Airplanes and Dogs

Right now, I'm sitting in a possibly questionable hotel/room with no A/C so our window is open and all you hear are dogs barking every so often and planes taking off. We are pretty close to the airport in Timisoara because we flight out around 8:00 am tomorrow morning.

We started today off in Rogova around 11:00 where I made bracelets with the kids and everyone else pretty much did the dental clinics. Jerry had started off the day by saying that we were leaving by 2:00 but then I overheard him tell Cathy 4:00 pm at the latest. Anyone want to take a guess of when we actually left? It was more like 5:00ish (this was pretty typical with us)! We then drove the 3 hours north to Timisoara (I slept for most of it except when Bruce was singing this morning and I was howling along with him; yes, there's video proof of it!) and hit up the Julius Mall for dinner around 9:00 pm. Right now, we're just getting everything packed up for an early morning departure. As always, this trip has been great. I absolutely love coming back to Romania each and every time and it's getting nice to be able to say goodbye to everyone and just say "see you soon" or "see you again next year" since I keep coming back. I'm determined once again to learn more Romanian because I think it would be awesome to be somewhat fluent the next time I come back. Even though I hate to leave, I am ready to be back in the states. This trip had a lot more travelling back and forth in it than they usually do so on top of missing people and things in the states, the constant moving around has worn me down a little more than usual. So, excited to be returning tomorrow! We have a 4 hour layover in Munich tomorrow morning and then a quick turnaround in Chicago in the early afternoon; by 8:00 pm, I should be back at home!

Here are a few pics to tide you over during my travelling:

Should you really expect anything less with me? I was bored during a drive with Bruce and starting sticking gummy bears on the windshield.

The next few are at the Bran Castle (Dracula).

Again, typical Julie. So perfect.

This hollow bread is the best part of going to the castle!

Getting Close to the End

It's been two days or so since I've posted and that's mostly because 1) we've just been driving a lot and 2) I honestly cannot really remember what and where we've been since we've been at different hotels almost every night. Yesterday, we spent all day driving pretty much. We left Oradea and drove 3 hours or so to Timisoara in order to drop one of the vans off. Then, we went 6+ hours east to Bran. We left around 10:30 am and didn't get in until about 9:30 pm. On top of that, we had dinner at like 10:00 and Bruce and Jerry met up with some guys to discuss some future Manna opportunities and we were up pretty late. This morning, we got an early start; while Bruce and Jerry went off to visit a possible future cite, Ben, Grace and I took the van to the Bran/Dracula Castle. We spent a few hours there and around the area and then hung around for a bit for Bruce and Jerry to finish their meeting. We didn't head out until about 2:00 pm or so and we spent 6 hours driving to Severin. We got in around 8:00 pm, had dinner with Rica and Cathy, and then a few of the kids from the group home came over to get a couple of teeth pulled (and play with some of the stuff I gave them; love those kids!). I have a few pictures but I didn't bring my camera down here to the lobby (wifi doesn't reach the 6th floor at this hotel) so I can't post any of those yet. Tomorrow, we'll be in Rogova again for a few hours doing some dental work and then we'll be on the road again back to Timisoara. I'm not sure if I'll post again until I get back in the states; it just kind of depends on how busy or exhausted we are tomorrow night.

Random Pics

Here is a random post with some random pics so far (these are from Angie's pictures; she was part of the first group and I got her pictures since she had some of me before she left). It's kinda like Where's Waldo in some of these...!

 I might have been twirling around and singing songs from the Sound of Music here...

And this might be the Do-Re-Me song from the Sound of Music...

We started taking random pictures with Jerry's butt.

Lunch on the island cruise in Greece.

This is after we followed like a million random Asian tourists up a bunch of stairs.

Pretending to fall off and failing.

There's only room for one Julie on this trip!

Enjoying dinner in Severin at Rica and Cathy's house.

We should just call me "La Pisica" since pisica means cat in Romanian (and I was drawing cat faces on everyone).

Playing in the shower 'cause seriously, why not?

Chillin' with a native Hungarian penguin in Budapest.

Nothing = Everything

Today we had a typical Manna church marathon. We visited three churches back to back to back. We started with a service this morning back in Hungary (it was about 20 minutes to the border and then 20 more minutes to the church). It got progressively colder as the service went on (we were outside) and started to rain as they were halfway through the baptisms they were doing today.

After that service, we went to one of the missionaries homes (Walter and his family) and had lunch with some of the pastors and friends. Once we were done with lunch, and actually made it out on time, we were back across the border and heading to Tinca for the second service.

When that service was done, we drove a bit further (on some horribly bumpy and curvy roads) to the best part of the day, the final service in Tinca. I was excited to go back to Tinca mostly because of the girls there from the group home. I think I posted about this elsewhere but the four girls there (plus the house parents' daughter and two sons) are pretty awesome. Those four girls came from really crappy home situations, like one who was being trained up as a prostitute like her mother (by her mother). I got to hang out with them the other day at their house and on Friday morning, we actually took them shopping before driving out to Budapest. Angie and I bought these girls a lot of clothes because many of them came to the home with pretty much just the clothes on their backs. They were extremely appreciative and grateful and we had a lot of fun. While we shopped for clothes, the guys went and got them a washing machine too I believe (can't remember if it was a washer or dryer). Just hanging out with them at their house a few days ago created an almost instant bond with them and they were dragging me all around with them this afternoon (which I loved!).

