Work Week

This week has been pretty good. I saw the orphan this past week and it rocked. I played and played with them. They so badly wanted somebody to give them the attention that they don't ever get. Just playing soccer with them made their day. The big orphanage, Zau, is so depressing and dark. Their living space is minimal and their beds are lumpy and old while their playground is full of rusty hazards. Th most memorable thing though was their shoes. None of them had a decent pair of shoes. Two of them had worn out old man slippers. Half of them didn't have shoe laces. One girl's toes were busting out of the front of her worn 1992 Reebok sneakers which were too small.
The baby hospital was a life changing experience. Romanian law is such that no children under are allowed to be in orphanages, so the hospitals become large orphanages for the unwanted or the sick babies. I played with one boy and threw him up and down which made him laugh. After that I stood with this blind 4 year old girl who couldn't move her broken back. She laid in bed all day with her arms stiff and tucked in and no stimulation. I moved her arms and tickled her which made her smile. That is a moment I'll never forget. The babies rooms were all white with a single window and lots of used and dirty toys. It's a shame that Romania has a moritorium on adoptions outside the country.
The last three days I have spent using my body until it is sore and useless. Weve put up 18 huge tents, move giant wooden platforms, moved dumptruck loads of rock, strung wiring, cleaned kitchens, gotten sunburned, seen Romanian mice, gotten bit by horse flies, etc. It's been great to do manual labor. It's so freeing and rewarding. Then we (the 6 guys) come home and do a deck of cards push up game where you do the number of push ups that are on the card. It's pretty intense and I always lose the game. This usually leaves me pretty sore for the next day, like right now.
I live in a room with 6 guys: me, Jeremy, Jules (Brian Briley, camp leader, eldest son), Jake, Darem, and Brian Schlarb. These guys are down to earth and smart and funny and dedicated and fun and know the Bible and God. It's so good. We have lots of man time together in our room and talk about girls, farting, and faith. It's more rewarding than being lame with my fraternity brothers. We've told scary stroies and all of that junk. It's so good to meet nice godly guys. It kinda makes me understand when girls complain that there aren't enough good guys out there.

First Impression

I got to South Carolina fine. We stayed at the leader, Brian Briley's house for the first night and it was pretty interesting. Three guys stayed there, me I got to sleep in the teenage daughter's room, very pink. The other two guys shared a pull out couch which was not comfy. They didn't know each other before that. The next day was orientation at the church. I met everyone and they are really great. Such nice people. I stayed with Jeremy, one of the pull out couch guys, at a hosts house. It was great. We played nintendo Wii, ate at Moe's (awesome Southwestern chain in the South), played Guitar Hero, ate awesome kettle corn, went to Walmart, and watched Nacho Libre. We also ate the BEST breakfast I've ever had. I didn't know the other host families, but ours was easily the best. It was so great and amazing to have them host us before we left.

I'm safely here in Targu Mures and it's everything I hoped. The town
is beautiful. I've been snapping a lot of pictures of the town and the
houses, and everything I think that looks interesting. I'm currently
eating dinner in a guests house. The time difference is crazy. The
town center is amazing and everyone here is just a little difference.
I never thought I'd be in Europe. We landed in Munich and I started
acting nuts. The fact that I'm in Europe is insane. I can't believe
it. The flight over was actually pretty good. We had our own TV screen
and I watched 27 dresses and 10000 BC. Also, the TV had a map of our
plane and where we were at. I was hypnotized by that thing. It was
amazing to see that we were flying over London and Paris and
Newfoundland. I sat in the middle of a 5 person row, but there was a
Romanian lady and we practiced my speaking. I'm getting really really
good!! The plane to Bucharest was pretty fun, I talked to a guy who
told me I could have a girlfriend in Romania and in the States too. It
was actually really funny. We got here and it was crazy. Romania is so
different. The cars, the people, the money, the clothes, the attitude.
I've been soaking everything in. We rode a bus for 6 hours to TM and
we got to see the country side. By the way, I made a vow not to sleep
from Wednesday until Thursday night here to get over the jet lag. We
got to town and it is really nice. We walked around last night and I
started to feel like I was going to pass out on the street both
because I was tired and my ears didn't pop right and I was off
balance. Everything with that is fine now. I sacked out last night.
Today we shopped around for some weird food and some European shoes.
The experience is great. THe people I am with are great and I'm
becoming good friends with my guy roommates. Our room is perfect. I
expected a dungeon, but I got a great house. Amazing.

I promise to post lots of pictures very soon. They are much better than me talking about Romania.

Next week is work week. Then its orphan time. I will update, post pictures, and do lots of talking to you folks as time goes on. Feel free to comment on my blog because 1. you can and 2. I will respond to you.

Te iubesc Romania.

Getting Ready to Leave

I'm all packed up and leaving tomorrow from Chicago to fly to South Carolina for a few days of orientation. I'm allowed to pack one checked bag (only 50 pounds, which is tougher than it sounds), and I chose to pack the largest bag I could find. My mom calls it a body bag, if that gives you any idea of how huge this thing is. The photo at the left doesn't really do it justice. Its hard to pack for two full months when you don't know what to expect.




I was also told to bring enough snacks to last for each day I was there. This was a more difficult feat given my eating abilities and desires. I know one of the positive benefits from this trip will most likely be significant weight loss. See the picture at the right-- I chose Walmart-quality raisins and granola bars to keep me alive for two months. Romanian food is supposedly mincemeat sausage wrapped in pickled cabbage. One thing I'll certainly miss is Fusion Brew, which is a fantastic espresso and bubble tea cafe in Bloomington, IL (where my fiancee works... more on that later!). I wonder if there is any bubble tea in Targu Mures...

I couldn't resist getting into my snacks a little early.












In addition to snacking, recently I asked my girlfriend of almost 4 years to marry me. The photo to the right is when I proposed. I took her out to China town where we first met and went to the same restaurant. When we went there 4 years ago, she got a joke fortune cookie which said, "Will you marry me?" This time, however, I gave her a wrapped non-joke cookie which said "Jackie, will you marry me?"


She said yes.



yessssssssssssssssssssssssss







Here is a shot of the bling. We're really excited to be engaged. Thanks to everyone who has let us borrow their cars, given us rides, or coerced us into dating each other over the years. It has been and is sure to be wonderful.