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.

Rogova, My Love

Before I talk about the reminder of why I'm here, let me do a quick recap of yesterday since I didn't post last night. Basically, we drove a lot. The end. :) Actually, before all the driving, we spent the morning in Rogova, which I've said before and will say again... it's one of my most favorite places to be. Since I brought some printed out pics of the kids on my last visit here, they all wanted pics taken this time (prob. for the next time I come back)! We had fun like we always do (the guys played soccer and football with the boys, I did nails, stickers, beads, etc. with everyone else).

 

It's getting harder to go back to Rogova because it's 10x harder leaving them again and again. But I guess we all know that I'll be back eventually so that helps some I guess.

We left Rogova between 3:30 and 4:00 and started the long journey north to Oradea. Some 6-7 hours later (after a few potty breaks and a McDonalds stop), we finally made it close to 11:00 pm (now can you see why I didn't post this last night?!). We checked in to our hotel and pretty much crashed. Now, onto the next post where I talk about life and purpose and everything else that matters so much more in the world....

Severin; My Second Home!

Gotta do a quick check-in post here.... it smells like smoke all in the lobby (which is driving me crazy) and we're about to do breakfast.

Yesterday was a big travel day. We were up before the crack of dawn and on the metro heading to the Athens airport very early. We made it in time (and then some) and spent the next many hours on two very small planes to get to Timisoara. I had a few altercations with the airlines regarding my carry-ons (we had to gate check them and it doesn't work the same here; long story short, my bag was ok) and we had to pay again for our extra luggage (only like $35 a bag fortunately). We went through customs in Bucharest where I again might have had some unfortunate experiences with airport staff (a woman was just like "can you please stop chewing your gum?" after interrogating me at the counter) and the security checkpoint at Bucharest was also ridiculous (they pretty much took EVERYTHING out of my backpack). Not a big deal but kinda strange since that's the first time that's all happened here. We got into Timisoara around 3:00 and then drove a few hours south to Severin, where we arrived around 6:30 for dinner at Rica and Cathy's house. After that, Jerry and Bruce went off to meet with a mayor of some town around here and we went to the orphanage to see all the kids I stayed with last summer. It was freakin' awesome to see them again and see how they had grown up!!! We hung out there for a bit and then when the rest of the group went to the hotel, I stayed at the house for a few hours to just hang out with Sammy and Becky. When Jerry and Bruce got back (around 10:30), they brought me to the hotel and after checking some emails, I pretty much crashed.

Today, we're about to get breakfast and then head to Rogova (yes!!!! love it there!) for quick dental clinics and then we're driving 7 (yep, SEVEN) hours back north to Oraeda to work with the gypsy populations tomorrow. I wish I could post more but I'm out of time at the moment. Since this is primarily a survey trip, that means we hit a lot of places in a very short amount of time. I'm not sure how well my posting will be past this since we'll be all of the place and prob. exhausted but I will try to get a post and/or pics up every day.

Bye Bye Jet Lag!

I set my alarm this morning for 6:00 am and woke up on my own at 5:50 and could actually keep my eyes open. What did that mean?! Not more jet lag! I felt noticeable better and was thrilled to get back to my usual morning person self. We ate breakfast around 6:30 and then hopped on a bus around 7:00 to go pick up passengers and to get on a boat.

A million hours later, we ended up at the first island but seriously, it took like 2-3 hours. We don't know the exact time because we didn't realize it would take that long so no one really paid attention to the time. We got territorial over some lounge chairs and spent a good chunk of time chasing off other people and/or sleeping in the sun. 

Some of our group got suckered into Greek dancing with a band that started playing but that was about it until we reached the first island, Hydra.

 After a bit of shopping (we only spent like 45 minutes there, we were off again to the second island which was Poros.

More shopping commenced, more getting back on the boat commenced, and then we hit up the third and final island, Aegina (looks about the same, right?!). 

