rehearsal in the dining room. lol After lunch we headed out for Jim's tour. We started at the music hall in Bucharest, which is beautiful. Jim started off by telling us about Romania back 200 years ago. They were a strong nation economically thanks to agriculture and flourished artistically.
It was at this point that it started raining, which made things more exciting. But you can't have a trip to Europe without a little rain. We walked the couple blocks from the music hall to Revolution Square. On one side of the square is the old palace, which is now an art museum. Jim explained the events of the revolution to us.
After WWII the Russians took control of Romania. The people were miserable, forced to live in the enormous block houses and work 13-14 hour days. In the sixties Ceausescu, a Romanian with a 4th grade education, rose up and offered that he would lead Romania for the Russians. He promised that under his leadership the people would flourish again and prosper the Russians more than they were at the time. The Russians agreed and pulled out of Romania.
Work conditions did grow better for the Romanians. Ceausescu built thousands more block houses and set up a strict routine for his people. They would get up, go to work, come home, watch an hour or two of TV with their family, and then get to bed early. TV consisted mainly of Ceausescu giving a speech with the same 5 points every night.
Things changed for the Romanians though after Ceausescu spent some time in North Korea. He came back a different leader He began referring to them as "my dear children" and increased the length of their work days.
At the start of the revolution Ceausescu had been giving a speech about a week after a massacre of praying people in a town in the north. The square was so packed with people that there was hardly room to move. A group of people began shouting about the massacre, and because there were so many people, the secret police weren't able to reach them to silence them. The whole square became an uproar. Ceausescu and his wife were airlifted out and tanks came in, blocked all exits and opened fire. Mass chaos. The buildings in the square still have visible bullet holes in them. A couple of the buildings have been patched, making it look like scars.
The Ceausescus were caught and tried as enemies of the state and were executed Christmas Day 1989. That's within my lifetime. It's incredible to think these things happened while I was alive. It was a very disturbing day for me, I can't even begin to imagine what life that way would be like. I wonder now what things are going on in the world that we will only find out years from now. My mom said that they knew things were bad in Romania, but they didn't know any more than that.
It breaks my heart that there are things happening in the world, in Sudan, North Korea, Afghanistan, and so many other countries, to innocent people, that I won't hear about for another 10 years. By the time we hear about them, they'll be over, and it will be too late to help.
"Sometimes God breaks our hearts to show us a piece of his." Jen Schroeder
We spent a little time in Revolution Square and then drove past the People's Palace so the brass could see. Our final stop on the tour was the Church of the Patriarch. The Patriarch in the Eastern Orthodox Church is sort of like the Pope in the Catholic Church. Each country (I think, don't quote me on this part) has their own Patriarch. The Patriarch lives in a house behind the church. It was a gorgeous church, but it's sad how dark these old European churches feel.
At the conclusion of our tour, we broke off into several groups for some free time. My group went to the mall :D
The mall we went to happened to be the largest mall in Erope. Rnadom right? Who would have guessed that Europe's largest mall is in Romania? Not me! It wasn't set up too different from an American mall. The things that stood out were the very European styles in all of the store windows and the smoking. I hated the smoking. I don't know if I could ever live in Europe because of that.
We got to do a little souvenir shopping, which consisted of us crowding around one little kiosque. The rest of the time in the mall, I was in this Walmart like store called Cairfor or something like that. I bought a great deal of chocolate. Our shopping complete, we headed back to the team house for a bbq (done inside thanks to the rain) and hot seat.
Breakfast was special this morning. Friday night they told us to be in the dining room half an hour before we usually were, or we'd miss out. The surprise was a H2H tradition: bomblets! Omelets made in freezer bags. You put the eggs, cheese, and other desired omelet ingredients into a freezer ziplocks, mix well (done by squishing, rather fun actually), and drop them in boiling water for 15 minutes. It's amazing, easiest omelet I've ever made, you should try it!
Once our bomblets had been consumed, we took advantage of having all of our group back together again and had rehearsal in the dining room. lol After lunch we headed out for Jim's tour. We started at the music hall in Bucharest, which is beautiful. Jim started off by telling us about Romania back 200 years ago. They were a strong nation economically thanks to agriculture and flourished artistically.
It was at this point that it started raining, which made things more exciting. But you can't have a trip to Europe without a little rain. We walked the couple blocks from the music hall to Revolution Square. On one side of the square is the old palace, which is now an art museum. Jim explained the events of the revolution to us.
After WWII the Russians took control of Romania. The people were miserable, forced to live in the enormous block houses and work 13-14 hour days. In the sixties Ceausescu, a Romanian with a 4th grade education, rose up and offered that he would lead Romania for the Russians. He promised that under his leadership the people would flourish again and prosper the Russians more than they were at the time. The Russians agreed and pulled out of Romania.
Work conditions did grow better for the Romanians. Ceausescu built thousands more block houses and set up a strict routine for his people. They would get up, go to work, come home, watch an hour or two of TV with their family, and then get to bed early. TV consisted mainly of Ceausescu giving a speech with the same 5 points every night.
Things changed for the Romanians though after Ceausescu spent some time in North Korea. He came back a different leader He began referring to them as "my dear children" and increased the length of their work days.
At the start of the revolution Ceausescu had been giving a speech about a week after a massacre of praying people in a town in the north. The square was so packed with people that there was hardly room to move. A group of people began shouting about the massacre, and because there were so many people, the secret police weren't able to reach them to silence them. The whole square became an uproar. Ceausescu and his wife were airlifted out and tanks came in, blocked all exits and opened fire. Mass chaos. The buildings in the square still have visible bullet holes in them. A couple of the buildings have been patched, making it look like scars.
The Ceausescus were caught and tried as enemies of the state and were executed Christmas Day 1989. That's within my lifetime. It's incredible to think these things happened while I was alive. It was a very disturbing day for me, I can't even begin to imagine what life that way would be like. I wonder now what things are going on in the world that we will only find out years from now. My mom said that they knew things were bad in Romania, but they didn't know any more than that.
It breaks my heart that there are things happening in the world, in Sudan, North Korea, Afghanistan, and so many other countries, to innocent people, that I won't hear about for another 10 years. By the time we hear about them, they'll be over, and it will be too late to help.
"Sometimes God breaks our hearts to show us a piece of his." Jen Schroeder
We spent a little time in Revolution Square and then drove past the People's Palace so the brass could see. Our final stop on the tour was the Church of the Patriarch. The Patriarch in the Eastern Orthodox Church is sort of like the Pope in the Catholic Church. Each country (I think, don't quote me on this part) has their own Patriarch. The Patriarch lives in a house behind the church. It was a gorgeous church, but it's sad how dark these old European churches feel.
At the conclusion of our tour, we broke off into several groups for some free time. My group went to the mall :D
The mall we went to happened to be the largest mall in Erope. Rnadom right? Who would have guessed that Europe's largest mall is in Romania? Not me! It wasn't set up too different from an American mall. The things that stood out were the very European styles in all of the store windows and the smoking. I hated the smoking. I don't know if I could ever live in Europe because of that.
We got to do a little souvenir shopping, which consisted of us crowding around one little kiosque. The rest of the time in the mall, I was in this Walmart like store called Cairfor or something like that. I bought a great deal of chocolate. Our shopping complete, we headed back to the team house for a bbq (done inside thanks to the rain) and hot seat.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
5-29 Oldtown Bucharest and More Lessons at Peris
Morning devotionals Friday were appropriate for the work we were doing (not that there wouldn't be a devotional that was appropriate) "Found, Called, Adopted" Important thing to remember when working with orphans, we're all adopted. Jim mentioned that some of the older orphans have expressed a deeper understanding of faith because they can more easily make the connection of being adopted than we can.
Explorations of Bucharest continued with the oldest standing section of the city. We saw St. Anthony's church, the oldest church in Bucharest. The architecture in Romania is incredible. It's quite unlike anything I'm accustomed to; "beautifully unique is how I've been describing it. There are intricate paintings that cover the ceiling depicting Bible stories and beautiful stained glass windows. Something cool about all Eastern Orthodox churches is that they have 3 domes on top to represent the Trinity.
We walked through a town square where there was a statue of Dracula, after all, Transylvania is a region of Romania ;)
Around the square were a number of shops, which meant some souvenir shopping time. I bought three beautiful painted eggs and some postcards from one and then went to the glass shop up the street. Romania is known for their glass, crystal, and porcelain. I would have loved to buy some crystal, but even with the exchange rate in my favor, it was too expensive. I did buy a small braided porcelain bowl. It has small pink flowers painted on it and says "Made in Romania" on the bottom.
