It's Wednesday...

And I've almost been here 2 full weeks.

Language is going as well as it could be, I feel like I'm progressing in class, however I lack the courage to walk up to someone and ask them if I can practice with them. My goal by the end of next week is to have found 3 or 4 people that I can practice with on a daily basis. I have in mind a few people/places I can stop at between my apartment and the metro station, so we'll see. Please ask that I would have the courage to do this. This is very hard for me, a perfectionist, knowing that I will make mistakes, being the one that people came to for proofing grammar on papers in both English and Spanish for several years.

On Friday afternoon last week I had a doctor's appointment for a physical. Basically it is a requirement for my visa, just to prove that I'm not a risk to the public healthcare system. So in stead of coming straight home from language, I got off at one of the metro stops where there is a McDonald's inside the stop. I managed to order a "Menoul McChicken cu Coca Cola." The place was so crowded, so I found a table that was not taken, but it shared a booth seat with another table that was taken by two college boys. When I recounted this experience to someone, she told me it is perfectly normal to share tables in fast food restaurants here in Romania. Whew.

Well that's not all. The two college boys got up and left about half-way through my meal, and then their spots were taken by two college girls and a guy. They ate their food as I ate mine, and when I was finished with my meal I got up to leave. Well, my tray apparently wasn't securely on the table, and my bag knocked it and somehow catapulted my McChicken box into the air and onto the bench next to the Romanian girl! I was so embarrassed!! She just kindof waved her hand at me and I think said it was ok and handed me the box. I hightailed it out of there and didn't even check to see if anyone was laughing. I doubt it, though...more to come on that.

This weekend I had quite an adventure. Saturday morning the family that lives closest to me came over to put together the dulap (wardrobe) for my bedroom. This way I could get my clothes out of my suitcases and where they belong! That afternoon, they took me to a big store called Metro (it's like Sam's or Costco in the States and like PriceSmart in Guate). I was able to find a printer/scanner/copier for a good price so that I can print, scan and copy things, mostly for work purposes. Then, they took me to a really fancy mall where I was able to buy an internet router (which I have yet gotten to work...). We walked around a little bit and ultimately ate dinner in the food court at Burger King. Yes, I'm embarrassed to say that the only 2 times I have eaten out so far have been in American Fast Food restaurants (which 100% of the time are better in 3rd world countries than they are in the States...).

Sunday I went to church. I had been told what metro stop to get off at and how to get there, so I felt like I could do it. Well...I got off at the right metro stop, but THERE WERE 4 EXITS!!!! Well, from the train, there were two ways to go. Had I gone the way I didn't go, I would have been fine. However, I went out an exit that had 3 exits. Does that make sense? Basically, it was an exit that was also an under ground cross-walk. I tried going under and eventually came out of all 3 of the exits, but still couldn't figure out which direction to go. So I called someone and they told me how to get there....

When I finally got to church, I was so relieved. I thought to myself that I could finally just listen and concentrate on trying to pick up some of the sermon. YEAH RIGHT. The guy that preached was a Romanian who was visiting from New York, and he preached a 40 minute sermon in 20 minutes. I didn't even try. I met some nice people, other GCCs here in town that I hope to get to know while I'm here.

Monday I had 3 hours of language class and it was fine.

On Tuesday (yesterday), I had a short class and I got out at 3:30. So I decided to get out at the same metro stop that I got off at on Sunday and do some exploring. It is in the middle of the city, and there are some really pretty buildings around there. I had planned on doing this already, so I took my camera with me. I'll post pictures later. Well from that metro stop, I walked and walked down a street, and found myself at another metro stop (the one that has McDonald's in it). On the way, I passed 3 Orthodox churches and 1 Catholic church. They were having 4:00 mass in the Orthodox churches, but I didn't go inside. Maybe one of these days I will venture in and sit in on one.

I found myself at a mall that is attached to a grocery store (much like Paiz in Guatemala, or that could be compared to a very minimal version of Wal-Mart). It is a French store that's apparently all over Europe. I didn't have much cash with me, but I decided to pick up some carrots and apples. When I got in line and was being rung up, the girl behind the counter asked me something. I'm almost positive it had to do with having my produce weighed. I got flustered because I had no indication that I needed to have it weighed, especially since in the store close to my apartment they weigh it at the check-out (but it's a different chain). Also, the girl didn't seem very polite at all, so just walked off without anything.

Yesterday I also discovered something that I might regret for the rest of my time here. Everywhere, there are these little Patisseries called Fornetti. I have been curious about the breads they sell, and there is always a line at the one inside one of the metro stations. So yesterday on my way home, I decided to get in line and give a shot in the dark to these pastries. I shouldn't have. Consider me hooked. The item I ordered was fresh out of the oven. Warm, melt in your mouth. What I bought was a little strudel that had cheese in it. It. Was. Delicious. There's no turning back.

