Sunday, Oct. 15, 2006: 9:54pm

I figured it's about time I closed up this little adventure. Oh Sunday (Oct. 1) was such a long day. We were allowed to sleep in--at least, 7:45 was considered late in light of being up at 6:45 every day the previous week.

We left our hotel in Pitesti at 9am and arrived at our hotel in Sinaia at around 10:30pm. Yes, you are reading that correctly. 30KM my ass! Of course, we stopped along the way, but still being stuck in a tiny van for that long will drive anyone crazy. Our first stop was at a lovely memorial for Romanian heroes. It was on a bluff with gorgeous views; again, you had to pay for the photos. I didn't go inside. My pics from the steps were just fine. The next stop was Bran Castle, the residence (for a few years at least) of Vlad Tepes (Dracula). We walked around until about 2:30, then got back on the bus for shopping in Brasov and to visit the Black Church there, the largest Catholic church in Romania. Guess what, it was closed! Wish Alex had checked on these things. And the shopping wasn't that great. All touristy crap. I did pick up a nice watercolor of the church, though, which I intend to put in a equally colorful frame, and ice cream. Who knew how long it would be until we ate again. The traffic jam from hell happened on our way to Sinaia. We were stuck in this for about an hour before finally turning off to find a place to eat. Just about the best meal I had the entire trip: creamy tomato soup and breaded, pressed cheese. When we got back on the road around 8:30, the traffice was largely gone. The President of Romania was supposed to come on the same road the next day (Monday, Oct. 2), so all the roads were being closed off. Fanfuckingtastic, I thought! But all went well. He must have helicoptered in the next day because we didn't hit any jams. When we finally got to the turnoff for out hotel, the road was closed because of a music festival. Or as Alex called it the "Lovers and Shit Festival." Ended up having to walk about 1,500 meters to our hotel, luggage in tow. I'm sure the natives got a good laugh at this ragtag band of misfits looking all bedraggled. That's why Rebecca and I cracked open a bottle of wine we had left over. Went out wandering at the street fair also going on. But it was pretty ordinary. Only picked up this round sweetbread. Gabi, it had nuts and sugar and cinammon. What is it called? And can I get in anywhere local?

Monday, Oct. 2, went a lot better. Our gondola ride was the coolest, despite being packed in like sardines. The views from the top were phenomenal! Don't know why we even stayed in Sinaia, though. We weren't even there for 12 hours. From there, it was a short ride to Peles Castle. CLOSED! Of course, it was the best castle of them all. Home of King Ferdinand and Queen Elisabetta. But Alex ran up to the gate and made some sort of arrangement if the group went at once. Not everyone came, which I kind of liked. It was a smaller group (Carol and Dave; John; Me; Leona; and Alex). The tour guide only took us around the outside gardens, which was good enough. Took more lovely shots; even got one of the guard in the trees saluting. Finally purchased my post card from the mean lady who wouldn't let us into her shop. On our way to Bucharest, we stopped at some roadside stands. We made it to the Hotel Victoria in about two hours.

Shared a bottle of wine with Leona and Rebecca. There was a photo shoot going on for Adidas. At one point, the model had a cigarette in some shots. That's something you won't see in ads in America. At least, not anymore. Dinner was at 7:30. Dave gave the final speech to Val and gave her our card and (what turned out to be very bad) a bottle of champagne. Hey, Rebecca and I had a very small window and a large language barrier to overcome. We did our best. Woke up at 5:30am the next morning. Shared a 6am taxi with Lindsey and John. The hotel wanted to call a second cab because we all had VERY large bags. Hey, the clerk asked how many bags we had. The staff saw us all dragging them in; there were minivan cabs. Why, then, wasn't a larger cab called for? We weren't about to pay $40 for an extra cab. Squeezed in the backseat somehow.

Made it home all in one piece. Chris surprised me at JFK. Totally stupified when he tapped me on the shoulder at baggage claim. Took me longer than a second to realize who he was. Glad to get home and sleep in my own bed. As much as I love these Habitat trips, I don't like living out of a suitcase.

Stay tuned for my next adventure: Buenos Aires, Argentina in March 2008.

Thank you and good night!

Monday, Oct. 2, 2006: 6:45pm

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Chris!

So, I believe I left off at Thursday. We had the partner family dinner tonight at a traditional Romanian restaurant, only the food wasn't so. We still waited two hours, so we subsisted on bread and wine for that long. I felt bad for the kids of the families we are building for; kids can't sit that long. But when we handed out the gifts to the children, their delight and smiles of excitement more than made up for everything. That was another late night. We got back to the hotel around 11:00.

Friday was ordinary.

Saturday was our last day on the site. It was a half-day. In the morning, we gave Christi a baby tub filled with baby gifts we had bought for him and his wife. She is due with their son any day now. Such a cute couple. He is 38, she is 25. We also gave gifts to the kids at the work site. So many toys and goodies left over from what we brought for the partner families. However, not all the kids were there, so everything was unevenly distributed (even the candy). The others eventually showed up, so it was a tough situation. I also gave away the rest of the candy I brought. Hershey's mostly.