After wandering around this island for a bit (and yes, shopping/eating some more; at least I got a scarf out of it all), we got back on the boat and spent another few hours trying to get back to Athens. While the cruise was fun and pretty, it was kinda long and we spent a lot of time on the boat and in the sun. I'm still rocking back and forth now even though I've been on stable land for hours! 

We finished the night with some dinner and a final visit to the bakery we've been going to (had to cap off the trip with some baklava) and then came back to the hotel around 10:30. I've just been working on updated pics and posts and now I absolutely have to go to bed! I know I could've been a little bit more detailed in this post but it's already 12:15 am and we have to be out the door at 5:30 am to jump on the metro and head to the airport. We get into Romania some time in the afternoon and make it to Severin in the evening after a few hours of driving. So, tomorrow when I post my next post, it will be from my second home that I absolutely cannot wait to see again!

It's Not All Just About Sightseeing....

.... even though it looks like it! Before I get to the sightseeing we did today, I'm going to go out of order and talk about what we did in the afternoon first and explain why there are no pictures to document that with. The primary purpose of coming to Greece was to explore the programs here and work with mostly Persian refugees (i.e., from Iran, Turkey, and other countries like that). Oftentimes, if they are Christian (or even anything other than Muslim) in their home country, they are persecuted. Many escape in the middle of the night to Greece due to ease of entry/little border control. A handful of them get robbed along the way or sink in shoddy boats. Those that do make it tend to struggle with life here, especially if again, they are not Muslim. We have been working with a few churches in the area and have seen many services tailored to both the Greek and Iranian populations here. I wish I could show you pictures and give you names of the organizations but I have none. The individuals that come over here are continually pursued by those from their home country and by those who are antisemitic or simply just full of hatred. Individuals have been beaten; friends have been harmed. Therefore, while it doesn't seem like we've done much here in Greece, we have; it just isn't documented the same as my past trips.

Now that you have a clear picture of why it looks like we're only sightseeing, let me go into all of our sightseeing (lol)! Today we spent the morning at the Acropolis which is where the Parthenon is located. We got there early (like 10 minutes after they opened) after a quick metro ride. It ended up being a good thing that we got there that early because when we were done later, there was a line wrapped around lots of corners and it was super hot and sunny outside. Here are a few pics from way up there (the rest of the pics are on Facebook):

We saw all of the different ruins and what not being reconstructed up there and then walked down to Mars' Hill, which is behind me in this pic (and yes, I know that I have a farmer's tan in the pic above).

Once we left the Acropolis, we traveled a bit (via metro and bus) to one of the church locations where we had a service where there were over ten nationalities represented. We hung around there for a bit talking to people, finding out where they were from, and getting their back stories. Then, we came back over to another church and spent a few hours sharing stories and witnessing some Iranian men get baptized. When that was done, we decided to head back out to the Acropolis area (it was late but everything is open late here, even on Sunday nights) and we have dinner at a fantastic restaurant. We ate a mixture of things like falafel, gyros, grilled feta, etc. Afterwards, we went shopping for an hour in the surrounding area and everyone picked up some things here and there. We were supposed to meet back at the metro station at 10:00 but of course most of us were late since we're not so good with time management here! We ended up back at the hotel around 10:30/10:45 and most of us skyped and called family or went to bed. Thus concluded the Acropolis day (don't know where to end this post since I'm about to do another one; even though the date says Sunday, I'm really typing this Monday since internet at the hotel has been super sketch).

Not Until Next Thursday

Today we spent most of the day sightseeing. Grace (the dentist) and Ben stayed to do dental clinics and the rest of us left around 11:00 to head off to Corinth. We spent a few hours wandering around  and looking at temple ruins.

This last shot is the balcony view from where we ate lunch and we got a nice deal on a family style lunch with lots of goodies (like 10 euros a person). Something we've noticed here is that even though the economy sucks here, people still don't try to eek every penny out of you. Already on two meals, we've gotten food on the house or at a discounted rate because the waitstaff has just been extremely friendly. That's been kinda cool to see.

After lunch, we drove up some hills to the Acrocorinth castle/fortress. We hiked a good way up and  got a great view of the sea, Old Corinth and New Corinth.

