Monday, Sept. 25, 2006: 9:20pm
Well, we had our first full day on the sight today. I started out scraping more walls and then got to demolishing after lunch. Love that jackhammer! It so nice to be able to see your results immediately, than to be always scraping and seeming to get nowhere. Out construction manager, Chrisi, said he is running out of things for us to do; that we are working so hard and so fast; that we are his best team yet--although I am sure he says that to all the teams that visit. He did get mad at us for one thing though, at the end of the day. Carol Resch (who I met on my New Zealand build) rigged a bucket of debris to be lowered to the ground, where Rebecca would untie and dump it, but Alex alerted Cristi to this fact and he then yelled at us. Anything to make the job go easier is appreciated. Climbing up and down stairs 20 times is just not that fun.
Saturday night, the 23rd, we crashed a Romanian wedding in our hotel. Talk about an experience. We were waiting in the lobby to go to dinner, when the bride and groom heard someone say, "OH! There goes the bride." He was from Ohio, she from Romania, but they now live in Vegas. Thee actually got married nine months ago, but came here for the religious service. He converted to the Orhtodox faith for her. After waiting two hours for our dinner at the Corner Pub, we went back to the reception. Did some Tequila boom boom shots (Tequila and selzter), which you slam down on the bar to get all fizzy and then drink down quickly. I want to bring these back to the States. There was also some gambling and a lot of dancing, although I stayed away from that. Just hung out at the bar, having a great time. Some of the team also had wedding cake. Apparently, Romanina weddings are very open, anyone can crash. We had worked with some family members this day, so it was a nice end to the day.
Sunday was spent touring Bucharest. It was a VERY long day. We all slept on the bus ride there; some of us tired, the rest hung over. First stop was the military college, where all the armed services learn together. There was a fresco out front, which ran up to the Communist era. I just had to take a picture of the hammer and sickle (don't think I spelled that right), carved into the wall. Apparently, the party didn't finish the carved wall, thinking it had plenty of time. Guess it didn't count on Causecu going crazy and getting murdered. Our tour guide for the day was very informative in that area, telling us all what it was like living under the Communist regime; how she and her family were hardly given any time to leave their apartment, before it was demolished. Apparently, this is also why there are so many stray dogs: People had so little time to leave their apartments, that they just could not take their dogs with them.
Our second stop was the Parliament building, the second largest behind the Pentagon and the third largest in volume. Then we stopped at the Patriarchal Church, an Orthodox church; we were allowed to go in, which some of us did, but it was very uncomfortable. There was wall-to-wall people standing because there are only benches around the walls for the elderly and sick. We even saw people stopped out in the square just touching the outside of the church, of kneeling wherever they were. It was a very strange thing to see. Also, the Sunday service is three hours long, but you can come and go as you please. I guess the people have really embraced their faith in the years since the dictator was overthrown. The altar was so ornately done up in gold. This whurch is also where the head of the Orthodox church in Bucharest sits. Valerie, Rebecca, and I happened to see him just by chance. Looked very young.
From there it was on to the Peasant's village, where these houses from all over Romania have been brought together. You had to pay to take photos. There were ladies stationed at every house, but I managed to sneak a few in. Especially of the Transylvania sign. The village was bordered by a lovely park, which we had to pay to get into, but didn't. Lunch was eaten outside in a park. Again, the service wasn't the best; they pretty much tried to convince us to order all the same so we would get out food faster. But we didn't. That's another thing I've noticed about service here. It's more of a social event. You get your drinks and talk; your appetizers show up an hour later; food an hour after that. This so would not fly in the states.
Our last stop was the national art museum for a temporary exhibit of Rumanian artists. The paintings were just hanging on wires, with no protection. And we were allowed to take pictures. If we paid, that is. When Alex, our Habitat volunteer coordinator, tried to take a photo of us from the grand staircase, he got yelled at and we were watched during our time in the exhibit.
Brad, Rebecca, and I hung out after, as it was a free night. We found the Guiness Pub. I was able to use some Romanian, but at the end when I have the nota de plata (the check) to the manager, who was also our waiter, he looked surprised.
It's wierd, but I'm not having as much fun on the trip as I have on my others. Perhaps because of Hawaii or the fact that I haven't been on a build since March 2004. Or could be that I had such a great time in Poland, my all-time favorite trip yet. Highly recommend it to anyone.
A few small ditties: Alex used up my iPOD mini during our tour yesterday. He saw I had it on the bus and asked to use it. How could I say no? But he played the same song,"Run Away" by Real McCoy, the entire two hour bus ride back to our hotel in Pitesti, at such a high volume that some of us thought it was the bus radio. However, my voltage converter won't fit into any of the sockets, so I had to use my roomie's to recharge. Also, the partner families we are working with don't know which apartment will be there's. This way, they won't work slower or faster on any space.
Tomorrow is another full day. Should be able to finish demolishing the wall I started on today with Lindsey and Herman Sahrman (from Hamburg, German; he's married to another team member, Eileen Howay). Let's hope breakfast goes better. This morning I ordered an omlet with ham and cheese, and was given scrambled eggs with pepperoni and a tomato. We figured it out that you have to ask one waiter for the omlettes, because whoever you give your breakfast order to is that one that makes it. My young guy apparently doesn't make omlettes. Breakfast is also a come-and-order-whatever deal. No menu, you just ask. Just don't get the coffee. It's thick like espresso. No amount of sugar can sweeten it up.
