It has been a long time!!

Unfortunately, bad weather has kept us from exploring Romania like we want to. We have gone to visit Joe's sister Cialla (pronounced Sheila). She and her husband Attila have two boys just bookending Declan's age! The boys got on great! Cialla lives outside Tigru Mures. The country side around there is very beautiful with huge hills and many lakes. In their village, the people mostly speak Hungarian, so my new limited ability for Romanian was useless. Of course, as most family reunions are, there was great food and a lot of laughing. Here they don't have BBQ's or grilling machines, so they grill food over fire, outside. You know, is was less mess and hardly any clean up. I guess some things are better the Romanian way.

Happy Birthday, Declan!! 6 years old.

Declan's first birthday in Romania was a hit. He and five friends ate, sang, and played the day away (we bowled with plastic bottles and a rubber ball). Joe and I are letting him pick out a puppy. It has yet to wean from it's Mama, should be another week. Thank you to Mimi, she added songs to Declan's Ipod. Delcan also received a birthday card from his friend Claire from Michigan. Claire drew a great picture of her and Declan together. Thanks for all your birthday wishes!! Enjoy the pictures.

New Layout!!

Hopefully with the new colors on my blog, spring will get jealous and finally come.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today is Mother's Day in Romania. I just wanted to wish all my friends and family of the female gender a great day.

Declan has been in school here for about 3 weeks. He almost sounds native (except for the Michigan/Texas accent). His Romanian is vastly improving. AND I was right...Joe and Declan do talk about me, right in front of me. I have barely an idea of what they are saying.

Spring is trying to spring here, so I will soon post more frequently and upload pictures. Right now y'all will just have to make do with pics of Declan and his classmates from the Mother's day presentation. Enjoy.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Hey everyone! Two new things to talk about. Declan now has a pet, well two actually. Joe got him pet birds. Finches. They are very cute. One has a molting head, so Declan named him Joe II. Yes, Declan thought of it himself. The other news is Declan started school here. It was not a happy drop off, but when I checked in later, the teacher said he was OK. Declan is speaking Romanian pretty well so far, Joe thinks he will be fluent in about two weeks.

We have had a few calls on the apartment so far, but only one person has looked at it. Keep your fingers crossed that we sell soon. I need to get a job, and England is the place for that.

Long time no post...

Hey everyone! Sorry it has been a long time. Honestly, it is so cold here all we can do is stay inside. We have finish fixing up the house and put it on the market. Unfortunately, nothing else is new here. We have taken Declan up to the hills to go sledding a couple of times. I am learning how to bake and cook new foods. We are also looking to move to England as soon as this place sells. We already have Declan enrolled in school there. Nothing else exciting is happening. I will post some cool pictures though.

Dear Santa,

Dear Santa,

I hope this year finds you and Mrs. Claus well. Just dropping you a little note for my Christmas wishes. This year, Santa, I would like some toilet paper, nice soft toilet paper. Also, some hot fries, not the Andy Capp kind, the ones made by Toms. Oh and some Dr. Pepper, lots and lots of Dr. Pepper. Can you bottle and deliver the feeling of girls night out with my friends. Also, make a recording of the sounds that Delcan and his friends made while playing and screaming without a care! I would also like to have a back patio B-B-Q with our neighbors, at our home back in Michigan. How about one more get together with my family back in Texas. Well, if that is not possible, Santa, I'll be happy with soft tp, because this year Joe, Declan and I are back together and that is the best wish ever!

Love,
Christi

P.S. I wish everyone a big and joyful season.

Happy St. Nicholas Day!!!

Here is a link for people the use to explain St. Nichlas' Day!

http://www.stnicholascenter.org


Also, enjoy the video. Sorry...malfunction.

I will try to upload the video on facebook.

It's been too long.

We are still working on the apartment. Still painting, still spackling, still cleaning out dresser drawers, hidey holes, closets, pantry, under kitchen sinks, and anywhere else that anything can be stored. Remember back when I mentioned Joe's Mom loved to read and she had somewhere around 200-300 books. Well, actually she had just over 620ish. Those were the ones in decent condition, the others we threw out. We have trying to find dealers for stuff we think is worthy, almost no luck. They don't do garage sales here, d*mn it.

On the other hand we have been to Dej, it is about 10 miles away and we took the train. Declan had a blast. Perspective...tickets for 2 adults and 1 child cost 2 romanian dollars more than a 2 Lt. of Coke. HMMM? I told y'all they value stuff differently over here. Food is valued rather high. Example 1 Kg of cheese is 27 Ron (romanian currency), coke is 4.23 Ron (not the stuff you snort, though I can't even image how much THAT would be), candy is over 2 Ron and the size is smaller than in the US.

Back to Dej, it is a slightly larger town than Gherla. To be honest it was not that impressive. Is was dirty, stray dogs everywhere again. People were in more of a hurry, a little more rude. A couple of times Declan and I were broken apart just so someone could walk through. The only reason we went was to pick a package from the post office (thanks Mom). That will probably be the only reason we go back.

BTW, Happy Belated Thanksgiving everyone. This thanksgiving, I am thankful we are back together again. Hope y'all had a great black Friday. Sylvia, thank you for helping me with my Christmas shopping!!

Chicken Butt

I have officially had my exclusive Romanian moment. I have baked chicken before, I have carved chicken before, and I have cut up, filleted, chopped or whatever you want to call it, before. As I am preparing the chicken to bake as I usually do, image my surprise when I pull out the head and feet out of the cavity instead of the innards. You know what, I am done with this post. Write y'all later.