Once we hiked back down (which believe me, was a blast to do in flip flops on slippery rocks), we drove to a little beach area to check out a church that was flooded at one point but still kind of there under the water.

There was one other stop before heading back into the city (to a canal) but I didn't get out to see it because I had a contact bothering me and ended up having to keep it in a water battle lid while only being able to see with one eye (it was complicated). We got back into the city around 5:45/6:00 and we were supposed to go to a bible study/church service thing but we were late and it was packed so we pretty much bailed. We ended up going to eat dinner a little later and if you're wondering about the name of this post, here's when this happened. We were waiting by the bakery for everyone real quick when a guy backed into a motorcycle like 10 feet away from us. Bruce yelled for the guy to stop and grabbed the bike in time and it was no biggie. The guy in the car drove off quickly but then came back about a minute later and spoke a lot of quick Greek to Bruce right then. Since Bruce doesn't speak Greek, he just looked at the guy, smiled and said "not until next Thursday!" This is typical Bruce; saying random things when people won't understand him! We all spent a good 10 minutes laughing at that one afterwards. After a complicated dinner (there was a bunch of "what comes with this" and "......." back and forth with a waiter who spoke very little English, we walked back towards the hotel to get some dessert at the bakery.

Since then, we've all been skyping and calling people in the lobby (where there is wireless). Tomorrow, we have an early start and a full morning. We're leaving the hotel around 7:30 am and heading out to the Acropolis first. Then, we're going to a Greek church service and then coming back here for some more study stuff after lunch. In the late afternoon/evening, we should have some down time to just relax before we hit up a three island cruise on Monday. So, that's all for now I guess. I uploaded my pics to Facebook and I'm trying to see if/how it will work to link it here so stay tuned for more info. on how to see my pics.

Aaaaand I'm Jet-lagged....

I slept probably a good, solid 9 hours of sleep and I am still exhausted :(  This is not a good sign. Last summer, when I came back from Romania, I had massive jet lag for like a week and just didn't want to get out of bed like ever. Hopefully, it won't be that bad this time. I'm about to go jump in the shower and maybe that will help. Still not 100% sure what's happening today; I think we're meeting in the lobby in like an hour and a half and then we're going from there to sight-see  Will check in later tonight...!

P.S. The bed here is like sleeping on a wood board. Literally.

I'm Not Even Sure What Day It Is

Ok.... so, I'm tired. Like dead dog tired. But, I'm going to try to trek through and make a post since there is so much from this long travel day. I wrote everything down earlier but of course, I left it upstairs and I'm too lazy to deal with the wonky elevators to go up there a third time so hopefully I can just remember everything.

I got up and to the airport with plenty of time this morning and was able to move some stuff from one bag to another to where both of my bags came out right around 50 lbs. (the limit). Then, I'm pretty sure that I didn't get charged the $100 fee for my second bag which was pretty sweet. After a lot of gate crowding (the flight was full and they were having to check carry-ons for those of us in group 5, which Bruce and I avoided by sneaking on a group early), we were headed to Newark. Our flight left about 30 minutes late but we made up the time which was good for some of the others in the group who were on a different outgoing flight from Newark and had a very short layover there. My flight from Newark to Geneva was like half full so everyone basically go their own row to themselves. I had two seats since the guy next to me moved after takeoff and I was splayed out across them both the entire time. Not much else happened on that flight other than me reading two books and watching like three movies (I tried to sleep but couldn't). Then, when I hit Geneva, the fun began.

