Weekend Adventures

This is going to be a long post so prepare yourselves.  Just so much happened this weekend and trust me...it's all very entertaining.  First, I just want to talk about what I good day I had in the orphanage today.  It took a month but one of the little boys learned my name today.  I almost cried when he finally said it!  It was a long month of him yelling the wrong name and expecting me to answer.  Yes, can you believe that I have been here a month already.  YIKES!  Another little boy, who is deaf (let's call him Jack), likes to push the kids in wheelchairs around but today he accidentally tip one of the kids over and the little boy in the wheelchair (let's call him Sam) hit his head.  Chelsea and I weren't fast enough to catch Sam.  The deaf little boy looked very concerned about Sam and one of the workers brought us a wet, cold cloth to put on the large goose-egg forming on the Sam's head.  Jack walked over timidly and helped hold the washcloth on the other little boy's head.  It was so tender to see Jack be so sweet.  I was very proud of him today.  I also love the workers in my room.  They care about the kids and I love watching them interact with the children.  Sometimes, they can be intimidating because I don't speak the same language as them and communication is sometimes difficult but I am always amazed at the patience and understanding they have.  I am grateful for each one of them.

Back to this weekend.  We took our first trip out of Iasi!  I am so grateful I got to see more of Romania and the region we visited was absolutely beautiful.  All 14 of us hopped on a train and traveled to Maramures which is the Northwest region of Romania.  The train rides were long and we were all exhausted by the time we arrived but it was am amazing weekend full of culture and adventure.  I love Romania so much more now.  So here begins our adventure....

We left Iasi on Wednesday and caught a train to a small town called Dej Calatori and had a two hour layover there.  We then caught another train to Baia Mare where we spent a couple of hours exploring the city.

 Roommates!!!

 We are excited for our first ever legit train ride!

 Our sleeping compartment

We were suppose to catch a bus from Baia Mare to Vadu Izei, the small town where our bed and breakfast was located, at 9 am but the bus didn't end up leaving until 2 pm.  We were able to explore the city of Baia Mare instead.  

 I was grateful to be off the train!

 This cute man that Aislynn is walking with us is our bus driver.  He let us keep our bags on the bus so we didn't have to carry them with us all day long.  he was super sweet and decided that he needed to help us find our way in the city.  I wish you could have all witnessed 14 of us following this one little man, who by the way looked like the man from the movie, UP. He helped us buy a map and find a place to eat. 

 We spent some time in the Center of the city and it was beautiful.  I don't think these pictures can do it justice.

 Roommates!!

 This is the biggest chicken I have ever seen.  I mean look at it!  It's like a killer chicken.

Some of us went to a village museum and this is the picture from the top of the hill.  

Then we got on the bus.  Man, I thought I wasn't going to survive that bus ride.  Like I mentioned earlier, the bus driver took extremely good care of us but his driving terrified me.  First, he played the same four Romanian songs loudly the entire two hours we were on that bus.  Secondly, he was at the front of this huge bus dancing and it's a stick-shift bus!!  Then we started going up the mountain that we had to come back down.  he took corners so fast that I thought I was going to die!!  I was so grateful to arrive in Vadu Izei.

 Camille and I were bus buddies.  We tried to sleep but that was basically impossible.

 Straight from the 70's

So on our way, we passed many villages and beautiful country side.

Our bed and breakfast was in a small town called Vadu Izei.  I felt like I was on parade while walking through the town.  People would come out of their house and just watch us pass.  Some of them would ask us where we were from and get really excited when we said America.  I guess the people don't see fourteen American girls traipsing through the middle of their town very often. We made it to our bed and breakfast but there were already some guests staying there for the night so four of us had to go stay at another place (which I do believe was the bed and breakfast's mother's house).  It was this random house in the downtown of Vadu Izei.  I thought maybe we would never make it back to our group.  The lady was very nice and kept offering us things and among them was Tuica (homemade Romanian alcohol).  We tried to refuse but she wouldn't take no for an answer...No worries, we DID NOT drink it.  

 Isn't it beautiful?!?

 Very deceiving because it was in a water bottle....