So today I found another one of these little stands and tried something else. Bad idea. I'm hooked. More than hooked. Addicted.

That's all.

Why My Head About Exploded...

So if you have any knowledge at all of the Spanish language (I'll get to Romanian in a moment...) you know that all nouns fall under either masculine or feminine. Thus, the house is "la casa," the white house is "la casa blanca," and the car is "el carro," the black car is "el carro negro," etc. So depending on if the noun is masculine or feminine the article is either "el" or "la," with the exception of very few words like "agua (el agua)," "mano (la mano)," etc. To make the nouns plural you simply add an "s" on to the end of the article and the noun and the adjective if there is one. Easy.

Well, Romanian also has masculine and feminine, BUT THEY ALSO HAVE NEUTRAL. There are different articles for masculine, feminine (not anything compared to "el" and "la") and they are not just converted in to plural by adding an "s" at the end of the words. To throw another wrench in the deal, if the noun is a singular neutral noun, it uses a masculine article. If the noun is a plural neutral noun, it uses a feminine article. Don't even ask me for examples. That would involve me having to walk to the other room and try and decipher my notes from yesterday's lesson. Maybe once (if) I master it I'll give examples.

Throw in definite and in-definite ("a dog" vs. "the dog"), and my head about exploded.

It's ok, though. Both of my teachers have told me that I'm learning very quickly, that I'm the only Spanish-speaker trying to learn Romanian that their language institute has ever had, and that I have perfect pronunciation.

On another note, Monday I got my first realization of living alone (to answer your question, Amanda, yes, I'll be living by myself permanently from what I understand but sometimes I might have company for a bit...). See, I had gone down to the store to buy a few groceries and picked up the only jar of salsa they had. When I went to open it later on that evening, I COULDN'T GET IT OPEN. And there was no one here to open it for me!! So I just put it back in the fridge and hoped someone would be coming over soon that could get it opened. Fortunately, on Tuesday after my big trip to IKEA, someone came over and I remembered to ask her to help me open it. What a blessing.

The Salsa is not Pace's, or from any amazing Mexican restaurant in Texas, but it works.

Ok. Enough for now. Sorry for the long post, I just don't have anyone to talk to :).

Love y'all!

First almost-week in Bucharest...

Well, I'm but 48 hours from having been here a full week. It hasn't gone by too quickly, but it hasn't gone too slowly, either. Here are a few things that I can remember so far...
-Friday night I slept about 15 hours. It was great. Went to bed around 9 pm and got up at 12 noon on Saturday. It was beautiful.
-Saturday my supervisor's wife brought me to my apartment, where we met the people in our mission who love closest to me and have been taking care of getting my apartment set up. I walked with some people down to the nearest grocery store so I could have food in my home. I didn't sleep well Saturday night but oh well.
-Sunday I skipped out on church because of the jet lag and all that good stuff. I slept in once I finally got to sleep. That afternoon my colleague and his daughter took me on the metro and showed me my language school.
-Monday...I woke up late. First day of class. I think I'm doing pretty good in my language lessons, but after today's (Wednesday's) lesson my head felt like it was going to explode. I also got a SIM card for my cell phone so I now can communicate with people when I'm not at home.
-Tuesday I rode the metro by myself for the first time ever in my whole life. It wasn't bad since I had been shown already how to change lines and look at the signs and all that good stuff. I met my supervisor's wife at the metro stop nearest their house and she took me to IKEA where I was able to buy a duvet and duvet cover, some rugs, a blanket for my living room and a few things for my kitchen. It was a very successful shopping day. Then I went to class and learned numbers and time in Romanian.
-Wednesday (today) I went to class, my head about exploded, and I came home from class. Then, I went down to the internet office and got the internet turned on at my apartment so that I don't have to run up my phone bill using dial-up. And now I'm loving having fast internet in my apartment. :D.

Hopefully the rest of the week will be pretty chill. Right now, I'm off to see what I can muster up for supper and then homework. Woohoo.

Thanks for your prayers!
Love,
Ang

I made it!

Hey everyone...thanks so much for your prayers as I traveled over the last several hours. My luggage (all of it!) and I made it to Bucharest just fine. My flight out of Dallas was delayed 4 hours, but I'm thankful to God for allowing me those extra hours to spend with my family. And once I got to my connection I had already been re-booked on the next flight in to Bucharest. Timing was perfect.

God is so good.