I discovered today that the Geneva airport is a place I hope I never return to. For some reason, I guess when I think about Switzerland, I think new and shiny and pretty. Nope, not the airport. There were few signs, no guidance, and barely any people around to help. On top of that, there were like three outlets for an entire terminal. That made charging my electronic devices fun. And of course they didn't take Euros so I couldn't get any snacks AND English was not the primary language. At this point, I was starting to feel groggy so after 3.5 hours of waiting, I was happy to get started boarding. However..... the priority passengers got to board with the gate agents and when they were done, they basically said "Ok everyone else. Just come through the electronic self-serve gates" and we all proceeded to push and shove the crap out of each other to get on the plane. And on top of that, we got on an old plan. It took me like 10 rows before I could figure out where the seat numbers were (they were the old light up knob buttons). Once situated, I realized (to my glee) that a British family was sitting behind me and they had nice accents and cute kids with equally cute accents. This was another however though.... they were about 3 times louder than normal people (on planes or really anywhere) and they got into about 4 screaming matches with each other (like the parents and their kids). Needless to say, I developed a love-hate relationship with that family. It was awesome, funny, and super annoying to listen to all at the same time. The best and worst part of the day came when we were about 2 hours from Greece (the last leg was 3 hours). We hit really bad turbulence. Like REALLY bad. Like I was fearing for my life bad and would have been bumped up high enough to hit my head on the ceiling bad. One of the British kids behind me is like "Daddy, we're going to die I think. I think I need a phone game for this. Weeeeeeee I have a roller coaster one!" In between my bouts of nausea, I did get some good giggles in.

We eventually landed in Athens and I picked up my bags in super fast time (they were like out first which was nice) and we made our way to the Oscar Hotel. Athens is.... interesting. It's basically been wrecked by the economic crisis and riots; a lot of the buildings are in disrepair and there's graffiti everyone. The city basically does not have money to hire people to take care of the upkeep. We walked through a bit of the city on the way to one of the study centers tonight. We spent about an hour and a half at a men's Farsi bible study (in which pretty much all of us were dozing off because we were ridiculously exhausted) and then we all wandered off in different directions. I think some of the group is already sleeping, some are walking around the city, and some are up on the pool deck looking at the apparently amazing view of the Acropolis that we have here (sorry, no pic yet; didn't have time but will get one tomorrow). Tomorrow morning we're starting with dental clinics and since we don't think there will be a lot of people here, a group of us are probably going to visit Corinth before more bible studies tomorrow night. I'm not sure what kind of impact we're going to have here. Things are... different. This isn't like Romania but I'm not sure how/why yet. I'm sure I'll figure it out when I've gotten some sleep so stay posted! It's 9:00 pm here and I effectively have not slept in over 24 hours so I think I'm going to go upstairs and try to get caught up!

Packed and Shutting Down

Alrighty everyone, I am all packed and ready to shut down my computer! I am planning on leaving in about an hour (9:30) so that I have a little bit of time to shift stuff around in my bags (pretty sure one is overweight). Shutting down everything for now and the next time you here from me, I will be in Greece!

Second Trip Booked

So not that this has anything to do with the trip I'm about to leave on, but I finally just booked my second trip of the summer. On Sunday, July 28th I will fly out to Prague (through Toronto and Frankfurt) and will return from Krakow (through Dusseldorf and Chicago) on August 4th.

As for the current trip, here's a list of general thoughts/updates:

1) There is apparently a need for lice shampoo (I know, my favorite) in the gypsy community we'll be working in. I went to buy some and it is outrageously priced ($10 for a tiny bottle). Now of course I had no problem buying out the whole stock that Wal-Mart had on their shelves but still... kinda ridiculous.

2) I was going to bring my viola to play some music in Severin and the surrounding areas (I played the violin there last time) but I just realized we won't be in that area for the weekend when all the groups/people perform. That's a bummer. Still deciding if I'll end up taking it or not.

3) I need to start packing now. I tend to get a little anxious on trips like these because I always stack stuff up in my office and then don't ever know how everything will fit and what other stuff I might have room for. I'm going to try to get mostly packed up on Tuesday (later today since I'm posting this in the middle of the night) and then run final errands on Wednesday.

4) I have like a million soccer balls coming in the mail I think. I ordered some stuff online and it was shipped in two separate packages which I didn't realize at the time. So, thinking "hmmm... that's weird that I didn't order soccer balls...." I bought some more and then got the original shipment like the next day. Whoops!

