Romania Day Five

Romania Day Five

Amanda and I woke up sick, and that was not good! I took some of Scott's medicine that he had, and they gave me a shot of Tuica (pronounced sweeka, and is basically like vodka made with plums) and that made me feel much better. It didn't help Amanda much, and she spent most of the day throwing up.

When I woke up, I looked out the window and there was frost on the ground! It was SO cold there in the mornings. We got up and walked around checking everything out. The camp was cool! The land went up the mountain, like everything there. The first level was the big house that we stayed in, there was the kitchen, a big windowed porch, two bedrooms with bunk beds, two bathrooms, and upstairs was a giant open room for games with the kids, and couches lining the room. Then there were other buildings on the property, one was a game room with ping pong table, more bathrooms, what will be a commercial kitchen, and rooms for helpers. On the next level up the hill was a huge gazebo, nice porch swing, and then farther up the hill was a big soccer field.

Then it was time to head into a village for a kindergarten Bible story. Estera drove us and it was wild! There were cows and gypsy wagons all over the place that we had to dodge, and the roads were so bad, with potholes, or the pavement would end, I don't know how people get around as fast as they do there. We went to this village that has no running water, way back off the main road, and there was the cutest school. It was like a Martha Stewart school. The teachers were so nice and the kids were so cute. We couldn't get them to smile for the life of us, and we tried HARD!!

But when we first arrived, the teachers had prepared a massive feast for us, only the 2nd group of American's to be in their village. They had the best cheese, tomatoes, bread with butter, baked apples (with homemade whittled sticks stuck in them!), apples with "teeth", boiled eggs that looked like spider eggs, coffee, lemonade, and more Tuica! And the cutest Halloween decorations. It was seriously like a Martha Stewart village Halloween! The kids had dressed in costumes and they asked us to judge their costume contest. They were so cute, they would just melt your heart. And the teachers were so sweet. We ate our snacks and then watched Estera do her Bible lesson on Zachias, which I recorded a part of here:


As part of her lesson, Estera handed out Silly Bands. Now, if you haven't heard about Silly Bands, you must not have kids! Our kids at church have been have a Silly Band offering in each service before we left. Kids don't always have money to give, but they had Silly Bands halfway up their arms! So a lot of the kids donated their Silly Bands to give to the kids in Romania, and it was so cute to see those kids with them. They had no idea what they were, and they would just hold them, like, okay, thanks. We had to show them that they are shapes, but they are also bracelets, and you can trade them and wear a bunch of them. Then they kind of caught on. They were so cute with them.

Then the kids sang some songs for us, and even did the bunny hop!



And they sang us a Good Bye song!


When it was time to go, I gave each of the teachers a gift from America, and they gave us a handful of wild flowers that the kids had gone and picked just for us. Talk about melt your heart, I was in tears. They were so sweet, and obviously very dedicated to their job, they make so little and they had that school looking so nice and they very obviously cared a lot for those kids.

Then we walked around the village some, Scott showed us the village well where most of the people get their water from. There was no running water there, so every day they would come to the well with their buckets and collect the water for the day.

Then we got back to the camp and decided to go meet the neighbors, Gigi and Lumanitsa. They were the cutest, sweetest couple! Gigi tells his testimony here:


They used to host Estera's Bible camp in their backyard before she had her own camp. Now Gigi goes every night to the gypsy village to preach the Gospel to the gypsies. He also makes his own honey that was to die for. It's bright orange and gritty, and sweet and delicious! He gave us some honey to take back, and offered a chicken to Estera to feed some kids that were coming on Monday (more on that little adventure later!)

And this is Gigi's animals. The pigs were awesome, and the chickens were great too! I loved their dogs and cats. Every animal there has a JOB, so I think they thought I was weird for loving and petting the animals, and talking to them. The cat loved me holding him, and he let me carry him around a while. He was so sweet.


And then we walked around some, here is a short video that just shows the scenery of the place. It's really one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. The hills look like there is carpet on them, the grass is so lush and green. And it's so funny to see cows just standing up there on the side of a mountain, it looks like any second he could come tumbling down.


That night we took pizza to the orphanage, but I don't have the pictures for that yet, my camera broke and so I switched to the church camera, and when I get those pictures, I will post all about that!