Yeah, my shoes and work pants are staying behind. They just became too gross, especially being around all that dust and mud and gross water. So I left them in a plastic bag for the garbage. I donated another long-sleeve blue shirt. Don't need it; wore it for four days straight. It was all gross and grimy!

That's it from Romania. I'll blog about our last three days when I return stateside! See you soon.

Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006: 9:12pm

Can you believe tomorrow will be October already? No to the cold weather.

Anyway...To continue with the overlapping stories: After we left the worksite on Tuesday, we stopped to drop off Vasilea at his apartment. His place wasn't as bad as Elena's. At least he had two rooms, but he also has three children: Two sons and a daughter. The oldest son is very inquisitive and can speak a bit of English. He asked me and a teammate, Lindsey, if we worked with his papa in Oarja. The blond middle son is very happy, always smiling or waving. And the youngest daughter just loves to run around. His need for things has got to be the greatest: Today at the sight as we were packing up and cleaning everything, one of my jobs was to divide our remaining food stuffs among the three partner families we were working with. He wanted everything, even the paper towels. Tough thing was, we had to divide everything, even the sugar packets. Nevertheless, he was always pointing and yelling for more. It's tough to see that desperate need right in front of you. And when I went to place the bags aside while we cleaned the tables, he acted like he thought I was taking his bag. The communication barrier is really big there.

Otherwise, it's been a comical few days. Wednesday was the best so far. We worked a half-day, ate our lunch on the bus, and went touring. It was a great time, but very tiring. First we went to Cortea de Arges to the monastery there. Unfortunately, you had to pay for pics there (What is up with that anyway?) and it was under renovation. But I still got some great photos. Next stop was Poienari Castle, Vlad Dracul's residence (yes, he is the real-life basis for Dracula). We climbed the 1,400+ steps to the top, and I was the first one to reach the fortress. Yes, it was kind of creepy. Being superstitious, I had a set of Aunt Helen's rosary beads in my jacket. It took me about 20 minutes to climb them all. The photos at the top were so amazing. Several times during the ascent, I saw no one behind me, thought I saw or heard things; it was raining and dark and windy. Right out of a movie. Poor Cheryl (a team member) couldn't make the climb. She is very overweight and can't do many physical things. Dinner was on a boat. Two hours and 100 steps down. After that climb to the fortress, Ursus beer never tasted so good. All hands went up in unison when John Chilton (a team member) asked, "Who wants a beer?" Poor Alex was running rampant as usual. The team ended up ordering three different dishes because it was just easier. It was pouring by the time we left. (In fact, it's rained a lot since we've been here.) There were several drenched dogs, including a puppy I would have loved to take home. I just pet him on the head and told him to be safe. Yeah, climbing those cement steps in the dark in the rain was not the most fun thing to do. But it was a fantastic end to a day spent shoveling rocks and sifting sand for three hours and not seeming to make a dent in the pile. I had wanted to blog that night after we got back to the hotel, but that was at 11:30--way too late.

In other news, Alex is getting very annoying. In fact, he's been that way for a few days now. We all liked him at fist (and still do), but he sits around doing nothing. Or he's interrupting our work telling us what to do. Thursday was the straw that broke the camel's back when he walked past two ladders and two brooms upstairs and didn't carry them down. Friday I yelled at him when he left dark-haired Elena (a partner family member) shifting sand alone. The team discussed this last night. Maybe Alex is just inexperienced. He's only in his early 20s. He's not used to working so hard. In fact, he told Christi (our construction manager) that he doesn't like manual labor. Rebecca also said he doesn't have to be working, which is true--none of my other volunteer coordinators have (especially Allison with her Range Rover and Coach bag in Hawaii). But when we are working so hard and he is at the site sitting around, you start to want him to do stuff. The comparison is right in front of your eyes.

One last ditty for the day: The grocery store nazis at the Pic. There are three or four people in suits before you leave the store. Even if you have only bought a snack bar, they have to stamp your receipt. It's so ridiculous. So much for the end of Communism in Romania.

Hopefully, I'll be able to blog one or two more times before I return home. We're only up to Wednesday, after all. Tomorrow, we depart for Sinaia; Monday we'll be in Bucharest. I should be able to locate an Internet cafe one of those days. I know our hotel in Bucharest has computers. It's the place the team stayed when we all first arrived. Otherwise, stay tuned. I'll blog after I get home as well. Miss and love you all!

Friday, Sept. 29, 2006: 10:20pm

So, where did I leave off? I believe we are at Monday afternoon. But I could be overlapping. I just want to tell you all so much about this trip. So bear with we. I would have been back sooner to blog, but Wednesday and Thursday were both late nights. After working our second full day (during which I finished demolishing that wall with Lindsey and Herman, and have the before and after photos to prove it), we stopped to pick up Elena's son (she is one of the partner families we are working with). He is 10 and goes to a school for children with special needs. We then dropped them off at their apartment. Can I tell you how small this place was? Four people (mom, dad, son, her sister) sleep in a dorm-size room. This place was so small that the whole team couldn't fit in at once. Really is so sad to see these conditions.

