Alderfers/Wolfingers:
What a joy it was to have the Alderfers and the Wolfingers visit us a few weeks ago. And, as in all cases, the time passed like the blink of an eye. That week was the best in the year.
As soon as joyful greetings and hugs were exchanged, they told Alex and me to open up a few suitcases, which were full of gifts from the U.S., mostly food. I felt overwhelmed at how many things were there, and at how many people had thought of us and given freely. I would like to thank everyone who sent things to us. It made me miss you all more.
On Tuesday the Alderfers and Wolfingers planned a graduation party for Alex, complete with cards, gown, plates, and all. We sent Alex with the men (or should I just say “we sent the men”? I think Alex would like that) off to work at Jina while we prepared a cake and decorated. He had no idea. Up until a few months from now, we had all thought we would go to the U.S. for Alex’s graduation next year; but ever since we found out he would graduate early, that put some change in our plans. I think it was special for him, coming home, tired from working, to a party thrown in his honor. He even put together a funny impromptu speech thanking everyone. I was proud of him, but it also made me feel old. My brother just graduated from high school!
The next two days were our trip to Bucharest, the capital of Romania (and a couple of places on the way). I’ve been told I visited Bucharest before, in 2005, but I don’t remember it at all. When people find out I live in Transylvania (a district way more popular than its own country), usually the first question I get asked is, “Are there any vampires?” I can now say that I visited Dracula’s Castle, and no, there are still no vampires. We visited another castle, called Peleș Castle, and stayed at Timoteus Biblical Universty overnight.
On Friday night, Mrs. Wolfinger and Auntie Gerri had a Cupcake Night for the women of the church in Jina. I don’t think any of them had ever eaten a cupcake before, so it was a new experience and a sweet ;) metaphorical lesson. And, of course, the cupcakes were delicious.
Death By Ciorbă:
One of Mom’s attempts to integrate the Romanian culture into us is by making ciorbă. There are two kinds of soup in Romania: Supă and ciorbă (SOUP-uh and CHOR-buh). Supă is like American chicken soup, and ciorbă is any kind of vegetable soup. I love supă, and I like some kinds of ciorbă. But on one particular day, Mom made ciorbă with all kinds of veggies inside: celery, potato, carrot, zucchini, peas, and more :P. Some were chopped, and some were cut into small pieces. I had no doubt it was nutritious, but my taste buds obviously didn’t take that into consideration.
Usually I can make ciorbă taste better by adding some sour cream, so I tried that. I accidentally dumped too much in, so now the soup tasted like veggie sour cream. Then my parents gave me some motivation: cake. I guess you all know what happened to the ciorbă after that. Like my dad said in his presentation two years ago: Romanian cake is worth crossing the ocean for.
School:
School is great, because it’s over (mostly). Alex and I only have some reading and Romanian to do over the summer. Romanian is becoming gradually easier. I still can’t understand sermons or speeches without help—because constant translation in my head is not that easy when my Romanian vocab is still limited—but I can manage in conversation, especially if the other party does most of the talking ;).
This past week was a busy one. We had VBS at Jina on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and then we went to a Pastor-and-family conference.
VBS:
This year, I accompanied the songs for VBS on the piano, and Alex on the guitar. Afterwards, I was Dad’s little (big?) helper with game time. Everyone loves that part of VBS. The older kids, and leaders especially, were very competitive. Dad had the leaders play too, sometimes—something some of them hadn’t done in years.
This year the theme for VBS was “Cartea Fară Cuvinte” or, The Wordless Book. We got supplies from AMEC (CEF): lessons and songs, mainly. I remembered singing the Wordless Book song in Sparks, so I noticed that in this program, the Wordless Book started with gold/yellow (heaven), while the version I knew starts with black and puts yellow in the middle of the Book. Alex and I learned the songs provided: they were easy and fun, especially when our parents sang along to practice. Each child, in crafts, got to make a wordless book, adding more on for each day. Finally this morning in church we put on a PowerPoint with pictures of the kids, and did a little program with verses and songs for the parents. (I say “we”, but it was basically Alex who put the PowerPoint together.)
Conference/retreat:
We went for a 3-day conference for pastors in the Sibiu Baptist Association (around 80 churches) and their families. It was about 3 hours away, in a district of Romania populated mostly by Hungarians. Many of the signs include both Romanian, and Hungarian. The retreat had sessions taught by Americans, but they were mostly for the adults (ministry, family, ...), so Alex and I mostly played games outside with some English-speaking friends.