These are the kinds of relationships that I absolutely love building. I connected with this girls. We can barely communicate with each other. I might only see them once a year. But still each time in the future when I see them, they will remember me. They will know me. Just think about what kind of long-term opportunities this can lead to. These girls are going to college. Mark my words :) During the service, the girls (and the community) presented us all with gifts and that was pretty incredible. I will now have a Romanian wishing well type thing (I'll have to take a pic once I unwrap it back in the states) in my office to always remember Tinca by (in addition to the numerous new pics I'll be printing and hanging up in there). As we were getting the gifts, I couldn't help but think about how these people have very little and yet they were giving us (the Americans with money) gifts. To them, it's like nothing = everything because instead of material possessions, they have faith, family, community, etc. So even though they gave us gifts that they probably purchased somewhere with money that could've feed a few more mouths, they prob. didn't think twice about it because of their faith and connectedness. It's amazing to think about how stingy we can be sometimes when we have money compared to those who give (and give freely) when they have barely anything. 

Tomorrow, we drive. And then we drive and drive and drive and drive! We are driving the 3 hours south to Timisoara to drop the second van off in the afternoon (half the group went back to the states on Saturday and the new group we were supposed to pick up bailed at the last minute, so there's just 5 of us now) and then we drive 6 hours east to Bran for an overnight. I think we're leaving no later than 9:00 am so while we will get there kinda earlier in the evening, it's still a lot of driving. There might not be a post tomorrow night because a side from sleeping and maybe sticking gummy bears to the windshield (like I did on the drive back from Budapest), I doubt there will be much going on worth writing about. So, goodnight for now and the next time I check in, I'll either be in Bran or in Severin!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Sorry everyone for a lack of a post the past few days. There has been a lot of work and driving and by the time the end of the day comes, we're all exhausted. On Friday, we spent the day in Tasad at the second gypsy community we visited and on Friday afternoon, we drove 4 hours into Budapest, Hungary for an overnight. After some sightseeing on Saturday, we drove back into Oradea last night and today we're heading back to Tinca or Tasad (not sure which or if it's both; our schedule keeps changing). I'll try to do more of a detailed post later but again, I'm pretty exhausted most nights and struggle to not crash right when we get back to the hotel.

Tonight we're staying in Oradea again and then I think tomorrow we head to Bran/Brasov to check out a possible camp site and see Dracula's castle (third time to go). Then, I think we spend one night in Severin (maybe) and one in Timisoara although I actually have no clue. All I do know is that we fly out on Thursday morning. Off to breakfast now!

This Is Why I Do What I Do

Today, I had a great reminder of why I do what I do. We spent the day in Tinca where we visited two Manna feeding centers and the girls' home that serve the gypsy communities here. We finally got to hang around while the kids ate in one of the centers and everyone really enjoyed seeing that. There was also a lot going on with the dental clinics today, and Grace and the dental team had a ton of difficult extractions and issues like that to deal with. I cannot remember the exact order we saw/did everything in but I ended up back at the girls' home for about an hour and a half after lunch so that I could drop off some stuff with the girls and have a good time with them (e.g., friendship bracelet strings, nail polish). When I got back to the dental clinic later that afternoon, I was in and out of it either playing with some of the kids or actually helping with the clinic (e.g., bagging up antibiotics, holding hands, flipping a switch for the water drill). There was supposed to be a church service around 6:00 but it had been cold and raining all day so it was canceled. We ended up working until 7:30/8:00 and had a quick dinner and discussion about tomorrow before coming back to the hotel. Now, most of the group is at McDonalds doing a late night pie run (they've been gone over an hour and it's already 11:15 pm!) and I've been busy uploading pics and catching up on this blog.

It was kind of difficult to write this post because I think the pictures speak louder than words about the conditions here that we were dealing with (there are some below). There is a ton of poverty and very little care (if any; like dental care) in this specific area. Manna provides the physical and spiritual support; volunteers like us help provide the social and emotional support. It's really cool to come on a trip like this and know that you're a part of this. Whether you donate time or money or another type of support, you matter in some sort of way. I know that making friendship bracelets with kids isn't going to change the world. But if I can serve as an example or a role model to even just one child, that's enough for me. By continually returning to the same country (and to a country that I happen to love because of the wonderful people here), I'm showing these children that they matter to me, that someone cares enough to visit them multiple times. Who knows... that might not do anything for them. However, I would like to hope that somewhere down the line, it will make a difference regardless of how big or small it is. I am just one little part of a very large equation. I don't really matter that much in the large scheme of things. But when you put me together will all the other little tiny pieces, it does matter. It only takes one drop to completely change the nature of water or the lake or whatever saying that I just made up there.

P.S. I have a ton more awesome pics that I posted on Facebook and will eventually get up somewhere else for everyone to see.

P.P.S. Tomorrow morning, we're going shopping with the girls from the group home (they pretty much only have the clothes they came in wearing) and getting them a washing machine for the house before heading off to do another clinic in around 10:30. Then, the plan is to leave around 2:00 pm and do the 4 hour drive into Budapest (Hungary) so there is a little time for half our group to see the city in daylight. Five group members fly out of there on Saturday and in turn, we pick up a few new group members who will be coming back into Romania with us and basically do the reverse trip of what we've done.