Seriously, what the HELL am I going the do with the head and feet.

Not a Girl Scout, never was.

I am a bad tourist, a very bad tourist. I know I promised pictures of the Luminatie at the cemetary. My camera died. Low battery. I know, I know, I've berated myself enough, so all you blog followers can just save it. I did have a back up though. I just have to go to the cell phone place here so I can get a usb connector that will fit Joe's camera phone. Soon I will have the pictures posted. I'll save the description for later. I will tell you it was beautiful. Later.

Culture lessons

1. I saw my first gypsy yesterday!! Well, actually, I have seen a lot of gypsies, but this is the first interaction. A little gypsy boy approached us begging for money and food. The funny thing is he was what is referred to as husky. He looks like he has never skipped a meal in his life or he has a thyroid problem. The gypsies here are considered very low class. The Romanians have accused them as being dirty, and say they steal and lie. Most gypsies, it is implied, rarely hold “real” jobs. I really have no real understanding of gypsies. The ones I have encountered are dirty and do not look mal-nourished. I have learned one thing, the term, “I’ve been gypped,” comes from being screwed in a transaction with a gypsy. DUH. I really never made that connection. One thing for sure, this incounter urged me the google gypsies. The info is conflicting...I have not finished forming an opinion. I need more info.

2. The “Luminitie” starts today. We are going to clean up the graves of Joe's Anyja (mother) and Nagymama (grandmother) today. We will place flowers today and tomorrow we will place and light the candles. This is something everyone in Romania does. A celebration and remembrance for the dead. Pretty special. Pictures to follow in a few days.

3. Lastly… Happy Anniversary to Mom and Raymond. They have been married for 25 years!!

Food...

Ok, I don't eat to live. I am of the other group... I live to eat. Problem. To be honest, I am literally have dreams of my favorite places to eat, Whataburger, Schlotzski's, Mercados (the best Mexican restaurant ever!) and Jet's Pizza, specifically the bbq chicken. BTW, there is NO DR. PEPPER. I am not used to the food here. Everything is greasy, which I usually don't complain about. They fry everything, and honestly it is overkill for me. The smell of bacon now makes me want to vomit. The markets are small and food is gold. Expensive. The selection is very limited and I don't eat fruits very often so I am down one whole food group. SO WHY HAVEN'T I LOST WEIGHT?!! Hopefully one thing I'll get out of this transatlantic experience is appreciation of basic foods, like apples, oranges, and any veggies other than potatoes.

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

Not much sight seeing lately. We are painting our apartment, and trying to find buyers for the antiques that make walking in the living space hazardous. Joe's Mom loved to read; she has a huge collection of books, including Twain, the Brontes', Agatha Christie, and a lot of foreign authors I have never heard of. I love to read to and would love to dive into her books, except for the language issue. It is killing me to give all these books up but we desperately need the space. I swear she has over 200 books. I'm sure some my even have value, but it is hard for me to know what to do about it in this country.

Still Jet Lagged!

We have been here for over a week and I am still very tired and can't get my clock straight. Declan of course is taking it all in stride. We're having a great time walking around and taking it all in. A missionary woman named Karen heard me talking today and introduced herself. She is from Ohio and has been here for 20 years. She will be introducing me to other english speakers, so hopefully I will make more friends soon. However, Joe's fiends and family are impressed with how hard Declan and I are trying to fit in, and learn the language.
More things I have noticed about Romania is the lack of dental hygiene. England has nothing on Romania. Also, on a more whymsical note is seems almost everyone has grape vines planted in their yard. I love to seem grape bunches hanging. It seems very romantic.
Joe took us to the cemetery where his mother and grandmother are buried. It is up on a hill surrounded with trees. Other than not having the large tombs, it reminded me of New Orleans. On November 1, they celebrate the people who have died with candles. Loved one bring candles to the cemetery and when you look up at the hill from the town, everything glows. I plan on taking pictures that night and posting them.

First day!

It has only been one day of sight seeing and I have so many things I have to write about. First of all I want to apologize to all the Michiganders for the contempt I had for their driving habits. I made no secret that I detested the way they drove up there. Well, Romanian drivers take the cake. They do not follow the speed limit or the signs and could care less of anyone in crosswalks. I can personally attest to the last one. Also, car and horse and buggies drive on the same streets!!

Moving on ... ok we stopped at a cafe after hiking and had some soups and mitiei (sausages). Ciorba de Burta - looks really good, I tried it 3x, but alas I did not like it. I found out burta is stomach. NO comment.

Let's see... oh, stray dogs everywhere. And I mean everywhere. They all seem to be friendly so far.

Romania is rather poor. Apartments are small and people spend there lives paying for four rooms (that includes the kitchen and bathroom). Living rooms double as bedrooms. Kitchens are small, well everthing is small. We will be painting and redecorating within limits. We will start with Declans room. Right now the place is a mess with all our luggage and clothes tossed everywhere.

More later... draft 1:29:00 AM by Christi Delete

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We're here

We made it to Romania safe.

Tired...must sleep...zzzzz

Tomorrow, Tomorrow!

We are Romania bound tomorrow. Today were are tired and excited. We said a lot of goodbyes. Declan's Kinder teacher cried. It has been hard to leave family and friends, but a new life awaits. Joe is also waiting and we are impatient to see him.