This was Mother's Day, and for the first time since I became a mother, I was not with all of my children. In fact, the child that first made me a mother was the one who was missing--Olivia! But I had a delightful day! I heard from Olivia, and she posted a nice message to me on Facebook. Leah and Sam brought me cards they had made back home, and later in the day Julie, Clay, Leah and Sam walked to the market and came back with beautiful fresh flowers, M&Ms, and a Coke for me. What a nice treat! Julie also gave me a hand painted spoon rest she bought on her recent trip to Jerusalem. It is so pretty!
We drove to Severin, the city where Julie and Big Sam lived when they first came to Romania, for our morning worship service. Parts of the service were completely in Romanian, and parts were in English and translated in Romanian. The hymns were sung were in Romanian, but they were sung to familiar American tunes.
We enjoyed a picnic lunch, and then we drove back home. I have been so sleepy the last couple of days. I am having trouble sleeping at night, but in the afternoons I get so drowsy. I guess this is jet lag? I slept in the car going to and coming back from Severin.
We met with Dan and Tami at Julie's apartment at 5:00 for an evening Bible study. Big Sam led us in an inductive study of a portion of Mark 9. It was such a good study!
A few observations about life in Romania:
- Like I said earlier, Romanians are fast drivers! I don't think I could drive here.
- However, they are very aware of pedestrians, who have the right of way at all intersections. It's like being in college...in all the crosswalks, cars must stop for pedestrians.
- Most Romanians do not use air conditioning. They think it is harmful to you in some way. Thankfully, the nights are cool here right now, so with the door and all the windows open in Julie and Big Sam's apartment, it is comfortable here. In fact, it gets chilly at night.
- Romanians do not drink ice in their drinks. In fact, they like their drinks to be room temperature.
- Romanians must be cold natured.....I see them wearing heavier clothes than I think necessary in the 80 degree weather. I often see babies wearing hats.
- Here in the city, people do a lot of walking. I easily got well over 10,000 steps each day I have been here except for Sunday. In fact, most days I got 20,000 steps, and that was all walking (not going for a run as part of the count).
- Here in the city of Craiova, the people live in apartment buildings with very little personal green space. But the public parks we have visited are very shady. They are full of trees, grass, pretty flowers, walking paths, biking paths, and lots and lots of playing children!
- Romanians have green thumbs! Every where I look, beautiful flowers are blooming. Roses are everywhere! Every apartment building has all kinds of green plants and flowers in its courtyard. Flowers are on street corners, lining sidewalks, and really just anywhere you look.
- I see many, many Romanians smoking cigarettes--old and young people alike.
- Almost every young Romanian man I see is wearing skinny jeans with rips or holes in them. They all have the same hairstyle too--super short on the side and fluffy on top.
- There are no street signs in Craiova, Romania. Who knows where we are as we walk along!
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