Now I'm going to try and curb this thing they call jet lag.

This is the day!

Well, folks, I fly out at 4:10 this afternoon. Please pray that I will rest on my flight and that I will have some good time spent with my family before I go. My parents got in late last night and it's nice that they are here.
A couple more things to pray for....
-that my suitcases would expand but not weigh more than 50lb each
-that I would be calm in a new airport, on a new continent, and hearing a new language
-that I my luggage would arrive with me and not after me
Thanks for your prayers. I will post when I get there and let you all know I got there safely.

PTL

So if you were with me for the last 2 months in VA, you heard me say several times that I left my parents in Guatemala and was not going to get to see them again before I hop the pond.

Well I for sure did not know what God had up His sleeve, because they are coming!!! Granted they won't arrive until 10:30 on the night before I leave, but I'm so excited. A couple of weeks were freed up in their travel schedule due to hurricane destruction in the Caribbean, and through a series of several experiments, my mom was able to find some super cheap airline tickets for them to come up! I'm talking the other day there was nothing under $700 a piece for them to come up, so they started looking in to taking a bus. That quickly was becoming very expensive, too. My mom doesn't give up, so she started experimenting with the travel days and times online. Finally she found tickets that totaled about $400 per person round trip...only $100 more for both of them to come up than it would have been for one of them to come up when she had been searching a few days ago!

I'm so excited and thankful that I'll get to see my mommy and daddy even if it's for less than 24 hours before I leave. Fortunately, I don't leave until the afternoon, so I'll have all morning with them.

I don't want to pack...

So anyone who has moved around a lot or traveled a lot knows that it's kindof a pain to pack and an even bigger pain to unpack. Well, I've been back in town for almost a week and I still have not unpacked from orientation. I know, I know, I need to, but at this point I have so much to do (including unpacking and repacking) that I just want to sit here and do nothing.

I will put in some unpacking time here in a little bit. I need to do laundry, also, which if you know me at all you know that laundry is my least favorite chore of all. I think it has something to do with growing up overseas with household help...

I also am praying that God would multiply the hours in the day because there just don't seem to be enough. Yesterday I had a great day with two of my former roommates. They went with me to the mall as I bought a few last-minute clothes for winter.

My calendar has quickly filled up, and I still have people that I want to see and spend time with. The problem is that once you graduate from college and people get full time jobs, they can't just run out to lunch with you or share an afternoon coffee. So I know that during the time that my favorite people are at work, I need to unpack and do laundry. But again, I don't want to.

I think it is something about having packed my life up so many times I feel like I lose a sense of belonging once my stuff is in boxes and suitcases. Maybe not. Any thoughts?

To sum up this post in three short statements,
1. I haven't unpacked from Orientation, which means that I clearly have not even begun to think about packing for Romania.
2. I need to do laundry, but I just wish that clothes could wash themselves.
3. I need more time. Thank God for the Body of Christ and for the hope of Heaven. Amanda, I completely understand what you referred to when you and Curtis left Irving...

September Prayer Update

Dear Prayer Partners,

Orientation is over and for the next few days I’m back in Dallas. I apologize for the “lateness” of getting this out to you all, but I appreciate all of your prayers. I have only nine days left in Dallas before I head to Romania.

Orientation came to a close very quickly, but not quickly enough to keep me from getting the bug that went around. Fortunately I got only the mildest form of the 24-hour stomach bug. Aside from that, our commissioning service was a great ending to the two months we spent in sessions.

I would like to thank you for your prayers for my time at Orientation. It truly was a fruitful time of growing in knowledge and my walk with the Lord. I made some precious friendships that I’m sure will continue to grow during the next few years, simply based on the similarity of many of our situations. Thank you also for your prayers for my family. My parents travel a lot due to their job, but they are enjoying themselves. I’m excited to tell you that my sweet new niece, Sahara Xiomara Stamps was born on September 9 healthy and beautiful. Elisa’s labor and delivery went very smoothly. Thank you for praying for that.

As I prepare to get my life into a few suitcases and cross the Atlantic, I would ask you to pray for a few things.

-Please pray that the rest of my time in Dallas would be sweet spent with family and friends.

-Please pray that I would know what is essential for me to pack to take with me and what I won’t really need.

-Please pray that I would be able to fit what I’m taking into some suitcases and that I would not go over any weight limits when it comes time to check my bags

-Please pray for my travel on October 16^th and 17^th as I fly to Romania. Pray that I would adjust smoothly and quickly. I start language classes on the 20^th and will be in class 12 hours a week (3 hours a day Monday thru Thursday).

Thank you again for your prayers. I love and appreciate each one of you.