What a joy it was to have the Alderfers and the Wolfingers visit us a few weeks ago. And, as in all cases, the time passed like the blink of an eye. That week was the best in the year.
As soon as joyful greetings and hugs were exchanged, they told Alex and me to open up a few suitcases, which were full of gifts from the U.S., mostly food. I felt overwhelmed at how many things were there, and at how many people had thought of us and given freely. I would like to thank everyone who sent things to us. It made me miss you all more.
On Tuesday the Alderfers and Wolfingers planned a graduation party for Alex, complete with cards, gown, plates, and all. We sent Alex with the men (or should I just say “we sent the men”? I think Alex would like that) off to work at Jina while we prepared a cake and decorated. He had no idea. Up until a few months from now, we had all thought we would go to the U.S. for Alex’s graduation next year; but ever since we found out he would graduate early, that put some change in our plans. I think it was special for him, coming home, tired from working, to a party thrown in his honor. He even put together a funny impromptu speech thanking everyone. I was proud of him, but it also made me feel old. My brother just graduated from high school!
The next two days were our trip to Bucharest, the capital of Romania (and a couple of places on the way). I’ve been told I visited Bucharest before, in 2005, but I don’t remember it at all. When people find out I live in Transylvania (a district way more popular than its own country), usually the first question I get asked is, “Are there any vampires?” I can now say that I visited Dracula’s Castle, and no, there are still no vampires. We visited another castle, called Peleș Castle, and stayed at Timoteus Biblical Universty overnight.
On Friday night, Mrs. Wolfinger and Auntie Gerri had a Cupcake Night for the women of the church in Jina. I don’t think any of them had ever eaten a cupcake before, so it was a new experience and a sweet ;) metaphorical lesson. And, of course, the cupcakes were delicious.
Death By Ciorbă:
One of Mom’s attempts to integrate the Romanian culture into us is by making ciorbă. There are two kinds of soup in Romania: Supă and ciorbă (SOUP-uh and CHOR-buh). Supă is like American chicken soup, and ciorbă is any kind of vegetable soup. I love supă, and I like some kinds of ciorbă. But on one particular day, Mom made ciorbă with all kinds of veggies inside: celery, potato, carrot, zucchini, peas, and more :P. Some were chopped, and some were cut into small pieces. I had no doubt it was nutritious, but my taste buds obviously didn’t take that into consideration.
Usually I can make ciorbă taste better by adding some sour cream, so I tried that. I accidentally dumped too much in, so now the soup tasted like veggie sour cream. Then my parents gave me some motivation: cake. I guess you all know what happened to the ciorbă after that. Like my dad said in his presentation two years ago: Romanian cake is worth crossing the ocean for.
School:
School is great, because it’s over (mostly). Alex and I only have some reading and Romanian to do over the summer. Romanian is becoming gradually easier. I still can’t understand sermons or speeches without help—because constant translation in my head is not that easy when my Romanian vocab is still limited—but I can manage in conversation, especially if the other party does most of the talking ;).
This past week was a busy one. We had VBS at Jina on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and then we went to a Pastor-and-family conference.
VBS:
This year, I accompanied the songs for VBS on the piano, and Alex on the guitar. Afterwards, I was Dad’s little (big?) helper with game time. Everyone loves that part of VBS. The older kids, and leaders especially, were very competitive. Dad had the leaders play too, sometimes—something some of them hadn’t done in years.
This year the theme for VBS was “Cartea Fară Cuvinte” or, The Wordless Book. We got supplies from AMEC (CEF): lessons and songs, mainly. I remembered singing the Wordless Book song in Sparks, so I noticed that in this program, the Wordless Book started with gold/yellow (heaven), while the version I knew starts with black and puts yellow in the middle of the Book. Alex and I learned the songs provided: they were easy and fun, especially when our parents sang along to practice. Each child, in crafts, got to make a wordless book, adding more on for each day. Finally this morning in church we put on a PowerPoint with pictures of the kids, and did a little program with verses and songs for the parents. (I say “we”, but it was basically Alex who put the PowerPoint together.)
Conference/retreat:
We went for a 3-day conference for pastors in the Sibiu Baptist Association (around 80 churches) and their families. It was about 3 hours away, in a district of Romania populated mostly by Hungarians. Many of the signs include both Romanian, and Hungarian. The retreat had sessions taught by Americans, but they were mostly for the adults (ministry, family, ...), so Alex and I mostly played games outside with some English-speaking friends.
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