I completely forgot about my birthday until Thursday, when I logged into facebook and discovered that it was Elise Gotta’s birthday. Dear Elise, my favorite Awana pal back in 4th or 5th grade, always constitutes my best facebook alert of impending birthday-age…after the initial delight of an almost-shared name (her first and my middle), we were thrilled to find that we also almost shared a birthday. Ah, those were some good times! …And I have never forgotten. So when facebook announces that Elise has moved up a year, I realize that it is about that time of year. Side note: I’m not actually so absent-minded that I forget my own birthday…its just that September always flies by much more quickly than expected, and I haven’t much October-warning before the 2nd arrives.
So, Thursday comes and goes and I have been effectively reminded that I will soon have another notch in my life-tally. Friday arrives with the topic long-since forgotten, and I make it through the day without much thought given to the subject.
So much for the intro, let me back up now to Thursday afternoon. We cooked pancakes and Zach’s terrible mushrooms (he bought a kilo, not knowing quite how much that was, where mushrooms were concerned). Both turned out to be pretty fantastic, when doused (respectively) with nutella, powdered sugar and raspberry syrup or veggies and rice. After lunch, we left Kadie with a swamp of dirty dishes due to a water outage (not all that rare, in Lupeni) and had a lovely little debrief time before tromping over to the FNO office for Experiential Education class.
Impact and Tibi
After class, I stayed at the office for a meeting with Tibi G. before my first Impact club meeting, that evening. We talked for over an hour before finally concluding that I would do…nothing (we are nothing if not efficient!) and then I headed to the Impact building for some quality internet time before Impact. I was surprised to find Julie’s laptop in the back room, but thought very little of it – Julie can tend toward the absent minded side, at times. She showed up around 6:45, though, and told me he had been back at Kadie’s to wash the dishes, prompting a horrible feeling of guilt in my stomach as I chilled and accomplished things to the exclusion of helpfulness. The feeling was quickly forgotten, though, as the Impact kids arrived.
After class, I stayed at the office for a meeting with Tibi G. before my first Impact club meeting, that evening. We talked for over an hour before finally concluding that I would do…nothing (we are nothing if not efficient!) and then I headed to the Impact building for some quality internet time before Impact. I was surprised to find Julie’s laptop in the back room, but thought very little of it – Julie can tend toward the absent minded side, at times. She showed up around 6:45, though, and told me he had been back at Kadie’s to wash the dishes, prompting a horrible feeling of guilt in my stomach as I chilled and accomplished things to the exclusion of helpfulness. The feeling was quickly forgotten, though, as the Impact kids arrived.
Impact Club was good, even though I felt slightly awkward and spent a decent amount of time being laughed at, best I can gather, for such atrocities as standing foolishly with my eyes closed and forehead to the wall several minutes after the “Ok, open your eyes and turn around” command had been given in Romanian and obeyed by the other 9 close-eyed persons. Nice.
Most of the meeting was focused on an upcoming project, so I did some speedy guessing and kept up fairly well with the jist of the conversation. =)
After Impact, the kids moseyed their way out of the building, leaving Tibi and I to close ‘er down, lock ‘er up and head for homes. When we finished locking up the gate, Tibi announced: “lets talk!” and we proceeded to go over the entirety of the meeting as we walked and then stood at the bus stop. An hour later, long since past the time I was expected home, Tibi finished and we went our separate ways, He ambling off cheerily toward the bus, me walking calmly until I was out of sight and then sprinting at top speed toward home in hopes of making it before the point of concern and reached true worry, for Mirela.
Kelly and I had a brilliant plan all set for a 7:45 commencement of our daily stomp, but sometime between the time she left the impact building and the end of the evening, it was decided that she would walk Madalina to school. So at 7:40, I shuffled my way out to the kitchen and found Florin at the table chatting with Iancu and Kelly & Mada on their way up the driveway. That part of the story wasn’t really going anywhere…but it was fun to see Florin, Kelly’s host father, and the whole thing just got silly when Kelly and Mada opened the door and…yeah. It was funny to me, so I typed it. Humor lost between mind and page, I presume.