Lessons at Peris were made interesting thanks to a sudden rain shower that sprang up as we arrived. Most of us and most of the kids were mostly wet, lol. That didn't matter too much though, plus, it was an exciting day. The queen woke up. That was really exciting, seeing how happy the kids were. We played some humns for them, taught them how to play "Hot Cross Buns" on mini recorders, and gave them paper crowns to decorate.
Play time Friday was slightly gross thanks to a lot of wet dog poop on the play area. Pretty sure everybody changed clothes as soon as we got back to the Team House
Dinner was a cheerful affair, thanks to the return of the brass from Rossiori. We had a much more lively night light, hearing about some of what the brass had been up to, and then moved quickly on to hot seat.
Two favorite hot seat moments of the night:
*Abe's Turn*
Matt Fell "If had to marry someone in this room, who would it be?"
Abe "Erin or Andrea"
*Andrea's turn*
Matt Fell "Would you marry Abe?"
Abe "Hey! You have to at least let me ask myself!"
Matt "So ask her"
Abe "Andrea, will you marry me?"
Andrea "yes Abe, I'll marry you."
And
Stephen "I can be decisive, sometimes."
Goodness I love band people :)
Explorations of Bucharest continued with the oldest standing section of the city. We saw St. Anthony's church, the oldest church in Bucharest. The architecture in Romania is incredible. It's quite unlike anything I'm accustomed to; "beautifully unique is how I've been describing it. There are intricate paintings that cover the ceiling depicting Bible stories and beautiful stained glass windows. Something cool about all Eastern Orthodox churches is that they have 3 domes on top to represent the Trinity.
We walked through a town square where there was a statue of Dracula, after all, Transylvania is a region of Romania ;)
Around the square were a number of shops, which meant some souvenir shopping time. I bought three beautiful painted eggs and some postcards from one and then went to the glass shop up the street. Romania is known for their glass, crystal, and porcelain. I would have loved to buy some crystal, but even with the exchange rate in my favor, it was too expensive. I did buy a small braided porcelain bowl. It has small pink flowers painted on it and says "Made in Romania" on the bottom.
Lessons at Peris were made interesting thanks to a sudden rain shower that sprang up as we arrived. Most of us and most of the kids were mostly wet, lol. That didn't matter too much though, plus, it was an exciting day. The queen woke up. That was really exciting, seeing how happy the kids were. We played some humns for them, taught them how to play "Hot Cross Buns" on mini recorders, and gave them paper crowns to decorate.
Play time Friday was slightly gross thanks to a lot of wet dog poop on the play area. Pretty sure everybody changed clothes as soon as we got back to the Team House
Dinner was a cheerful affair, thanks to the return of the brass from Rossiori. We had a much more lively night light, hearing about some of what the brass had been up to, and then moved quickly on to hot seat.
Two favorite hot seat moments of the night:
*Abe's Turn*
Matt Fell "If had to marry someone in this room, who would it be?"
Abe "Erin or Andrea"
*Andrea's turn*
Matt Fell "Would you marry Abe?"
Abe "Hey! You have to at least let me ask myself!"
Matt "So ask her"
Abe "Andrea, will you marry me?"
Andrea "yes Abe, I'll marry you."
And
Stephen "I can be decisive, sometimes."
Goodness I love band people :)
Friday, June 26, 2009
5-28 Open Air Market and Lessons at Peris
Morning devotionals on Thursday were out of another Max Lucado book (they are big fans of Max Lucado, I think I should get some of his books, I've never read very much of his stuff) "Grace for a Moment". It described all the things hands do, and how everything your hands do should be ministry.
Cultural experience for the day would be the largest open air market in Bucharest (possibly in all Romania, I don't remember). We were informed that this would be the most likely day we would get pickpocketed, were that to happenon the trip. Thankfully it did not. Since a group of 15 Americans would draw too much attention, and we would inevitably get separated anyway, we divided into smaller groups. I was with Amanda, Andrea, and Sanda (our translator and guide).
The market reminded me a lot of the ones I've been to in Mexico. Jim mentioned later that most open air markets are the same no matter what part of the world you're in. A difference I noticed between the Romanian one and Mexican ones really surprised me though. The Romanians don't barter over prices. I tried on a lot of cute skirts, but didn't buy any because most were way too small for me. It didn't matter much that there wasn't price negotiating because everything was so cheap. I bought 2 mugs and a wooden spoon for 10 lei (about $3.50 American).
After lunch at the team house, it was back to Peris for more lessons. The classrooms are a surprising contrast to the rest of the orphanage. The orphanages receive funding from two departments: child protective services, and the department of education. The department of education does a lot more for the children than the child protective services do. The classroom was small, but clean with desks and a chalkboard and several computers.
We taught the same lesson to two classes: 1st and 2nd grade and 5th and 6th grade. There's a pretty wide age range in the classes though. For our lesson we introduced the children to the clarinet and taught them about musical tempos. Katie Feher made up this amazingly cute story to teach the lesson through, kind of like Peter and the Wolf. It was about a little girl who met a bird (flute) a cat (clarinet) and a bear (saxophone) while walking through the forest. The animals taught her about music, and through what she learned she was able to wake up the queen who had been put under a sleeping enchantment.
I got to be the queen, though I didn't do much, because the little girl didn't yet know enough music to wake her. The kids gave lots of suggestions to try to wake me. The cutest one was to ask nicely, and the little boy came up and asked me very nicely (in Romanian) to wake up. The funniest came from a 12 year old boy named Aline. Aline and his twin Florine are two of the more difficult children at the orphanage, they get themselves into a lot of trouble.
The previous day, when the queen didn't wake up, Aline suggested that they kiss the queen. Fairly standard method of waking sleeping royalty. Well, Katie asks "are you volunteering?" Wrong child to make that suggestion to. Aline got up, walked over, and gave Rachel (the queen on Wed) a very long kiss on the cheek. This story at Night Light Wed night prompted Jim to make the new rule: No making out with orphans.
In any case, since we were a different group of ladies on Thurs, Aline thought he should make that suggestion again. "Perhaps we should kiss the queen" As soon as Sanda translated that I began panicking, oh snap, I'm about to get kissed by a 12 year old Romanian orphan. Luckily Amanda was looking out for me and quickly said "oh, but you tried that yesterday and it didn't work, remember?" Thank goodness for friends! haha
We played several clarinet quartets for them, which they loved and kept asking for more. Florine even told us that he wanted us to play forever so they could fall asleep to music. Then we handed out tambourines we had made from paper plates and popcorn for them to decorate and play with.
After lessons we had more playtime outside with the kids. This was the day I met little Ana. Adorable little 6 year old who's favorite thing is piggy back rides. She doesn't do much talking, the staff said she gets some amount of speech therapy and they think she has some developmental issues. A very sweet little girl though. I also got my hair done by Alina and by Flori (Ana's older sister) and played a very vigorous game of tag with a blonde boy of about 12 (I think) named Alexandre.
When it came time to leave we had a bit of excitement. As we got back to the vans we noticed there was someone in the driver's seat of one: oh, it's Aline, surprise surprise. We all start yelling and running to get him out, and as Amanda and I pull open the side door, he manages to unset the parking break and put the van in neutral. Great. The van starts rolling down the hill towards the lake.
Luckily Stephen had already been in the van and was able to save the day. He pulled Aline out of the driver's seat, jumped into it himself. His eyes near about popped out of his head when he put his foot on what he thougt was the break and the van didn't stop. It was the clutch, he tried again, and this time succeeded in stopping the van. Whew!
This was actually the second time that Aline nearly sent the van into the lake. Several years ago he managed to get it rolling, but with no Stephen there to save the day, the only thing that saved the van from the lake was the tree it ran into.
Anyway, we certainly had a lot to talk about at dinner and Night Light. Ho Seat was fantastically amusing thanks to Elayne. Pretty much everything she says is hysterical, but the winning quote of the night was "I dig guys who don't have all their teeth."
Classic
A random note I included was that our "This is the day the Lord has made" devotional in the morning, really helped me think about my issues with change. *This* is the day the Lord has made. Not just yesterday, or 3 months ago, today, no matter what today holds, I will rejoice and be glad in it.
