Romania Day 8

Monday May 14

Today was a rainy day for most of the day. I did school with Leah and Sam. Today was the day that Jimmy flew all the way here. I prayed many times today that Jimmy would arrive safely. 

Julie and Clay walked to the local farmer's market before lunch, and then Julie prepared us a Mexican feast! Dan and Tami joined us for lunch. After lunch when the rain finally stopped, Clay walked Leah, Sam, and I back to the farmer's market area to get coffee from a vending machine.  Around the town here there are coffee vending machines in places where you would see Coke machines in the U.S. When we first arrived here last week, there was a coffee vending machine just a few steps from Julie and Big Sam's apartment. Then the next day, they moved it! We were sad. But, Big Sam noticed just this morning that they had put a different one back in the same spot. The coffees (and you can get expressos, expresso with milk, cappuccino, mocha, etc.) cost 1 lei (which is about $.25). 

Most of our days here I am spending helping Julie out with her daily chores. Romanians do not have clothes dryers; they use dryer racks or clotheslines to dry their clothes. She has a small front loading washing machine, and one load of wet clothes exactly fits on her drying rack. So we wash one load each morning and let it dry on the rack until the next morning. It usually takes 24 hours for the clothes to dry, even with a fan blowing on them. 

Julie's apartment reminds me of the married student housing apartment Jimmy and I lived in while he was in medical school, except that her apartment is a little bit bigger. She has a small single sink in her kitchen, and of course, no dishwasher. I have been washing our dishes after each meal and drying them and putting them away so we have room to wash dishes for the next meal. Our family is all sleeping in the den--two people on the sofa bed, and three people on the floor. Each morning I fold up all our bedding and store it and the mattresses in various corners for the day. We have our large suitcases in out of the way areas (as much as possible!). It really has been a treat to stay here with Julie and Big Sam. 

Big Sam and Clay left at 4:30 to drive (in Dan's car) to Bucharest to pick up Jimmy from the airport. They arrived here around midnight. I was so happy to see Jimmy after being away from him for over a week.