I think that's it for now. Not much new to add since most of y'all that read this know the drill (if not, see any of my past blogs.... http://julieinromania2012.blogspot.com/, http://julieinkenya2011.blogspot.com/, http://julieinromania2009.blogspot.com/, http://www.julieineurope2008.blogspot.com/ and yes, I know the trend with the link names; can't remember them otherwise!).

What's the Plan Stan?

So, I know I've been slacking. Like a lot. Usually, a week out or so, I already have like a million posts or something here. Not so much this time around mostly because I've just been busy with the end-of-the-semester stuff that naturally comes with work. As of now though, things have slowed down finally and I am actually able to focus on the fact that in just over a week, I'll be out of the country again! The first part of the blog this summer will obviously focus on my first trips to Greece and Romania. Later (once I get back and what not), I'll shift focus to the next trips which will be the Czech Republic and Poland later in July.

For the Greece/Romania trip(s), here is the final schedule with little tidbits of information here and there:

Thursday, May 23rd- Fly out at 11:40 am on United. Arrive in Newark at 4:30 pm and leave there at 5:45 pm for Geneva. Arrive in Geneva at 7:45 am the next day and depart for Athens at 11:25. Arrive in Athens around 3:00 pm on Friday. Since my ticket was booked later than the rest of the groups, I'll fly out of Dallas on the same flight but will be on a different flight into Athens and will be picked up a little later than everyone else at the airport when I arrive.

Friday-Sunday- We will be working with refugees in a couple of churches and will be holding dental clinics as well. There are a bunch of locations (i.e., orphanages, centers) that we're seeing on this trip so I'm not 100% sure yet what is where. Sunday afternoon we will be sightseeing at the Parthenon.

Monday, May 27th- We will be taking a three island cruse on the Aegean Sea (Aegina, Poros, and Hydra).

Tuesday, May 28th- We fly out of Athens early for Timisoara, Romania where we will meet up with the best people ever and my Romanian family, the Gonciuleas (I stayed with them last summer)! We will drive a few hours to Severin and hang out with the kids in the group home there that night.

Wednesday, May 29th- BEST DAY EVER! I get to see my favorite people in Rogova!!!! In the afternoon, we'll drive a few hours out to Oradea.

Thursday, May 30th- We will be visiting the feeding center and the girls' home in Tinca where we will be conducting dental clinics and just doing what we do with the kids (having fun)!

Friday, May 31st- Drive to Tasad for dental clinic and a feeding center visit in the morning. Either Tasad or Oradea has a feeding center focused primarily on the gypsy population out there and I'm very excited to get my first experience with that specific population. We head into Budapest, Hungary that evening for an overnight there.

Saturday, June 1st- Some members of the group head back to the states that day while the rest of us go back to Oradea.

Sunday and Monday (June 2-3)- More visits and clinics in Tasad/Tinca.

Tuesday, June 4th- Back to Severin and Lupsa.

Wednesday, June 5th- Back to Rogova in the morning and then we drive out to Timisoara in the evening (it's a couple of hours north of Severin).

Thursday, June 6th- Fly out of Timisoara at 8:00 am and arrive in Munich at 8:25 am (there's a time change). Depart Munich at 12:20 pm and arrive in Chicago at 3:30 pm. The final leg leaves Chicago at 5:00 pm and arrives in Dallas at 7:20 pm.

If it all sounds like a lot, it absolutely it but that is totally what makes these trips fun. Both Bruce and Jerry (who I've traveled with before; you can read about their antics on any of my past trip blogs) are awesome guys to travel with and I might be looking forward to all of the funny things that I'm sure are bound to happen on all of our bus/van rides! I wish I could give more specifics on who is coming and what we're doing but I don't have all of that yet. The original trip got shifted around a bit and this is kind of two separate trips in one so as each day comes, I'll be filling you all in then. Like always, I'm bringing a ton of goodies for the kids over there and I'll be getting some posts up about that eventually before I head out. For now, it's getting late so that's it at the moment and noapte buna to all (goodnight in Romanian... so excited to go back yet again)!