The trip itself really helped me transition from Biola into the next thing. I had great fellowship with everyone, but it really helped me see that God still does great things and brings great people into my life regardless of where I am.
Cultural experience for the day would be the largest open air market in Bucharest (possibly in all Romania, I don't remember). We were informed that this would be the most likely day we would get pickpocketed, were that to happenon the trip. Thankfully it did not. Since a group of 15 Americans would draw too much attention, and we would inevitably get separated anyway, we divided into smaller groups. I was with Amanda, Andrea, and Sanda (our translator and guide).
The market reminded me a lot of the ones I've been to in Mexico. Jim mentioned later that most open air markets are the same no matter what part of the world you're in. A difference I noticed between the Romanian one and Mexican ones really surprised me though. The Romanians don't barter over prices. I tried on a lot of cute skirts, but didn't buy any because most were way too small for me. It didn't matter much that there wasn't price negotiating because everything was so cheap. I bought 2 mugs and a wooden spoon for 10 lei (about $3.50 American).
After lunch at the team house, it was back to Peris for more lessons. The classrooms are a surprising contrast to the rest of the orphanage. The orphanages receive funding from two departments: child protective services, and the department of education. The department of education does a lot more for the children than the child protective services do. The classroom was small, but clean with desks and a chalkboard and several computers.
We taught the same lesson to two classes: 1st and 2nd grade and 5th and 6th grade. There's a pretty wide age range in the classes though. For our lesson we introduced the children to the clarinet and taught them about musical tempos. Katie Feher made up this amazingly cute story to teach the lesson through, kind of like Peter and the Wolf. It was about a little girl who met a bird (flute) a cat (clarinet) and a bear (saxophone) while walking through the forest. The animals taught her about music, and through what she learned she was able to wake up the queen who had been put under a sleeping enchantment.
I got to be the queen, though I didn't do much, because the little girl didn't yet know enough music to wake her. The kids gave lots of suggestions to try to wake me. The cutest one was to ask nicely, and the little boy came up and asked me very nicely (in Romanian) to wake up. The funniest came from a 12 year old boy named Aline. Aline and his twin Florine are two of the more difficult children at the orphanage, they get themselves into a lot of trouble.
The previous day, when the queen didn't wake up, Aline suggested that they kiss the queen. Fairly standard method of waking sleeping royalty. Well, Katie asks "are you volunteering?" Wrong child to make that suggestion to. Aline got up, walked over, and gave Rachel (the queen on Wed) a very long kiss on the cheek. This story at Night Light Wed night prompted Jim to make the new rule: No making out with orphans.
In any case, since we were a different group of ladies on Thurs, Aline thought he should make that suggestion again. "Perhaps we should kiss the queen" As soon as Sanda translated that I began panicking, oh snap, I'm about to get kissed by a 12 year old Romanian orphan. Luckily Amanda was looking out for me and quickly said "oh, but you tried that yesterday and it didn't work, remember?" Thank goodness for friends! haha
We played several clarinet quartets for them, which they loved and kept asking for more. Florine even told us that he wanted us to play forever so they could fall asleep to music. Then we handed out tambourines we had made from paper plates and popcorn for them to decorate and play with.
After lessons we had more playtime outside with the kids. This was the day I met little Ana. Adorable little 6 year old who's favorite thing is piggy back rides. She doesn't do much talking, the staff said she gets some amount of speech therapy and they think she has some developmental issues. A very sweet little girl though. I also got my hair done by Alina and by Flori (Ana's older sister) and played a very vigorous game of tag with a blonde boy of about 12 (I think) named Alexandre.
When it came time to leave we had a bit of excitement. As we got back to the vans we noticed there was someone in the driver's seat of one: oh, it's Aline, surprise surprise. We all start yelling and running to get him out, and as Amanda and I pull open the side door, he manages to unset the parking break and put the van in neutral. Great. The van starts rolling down the hill towards the lake.
Luckily Stephen had already been in the van and was able to save the day. He pulled Aline out of the driver's seat, jumped into it himself. His eyes near about popped out of his head when he put his foot on what he thougt was the break and the van didn't stop. It was the clutch, he tried again, and this time succeeded in stopping the van. Whew!
This was actually the second time that Aline nearly sent the van into the lake. Several years ago he managed to get it rolling, but with no Stephen there to save the day, the only thing that saved the van from the lake was the tree it ran into.
Anyway, we certainly had a lot to talk about at dinner and Night Light. Ho Seat was fantastically amusing thanks to Elayne. Pretty much everything she says is hysterical, but the winning quote of the night was "I dig guys who don't have all their teeth."
Classic
A random note I included was that our "This is the day the Lord has made" devotional in the morning, really helped me think about my issues with change. *This* is the day the Lord has made. Not just yesterday, or 3 months ago, today, no matter what today holds, I will rejoice and be glad in it.
The trip itself really helped me transition from Biola into the next thing. I had great fellowship with everyone, but it really helped me see that God still does great things and brings great people into my life regardless of where I am.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
5-27 People's Palace and Baby Hospital
Breakfast was extra special Wed morning, we had some very yummy french toast. It was also surprising. I was the first to crack open a (what we thought to be) hardboiled egg. I very quickly discovered that it was not in fact hardboiled, but raw. They had put out the wrong basket of eggs, woops. haha Breakfast also began Erin's and my day of helping with kitchen clean up, which wasn't too bad.
Jen led devotionals from Max Lucado's book Give a Day a Chance. "Diary of a Dog" and "Diary of a Cat". The difference is a dog comes across everything saying "oh boy, my favorite!" and a cat finds the bad in every detail (at least in Max's analogy). The point is to try to keep a good attitude about all things and stay open to the seeing the good that God is doing in each day.
Each of the 3 days (Wed-Fri) that it was just us woodwinds, we would go do a sightseeing/cultural immersion thing in the morning, and then go to Peris in the afternoon, since the kids are in class in the morning. Wednesday we were to go to the People's Palace.
Nicolae Ceausescu (pronounced "Nee-co-lai Chow-chess-coo"), the communist dictator from 1974-1989, had the People's Palace built to house his office. The building is GINORMOUS and very extravagant. Building it drained the Romanian treasury and put the country into severe foreign debt, which was paid through the country's agricultural resources while the people starved. Present day, the building houses many government offices and has rooms that can be rented for private occasions.
It took us quite a while to get there. Bucharest traffic makes LA traffic look like a nice Sunday drive. Plus, traffic laws aren't exactly the same. Oh goodness, people seemed so polite when we got home, haha On the way there though, we passed time by sharing summer romance stories, very entertaining.
Unfortunately, due to the heavy traffic we were late for our tour time, and were told we would have to come back another day. Several of us took advantage of the gift shop anyway, and did a little exploring of the outside. Stephen (one of our saxophones and the only guy woodwind) later told us how thoroughly amused he was in watching a group of European guys check out the group of 13 American girls.
We made an equally long drive back to the team house for lunch and then split up: the flutes and saxes to Peris for the first day of lessons, and the clarinets to the baby hospital.
The impact of the baby hospital didn't come until later in the trip and now, but more of that later. The baby hospital ministry involves holding, feeding, and changing these babies. It's a section of a children's hospital in Bucharest, children that have been abandoned, many of whom will end up in the orphanages later. Romania is so economically unstable that many families just do not have the money to care for their children.
The saddest part is how uninvolved the nurses are with the children. They feed and change them, and that's about it. That's why we're there. I spent 3 hours straight holding and rocking babies. I get choked up now thinking about it, those precious little things who, if it weren't for H2H and other missions organizations, wouldn'would have barely any physical touch.
The hospital conditions were definitely a lot better than I had expected. It was clean and the babies each had plenty of space. It was cute, the door to each room had a different Bambi character on it. Amberly and I were inthe Flower room. Oh goodness those babies were so adorable. Andrei, Rafael, Domi (he didn't have a first name, his last name was "Domitreanu" so Corny, a Romanian H2H member, calls him Domi), Catalin, and Mihai. 4 of the babies were about 3 months, Rafael and Andrei were older.
Apparently Rafael has a cleft palate that will be fixed soon, he had a feeding tube for the time being. Domi is being adopted, which was very exciting to hear. And oh goodness, Catalin had the most hair I've ever seen on a baby! A sad part of the hospital trip was seeing the nurses not do much, they spent most of the time we were there sitting in the break room smoking.