So, we bring Mada to school and then stump off toward the Impact building. Kelly had spent the morning and the previous evening feeling sick, probably at the hands of a couple bites of brǎnzǎ (a horrible cheese that her host grandmother, among others, assume is edible and good for people to eat. They happen to be very very wrong in that assumption.), so we avoid as much food-related conversation and as many foodish smells as possible on our walk. We give in, however, upon reaching the small bread store on the corner near Kadie’s apartment, and go inside to buy a couple loaves for lunch. The lady working there was so friendly and sweet and just seemed delighted to see us. Assuming we knew Lindsey (because everyone knows everyone in the U.S.?), she asked us about her and when she would be coming back…I DO happen to know Lindsey (ok, maybe the assumption was fair on her part…), so we passed on what we knew about her current state and intended return date (unknown).
Note: When I say “we” in the context of speaking Romanian, it is safe to assume that what I really mean is that Kelly talked and I nodded, looked confused and exclaimed “da!” by turns.
Anyway, apparently I look like Lindsey (“But a little shorter and a little stouter”, Kelly translated to me), which is good to know, and something I am absolutely ok with. Maybe not so great for Lindsey, who happens to be simply gorgeous, but just nobody tell her, ok?
Anyway, apparently I look like Lindsey (“But a little shorter and a little stouter”, Kelly translated to me), which is good to know, and something I am absolutely ok with. Maybe not so great for Lindsey, who happens to be simply gorgeous, but just nobody tell her, ok?
So, as per usual, this is getting rather long winded. So I’m gonna go ahead and speed it up a bit.
Tirga jiu and Horezu Once everyone had arrived, around 8:45, we piled into the FNO van, with Robi as our driver, and headed for Tirga Jui. Alice and her parents, who are visiting for a couple weeks, accompanied us, which made for 10 persons in a 9-seat van…interesting, to be sure. We eventually developed a good system based on a Marit/Julie/Kelly spooning sort of deal in2 of the 3 middle seats, with Alice bracing the edge person from the third seat. Unfortunately we didn’t develop this system until an hour or so into the drive, when Zach swapped with Kelly and space to maneuver suddenly appeared (I’m not calling you fat, Zach! You just weren’t as obviously ready to “get cozy” with the middle-seaters as an all-female group was after you were traded out!)
Worst part of the drive: Kelly, Zach, Julie and I all developed thorough cases of car-sickness. Poor Alice was situated in the middle seat-set with 3 of the 4 sickies… =/
Delightful moment of the drive: as we pull into the city of Tirga Jiu, Zach wonders aloud “Are we in Tiramisu yet?” No, Zach…we wish! =P
We also found a lovely little park to munch some lunch in, and pulled out the loaves of bread from our earlier stop. A whole mess of dogs offered to help us out with the bread and, as a puppy-eyes pushover, I was targeted. They got what they wanted, and one even bit the hand that fed it (don’t worry, Mom! He didn’t break skin, and rabies is highly unlikely). Randomly, partway through lunch it came out that Kelly had also gone back to Kadie’s apartment with Julie to help with dishes the afternoon before. When I heard that, I felt like even more of a slacker than I had before, but the feeling was cut short by an announcement from Kadie which a less “foolish & deluded bear of no brain at all” would have thought much of: “I love secrets, but I’m so BAD at them!” Strangely enough, I thought absolutely nothing of this, despite the hushings and “Kadie!”s from Julie and Kelly.
Quotes from lunch: “Its horrible that they don’t have ground turkey there.” –Kadie, to Dana who had called her instead of Brandi (his wife), by mistake.
“Go kill cats.” –Zach, to passel of hungry dogs who had better luck at y end of the table.
“Nah, I like Cornnuts! …Oh, hornets!” –Kadie, over(mis)hearing a Zach comment along the lines of “hornets are bad.”
The trip home was uneventful and mostly car-sickness free. When we arrived back in Lupeni, we drove to Kadie & Alice’s apartment bloc, where we planned to eat dinner (Pizza from Mama Mia’s!). I tromped up to the apartment with Julie, Kelly and Zach, but once we got there, Julie recommended that she and I go pick up drinks from one of the places down the street. When e returned, Zach & Kelly had shut themselves in the living room and wouldn’t let anyone in, which was really strange to me, and Julie tried to convince me to go to the Impact building with her in search of a bottle of strawberry syrup to mix with Sprite, which was even more strange to me, since Julie more than anyone else hates opening up the impact building.
Quotes from lunch: “Its horrible that they don’t have ground turkey there.” –Kadie, to Dana who had called her instead of Brandi (his wife), by mistake.
“Go kill cats.” –Zach, to passel of hungry dogs who had better luck at y end of the table.
