news from the east

     I always feel like these blog posts have to be really structured and official and epic. But life isn't epic and its rarely structured or official so i guess I'll just give up and post what I got. 

    Things are going really well, a lot of things have changed for me out here. Probably one of the biggest that I've noticed is some of my political stances. I really love Romania don't get me wrong but I think that I have seen some things that have pushed me back toward the right a little bit. I really think that while a lot of good can be done via government programs that it is really the lazy way of doing it. The government will never do as good of a job as the private sector can. The problem is that its easier to vote for someone else to go do something instead of doing it ourselves. But lets be honest problems are better solved by the people who feel it is a problem and 'if you want something done right do it yourself'. That pushes me back into some solution-less territory but I suppose its ok to be there until I can figure out my opinions. I think that the U.S. as much as it was founded on principles of freedom and liberty was also founded on a base of hardwork. I think that if we take that out of the mix than you begin to lose the engine of democracy.

     Enough with politics let it be known however that for the first time maybe ever I felt some pride in my culture a few weeks ago when we were at an american restaurant with the group and a friend from Romania and I was trying to explain all of the sweet foods that we have in the states (its not a lot but I really like BBQ) I really wanted him to experience it for himself but I guess it will have to wait.

    The kids, I'll be honest I didn't come here to 'hold babies' I just figured it would be a cool opportunity to live in a foreign country but my feelings have changed some. While it has been fun to be here and experience eastern europe I have also come to be pretty fond of these kids. Yeah I play favorites Valentina is really cool. She enjoys acting like a monkey and sticking her hand in the most disgusting thing she can find and licking it! She keeps me on my toes. Maria is also really fun, she really likes to be held and is like a little mom to all the kids. Amazingly she is one of the only kids that interacts with the others. I started working two days a week in another room about 2 weeks ago. There I battle Ana who is about 9 or 10 she is quite the trouble maker and has some serious behavior issues but for whatever reason I enjoy the competition and battle that happens everyday in there. Andrei is another monkey man he's the only kid in the room that will take on Ana even though she twice his age and size. I wish I could elaborate all of the kids have their fun little qwirks and although sometimes I get bored for the most part I really enjoy being there.

    The hospital has also changed for me in the past few weeks. I had a really hard time in the beginning spending more than 15 minutes with an infant and now I am much better at just hanging out with them and holding them for 30 minutes to an hour it really helps when Brit is there I suppose there is inspiration in that whole marriage idea :) 

    With the end of this program not to far in the future its been really fun to reflect and realize what I should do before I go home to finish the way that I want to. I compare the ending of this experience to the end of my brother Landon's as he finishes his mission in Brazil. I get asked questions like "well are you getting sick of it?" "Are you getting ready to come home?" while he gets showered with hard hitting inspirational quotes and stories to "FINISH STRONG" and "RETURN WITH HONOR" really I just think its funny more than anything but it hit me the other day that 'enduring to the end' entails a lot more than just working hard at the end. You have to push yourself hard throughout the whole thing. That includes anything in life and especially life itself. I suppose doing your best in everything that you do is more than just a phrase that we tell 5th graders at their band concerts.

    Well thats what I have been thinking about here at the end of the days in Romania. Hopefully we'll get some more pictures in the slideshow viewers and maybe we'll even add some music to the page. Who knows?

Our View

I Just wanted to post a few quick pictures that Justin took of part of our neighborhood because I thought they were so beautiful.



These two photos are of the Metropolitan Cathedral, it is a really famous church in Romania because the bones of a famous saint are on display there and you can actually touch the finger-bone of the saint.



This one is a really beautiful cloud shot.

We had an 80's night on Saturday night with all the girls. We went out to dinner and then watched Top Gun at our apartment; it was awesome and everyone looked so 80's!



From left to right, Jenae, Melissa, Jessica, Marie, Katie and Me (Justin is taking the photo)!

Since Justin wasn't in the picture I wanted to make sure to get a picture of what he looked like on our 80's night. I'm actually not sure if anyone in Romania noticed that we were really dressed up because the 80's look is very in in Romania.



He (and I) actually really love this shirt! I wish I had a picture of his pants, they're even better!

Hope everyone is doing great! We miss you and we'll be back to Utah in about 2 months and we'll be in Missouri in May for all those who live there. This has been such an incredible growing experience for both of us and we feel so lucky to have been able to come!

Constanta

Hello Everyone!

I know it has been a really long time since my last post, so I have a lot to catch up on. Last week was our mid-semester retreat. Our group ended up going to Constanta, Romania. It is right off the coast of the Black Sea and is actually one of the biggest ports in Europe. It is winter still, even near the coast, so it was pretty cold, but it was wonderful anyway. We spent a lot of time just walking around the pier, looking at the ocean and collecting seashells, it was really peaceful. The first day we went down to the pier there were these three accordion players playing on the pier as we were walking, it gave me one of the most surreal feelings I have had in a really long time. I loved it. It was even romantic because Justin and I started dancing to the music, right on the edge of the pier next to the ocean..=) Then Maylee saw that we were having a really fun time and she wanted to dance with us, so all three of us started dancing and then people started watching us and the accordion player started singing, it was amazing! I felt like I was in a movie. Sunday after church Justin and I decided to take a walk around the giant lake that the branch was located by. We ended up finding the beach in Mamaia, a town just out side of Constanta, which apparently is really close to where the branch meets and we walked around on the sandy beach (the beach in Constanta wasn't sandy, it was just a beach full of shells). Our walk lasted about 2 hours and we were able to see a lot. Since it is winter in Constanta there weren't a whole lot of people around, but it seems to me that during the summer it can get pretty busy. There were a lot of shops, especially by the beach that weren't open. I really enjoyed being there when it the city was a little more desolate because it seemed like we were there alone and everything was quite, but it also made me wonder what the city would be like in the summer when it is more alive. It was a really relaxing trip and I was so grateful that the program has us take a week off. It was a much needed break for all of us.