I guess everyone has their own breed of adventures when they step outside that door. As it turns out, it can be quite a dangerous affair. My adventure begins on the way to the airport.
We left for the airport at 6 AM, and made it almost all the way up the interstate before disaster struck. Disaster in the form of a car crash. Luckily, the crash only involved our own car. Our car and a concrete divider, that is. The car was totaled, but we were fine. Technically, I can't say I walked away without a scratch. I got a single scratch along my neck from the seat belt impact when we crashed. So yeah, already have my first battle wound from my adventure! I'm pretty impressive.
Anywho, I had to call ILP to come pick me up from the side of the road to get me to the airport in time. Seriously, feeling SO blessed that both of us were okay and that we were so close to the airport, making it possible for me to catch my flight.
Our flight itinerary was as follows: Salt Lake City to Chicago--Chicago to Amsterdam--Amsterdam to Bucharest. The first flight went off without any hitches. When we reached Chicago.... Everything began to collapse.
"Honor thy Father and thy Mother"
Quite honestly, I had no desire to go up to the airline representative and connect my frequent flyer account to the boarding pass ILP gave me. I have a fear of talking to "official" people, whether that
be representatives, operators, or even the pizza guy on the phone (for that last one, in person doesn't bother me. I'm just weird.) Well I had this nagging feeling to do it anyways. So I go up, they scan my pass and search my name in the system and....
"It looks like your flight reservation was cancelled."
What. Panic.
"Ah here it is. Your ticket is changed, now you're flying to Brussels instead of Amsterdam. Your flight is in 1 hour. Go out of the terminal, take the train to terminal 1, go back through security, and go to your gate."
More panic.
The next thirty minutes was insanity. I told my group what was happening and all 12 of us had to have the representative look us up in the system. Rapidly we found out 8 of us were switched to another airline to fly to Brussels, one girl was flying alone on the original flight, and 3 had no boarding passes in the system. We raced to the other terminal, fuming with anger that we had received no warning, headed through security for what would be the third of 4 times that day, and made it to our flight. Eventually the other 3 girls made it onto our flight (they went through the same thing in Brussels).
Crisis averted? Not yet.
But if my dad hadn't insisted I talked to someone about my frequent flyer account, we may not have found out about the flight changes in time. Scary.
Luggage gets lost all the time, though, right? Totally normal!
But SIXTEEN BAGS? You'd think that'd be cause for a bit of attention. It's day 4 now since we've been in Iasi, and still there is no word. In fact, there is no record of our luggage after Chicago. Joy.
I know I sound like I am positively miserable, but that is not even remotely true. In fact, after the car crash, everything we dealt with that day just seemed comical. I realized in panicky situations. I start laughing uncontrollably. So I guess I have neither fight nor flight tendencies. Just straight up laughing til there are tears streaming down my face.
"Get off the road! Quick!"
Things looked a little brighter by the time we reached Iasi. My 3 roommates and I have already bonded to the point where we can openly mock each other for what bums we are without any of our stuff. My apartment is pretty nice! The most surprising thing about Romania? It's so green! Man, it reminds me of Pennsylvania so much. I love it. It almost feels like coming home.
Okay, time to summarize Iasi. It's a weird combination of sketchy old buildings that look rather disgusting, quite frankly and some of the most beautiful architecture ever. Just like the air is a combination of smoke and sewage as well as pastry shops and green plant life. Seriously, there are pastry shops EVERYWHERE you look. It's fantastic.
The roads here are a combination of life threatening drivers who seem to barely avert catastrophe at every turn and such courteous acknowledgment of pedestrians-- they stop as soon as you get to the edge of the curb! So nice. Sounds pretty sweet, huh? Well apparently in Romania, sidewalks are additional parking spots for cars. Seriously. They take up the entire width of the sidewalk by driving up on the curb. It's pretty unique!
Oh another thing? Lines in Iasi seem to be optional. They are more like suggestions to them. Like, "we think the order we are standing in would be great, but hey if you want to cut ahead of us, that could work too!" We discovered this quickly at our first meal in Romania- McDonald's (don't judge). We were all in line when suddenly a group of 20+ men from the police academy forced their way in front of us! If you know me, you know that I do NOT handle it well when people come between me and my food. But if you know me you also know that I don't know Romanian sooo I couldn't do much. It's so different from acceptable behavior that we are used to.
"But what about second breakfast?"
You guessed it. Time to talk about food. Our program fee included money for food, so we receive cash for a breakfast stipend, and lunch and dinner are provided through some mystery source that we pick up food from each day. I think they're trying to ease us into Romanian food because on day one we had fried chicken and fries, but tonight we had Sarmale and Mamaligu! In other words, pork and rice wrapped in pickled cabbage and then unseasoned corn meal.
Two of my roommates are gluten intolerant, however, so I have been eating approximately 2 or 3 servings for each meal. Which is normal for me, I suppose. I really didn't mind that dinner at all, despite its appearance. I've also had some deal table things, like a corn ciocolata, which was similar to a giant croissant filled with chocolate. And then the gelato here? So cheap! It's the equivalent of maybe $1.25 for two scoops. Love it!
We've had a lot of time to explore the city and shop for things we need until we get our luggage. We visited the school where we will be teaching English and OH MY WORD are those kids cuties. I'm excited to get started.
I will be in the orphanage mo days-Friday as well as the hospital 3 days a week and the school 2. It's going to be a busy 3 months. But I already am learning so much about myself, and I can't wait to get started.
"I spent all my life pretending I was off somewhere else. Off with you, on one of your adventures. But my own adventure turned out to be quite different." --Frodo
It's nothing like I expected. There is still so much time for my expectations to be shattered and my perceptions to be reformed. I can't wait to learn about the people and dive into the language! Things haven't been easy so far, but if they had been, I don't think I would really be getting as much out of the experience as I could. Someday theses experiences will be priceless. I am so thankful that I know God is still God in Romania. It would get pretty lonely if I didn't know that He's watching out for me.
I don't know where these next few months will take me. I've always wanted the adventures I've read about in books. I'm starting to learn just how uncomfortable adventures truly are. Make you late for breakfast. They are so satisfying though. I can't wait to see what adventures lie ahead!
P.S. Future blog posts will be shorter. Sorry if you had to skip to the end.
Stay classy, America.
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