Once the babies had been fed their dinner, we went back to the team house and had our dinner. Then Night Light and Hot Seat. My turn for hot seat, awkward, thanks to being asked to tell the ENTIRE story (including the details I leave out) about how Tad and I started dating. However, I'm thankful I went then and not after the brass go back, Matt Fell sure knows how to ask awkward questions.
Jen led devotionals from Max Lucado's book Give a Day a Chance. "Diary of a Dog" and "Diary of a Cat". The difference is a dog comes across everything saying "oh boy, my favorite!" and a cat finds the bad in every detail (at least in Max's analogy). The point is to try to keep a good attitude about all things and stay open to the seeing the good that God is doing in each day.
Each of the 3 days (Wed-Fri) that it was just us woodwinds, we would go do a sightseeing/cultural immersion thing in the morning, and then go to Peris in the afternoon, since the kids are in class in the morning. Wednesday we were to go to the People's Palace.
Nicolae Ceausescu (pronounced "Nee-co-lai Chow-chess-coo"), the communist dictator from 1974-1989, had the People's Palace built to house his office. The building is GINORMOUS and very extravagant. Building it drained the Romanian treasury and put the country into severe foreign debt, which was paid through the country's agricultural resources while the people starved. Present day, the building houses many government offices and has rooms that can be rented for private occasions.
It took us quite a while to get there. Bucharest traffic makes LA traffic look like a nice Sunday drive. Plus, traffic laws aren't exactly the same. Oh goodness, people seemed so polite when we got home, haha On the way there though, we passed time by sharing summer romance stories, very entertaining.
Unfortunately, due to the heavy traffic we were late for our tour time, and were told we would have to come back another day. Several of us took advantage of the gift shop anyway, and did a little exploring of the outside. Stephen (one of our saxophones and the only guy woodwind) later told us how thoroughly amused he was in watching a group of European guys check out the group of 13 American girls.
We made an equally long drive back to the team house for lunch and then split up: the flutes and saxes to Peris for the first day of lessons, and the clarinets to the baby hospital.
The impact of the baby hospital didn't come until later in the trip and now, but more of that later. The baby hospital ministry involves holding, feeding, and changing these babies. It's a section of a children's hospital in Bucharest, children that have been abandoned, many of whom will end up in the orphanages later. Romania is so economically unstable that many families just do not have the money to care for their children.
The saddest part is how uninvolved the nurses are with the children. They feed and change them, and that's about it. That's why we're there. I spent 3 hours straight holding and rocking babies. I get choked up now thinking about it, those precious little things who, if it weren't for H2H and other missions organizations, wouldn'would have barely any physical touch.
The hospital conditions were definitely a lot better than I had expected. It was clean and the babies each had plenty of space. It was cute, the door to each room had a different Bambi character on it. Amberly and I were inthe Flower room. Oh goodness those babies were so adorable. Andrei, Rafael, Domi (he didn't have a first name, his last name was "Domitreanu" so Corny, a Romanian H2H member, calls him Domi), Catalin, and Mihai. 4 of the babies were about 3 months, Rafael and Andrei were older.
Apparently Rafael has a cleft palate that will be fixed soon, he had a feeding tube for the time being. Domi is being adopted, which was very exciting to hear. And oh goodness, Catalin had the most hair I've ever seen on a baby! A sad part of the hospital trip was seeing the nurses not do much, they spent most of the time we were there sitting in the break room smoking.
Once the babies had been fed their dinner, we went back to the team house and had our dinner. Then Night Light and Hot Seat. My turn for hot seat, awkward, thanks to being asked to tell the ENTIRE story (including the details I leave out) about how Tad and I started dating. However, I'm thankful I went then and not after the brass go back, Matt Fell sure knows how to ask awkward questions.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Pause for an Update on Life Now
It has been my experience that I take forever to finish my trip updates. This fact is frustrating, but the journals are important enough to me to keep doing them anyway. However, I'd also like to keep up with my life journal now, considering I've been home from Romania nealry a month. So here goes.
It took me a good week to adjust back to life in the states. No amount of debriefing could have made me understand reverse culture shock like actually experiencing it. I don't think I'll ever feel quite the same about my country and culture. I still love America, and will undoubtedly be overly patriotic for the rest of my life, but I better understand now some of the things that frustrate people from elsewhere about here. I mean, I'm a total "J" personality on teh Myers-Briggs, and I was about ready to chuck my planner out the window, things are much too fast paced here.
It definitely did not help my adjustment that straight away we dove into apartment hunting for next year. That was a nightmare and a half, let me tell you. Everything by SDSU falls into one or more of the following categories: too expensive, too unsafe, too dirty, too far away from campus and/or public transportation, does not accomodate pet dogs. Fortunately Valencia is exempt from pet laws, but one of my future roommates Ana has an 8 pound Bischon.
Eventually, after much searching and about 8 trips down there in 10 days, we found the perfect condo. The complex is in Mission Valley in between two trolley stops, which are about a 10 minute ride from campus. It's absolutely gorgeous: 2 bedroom 2 bath, great sized living room and kitchen, patio balcony. The complex is secure and has a pool/jacuzzi and fitness center. I'm uber excited. I'll be moving in the beginning of August, but our landlord is giving us the keys in a couple weeks so we can start moving furniture.
I'll be sharing the master bedroom and bath with Anja (she was in comm disorders with me at Biola and is starting the audiology program at state). Ana and her little doggy Brady will have their own room and bathroom on the other side of our condo.
Besides that craziness, I've been hanging out with Raelene quite a bit. We went to a college group at her church the first weekend I was home, and were the oldest ones there, hahaha. We hit up the Del Mar Fair. First time for both of us going without our families. I think we did quite well though, saw pretty flowers and farm animals and shared a deep fried smore and some deep fried cheese curds. yum!
I had a party to celebrate graduation and my birthday. My and I made fruit kabobs, my dad bbqed chicken skewers, and we had a variety of salads and desserts, plus mock margaritas, mmm. Krista, Becky, and Amanda came down from LA, which was amazing to get to see them again. Elizabeth brought Matthew, and Raelene and a number of neighbors and church friends stopped by.
For my birthday on Saturday I spent the day at Disneyland with Raelene and Becky. That was pretty awesome. They give you a button that says "Happy Birthday!" and your name, and everybody in the park wishes you happy birthday all day long. I counted about 19, plus I got sung to outside the ice cream shop on main street. Amanda met us for lunch in downtown Disney, and we met Krista at Red Robin for dinner. I had my family party Sunday evening, joint with our Father's Day celebration.
This morning I finished up an online scrapbook from shutterfly.com of my Romania trip. I may be able to post some of it on here. I'm pretty excited about it, mom had a special offer so we got it for free.
Other than that, I guess next on the list is 4th of July, summer sure goes by so fast!
It took me a good week to adjust back to life in the states. No amount of debriefing could have made me understand reverse culture shock like actually experiencing it. I don't think I'll ever feel quite the same about my country and culture. I still love America, and will undoubtedly be overly patriotic for the rest of my life, but I better understand now some of the things that frustrate people from elsewhere about here. I mean, I'm a total "J" personality on teh Myers-Briggs, and I was about ready to chuck my planner out the window, things are much too fast paced here.
It definitely did not help my adjustment that straight away we dove into apartment hunting for next year. That was a nightmare and a half, let me tell you. Everything by SDSU falls into one or more of the following categories: too expensive, too unsafe, too dirty, too far away from campus and/or public transportation, does not accomodate pet dogs. Fortunately Valencia is exempt from pet laws, but one of my future roommates Ana has an 8 pound Bischon.
Eventually, after much searching and about 8 trips down there in 10 days, we found the perfect condo. The complex is in Mission Valley in between two trolley stops, which are about a 10 minute ride from campus. It's absolutely gorgeous: 2 bedroom 2 bath, great sized living room and kitchen, patio balcony. The complex is secure and has a pool/jacuzzi and fitness center. I'm uber excited. I'll be moving in the beginning of August, but our landlord is giving us the keys in a couple weeks so we can start moving furniture.
I'll be sharing the master bedroom and bath with Anja (she was in comm disorders with me at Biola and is starting the audiology program at state). Ana and her little doggy Brady will have their own room and bathroom on the other side of our condo.
Besides that craziness, I've been hanging out with Raelene quite a bit. We went to a college group at her church the first weekend I was home, and were the oldest ones there, hahaha. We hit up the Del Mar Fair. First time for both of us going without our families. I think we did quite well though, saw pretty flowers and farm animals and shared a deep fried smore and some deep fried cheese curds. yum!