The next day, we decided to walk to Sighet which was like 6 km away.  I walked like 4 miles...I am very impressed with myself.  We went to a Anti-Communism Museum and then hopped on this bus with a bunch of teenagers to visit the Merry Cemetery.  The teenagers loved us and I have never felt so popular in my life.

Sorry but I don't have any pictures from the Merry Cemetery but basically the headstones are colorful and the inscriptions on the headstones are funny.  Here is a picture of Angela and I in the church located next to the cemetery.  We wanted to buy and light a candle at the church.  There was a box of candles, some matches, and a bowl for money.  We looked at the sign and I convinced Angela that is .50 lei for the candle and another .50 lei to light the candle.  If you look at the sign this makes perfect sense.  Pret Lumanari=Price to light the candles and Candle's Price=the Candle's Price.  Angela was like are you sure?  I told her that I was absolutely positive but then proceeded to ask her if she could lend me the money because I didn't have a lei.  She put 2 lei in the bowl and we talk our candles.  We are walking out the church to find someone to take a picture and we run into Aislynn and Cortlandt.  They wanted candles too so we take them back inside and I explain to them that it is 1 lei because it is .50 lei for the candle and .50 lei to light the candle.  They both just looked at us and then proceeded to point out that the sign was in English and Romanian and said the same thing in both languages.  As soon as I realized our mistake a I started laughing so hard that I cried...I made everyone in our group come look and I learned that Angela and I aren't that stupid.  I was telling the story and people were like I don't get it...it is 1 lei for the candle and to light it.  Then I watched my group, one by one, understand the sign.  I know it doesn't sound as funny to you but it made me cry because I was laughing so hard.  Don't worry...Angela took back a lei.

The Merry Cemetery was located in this tiny village that we had to take a bus to.  We had no idea when a bus would come back through the village so we just had to wait and try to flag some kind of bus down.  Aislynn had tried to flag other buses down but the drivers would just wave and keep driving.  Then this large blue and green truck stops to let people off and I just see Aislynn running towards it.  The next thing I know she is waving us over and we are all running towards this random truck (she later told us, she thought it was a prison truck...thanks Aislynn).  We hop on the "bus" and it is all these delightful old men coming in from the fields.  We successfully hitchhiked. The picture above is me on the truck and the two picture below show you what the "prison" bus looked like.

Later that night, we got invited to learn Romanian dances and so we headed over to Ramona's house.  We danced the night away to Romanian music with the whole neighborhood.  I felt like I was in the movies.  Things like this don't happen in real life!  It was so much fun and the perfect ending to an epic day!

On Saturday (bless your heart if you are still reading this!), we had to travel home but on our way out of Vadu Izei we stopped at a little grocery store for ice cream.  The owner had met some of our girls a couple of days earlier and invited us to come get ice cream.  We walked in and she refused to take any money for the ice cream.  She gave all 14 of us a FREE ice cream sundae.  Her and her children talked with us for about an hour while we waited for our bus.  She gave us each a lighter that had her store name on it so we would always remember her.  

 Me, Michelle, and Meghan with our yummy ice cream!

 So on our way home we rode in a Maxi Taxi built for 13 people.  There were 25 of us in there.  Joy! As you can see Leigh had the privilege to ride between the driver and passenger's seat in a dinning room chair. 

On our way home! Meghan Cortlandt, Nicole, Angela, Michelle

Oh my gosh!  We got through that!  Sorry it was such a long post this time but the trip was pretty unforgettable and I didn't want to leave anything out.  I am overwhelmed by the hospitality we received while traveling this weekend. Romana and her family, the owner of Gabimoni, a random police officer, the bus drivers, the men on the "prison bus", the couple who owned our bed and breakfast...so many people showed generosity and kindness towards us!  I want to thank all of them.  I wish I had picture of these people but they are other girl's cameras.  When I get them, I will be sure to post them so you can put faces to all these wonderful people I just told you about.  They are people I will never forget.

I am grateful for all of your prayers in my behalf.  It's been a challenging week and I am sick again.  SURPRISE!  I do believe this is the third time in the month I have been here.  It's just frustrating because I have to stay home and even when I go to the orphanage when I am sick, I can't give my all to my kids.  Anyway, I am doing well besides a sore throat and cough.  Love you all!  La revedere!