Thursday, October 25, 2007

A Child Shall Lead Them....

Our building fund received its first donation today-from a 3rd grader. How neat to hear the story of him emptying his coin purse because he wanted to be a part of the new building! Truly a special kid! 45 bani gets us started (about 20 cents)!

You can be a part of our building program too! Check out the information at:
BCA's Website

Sunday, October 21, 2007

100 Posts

So, this is my little song and dance because of this truly amazing landmark:) Hope you can all celebrate with me...

IKEA

I am becoming very fond of IKEA. Although they haven't had the tupperware I am looking for the last three visits, I still love to go and wander through the store looking at things that are colorful and beautifully arranged. I went a couple weeks ago and had my eye on a corner bakers rack. I went Friday morning, picked it up, carried it home on the bus, and assembled it. It now sits in my "balcony" with all my plants. My "balcony" was looking a little sparse so I ended up going back to IKEA yesterday to buy a comfy chair and small table to sit on the opposite end. My "balcony" makes me smile:) I also bought some new pots so all my plants aren't in the standard brown plastic pots anymore-yeah!

Friday, October 19, 2007

Preview of Bucharest



I came across this one day while searching for some other information. I thought you might enjoy a glimpse of my city:)

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Train Companions



Here we are all snuggled together in our shared compartment:) Don't you wish you could join us?

Train Ride

How long is a 1.5 hour train ride from Sinaia to Bucharest?

Last weekend I went up to Sinaia with two other women. We were awed by the beauty of creation all around us during the ride. The trees were changing colors and the mountains are always beautiful! We had a wonderful day together-touring the castle, walking through the shops, stopping at the monastery, and eating lunch together.

We decided to take the 5pm train back to the city, bought our tickets and waited. It appeared that all would be normal for our train ride. We arrived at Campina 30 min later and stayed at the station for an hour-much longer than the standard 3-5 min stop. I had heard there was some construction being done on tracks so I didn't think too much about it. No information is given, so you just sit and wait-there really isn't anything else you can do.

We finally pulled out and continued toward Bucharest. 5 min into the journey, we heard some strange noises and then in another few minutes. The second set of noises were quickly followed by a thump and a slowing train. It isn't unusual to stop between stations, but this stop was rather extended and people started looking out the windows and even getting off the train. We later found out that the power lines had fallen, cracking the front window on the train. We would be unable to move until they were righted. There was the option of walking to the next major road to catch another form of transportation, but it was getting dark and raining.

So, we waited. There was an American team on the train-further toward the back. We went and sat with them to get regular updates from the Romanians traveling with them who went out to talk with people and take pictures.

The repair train showed up some time later and finally we were able to make our way toward Bucharest. Instead of arriving at 6:40 as planned, our train pulled in at 10:00. So, the 1.5 hour ride was 5.