I had a party to celebrate graduation and my birthday. My and I made fruit kabobs, my dad bbqed chicken skewers, and we had a variety of salads and desserts, plus mock margaritas, mmm. Krista, Becky, and Amanda came down from LA, which was amazing to get to see them again. Elizabeth brought Matthew, and Raelene and a number of neighbors and church friends stopped by.
For my birthday on Saturday I spent the day at Disneyland with Raelene and Becky. That was pretty awesome. They give you a button that says "Happy Birthday!" and your name, and everybody in the park wishes you happy birthday all day long. I counted about 19, plus I got sung to outside the ice cream shop on main street. Amanda met us for lunch in downtown Disney, and we met Krista at Red Robin for dinner. I had my family party Sunday evening, joint with our Father's Day celebration.
This morning I finished up an online scrapbook from shutterfly.com of my Romania trip. I may be able to post some of it on here. I'm pretty excited about it, mom had a special offer so we got it for free.
Other than that, I guess next on the list is 4th of July, summer sure goes by so fast!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
5-26 Orientation and First Visit to Peris
Once it was *actually* time to get up, we had a breakfast. I discovered a new favorite breakfast delight: Finetti. It's a lot like Nutella, and tastes fabulous on croissants. After breakfast we gathered and had orientation. They purposefully wait to give us all this information until we aren't completely zoned out from jetlag. To start out Jim (or "boss Jim" as we began calling him) led us in a fun and educational Romanian culture quiz game. I did fairly well thanks to some lucky guessing and some general travel knowledge.
A couple interesting Romanian culture facts:
Currents-This is the Romanian term for drafts or breezes and they are supersticious about them. In Romanian culture currents are very bad, they cause bad things and can make you deathly sick. You never have a door and a window open at the same time and in the car, you do not have more than one window open at once, if that. Most places do not have air conditioning, so you can imagine how hot it gets during the summer if you believe currents are evil.
Flowers-Romanians love flowers. There is a specific type and number of flowers for any occasion. General rule, odd numbers of flowers are for happy occasions and even numbers are for sad occasions. Also, when presenting someone with flowers, you hand them to them upside down. That way, when they turn them right side up, they catch the luck from the flowers. To hand someone flowers right side up means you're stealing their luck, which would be a terribly rude thing to do!
After our quiz game, Jen (who is absolutely amazing) talked to us about ministry specifics. She used props to show the tools necessary for successful ministry. Curiosity, forgiveness, patience, proactivity, friendship, and flexibility. Jen told us to think about what we needed to happen in order to count our trip as a success and reminded us that all we are asked to do is love God and love others.
After orientation we had lunch together and then the brass loaded up and left for Rosiori (a town about 3 hours southwest of Bucharest, pronounced "Ro-she-or"). They stayed at the boys' transition house and worked with two different groups of kids down there.
Meanwhile, us woodwinds loaded up and made our first trip to the Peris (pronounced "Pair-eesh") orphanage. Peris is a stark contrast from Bucharest. It is a small farming community with little houses and large fields. One day on our way back from the orphanage we had to stop to let a shepherd and a flock of sheep pass.
Kirsteen, one of the H2H staff members, has been teaching the children some basic music lessons. Our first day they performed some clapping rhythm songs for us. The rest of the time was spent playing with and getting to know the kids. I got to observe a cooking class that another staff member Sanda has been doing with some of the older girls. They made a lemon zest cake. Some of the girls speak Spanish, which they have learned from watching Spanish soap operas, so I was able to communicate a bit.
Oral communication, however, is not needed with these children. They are very good at using gestures, but most of the time they just grab you and drag you wherever they want. If they really want to tell you something, they take you to a translator. Once the children had worn us out entirely, we made the 45 minute drive back to the team house for dinner.
An H2H practice in the evenings is "Night Light". We sit down with Jim and talk about how our days went: things we liked, things we didn't understand, struggles during the day, etc. Then comes Hot Seat. Each person has 2 minutes to talk about themselves, and then everyone else can ask questions, any question they feel like. Suffice it to say, this got very fun by the end of the trip.
A couple interesting Romanian culture facts:
Currents-This is the Romanian term for drafts or breezes and they are supersticious about them. In Romanian culture currents are very bad, they cause bad things and can make you deathly sick. You never have a door and a window open at the same time and in the car, you do not have more than one window open at once, if that. Most places do not have air conditioning, so you can imagine how hot it gets during the summer if you believe currents are evil.
Flowers-Romanians love flowers. There is a specific type and number of flowers for any occasion. General rule, odd numbers of flowers are for happy occasions and even numbers are for sad occasions. Also, when presenting someone with flowers, you hand them to them upside down. That way, when they turn them right side up, they catch the luck from the flowers. To hand someone flowers right side up means you're stealing their luck, which would be a terribly rude thing to do!
After our quiz game, Jen (who is absolutely amazing) talked to us about ministry specifics. She used props to show the tools necessary for successful ministry. Curiosity, forgiveness, patience, proactivity, friendship, and flexibility. Jen told us to think about what we needed to happen in order to count our trip as a success and reminded us that all we are asked to do is love God and love others.
After orientation we had lunch together and then the brass loaded up and left for Rosiori (a town about 3 hours southwest of Bucharest, pronounced "Ro-she-or"). They stayed at the boys' transition house and worked with two different groups of kids down there.
Meanwhile, us woodwinds loaded up and made our first trip to the Peris (pronounced "Pair-eesh") orphanage. Peris is a stark contrast from Bucharest. It is a small farming community with little houses and large fields. One day on our way back from the orphanage we had to stop to let a shepherd and a flock of sheep pass.
Kirsteen, one of the H2H staff members, has been teaching the children some basic music lessons. Our first day they performed some clapping rhythm songs for us. The rest of the time was spent playing with and getting to know the kids. I got to observe a cooking class that another staff member Sanda has been doing with some of the older girls. They made a lemon zest cake. Some of the girls speak Spanish, which they have learned from watching Spanish soap operas, so I was able to communicate a bit.
Oral communication, however, is not needed with these children. They are very good at using gestures, but most of the time they just grab you and drag you wherever they want. If they really want to tell you something, they take you to a translator. Once the children had worn us out entirely, we made the 45 minute drive back to the team house for dinner.
An H2H practice in the evenings is "Night Light". We sit down with Jim and talk about how our days went: things we liked, things we didn't understand, struggles during the day, etc. Then comes Hot Seat. Each person has 2 minutes to talk about themselves, and then everyone else can ask questions, any question they feel like. Suffice it to say, this got very fun by the end of the trip.
5-24/25 LAX to Bucharest
During the trip I bullet pointed the day's events in the "notes" section of my Heart2Heart handbook. Apparently I was so out of everything from all the traveling, I didn't even make note of the two days we spent traveling to get to Romania. There isn't a whole lot to tell anyway.
Sunday morning (the 24th) I got up, said goodbye to Hart Hall, and headed to the music building for rehearsal. Yes, we had rehearsal the day of an international flight. It was definitely needed though. The Fellers were nice enough to pick us up lunch from In N Out after. After lunch we loaded up the buses and made it with plenty of time to the airport.
Check in and security went by without a hitch and we had about half an hour to wait at our gate. Our flight from LA was to London and from there we flew to Bucharest. The flight was, well, long. About 10 hours of sitting in a teeny tiny little space, not ideal, but tolerable. British airways has those nice personal tv screens too. I, unfortunately, slept very little on the flight, not for lack of trying. In between nap attempts I ended up watching the last 4th or so of Bride Wars, and determined I didn't need to see the first 3/4.
By the time I did finally fall asleep, it was only for about an hour before they served us breakfast. Our layover in London is entirely a blur. We had about an hour and a half to get off the plane, go through passport control, go through security, take a tram to a different terminal, and find our gate. By the time we got there, they were already boarding. This flight was quite exciting for me because there were people speaking Romanian on it, and I managed to sleep a bit more.
We finally arrived in the Bucharest airport at about 4 pm Bucharest time (6 am California time) H2H staff met us and drove us back to the team house. It took great effort not to crash in our very comfy looking beds once we got there. They fed us dinner, chicken salad on croissants chips and drinks, and gave us some needed info about the house. From there we played card games, explored, and did everything we could to keep ourselves awake until at least 10 pm.
