Arrived in Comanesti!

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Here is our quote from the team lead(s) and attached is our team picture from Comanesti Romania.



Names left to right

Bottom Row: Karin Vukich, Becky Teschke, Deb Countney, Carrie Herrmann, Wende Arnoldussen, Ray Sorenson, Noreen Hannemann



Back Row: Mike Martin, Paul Johnston, Pam Wilda, Dennis DeBoth, Heather Hesse,Don Stingle,Britt Lindley



Quote from team leads...

It's incredible to work for an organization that gives employees the opportunity to demonstrate to those in need, not only generosity, but also how to serve others. We are able to put to action both our values of faith and that of Thrivent Financial through our Thrivent Way mission and values.

Our team is passionate about the need to demonstrate the values of volunteerism to those that have both personal need as well as the will to change the problem of inadequate housing in the world. It's the same kind of passion we want to see in our fellow employees and team members.

This is our opportunity, through our work, to spread the message of the Thrivent Way to inspire others in Romania and at home to live generously with both character and trust.

Our Romanian hosts have been very generous and kind to us. Our thanks to them for a great start of our volunteer experience.

Donald J Stingle & Pam Wilda

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Photos

Team Romania Photo
We are happy to be in Comanesti!

Comments

[Tammy Stephan]

Looking good!
Glad you all made it safely and are off to a great start!

[anonymous]

A Few Questions...
Hello, We are a group of students in 5th and 6th grade and heard about your trip and are very excited for you!We are studying World Geography and wondered if we could ask a few questions about Romania? We've included a few below... 1) What does the food look and taste like? 2) What is the economy like in Romania? 3) What is the climate like? 4) What sports do they play in Romania? 5) What is the landscape like? 6) How do they dress in Romania? We want to thank you for taking time to answer these questions. Tell our friends in Romania our class says "Bună Ziua"

[2012 Team Romania]

To all you 5th and 6th graders out there! We have answers!
Sorry it took the blog guy so long to figure out what I need to do to process the comments. I have Heather here with me to answer your questions: 1) The food has been delicious. We have had a lot of tomatoes, cucumbers, sausages, chicken, sheep and goat cheese. Not much for desserts or hot spice - think church basement without the sweets. 2) The ecomony suffers from the transition of moving to a free society from a socialist one, so people are used to working for others and not themselves. This leads to long hours for little money and no middle class (if you know what that is in 5th-6th grade). They have things we have like car companies (Dacia), chemical companies, farming, wood products factory (out our window), and a salt mine (we toured today - read today's post). Locally there are a number of gas stations (6.20 Lei per liter), quick marts and restaurants. 3) The climate has been confusing to us as we were expecting similar temperatures to Wisconsin/Minnesota/Colorado where we are from. It has been unseasonably warm with the temperatures in the 80's and no rain. Also, when we visited a house this week, we saw a peach tree, pear tree, grapes, plums, roses, magnolia tree -- all things we would associate with a state like Georgia or Florida. But - Romania does get down to -30 degrees celsius (-22 fahrenheit) in the winter and last year they had so much snow that the windows on houses were covered. We are thinking that since Romania has been around a long time that the plants have established themselves to survive locally in these climates (someone should research this more). 4) During a recent field trip we saw a soccer field, volleyball court and basketball court. From history though, we know that the Romanians are famous for gymnastics and the legendary Nadia Comaneci - who won the olympics in 1976. She is from the place we are currently staying and building. From watching local news, we would say that soccer and handball are covered on the sports report. 5) The landscape of Romania is similar to ours with lots of farm fields. In Comanesti where we are currently staying, we are on the edge of the Carpathian mountains, so our apartment we are staying at is built on a hill and we have sheep and cows that roam freely in pastures around our place. Today we also toured a monastery which was located at the top of a winding road, which caused a number of passengers in our van to have white knuckles as we drove the stick shift van up and down the mountain. Most towns are in valleys and the scenery is quite beautiful and suprisingly green for this time of the year. 6) Tonight we had a cultural experience with local youth. In their traditional garb, they have puffy shirts with long skirts for the girls and white pants for the boys with a cumberbun. But, when they are at school, they wear similar fashions to kids in the US, but more conservative - some kids look like they would be dressed for church, while a few others have America themed items like Bart Simpson, Hannah Montana, Disney, and American sports teams.