first day here

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hello, all -- wendy here -- we have just returned from a full day of visiting monasteries and a picnic with other volunteers. they are all pretty young -- in fact, i am the oldest of them all by quite a number of years. there was a lot of climbing today, so i'm sure adrienne and i both got our exercise.

there is a footprint that is kept at the top of a steep mountain, a footprint of Mary, the mother of Jesus, they think. so we trooped up there and mostly slid down. then, more climbing around the monastery. then, we saw a portrait of Mary on which the face of Jesus suddenly appeared some time ago. I saw it, and it really looks like the face of Jesus on her cheek.

There were also some healing waters at the monastery, which i placed my hand in. one member of our party went swimming in them -- well, the waters are kept in a receptacle slightly bigger than a large bathtub, so it would only have been a matter of getting wet -- not really swimming. our host made our lunch today -- delicious sheep cheese, bread, some meat, and plums, cucumbers and tomatoes. the plums were fantastic. later, we stopped to buy a watermelon on the side of the road. it was one of the best watermelons i have ever eaten.

living conditions here are more rustic than i imagined they would be. and, somewhat surprisingly, i am having a bit of a difficult time with it. i am going to struggle through the first few days with knowing i am not as clean as i would like to be, and see if i can adjust. i know it's part of the experience. all over the city there are billboards of advertising that i imagine very few people that see the billboard can afford to buy. people are really terribly poor here.

you may be wondering how we are writing these blogs -- well, each neighborhood in our section of the city has a room filled with 8 - 10 computers that are connected to the internet. we literally got off the bus from the picnic, saw the room -- which we had heard about from others at the picnic -- and decided to stop by and check our messages. we pay 5 lei for an hour, which is not even 50 cents. so, it will be easier to stay connected than i thought.

we are looking forward to a thorough bath (cold water only), shampoo, and another night's sleep. as i write this we are a bit sleepy, as you can imagine.

tomorrow, tatiana is coming at 11 a.m. to show us the city. all i know about monday is that Igor will take us to a few places, i think orphanages, to see where we want to work. his english is not that good, so i'm not sure if this is what we'll be doing or not on monday.

if you have any messages for adrienne and me, you can post them here, or send them to [e-mail], or [e-mail]. it's really good to see messages from home.

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Comments

[John Logan]

Congratulations!
Good work on getting there! I hope that your weather is cooler than ours. We're at 100 again. Go figure...Texas in August. Don't worry about the cleanliness issue. If you've been camping before, you get use to it. In fact, I've read somewhere that Americans bath too frequently. We wash out essential oils from our skin and hair. I have a few questions: What language do the locals speak? How big is the town you're in? What is the time difference between us? I'm looking forward to reading the next entry! Much love. John

[jen crow]

shifting tolerance of non-clean
the adventures of wendy begin, as does the socialized reprogramming of the brain, the heart and the soul. travel to far off lands opens your eyes to things we've not known and could never imagine - and it pushes us to reprogram our assumptions of existence on so many levels. cleanliness is one of such! and it sounds like you're getting a big dose! my experience: the first couple of days i'm continually grossed out by the surroundings and their lack of conformity with the standards i am comfortable with. about a week in i start to accept it as my short term reality and learn to bear it. 2 weeks in it becomes normal and 3 weeks in i don't even notice. actually - what i notice is when i come across something that is so out of the norm closer to my pre-trip standards, that i see it as a luxury. by the time i return home, i look at the conveniences that uphold my pre-trip standards of cleanliness as luxurious, unnecessary, and well beyond that which is needed to function. in belize we were water constrained so we took camp showers. only cold water, and only on when we were washing something off. all lathering and scrubbing was done with the water turned off. when i returned from belize, i upheld camp showers for a few months, feeling it was a service to the planet to use less water. still take them every now and again. going to take one today actually - in honor of wendy besterman!!! your journeys and commitments are an inspiration. keep the head up and the antibacterial hand lotion near - and know that austin loves you!!!