To catch up on the Remembering Romania posts click here.
Alright, I can’t hold you in suspense any longer. I’ve teased you with an announcement regarding these posts on our life in Romania for long enough. During the moments when I’m not working on pallet projects, being a mom and a wife, working, and writing blog posts, I’ve been working with my Dad on a biography of his life. If you don’t know him you’re probably wondering what the big deal is, but let me just tell you, he has had a crazy life. I’m hoping the book will be finished by this September, so hang in there and I may give you a sneak peek or two if I’m feeling nice
November 1, 2003
I have the house to myself. Fedi and the kids went to the 2nd kids club. I hope some people besides the church people come. I stayed home mostly because someone might be showing up to talk about the home schooling but also to catch up with some cleaning.
Thursday Fedi and I went to the nearby town market. They sell a lot of baby pigs there. Since I have a lot of table scraps and cooking scraps, we decided spur of the minute to get one. The problem was we parked a ways away from where we bought the pig. He screamed so loud as we carried him through the market that I was embarrassed. Fedi built a nice shelter for him in just a few hours.
Friday we packed up our schoolbooks and Halloween outfits and went in town for the day. I got the kids started with school at Csillas and then Fedi and I walked to the Center. He had to go to the police to give them the papers for our extended stay. Fedi was so thankful that one guy was friendly to us there that he bought him a nice present. Call it a bribe or whatever but Fedi had to go there 3 or 4 times. People are there waiting in line for hours but they let Fedi come right in. All the potential problems with the paperwork for our extended stay were smoothed over.
We also went to a barbershop. Fedi got his haircut for $1 and even about a 45 minute trim and curl and blow dry of my hair only cost $4.
In the evening after Fedi came home from the village evangelism, we dressed the kids and took them to 4 apartments of friends for trick or treating. No one here celebrates Halloween of course, so we gave out candy instead of getting some. I also bought for our kids 1 chocolate bar, 1 piece of gum, and 2 little packets of gummi bears each. Still it was fun for my kids and fun for the people we visited. It was fun to make the costumes from what we had on hand. Steven had an old big towel with two eye holes cut out. He could hardly see where he was going so we had to keep steering him in the right direction. When he got some candy to eat and stretched one eye hole down to his mouth, he made us all laugh. Anni had the sheepskin tied to her back. Rebekah was a great clown and Ryan an Indian.
I am proud of my kids. They haven’t whined about things they are missing out on. I usually have them do the dishes. Rebekah washes, Steven rinses, Ryan and Anni switch off drying and putting away. In church they are probably better behaved than most. Contrary to the stories I heard about how well-behaved the Romanian children are, the ones I know are not different from kids in the U.S. Cable TV cost only about $4 a month so most of them have plenty of entertainment. Ninety percent of the families in Romania have colored TVs. This is Leventa’s statistic, not mine.
Oh yeah, another hiking adventure last week. Fedi was gone so I took the kids on a hike. We ended up in a meadow down the valley some. I could see a sheep herd coming so I changed our route to avoid them. It’s not the sheep or the shepherds I was worried about but the dogs. Every sheep herd has 5-10 big dogs with it. They don’t herd the sheep but are there solely for protection. Well we waited behind a bush until they went over a hill, then I took the kids back the straightest way home feeling quite safe. We got to the valley before the one where our house was and without seeing them through the trees and bushes we ran right back into the same sheep herd. The lead sheep were only about 20 feet away. The dogs didn’t spot us yet so I had the kids quickly go to a big bush and sit down in a group. Rebekah covered Gino with my jacket and kept a tight hold on her. As the dogs started to show up at first they just sat and looked at us. I had a big walking stick with me. Then the biggest dog spied us and ran growling and barking at us. Two of the other ones joined him. Don’t ask me where the shepherds were. I raised my stick and yelled a bit. About 15 feet from us they stopped and that was that. After a while the sheep kept moving on and they just turned around and went off with the sheep. Anyway the whole thing scared me and I forgot to watch for my telephone. It slid out of my pocket somewhere. When Fedi came home we backed tracked and he kept calling my phone with his. We found it and I was very thankful.
I found out that my fears because of the recent break-ins our not founded. The ranger told Fedi people here never break-in a cabin that is occupied. It’s never been done ever to their knowledge. They said I probably did see a flashlight by the creek because it is the trout’s mating season and people come at night and spear them. I wonder what they thought when I yelled out the window? Oh well.