I managed to sleep pretty well. The only thing was around 4 or 5 am I started thinking it was time to get up, so I'd sleep, and then wake up every 5 minutes. Once I checked the time though I was ok.
Sunday morning (the 24th) I got up, said goodbye to Hart Hall, and headed to the music building for rehearsal. Yes, we had rehearsal the day of an international flight. It was definitely needed though. The Fellers were nice enough to pick us up lunch from In N Out after. After lunch we loaded up the buses and made it with plenty of time to the airport.
Check in and security went by without a hitch and we had about half an hour to wait at our gate. Our flight from LA was to London and from there we flew to Bucharest. The flight was, well, long. About 10 hours of sitting in a teeny tiny little space, not ideal, but tolerable. British airways has those nice personal tv screens too. I, unfortunately, slept very little on the flight, not for lack of trying. In between nap attempts I ended up watching the last 4th or so of Bride Wars, and determined I didn't need to see the first 3/4.
By the time I did finally fall asleep, it was only for about an hour before they served us breakfast. Our layover in London is entirely a blur. We had about an hour and a half to get off the plane, go through passport control, go through security, take a tram to a different terminal, and find our gate. By the time we got there, they were already boarding. This flight was quite exciting for me because there were people speaking Romanian on it, and I managed to sleep a bit more.
We finally arrived in the Bucharest airport at about 4 pm Bucharest time (6 am California time) H2H staff met us and drove us back to the team house. It took great effort not to crash in our very comfy looking beds once we got there. They fed us dinner, chicken salad on croissants chips and drinks, and gave us some needed info about the house. From there we played card games, explored, and did everything we could to keep ourselves awake until at least 10 pm.
I managed to sleep pretty well. The only thing was around 4 or 5 am I started thinking it was time to get up, so I'd sleep, and then wake up every 5 minutes. Once I checked the time though I was ok.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Behind Enemy Lines
Part 2 of the 6.5 page journal entry.
"This has been an emotionally crazy week. I think ti can be best summarized by something Ryan Low said in the senior prayer Sunday night, something Dr. Corey said Tuesday night, and something I said 4 years ago. Chronological order ready go. When Ryan was praying for us, he described us as 'lights planted behind enemy lines'. This really struck me. We are most certainly in a war, but not only that. We are fighting amongst the ranks of the enemy. And not quietly and sneakily. What do lights do? They shine.
Yes we are not to fear. We didn't just happen to wander across the battlefield and end up in enemy territory. God planted us there, and He has his hand of protection on us.
Fast forward to Tuesday night.
Dr. Corey described our path through life through the analogy of crossing state lines and being greeted by 'welcome to ___ ' signs. He said when they had moved out to CA, after they had passed the 'Welcome to California' sign, he looked at his son Anders who had tears running down his face. Anders said 'Dad, turn around, I want to go home.'
That's how Dr. Corey said we all are when faced with something new. One chapter closes, and we see the next "welcome to" sign and panic. We want to go back to the familiar, but that chapter is over. We can never go back. We can only move forward. But we never move alone, God is always with us.
And the third piece: wisdom from myself
The final thing came with the return of a letter I had written to myself as a freshman. The entire 3x5 notecard (in very sloppy handwriting) was covered in questions. 'Am I in band?' 'Do I have friends?' 'Are they lifelong friends?' I realized that how I have felt in the last couple weeks is exactly how I felt at the beginning of my Biola career: torn in so many different directions and anxious about what to expect.
Now to tie all this together
What I have been feeling is the dread of a new life chapter. I see the 'welcome to grad school' sign, and I want to run as fast as I can back to the 'welcome to Biola' sign. But I can't. And besides, I felt the same fear of the 'welcome to Biola' sign when it appeared on my horizon anyway.
God has been with me in my time at Biola, and I have no reason to believe things will be any different at SDSU. Christians aren't supposed to live permanently bubblized.
'Planted behind enemy lines'
It's time to leave the bubble.
I think that's why my trip to Romania comes at such a perfect time. I've benefited immensely being at Biola and grown so much. It's time to share that with the world, it's time to shine."
Romania journaling forthcoming.
"This has been an emotionally crazy week. I think ti can be best summarized by something Ryan Low said in the senior prayer Sunday night, something Dr. Corey said Tuesday night, and something I said 4 years ago. Chronological order ready go. When Ryan was praying for us, he described us as 'lights planted behind enemy lines'. This really struck me. We are most certainly in a war, but not only that. We are fighting amongst the ranks of the enemy. And not quietly and sneakily. What do lights do? They shine.
Yes we are not to fear. We didn't just happen to wander across the battlefield and end up in enemy territory. God planted us there, and He has his hand of protection on us.
Fast forward to Tuesday night.
Dr. Corey described our path through life through the analogy of crossing state lines and being greeted by 'welcome to ___ ' signs. He said when they had moved out to CA, after they had passed the 'Welcome to California' sign, he looked at his son Anders who had tears running down his face. Anders said 'Dad, turn around, I want to go home.'
That's how Dr. Corey said we all are when faced with something new. One chapter closes, and we see the next "welcome to" sign and panic. We want to go back to the familiar, but that chapter is over. We can never go back. We can only move forward. But we never move alone, God is always with us.
And the third piece: wisdom from myself
The final thing came with the return of a letter I had written to myself as a freshman. The entire 3x5 notecard (in very sloppy handwriting) was covered in questions. 'Am I in band?' 'Do I have friends?' 'Are they lifelong friends?' I realized that how I have felt in the last couple weeks is exactly how I felt at the beginning of my Biola career: torn in so many different directions and anxious about what to expect.
Now to tie all this together
What I have been feeling is the dread of a new life chapter. I see the 'welcome to grad school' sign, and I want to run as fast as I can back to the 'welcome to Biola' sign. But I can't. And besides, I felt the same fear of the 'welcome to Biola' sign when it appeared on my horizon anyway.
God has been with me in my time at Biola, and I have no reason to believe things will be any different at SDSU. Christians aren't supposed to live permanently bubblized.
'Planted behind enemy lines'
It's time to leave the bubble.
I think that's why my trip to Romania comes at such a perfect time. I've benefited immensely being at Biola and grown so much. It's time to share that with the world, it's time to shine."
Romania journaling forthcoming.
Monday, June 8, 2009
General Thoughts on Romania
There is much more to come, all of my journaling that I did by hand I was there, but this is from an email I sent to the organization's director this morning.
I'm still not sure where to start when summarizing my trip. Lots of people have asked about it, but I still don't think I've talked for more than 5 minutes at a time about it. My family has gotten descriptions in doses - about playing with the kids, about the culture, the baby hospital. I think they're wanting to let me have some space while I'm still getting adjusted. It hasn't helped that we jumped right into apartment hunting for next year and I haven't had much down time.
It's surprising to me that most of what I feel I learned in Romania is directly related to things God was teaching me before the trip. I expected that all of that would have gone on pause and I would have learned something totally different, and related to the kids, rather than myself. This definitely confirms for me how true it is that missions trips change you more than they change the people you're ministering to. I guess this would explain why it feels so weird to be home now.
I really appreciate all the help you've given us with reflecting on the trip, I'm not sure I would have known how on my own.
I'm still not sure where to start when summarizing my trip. Lots of people have asked about it, but I still don't think I've talked for more than 5 minutes at a time about it. My family has gotten descriptions in doses - about playing with the kids, about the culture, the baby hospital. I think they're wanting to let me have some space while I'm still getting adjusted. It hasn't helped that we jumped right into apartment hunting for next year and I haven't had much down time.It's surprising to me that most of what I feel I learned in Romania is directly related to things God was teaching me before the trip. I expected that all of that would have gone on pause and I would have learned something totally different, and related to the kids, rather than myself. This definitely confirms for me how true it is that missions trips change you more than they change the people you're ministering to. I guess this would explain why it feels so weird to be home now.
I really appreciate all the help you've given us with reflecting on the trip, I'm not sure I would have known how on my own.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Closing Another Chapter
I am 11 days away from graduation...
This sentence brings excitement, sadness, relief, anticipation, fear, happiness, and a whole lot more emotions that I have to yet to pinpoint.
I am most certainly ready for the semester to be over, and I am very excited that my degree is almost complete. But I feel nowhere near ready to leave Biola.