Well, we had our first full day on the sight today. I started out scraping more walls and then got to demolishing after lunch. Love that jackhammer! It so nice to be able to see your results immediately, than to be always scraping and seeming to get nowhere. Out construction manager, Chrisi, said he is running out of things for us to do; that we are working so hard and so fast; that we are his best team yet--although I am sure he says that to all the teams that visit. He did get mad at us for one thing though, at the end of the day. Carol Resch (who I met on my New Zealand build) rigged a bucket of debris to be lowered to the ground, where Rebecca would untie and dump it, but Alex alerted Cristi to this fact and he then yelled at us. Anything to make the job go easier is appreciated. Climbing up and down stairs 20 times is just not that fun.
Saturday night, the 23rd, we crashed a Romanian wedding in our hotel. Talk about an experience. We were waiting in the lobby to go to dinner, when the bride and groom heard someone say, "OH! There goes the bride." He was from Ohio, she from Romania, but they now live in Vegas. Thee actually got married nine months ago, but came here for the religious service. He converted to the Orhtodox faith for her. After waiting two hours for our dinner at the Corner Pub, we went back to the reception. Did some Tequila boom boom shots (Tequila and selzter), which you slam down on the bar to get all fizzy and then drink down quickly. I want to bring these back to the States. There was also some gambling and a lot of dancing, although I stayed away from that. Just hung out at the bar, having a great time. Some of the team also had wedding cake. Apparently, Romanina weddings are very open, anyone can crash. We had worked with some family members this day, so it was a nice end to the day.
Sunday was spent touring Bucharest. It was a VERY long day. We all slept on the bus ride there; some of us tired, the rest hung over. First stop was the military college, where all the armed services learn together. There was a fresco out front, which ran up to the Communist era. I just had to take a picture of the hammer and sickle (don't think I spelled that right), carved into the wall. Apparently, the party didn't finish the carved wall, thinking it had plenty of time. Guess it didn't count on Causecu going crazy and getting murdered. Our tour guide for the day was very informative in that area, telling us all what it was like living under the Communist regime; how she and her family were hardly given any time to leave their apartment, before it was demolished. Apparently, this is also why there are so many stray dogs: People had so little time to leave their apartments, that they just could not take their dogs with them.
Our second stop was the Parliament building, the second largest behind the Pentagon and the third largest in volume. Then we stopped at the Patriarchal Church, an Orthodox church; we were allowed to go in, which some of us did, but it was very uncomfortable. There was wall-to-wall people standing because there are only benches around the walls for the elderly and sick. We even saw people stopped out in the square just touching the outside of the church, of kneeling wherever they were. It was a very strange thing to see. Also, the Sunday service is three hours long, but you can come and go as you please. I guess the people have really embraced their faith in the years since the dictator was overthrown. The altar was so ornately done up in gold. This whurch is also where the head of the Orthodox church in Bucharest sits. Valerie, Rebecca, and I happened to see him just by chance. Looked very young.
From there it was on to the Peasant's village, where these houses from all over Romania have been brought together. You had to pay to take photos. There were ladies stationed at every house, but I managed to sneak a few in. Especially of the Transylvania sign. The village was bordered by a lovely park, which we had to pay to get into, but didn't. Lunch was eaten outside in a park. Again, the service wasn't the best; they pretty much tried to convince us to order all the same so we would get out food faster. But we didn't. That's another thing I've noticed about service here. It's more of a social event. You get your drinks and talk; your appetizers show up an hour later; food an hour after that. This so would not fly in the states.
Our last stop was the national art museum for a temporary exhibit of Rumanian artists. The paintings were just hanging on wires, with no protection. And we were allowed to take pictures. If we paid, that is. When Alex, our Habitat volunteer coordinator, tried to take a photo of us from the grand staircase, he got yelled at and we were watched during our time in the exhibit.
Brad, Rebecca, and I hung out after, as it was a free night. We found the Guiness Pub. I was able to use some Romanian, but at the end when I have the nota de plata (the check) to the manager, who was also our waiter, he looked surprised.
It's wierd, but I'm not having as much fun on the trip as I have on my others. Perhaps because of Hawaii or the fact that I haven't been on a build since March 2004. Or could be that I had such a great time in Poland, my all-time favorite trip yet. Highly recommend it to anyone.
A few small ditties: Alex used up my iPOD mini during our tour yesterday. He saw I had it on the bus and asked to use it. How could I say no? But he played the same song,"Run Away" by Real McCoy, the entire two hour bus ride back to our hotel in Pitesti, at such a high volume that some of us thought it was the bus radio. However, my voltage converter won't fit into any of the sockets, so I had to use my roomie's to recharge. Also, the partner families we are working with don't know which apartment will be there's. This way, they won't work slower or faster on any space.
Tomorrow is another full day. Should be able to finish demolishing the wall I started on today with Lindsey and Herman Sahrman (from Hamburg, German; he's married to another team member, Eileen Howay). Let's hope breakfast goes better. This morning I ordered an omlet with ham and cheese, and was given scrambled eggs with pepperoni and a tomato. We figured it out that you have to ask one waiter for the omlettes, because whoever you give your breakfast order to is that one that makes it. My young guy apparently doesn't make omlettes. Breakfast is also a come-and-order-whatever deal. No menu, you just ask. Just don't get the coffee. It's thick like espresso. No amount of sugar can sweeten it up.
posted by Maggie | 11:21 AM
2 Comments:
That's an awesome story about the wedding, definitely a classic!
Do you think that they will run out of things for you to do?
One week left! Have a couple more Tequila boom boom shots for me!
Wow, what a trip! Sounds like your getting quite a bit sightseeing into your schedule. I can only imagine the amazing pictures you must be taking...I can hardly wait to see your "vacation" photos! By the way, check out http://ruthie.smugmug.com/gallery/1938834/1/98283629 for pics of the guys playing poker last Saturday!
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