November 2, 2003
Well, we were just visited by some neighbors, who live about 4 kilometers down the mountain. They were interested in the waterpower. It was 2 old ladies, one drunk, one not….one older man, possibly drunk….one younger couple with their 2 kids, not drunk.
Anyway, I got a lot of hugs and kisses. Rebekah and Anni talked quite a bit afterwards about the lady with the moustache. When they left our house they wrapped rags around their bare feet and slid them into their boots. The cultural differences are huge between the village people and us. What’s funny to me is that the village people don’t consider themselves to be poor. The ragged, smelly old man we picked up several times already has 5 cows and at least 3 pigs. The people are always giving us apples, pears, potatoes, preserves, etc. They actually do better than the city people. In the city they have normal plumbing, nicer clothes, etc but they sometimes have no food. In smaller villages there is plenty of food. They all have cows, chickens, pigs, apple trees and a simpler life style. They also are used to their life and it’s fine with them. The atmosphere in the city is different. The people see in the stores all the time things they want and can’t afford. Most of the girls and young women wear those jeans with the faded stripes down the front. They are more discontented and more complaining about how poor they are. It’s harder for them to make ends meet because of the high price of food. I know Leventa’s wife told Csilla several times when they literally had no money for food. Csilla is tight right now and asked us to bring her some potatoes. But the city people insist on cell phones and cable TV and fashionable clothes.
There is one thing that seems worse in the villages and that’s alcohol. I haven’t seen many drunk people in Csilla’s city but in the villages it’s bad.
Yesterday was Nov. 1st-The day of the Dead. It sounds bad but I found it to be a very nice thing. Pretty much everyone visits the cemeteries and lights lots of candles by their relative’s graves. Then they stand there quietly and remember them. At nightfall the cemeteries were glowing with thousands of candles. Police are there to direct traffic at the bigger cemeteries. It’s very respectful. As Fedi said, you don’t dare miss it or you would be considered a terrible person. We visited his father’s grave and his grandma’s and grandpa’s graves. Everyone wore black but me, Fedi forgot to tell me to.
November 6, 2003
This has been an uneventful week for me. Monday, Fedi went to town to buy nails and other supplies to make the bunk beds with. He has enough wood to make them from the logging he did. Tuesday he made a pig trough from a big log, a door for the pig pen and started on the bunk beds. Wednesday, Fedi had to go back to town for the final closing for our house and several errands. He got home about 7:00 p.m. but said he had to leave again. Attila, the cow rancher’s son needed help unloading food for the cows. It was an all night job that if it wasn’t done then, the food would have been stolen. His father, the cow rancher, is at the doctor; he was attacked by his bull. It’s not sure if he has to go to the hospital or not. Also the bull damaged another car. He will have to be more controlled. Fedi and I drove through the town as the cows were returning home last week. As we passed the bull he turned and put his head on our car. There was no damage but he didn’t really try.
Yesterday evening the girls and I made our own monopoly game out of cardboard and paper. It worked surprisingly well considering that it has probably been 25 years since I played and we made it from my memory.
November 12, 2o03
Well the 3rd kids club on Saturday was very nice. Two of Reka’s friends came. The games, Bible story, and singing were all great. They would like me to have the story next week. Here I sit with all the instructions and story in Hungarian, hoping I can nail Fedi down to translate it all.
The Friday evening village mission has suffered a setback. For some reason the young group leader thought that they shouldn’t be doing it. That leaves just Fedi and Leventa to follow-up. I think they are going to plug away at it.
Fedi worked all day on Monday on the kid’s bunk beds. They are pretty massive looking things all out of pine trees. If he would stay home more I bet he could get one done in about 3 more days. The kids are sleeping on the couch until he gets finished.
Last Sunday morning we all (Fedi too) took a great hike. We saw 7 or 8 (no kidding) piles of bear droppings. It is unmistakable. I think Fedi is going to try to sell the gun he has in America and try to buy one here. He talked to an official of the hunting club here who at first told Fedi it was not possible for a foreigner. After he found out Fedi was from his hometown then he said it might be possible. Otherwise the kids and I have made plans of what to do in case we run into a bear on a hike. If there are no climbable trees, we will stand in a circle with sticks. I don’t think running is an option. We trip a lot. Anyway the view was worth the worry. Rebekah said it’s like being on top of the world.
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