Not that I don't feel prepared for grad school or the world, or real life..ok, so I don't feel prepared for real life yet, but the other two are fine. I just can't believe I'm leaving this community. The friendships I've made here are so much deeper than the majority of the ones I had in high school. A part of me is afraid that I'll fall out of touch with people like I did with almost everyone from high school. I have a feeling that won't be as much of a problem though. I have kept in pretty good touch with my Biola friends during the summers.
In any case, ready or not, here graduation comes. One week from today I will be done with my academic work. I had my last clinic session yesterday, definitely bittersweet.
For my personal enjoyment, here's what I have left for the semester.
Clinic
putting together my client's file
final eval with Tonya
Theo of Suffering and Disability
NOTHING!!! (finished yesterday morning =D)
Neurogenic Comm Disorders
Dysarthria case study (due by email tomorrow)
Spanish Lit
El Camino paper (due Thurs)
final (Tues at 1)
Capstone
NOTHING!!!! (I did my presentation and turned in my paper on the 1st)
attend class Friday
attend to finish research study for Matt next Friday
Symphonic Winds
student conductors Friday
graduation music Monday
BANQUET!!!! (next Wednesday)
graduate graduation next Friday
Romania rehearsal Sunday morning
ROMANIA!!!!! (May 24th - June 4th)
I also have a ton of fun senior/end of the year type activities interspursed with all that too
I can do this!
This sentence brings excitement, sadness, relief, anticipation, fear, happiness, and a whole lot more emotions that I have to yet to pinpoint.
I am most certainly ready for the semester to be over, and I am very excited that my degree is almost complete. But I feel nowhere near ready to leave Biola.
Not that I don't feel prepared for grad school or the world, or real life..ok, so I don't feel prepared for real life yet, but the other two are fine. I just can't believe I'm leaving this community. The friendships I've made here are so much deeper than the majority of the ones I had in high school. A part of me is afraid that I'll fall out of touch with people like I did with almost everyone from high school. I have a feeling that won't be as much of a problem though. I have kept in pretty good touch with my Biola friends during the summers.
In any case, ready or not, here graduation comes. One week from today I will be done with my academic work. I had my last clinic session yesterday, definitely bittersweet.
For my personal enjoyment, here's what I have left for the semester.
Clinic
putting together my client's file
final eval with Tonya
Theo of Suffering and Disability
NOTHING!!! (finished yesterday morning =D)
Neurogenic Comm Disorders
Dysarthria case study (due by email tomorrow)
Spanish Lit
El Camino paper (due Thurs)
final (Tues at 1)
Capstone
NOTHING!!!! (I did my presentation and turned in my paper on the 1st)
attend class Friday
attend to finish research study for Matt next Friday
Symphonic Winds
student conductors Friday
graduation music Monday
BANQUET!!!! (next Wednesday)
graduate graduation next Friday
Romania rehearsal Sunday morning
ROMANIA!!!!! (May 24th - June 4th)
I also have a ton of fun senior/end of the year type activities interspursed with all that too
I can do this!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
After the Storm
One week ago I was completely and entirely miserable. Thank goodness that is not the case tonight. I've been fighting with myself all week. Trying to deal with things, but not having the time to sit in the pain of all of it. It didn't help matters that in closing off the wound before it healed, I started pushing Tad away. I don't know where I would have been this week without him being so supportive. He really is amazing, supporting, accepting, and loving, even when I'm a complete emotional wreck.
I was able to start sorting things out in group last night. It was pointed out to me several times that I have been holding all the pain inside, pretending it isn't there. Later, while on the phone with Tad, I suddenly came to realize something he already knew, but I hadn't seen. I've been really, REALLY angry with my mom about this. not just in the last week, since at least Thanksgiving. That's why every time it's come up,I've exploded. Tad recommended I talk to my mom about it. So, with quite a lot of effort on my part, I brought it up again today.
We had a really good conversation. Nobody freaked out or yelled or got upset. She listened to what I had to say, and said she'd be willing to reconsider things. The downside is it looks for sure like Tad and I will be long distance for one more year, but I'm willing to wait.
In other news, I played my last Symphonic Winds concert on Saturday (not counting graduate graduation, Pomp & Circumstance doesn't count). It was a great concert, possibly my favorite of the 4 years. Becky did my hair really cute, curled with a bow like Shirley Temple. My parents brought me Berry Cool beforehand, and gave me flowers after. It's a beautiful bouquet, all different colors of gerber daisies, mums, and bright orange lilies.
Sunday was the disability event for theo of suffering and disability. We went to Redlands (which is rather far) to a Sunday School class designed for individuals with intellectual disabilities. It was a lot of fun. I can't get enough of working with people with disabilities, which makes it a good thing I'm majoring in a related field :o). Soon after getting back on campus from that I went with a bunch of people from the Romania team to a Romanian church service. The service was for the most part in Romanian, but some of the youth translated for us, pretty cool. I'm so stoked for the trip.
I think that's about it, other than some pretty fun times in the caf Tues for cinco de mayo, they had a lie mariachi band =D. Thanks everybody for the prayers, I really appreciate it :)
I was able to start sorting things out in group last night. It was pointed out to me several times that I have been holding all the pain inside, pretending it isn't there. Later, while on the phone with Tad, I suddenly came to realize something he already knew, but I hadn't seen. I've been really, REALLY angry with my mom about this. not just in the last week, since at least Thanksgiving. That's why every time it's come up,I've exploded. Tad recommended I talk to my mom about it. So, with quite a lot of effort on my part, I brought it up again today.
We had a really good conversation. Nobody freaked out or yelled or got upset. She listened to what I had to say, and said she'd be willing to reconsider things. The downside is it looks for sure like Tad and I will be long distance for one more year, but I'm willing to wait.
In other news, I played my last Symphonic Winds concert on Saturday (not counting graduate graduation, Pomp & Circumstance doesn't count). It was a great concert, possibly my favorite of the 4 years. Becky did my hair really cute, curled with a bow like Shirley Temple. My parents brought me Berry Cool beforehand, and gave me flowers after. It's a beautiful bouquet, all different colors of gerber daisies, mums, and bright orange lilies.
Sunday was the disability event for theo of suffering and disability. We went to Redlands (which is rather far) to a Sunday School class designed for individuals with intellectual disabilities. It was a lot of fun. I can't get enough of working with people with disabilities, which makes it a good thing I'm majoring in a related field :o). Soon after getting back on campus from that I went with a bunch of people from the Romania team to a Romanian church service. The service was for the most part in Romanian, but some of the youth translated for us, pretty cool. I'm so stoked for the trip.
I think that's about it, other than some pretty fun times in the caf Tues for cinco de mayo, they had a lie mariachi band =D. Thanks everybody for the prayers, I really appreciate it :)
Thursday, April 9, 2009
March Midterms Bring April Colds
(lol, I started typing this Tues and never got around to finishing)
Every year, without fail, I get sick in April. Last year no surprise at all considering it was after tour. Putting 65 sleep deprived people together on one bus, for a week is asking for the plague to return. It's like I get almost through the school year, and then my body goes on strike.
This year's cold (which has been fairly mild, thankfully) is somewhat ironic as I started coming down with it a day or two after Tad came down with a cold. Normally you wouldn't be surprised if a couple got sick about the same time, unless they were 900 miles apart. Tad caught something from Jeana on Friday and I started getting a sore throat Saturday evening. Tad lost his voice Sunday, I almost lost mine Tuesday. Both of us have had fluctuating body temperatures. Somehow, from two states away, he got me sick.
The weekend was fun. On Friday our Heart 2 Heart contacts came and talked to us about all the schedule and practical things about the trip. I'm so excited. Here are a few points of interest:
-Good flight times: leaving at 3:30 pm Sunday, getting in to Bucharest around 4 pm Monday with a short layover in London, and then leaving 1 pm Thurs arriving in LA 7:30 pm Thurs with another short layover in London
-H2H owns an 8 bedroom 8 bathroom house where we'll be staying. They have internet, a computer, and a big backyard with a pool
-Woodwinds will be working with kids at a special needs orphanage north of Bucharest while the brass work with kids at an orphanage south of Bucharest
-Once we come back together we'll put on a carnival at each orphanage for Children's Day (June 1 in Romania)
-We'll get plenty of opportunities to hold babies in the baby hospitals
-There will be some sighting seeing/shopping time in Bucharest
-They encourage lots of picture taking, and will compile a cd out of everybody's pictures
Saturday my dad came up and we went out to dinner at BJ's and then to the Craig/Hitchens debate. I really enjoyed it. In my opinion Craig won, hands down. Hitchens had some good points, but he didn't really have any arguments as to why God doesn't exist. It was all just "Christians aren't any more moral than anybody else."