“Nah, I like Cornnuts! …Oh, hornets!” –Kadie, over(mis)hearing a Zach comment along the lines of “hornets are bad.”
The trip home was uneventful and mostly car-sickness free. When we arrived back in Lupeni, we drove to Kadie & Alice’s apartment bloc, where we planned to eat dinner (Pizza from Mama Mia’s!). I tromped up to the apartment with Julie, Kelly and Zach, but once we got there, Julie recommended that she and I go pick up drinks from one of the places down the street. When e returned, Zach & Kelly had shut themselves in the living room and wouldn’t let anyone in, which was really strange to me, and Julie tried to convince me to go to the Impact building with her in search of a bottle of strawberry syrup to mix with Sprite, which was even more strange to me, since Julie more than anyone else hates opening up the impact building.
When Kelly and Zach finally let us into the living room, there were streamers on the ceiling. And I thought nothing at all of it. 2 beats later, though, I was both surprised and had an “aha! I understand” moment: My dear fellow students and program administrator burst into a chorus of “Happy Birthday to You!” and pointed out a “Happy Birthday Marit!” banner on the wall.
I felt properly dense, when I thought back on the plentiful clues I could have caught throughout the day. I think they were pretty pleased with themselves, though, and with my especial idiocy in the realm of catching on. =) Kelly and Julie had been busy baking cookie-dough brownies, not washing dishes, the afternoon before, I discovered. This is a particularly neat stunt in a land of no chocolate chips (seriously!).
The evening was wonderful. Kelly even called her host mother, Andreea, who called my host mother, Mirela, to tell her not to worry about me/wait up for me, which eased my mind greatly and made the night just perfect! It sounds like such a little thing, but for a worrier like me, it was a great gift to be able to enjoy the night without fears of distressing someone else.
We played hand and foot. Only two rounds, but for a group of 2 old-time players and 4 newbs (that’s for you, Zach!), it was fairly time-consuming. And a blast!
I brought a chunk of leftover brownie back to Iancu and Mirela and attempted one of my Romanglish notes explaining what it was and from whence it hailed before brushing my teeth and collapsing into bed.
I brought a chunk of leftover brownie back to Iancu and Mirela and attempted one of my Romanglish notes explaining what it was and from whence it hailed before brushing my teeth and collapsing into bed.
Birthday
And today, I woke up at 7 am, due to a pressing desire to dislodge my head from the pace between my bed-side and dresser, and was awake enough that I decided to get up and ready to go a bit early. I tromped to the Impact building to skype with Daniel at 9. My walk was perfect, although a bit chilly, and I had a nice 45-minutes of prayer to begin my 23rd year. It was great to have a bit of extra time before 9, also, to turn in a journal assignment for Romanian Culture and History and read a couple of birthday emails – from my family and my grandmother! Thanks guys! They were lovely and a great way to start the day!
And today, I woke up at 7 am, due to a pressing desire to dislodge my head from the pace between my bed-side and dresser, and was awake enough that I decided to get up and ready to go a bit early. I tromped to the Impact building to skype with Daniel at 9. My walk was perfect, although a bit chilly, and I had a nice 45-minutes of prayer to begin my 23rd year. It was great to have a bit of extra time before 9, also, to turn in a journal assignment for Romanian Culture and History and read a couple of birthday emails – from my family and my grandmother! Thanks guys! They were lovely and a great way to start the day!
Skype was acting up, as per usual, so Dan & I were not able to actually converse, but instead typed back and forth for some time. While we talked, Tad arrived and a bit later Julie as well. After my conversation finished, we froze our toes off for an hour or so longer, while working on Experiential Education papers and then finally gave up, went wimp, and headed to Café Mago for lunch.
I realized on my walk home, after leaving Julie & Tad after lunch, that I was in a rather iffy mood (so apologies, Tad & Julie), and was anxious to be home… I have been missing people and familiar places, of late, so please keep me in your prayers for culture shock, or whatever this is. I am reaching a point where, although I enjoy my host home quite a bit, I am on a bit of a plateau, language-wise and feel like my communication with Iancu and Mirela has been decreasing, instead of increasing. I hope to amend the situation in the week and a half I have remaining to me, but am also ready to move to the apartments for a sense of “my space”. Prayers appreciated for continuing energy in interaction and communication with my family here, and for other homesickness-related issues.
And thank you for the lovely birthday wishes!
With hugs a plenty,
Marit
Marit
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