One Month...Really??

Hi everybody! So today the 24th of June marks exactly one month that I've been in Romania. Wow!! I'm sure I've said this before, but time passes by so quickly here. The last few days have been uneventful, as we've done a few small projects and tried to get some rest before camp starts Monday the 27th.

We got back from camp Sunday and that evening had a goodbye party for Heidi, a journalism student that has been living here for several months and worked with us at camp some. It was so much fun! Monday, Ruth and I went on our last Bucharest adventure before she left Wednesday. :( We went to Titan Park, which is only 5 minutes away from where I lived in 2006-07 with my family. Here are some pictures. It was a gray day, so not as spectacular as the other park pictures. :)

Titan Lake.

We played a very intense game of Go Fish. :)

Turtles! For you, daddy. :)

We also saw some swans.

They were so beautiful!

We were within a few feet of them.

Already missing Ruth. :)

Standard leaning against a tree park picture. :)

Tuesday, I left with Ana, Ellie, and Steve to camp. We mainly cleaned the camp, so I don't have any pictures because, well, it's just cleaning. It looks about the same in Romania as it does in America. :) 

This morning, a team of 8 people arrived to camp from Oregon. They will be helping during week 1 of camp, which starts Monday!

Tomorrow morning, after dropping Ellie off at the airport, Cami and I will be going shopping for camp, and then heading back up there to join Steve and the team. Then kids come Monday!!

Praises:

-I have every document needed for my visa! We are going next Monday to try and get it.

-Camp is prepped!

Requests:

-First week of camp goes smoothly (weather, behavior, activities, etc.)

-I would get my visa on the first try. :)

-Safe travel for everyone as we drive a LOT.

Thank you so much for reading! Much love,

Maria

A Crazy Long Post

Hey everybody! I hope you all appreciate my honesty in regards to this post title. :) I just want you to know what you're in for. It's been ten days since I've posted and a lot has happened! Let's begin on June 10th, which was a Friday. We visited the Ruth School for the last time. We had so much fun playing with the kids and helping them with their homework.

Me and Ana with two cuties!

We also went to the Bucharest Mall that day, mainly to get starbucks and take pics with the cool sign.

The next day, we visited all the kids' apartments in Bucharest to get a final count of kids coming to camp and to deliver cleaning supplies. 

Me, Ruth, Ana, and Ellie.

Last Sunday, we worked on decorations for camp all day. The theme is jungle, and Cami had an idea to make vines to drape on the ceiling of the sala (main gathering room at camp). So we traced, cut, laminated, and re-cut over 1000 leaves Sunday. Watch for a finished product picture later on in this post! :) It was nice to be able to have kind of a rest day...I literally didn't leave the apartment ALL day!

Monday morning we left for camp! Our whole group included Cami, me, Ruth, Ana, Ellie, Sarah (an intern with a ministry called Chrysolis), and Heidi (a journalism student who has been living in Bucharest for a few months). 

At the Bucharest train station, Gara de Nord.

Sarah, me, Ellie, and Ruth on the train.

Our main goals of this week at camp were to clean and decorate (serious camp prep tasks). We also moved lots of furniture (included the outhouse lol) to new locations in cabin 7.

The kitchen area in cabin 7 under construction! We added another set of cabinets on the wall above the sink that aren't in place yet in this picture.

Staff lounge is now in cabin 7. Note to self...couches are super heavy!!

Ruth and I reorganizing the books in the bookshelf moved to cabin 7.

Another big job was to count and organize all the blankets, blanket covers, sheets, pillows, and pillow cases. Then we prepped the kids' beds by moving bedding sets into each kid cabin.

The whole team!

Sarah and I HARD at work decorating the sala. Check out the awesome jungle tree in the background!

Here is a closeup of the vines we made. We cut out all the leaves and braided them onto two lengths of twine and a string of Christmas lights.

Sala transformation!

Our hard work on those vines paid off!

Relaxing in the evening and enjoying gorgeous weather was great!

Is camp even real?!?!

Clear night skies. 

It's even still pretty during storms last night.

The deck of cabin 7 is quickly becoming my favorite spot at camp.

Well, that's about it for my week and a half! This week, I'm heading back up to camp Wednesday and I'll be there for who knows how long. The first week of camp starts next Monday the 27th and a team from Oregon arrives Thursday to help. I'll post again when I can. :) Until Wednesday, our plans are to finish running a bunch of errands and hopefully finish my visa paperwork (fingers crossed). :)

Praises:

-Visiting the apartments and Ruth school were great!

-Camp is ready for kids! We had a very productive week.

Requests:

-Visa paperwork. :( It's progressing, but slowly. Hopefully done soon!

-That the team arriving Thursday would be prepared for camp (mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually) and that they would make the most of their week here.

-Last minite camp prep would go smoothly.

Thank you all for reading! As always, I love seeing comments (hint hint). ;)

Love,

Maria

More Camp Days...

Hey guys! I'm so excited to share another update with you all. So yesterday I returned to Bucharest after spending two and a half days at camp. This weekend I'll be going to the Ruth School again, visiting the apartments and the orphanage, and leaving for camp Monday. That will be my last trip up before heading there on the 23rd (or so) for the first week of camp, which starts on the 27th. Time's passing so fast!

When we arrived at camp Monday, it was a mess. There had been so much rain in the county that several people died and floods were everywhere. There was a lot of mud all over camp, so that became one of our first projects.

Cami, Ruth, Ellie, and I starting the drive to camp.

Shoveling mud and debris and dumping it (I'm in the back with the wheelbarrow).

On Monday we also built an example bunk for the 8 others we eventually made Tuesday and Wednesday. Making bunks means a growing camp!!