The week has gone by pretty quickly, since I've been so busy. I am very proud to say that yesterday I finished my capstone rough draft. YAY! haha It's 38 pages, which means I'll have a little more left to do on it, but I'm happy for now.
Now it's off to my last class before Easter break. I go home tomorrow morning, which gives me plenty of time tonight to do laundry, pack, and watch a movie. I certainly wouldn't mind finding a ride to a Maundy Thursday service either.
Every year, without fail, I get sick in April. Last year no surprise at all considering it was after tour. Putting 65 sleep deprived people together on one bus, for a week is asking for the plague to return. It's like I get almost through the school year, and then my body goes on strike.
This year's cold (which has been fairly mild, thankfully) is somewhat ironic as I started coming down with it a day or two after Tad came down with a cold. Normally you wouldn't be surprised if a couple got sick about the same time, unless they were 900 miles apart. Tad caught something from Jeana on Friday and I started getting a sore throat Saturday evening. Tad lost his voice Sunday, I almost lost mine Tuesday. Both of us have had fluctuating body temperatures. Somehow, from two states away, he got me sick.
The weekend was fun. On Friday our Heart 2 Heart contacts came and talked to us about all the schedule and practical things about the trip. I'm so excited. Here are a few points of interest:
-Good flight times: leaving at 3:30 pm Sunday, getting in to Bucharest around 4 pm Monday with a short layover in London, and then leaving 1 pm Thurs arriving in LA 7:30 pm Thurs with another short layover in London
-H2H owns an 8 bedroom 8 bathroom house where we'll be staying. They have internet, a computer, and a big backyard with a pool
-Woodwinds will be working with kids at a special needs orphanage north of Bucharest while the brass work with kids at an orphanage south of Bucharest
-Once we come back together we'll put on a carnival at each orphanage for Children's Day (June 1 in Romania)
-We'll get plenty of opportunities to hold babies in the baby hospitals
-There will be some sighting seeing/shopping time in Bucharest
-They encourage lots of picture taking, and will compile a cd out of everybody's pictures
Saturday my dad came up and we went out to dinner at BJ's and then to the Craig/Hitchens debate. I really enjoyed it. In my opinion Craig won, hands down. Hitchens had some good points, but he didn't really have any arguments as to why God doesn't exist. It was all just "Christians aren't any more moral than anybody else."
The week has gone by pretty quickly, since I've been so busy. I am very proud to say that yesterday I finished my capstone rough draft. YAY! haha It's 38 pages, which means I'll have a little more left to do on it, but I'm happy for now.
Now it's off to my last class before Easter break. I go home tomorrow morning, which gives me plenty of time tonight to do laundry, pack, and watch a movie. I certainly wouldn't mind finding a ride to a Maundy Thursday service either.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Growing Closer to God and Others
Saturday morning (bright and early at 8 am) was the first "team bonding" event for Romania. We met in the choir room and played some random silly games (one of which involved 3 of us and 2 guy discussing things in the girls' bathroom and Stephen Moulton pretending to be a toilet) and then broke up into small groups to practice sharing our testimonies. I hadn't done that since Agape Club in high school. Thus that was a very good thing to do. An amusing part, I didn't include anything about my vision in my testimony. It just wasn't something I thought of to include. Erin commented on that a little later and I went "oh....yeah, haha" I really do sometimes forget I'm blind.
After testimonies we went over to Metzger lawn to play a few more crazy games. Once everyone was out of breath, we sat in a circle and did the "take however much toilet paper you want" and then "now share that many things about yourself as you have squares" thing. Pretty entertaining and really interesting. Afterwards we shared brunch in the caf together.
Besides imense stress levels, nothing else much is new this week. I told my mom last week that I'm doing group therapy. That experience went well. I'm becoming more comfortable with things. In some ways I question if I really need the group, but it certainly can't hurt.
And with that, today is Ash Wednesday. Another Lenten season here. Typically for Lent I don't give up anything, but rather make an effort to do something extra for someone each day. This year however, I felt called to give up my main addiction: facebook. I was on until 11:40 last night, and I think it might be a long 40 days. But I look forward to spending all that extra time with God. And I'll end on that, God bless
After testimonies we went over to Metzger lawn to play a few more crazy games. Once everyone was out of breath, we sat in a circle and did the "take however much toilet paper you want" and then "now share that many things about yourself as you have squares" thing. Pretty entertaining and really interesting. Afterwards we shared brunch in the caf together.
Besides imense stress levels, nothing else much is new this week. I told my mom last week that I'm doing group therapy. That experience went well. I'm becoming more comfortable with things. In some ways I question if I really need the group, but it certainly can't hurt.
And with that, today is Ash Wednesday. Another Lenten season here. Typically for Lent I don't give up anything, but rather make an effort to do something extra for someone each day. This year however, I felt called to give up my main addiction: facebook. I was on until 11:40 last night, and I think it might be a long 40 days. But I look forward to spending all that extra time with God. And I'll end on that, God bless
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Not Such a Small World After All
My excitement for Missions Conference this year was reinstate Sunday at church. Keith Philips from World Impact spoke, and his message had a surprising effect on me. World Impact is an organization that ministers to urban communities. It was started in LA and includes a number of programs ranging from Bible clubs for kids and a Christian school for children from single and zero parent homes to a seminary for individuals from the urban communities to learn to be pastors in their community.
I think inner city ministry is wonderful and necessary, as much as missions anywhere else in the world, but I have never felt a calling to it. Thus I was surprised with how excited I became when Dr. Philips began talking about the schools they had started: schools that are probably very much in need of a speech therapist. And then God began bringing to my mind the vast number of places in the world that are in dire need of speech therapists.
This is still something being mulled over in the back of my mind, but I am now very excited to see where God leads me from here. I'm curious to see how Romania will come into play in my life. I am becoming very aware that I may find myself there again after the two weeks this summer. No rushing things though, God will show me when and where he wants me to go.
In other news, I had a wonderful weekend. I was very diligent about homework and was thus able to enjoy the times spent not doing homework. I went bowling on Saturday with Best Buddies and finished with a 117. This, if you know my bowling skills, is incredible, my average is generally around 57. Granted, it was with bumpers, but that's a small detail :)
After bowling I went out to dinner with my family and Christine's parents and several other friends of their's and afterward went to see Marriage of Figaro. It was quite enjoyable. I do think though, that Carmen is my favorite of the operas I have seen at Biola.
Classes are still going well, and I am still enjoying all of them. I had my first session today with my new client, and I adore him. I think this will be a really fun semester for me. I hope he enjoys it too. I am nearer to narrowing down exactly what my Capstone topic is. Right now it is practical measures for parents, teachers, and SLPs to encourage and promote emergent literacy skills in children. I want to run it by Matt to see what he thinks, but that's most likely going to be it. That being said, that's it for now :)
I think inner city ministry is wonderful and necessary, as much as missions anywhere else in the world, but I have never felt a calling to it. Thus I was surprised with how excited I became when Dr. Philips began talking about the schools they had started: schools that are probably very much in need of a speech therapist. And then God began bringing to my mind the vast number of places in the world that are in dire need of speech therapists.
This is still something being mulled over in the back of my mind, but I am now very excited to see where God leads me from here. I'm curious to see how Romania will come into play in my life. I am becoming very aware that I may find myself there again after the two weeks this summer. No rushing things though, God will show me when and where he wants me to go.
In other news, I had a wonderful weekend. I was very diligent about homework and was thus able to enjoy the times spent not doing homework. I went bowling on Saturday with Best Buddies and finished with a 117. This, if you know my bowling skills, is incredible, my average is generally around 57. Granted, it was with bumpers, but that's a small detail :)
After bowling I went out to dinner with my family and Christine's parents and several other friends of their's and afterward went to see Marriage of Figaro. It was quite enjoyable. I do think though, that Carmen is my favorite of the operas I have seen at Biola.
Classes are still going well, and I am still enjoying all of them. I had my first session today with my new client, and I adore him. I think this will be a really fun semester for me. I hope he enjoys it too. I am nearer to narrowing down exactly what my Capstone topic is. Right now it is practical measures for parents, teachers, and SLPs to encourage and promote emergent literacy skills in children. I want to run it by Matt to see what he thinks, but that's most likely going to be it. That being said, that's it for now :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
