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Published: December 29th 2004
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Budapest Airport
We somehow managed to get all 36 pieces of our checked luggage. After 36 hours we FINALLY arrived at Tony’s house in Simleu Silvaniei, Romania. Orlando to Chicago . . . Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany . . . Frankfurt to Budapest, Hungry and then a 6 hour bus ride into Northwest Romania. None of us were expecting to be so very, very tired. Tired or not, we made it here without a hitch. 15 of us started in Orlando, 1 started in Baltimore and one in West Virginia (J. was stranded because of snow storms). We all met in Chicago. No delayed flights, good weather, very little turbulence, and NONE of us lost our luggage. We couldn’t have asked for a better trip. The best blessing of all was the border crossing from Hungry into Romania could have been a nightmare. The border guards choose who to search and who not too. Two van loads of 18 Americans, with 2 pieces of checked luggage and at least 1 carry on apiece could have easily tipped off a 2 to 3 hour, hand search of each piece of luggage and each person. The guard walked onto the bus looked around took our passports, stamped them and sent us on our sleepy way. Praise God!!
Bus rides are great!
30 hours of traveling is finally getting to Adrienne and Tarl. (I am going to get killed for this one.) We are greeted with a huge meal of homemade chicken noodle soup, schnitzel, couscous and mashed potatoes, followed by some wonderful desert cakes and cookies. It was so yummy!
First note, the roads in Hungary are great . . . the roads in Romania, not so much. Sleepy, jet-lagged people don’t appreciate bumpy roads. We made it in around 7:30 p.m. Romanian time . . . that is about 1:30 p.m. Orlando time. I think we finally all made it to bed about 10:00 p.m. Tony’s house is beautiful. We are all more comfortable than we ever expected we would be in Romania! We all have our own beds (except Julia and Becka who are graciously sharing). It is cold here, but not nearly as cold as we all expected.
Today (Wednesday) was a recover-from-jet-lag day. We drove about 30 minutes to Zalou, a city close by, and went to a flea market. I really think flea markets are the same everywhere. Lots of stuff you really don’t need all that much. Each of us changed $40 in the city which turned into 1,500,000.00 lei. A few of us made purchases at the market. $11 watches, $0.80 socks,
Hour 36 . . .
who knew pillows made great hats? and $2.00 slippers and some delicious fresh fruit were the order of the day. Big thanks to Vlad and Romeo our translators. They ended up bartering things down to about half price! We also all had a Romanian treat called placinta. It is a fried sweet dough with fillings like potato, cheese, sour cream, garlic, apple, chocolate or any combination of the ingredients. I personally had the apple, which was kind of like apple butter. I had tastes of the others and they were delicious. At about $0.30, some of us got two.
We also handed out tracts. People here are so different towards religious literature. We simply walked up to people, handed them the tract and said Jesus loves you in our broken Romanian. Here, instead of throwing it away immediately they opened it and read it immediately. I even had 2 ladies come up to me and ask me for them when they saw we were handing something out. Our Romanian must have not been too bad because one lady responded (to Jesus loves you) with “I know!” in English. I had someone say “Merci.” I guess she thought I was French.
We ended our day
Zalau
Cindy and Gilbert in Zalau at a very nice restaurant. We had warm drinks (very strong coffee) and some water. We were greeted back at Tony’s house with another huge dinner of chicken so tender it fell off the bone, a kind of potato salad with peas, carrots, and green beans, eggplant spread for the bread, and macaroni. Again followed by some wonderful desert cakes and cookies.
Tomorrow we begin the hard work. We will be assembling and delivering food bags.
There is no snow . . . yet.
Thanks for all of your prayers because they worked. We are all healthy and safely here! I will hopefully find a way to upload pictures. Tony's computer doesn't have a USB port so we are working on some transfer method!
Random trip notes: Coca-Cola Light is better tasting than Diet Coke. Water here is super cold. Tap water here tastes better than Florida tap water.
La reverede,
Amy, Cindy, Gilbert, Tarl, Adrienne, Andy, Carl, Shannon, Bekah, Julia, Megan, Rebecca, Heather, Tony, Jessica, Matthew, J., and Phillip
P.S. Hannah and Caitie, Shannon says hello. John Denmark, please pay Heather’s school bill by the 4th. Tina Perdue, answer your phone and
Mmmmm Plachintas
This was our yummy, yummy treat at the Zalau flea market. your babies love you. Kat pay the rent and Hi! Josh Vickery - Mama are fundu mare!
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anonymous
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Glad to hear
I was glad to hear that God has provided in your trip. We are praying for you all and will continue to do so until your return. Hope all will continue to be good and pray that you accompolish all that God has for you all to do. Tell Heather we love her and we love all of you as well. God Bless and God speed. - John Denmark