Tuesday we made some decorations for camp (jungle theme, remember), built a wall, cleaned carpets, rescued one of the Mather's cats that went at least 50ft up a tree and couldn't get down, moved a ton of lumber around for the bunks and other projects, and helped Steve Mather with a plumbing project. And probably other small jobs that I can't really remember. ;)

The wall that Ruth and Steve put up in cabin 7.

The main room of cabin 7, which is currently a workshop but eventually will be a staff kitchen/living space. The view is gorgeous!

5 of the 9 bunks we (Me, Steve, Ruth) made, stacked by me and Ruth.

Carpets during the cleaning process.

Rescue Attempt Plan 3 of 5. 

Ruth and I making leaves for the vines that will decorate camp.

Sunshine as we left Wednesday.

Camp from the bottom of the hill, for those of you who haven't seen it lately.

Thursday (today) we ran a bunch of errands pertaining to my visa paperwork and other things Cami has on her plate right now (which is  a lot too). I am happy to report that I have about half the papers needed for my visa! This process is long and complicated but is on track to be finished in the next week and a half. :)

Waiting VERY patiently for the people to give us a complete list of what I need. ;)

A very stalker-y picture of the notary at her office, where we got a contract de comandat (rental agreement). 

Thank you for reading this update! I understand that a lot of people are having trouble commenting. If you are one of those, the best solution that I have figured out is to simply make a Google account. It's free and very easy to do. I think it appears as an option when you try to comment. Facebook message me for details if you're super confused, because I do want as many people to comment as possible. :) Here is a link to the page where you create an account.

Praises:

-Camp is cleaned up and no permanent flood damage was done.

-Visa paperwork: progress is made!

Requests:

-Visit to the Ruth School tomorrow.

-Visit to the apartments and orphanage this weekend.

-Continued visa paperwork progress.

-Efficient camp preparations.

-Cami: she is extremely swamped with paperwork and very busy.

Maria

Ruth School, Parks, & Shopping

Hello everybody! I hope you all are having a great start to summer now that school has let out where most of you live. I feel like I'm always saying this, but...I've had such a busy few days! :) Friday, Saturday, and today especially were filled with activities, ministry, and of course some fun.

Thursday was not so productive and fun. We weren't able to go to the Ruth School as we had hoped because they were on a field trip. I had also planned on going to a clinic in order to get a checkup to ensure that I have no communicable diseases and such in order to receive a slip of paper that is one small part of the paperwork I need for my six month volunteer visa. (Wow, what a sentence!) Unfortunately, the clinic we went to was not open and yesterday I actually found out that it wasn't even the right one to go to in the first place. :( So that took an entire morning and by early afternoon I hadn't accomplished anything. Later that afternoon, however, I did manage to do a few intern bingo challenges. So I guess the day wasn't an entire waste. :)

Friday was much better! We (Me, Ana, and Ruth) went to the Ruth School and spent a solid four hours playing, coloring, and watching a movie with the kids there. At the end of our time, we managed to squeeze in a few pictures.

This is the entire group we worked with. Excuse the black borders...I pulled these pictures from messenger. :/

The outside of the school.

After Ruth School, Ruth and I walked through Tineretului Park again on our way home. It was about to storm, which made for some very pretty pictures.

Saturday was a day of running errands and shopping for camp, which begins in 3 short weeks on the 27th! It's coming quickly. :) We went to lots of huge stores in the Bucharest area, including Jumbo, a department store selling craft supplies, toys, dishes...pretty much everything! Here are some picture of it.

We scored some decor for camp, which has a jungle theme this year. We're going to use the jungle to illustrate the fact that Jesus is the Way and the true path to follow, which is mentioned in verse like John 14:6 and Proverbs 3:5-7.

On the drive home, we went past the Arc de Triumf, a model of the one in Paris.

I also wrote a different kind of blog post Saturday for the intern blog at Stepping Forward Ministries' web site. It's on worrying and peace and you can go check it out by clicking here.

Today we ran more errands (after watching a podcast sermon) and Ruth and I also visited another park. The first place we went was Carturesti, a bookstore of sorts selling mugs, art supplies, books, clothes, etc. It's a super interesting shop and I kind of fell in love with the smell. :)

I thought these teapots were so cute!

After Carturesti, Ruth and I split up from Cami and Ellie (another intern) and found our way to Cismigiu Park ALL BY OURSELVES. We were on foot and in a part of the city I was super unfamiliar with, so I shall brag on us a bit here. ;) It was a nice part of town, so here are a couple pics from the walk.

Of course, Cismigiu Park followed the example of all other Romanian parks, in that it was gorgeous and woodsy and perfect.

Here is the sign. I've heard that people like to see signs, so there ya go.

Here is me, so I can prove that I actually was in fact present in all these pictures. Hi Mama!!

That about wraps up the past few days! Tomorrow morning (Monday) we're (Me, Cami, Ruth, and Ellie) are going back up to camp to start preparations. We'll only be there until Wednesday, so expect a blog post that night, and not much communication until then.

Praises:

-The car is back!!!! We were able to drive places and it is such a blessing.

-Ruth School visits were awesome. The kids hugged us like crazy and we loved spending time with them.

Requests:

-My visa paperwork. Man, I can't wait to put this as a praise. It is such a trial but hopefully will all be finished in the next three weeks before camp starts.

-Productive days at camp.

-Safe travel to and from camp.

Thank you all for praying! As always, please do comment on this post and let me know you read it. :) I seriously, honestly do not care if I know you AT ALL. I just love hearing that you care about what I'm doing for six months of my life. ;)

Love,

Maria