at the pool

The last two days were great. Wednesday was spent at camp Vetsca where we shoveled rocks into pathways. I cut the sleeves off of two of my older t-shirts to get rid of this awful farmer's tan. I know I said that I'd never do such a thing, but it was about time. I worked very hard and got a bit sun burned. Yesterday I volunteered to go to the pool called The Weekend with the orphans from camp that Livada takes care of. They are so much fun and very well-behaved. Playing with those kids took a lot of my energy but it was so worth it. They jumped on me, chased me, had me chase them threw water at me, threw food in my mouth, taught me how to flip and lots of other fun stuff. One kid, Cornell, told me very seriously when we got out of the pool,
"You have... how you say... (asking another kid: Cum se spune en romaneshte blah blah blah) You have Boobs."
I dies. It was hilarious. I thought I was going to hear something important. Another great thing about the pool was the culture there. By that I mean the men's speedos and women's thongs. I guess clothing must be limited in Romania.
Speaking of clothing, this morning a large group went thrift store shopping because it was our day off. And you know me, I just had to go. Well, we got to the first store and I looked for some stuff because the store was having a sale where everything was 1 lei (40 cents). I found a pink polka-dotted silk shirt that had my name written all over it. The coolest thing about going shopping was meeting this guy, Peter. Peter was a younger man who approached me while I was with our group. He asked me first, "Are you a Christian?" I said of course and he said that he wanted to shop with us. I said that was fine and then he spilled his guts to me and gave me his testimony. He was a Gypsy and just got out of a 7 year stint in jail about 6 months ago. While in jail he contracted HIV and now he has only a little bit of time to leave. He told me he was baptized and received the Holy Spirit while he was in jail and now he wants to live out the rest of his life serving the Lord so he can make the most of his time. This guy really touched my heart and I wanted to talk to him a bit more, but he started to creep out some of the people we were with because he was a little touchy feely so we had to part ways. But he told me where his church was and I'm going to try and go to that church this Sunday. I'll keep you posted.
Last night we had to make dinner for ourselves so we went shopping for ourselves at the grocery store. It was an adventure. I bought some bulk cheese, some delicious European style bread, pasta, sauce, and an American Action Soda, which is a funny name for a not so great Romanian imitation soda. I make garlic bread and it was pretty tasty. After dinner, I sat down with a few of the girls from the trip and had some "girl talk." I'm getting in touch with my feminine side while I'm here. I'll keep uploading pictures as much as I can. I am taking so many that it's hard to keep up with the slower internet here. Sorry.