Speaking of which, the garbage piled at our site is has been smelling pretty rank for a few days now. Apparently, it's only picked up every three or four weeks. There are so many flies; it really is gross. These are just too much; they're even our bus. Especially when lunch comes around and breaks occur. Which is not good when you have raw meat in the garbage: At lunch on Tuesday, we had a BBQ cooked on a dinky rusted grill. sure hope it was washed beforehand. The burgers were good, but I wouldn't eat them again. Too fatty. Alex, our volunteer coordinator, even washed out the bag the meat was in. Guess they don't care about salmonella poisoning here, or don't know about it. We all found it rather gross. At least we had a great dinner at a nice Italian restaurant. Good pizza! Mikey would have liked it as well. The girls wore skirts as short as at the PIC (our grocery store), only these skirts had slits.

I'm starting to have some doubts about Habitat. For starters, the quality of our work. I know we try our darndest to do the best we can, but it can always be better. We're not professionals after all. The one family whose bathroom we use already has mold growing on their kitchen ceiling and it is making their youngest, Bubulina, sick. I just learned today that this is not the original Habitat family that moved into the apartment, but a family that purchased the apartment from them. I wish I knew if Habitat kept up with repairs and stuff like that, considering they renovated the apartment in the first place. I found myself thinking on this trip that I'm surprised we're even allowed to operate some of this equipment. Plus, you see what these families have and it makes you wonder. Does HFH do enough investigating of the family? Elena had a huge stereo and Vasili (another partner family) an almost brand-new TV. In Hawaii, even, one of the families had a huge new truck with shiny rims. If you can afford something like that, you can afford to provide a roof for your family. Doesn't Habitat ask these questions?

Also, everyone smokes here. Even the poorest. Yeah, doesn't make sense to me either. And all apartments always have laundry hanging out to dry. Almost every window of the cold gray cement buildings left over from the Communist era.

Got Chris's Romanian police car photo, even before he asked for it in the comment's section of my last post.

One last thing I need to mention: Begging at restaurants is a very tough thing to endure. Sunday night it was an old woman who just stood there; Tuesday night during a team dinner at a nice Italian restaurant, we had two kids and their mom: Wednesday afternoon while sightseeing, it was a little boy by the Patisserie in Courtea de Arges. (More about that sightseeing in my next post. Dracula is all I can say for now.) You feel heartbroken, but ignore them anyway and always keep tabs on your purse.

A few more small ditties: You have to pay for rolls and dinner. And you don't even get butter with them. That's even more. Ice is not common to drink with sodas. You have to ask for it. Ketchup is not really ketchup. It's more of a sweet BBQ sauce.

Be back tomorrow to blog some more. I have a short ditty about Tuesday afternoon. There are just so many stories to tell and not enough time since the Internet cafe closes in about five minutes. It's almost 11pm here.

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.

Saturday, Sept. 23, 2006: 5:15pm

Well, hello there! I've been in Romania for two whole days now! My fourth Habitat for Humanity Global Village build. What an adventure it has been so far! The trip didn't start off so well, though. My AA flight was late leaving New York so I got into London Heathrow really late and almost missed my connection. Thank goodness, though, to the British Airways gentleman who let me Fast Track and cut the REALLY long security line and to the people on that line who let me cut ahead. From there I ran full speed (thanks to my Asics) and made my flight. Said flight then ended up leaving an hour late, though (Again!). But it was all good in the end. Lindsey Guenther (a teammate) and I were able to wait for Brad Reigstad (a friend from my Poland build) since his flight got in at 4:30 (we were originally supposed to get in at 3:00; we arrived at 4) at Otopeni Ariport in Bucahrest.

A bit about where we are building: We're renovating old Soviet Bloc apartments in Oarja (pronounced Warja), about 30 minutes from where we are staying in Pitesti (pronounced Pee-tesht). We worked about two hours yesterday and until 3pm today. There's been demolition work, drywalling, clean-up, and scraping and sanding of walls so far. These buildings were used to house soldiers as they came through to gather crops and do some harvesting. So tearing down these walls is like tearing down a part of communism. Who knew you'd ever play a part in something so symbolic? It's kind of cool, actually. Tomorrow is Sunday, and we have the day off. We're heading back to Bucahrest for a day of touring.

What I've learned so far: Drivers don't care. They'll speed and run you down; cause accidents at the drop of a hat. Bucharest was especially bad. No crosswalks! Also, I still can't speak Romanian. The first attempt resulted in the Romanian hotel clerk asking me to slow down. But I'll try again. Can't hurt, right? I'm using that extensive cheat sheet Gabi made me, which is helping a great deal, as I'm recognizing snippets of conversation here and there, numbers, words. There are so many stray dogs, and they will not hesitate to come up to you. It's sad when you see them eating from the garbage. Apparently, there is a program to castrate them, as our volunteer coordinator Alex told us. The grocery store clerks wear really shorts skirts, micro-minis almost, as part of these red suits. Guess the owner wants to keep the customers coming back. But it's the kids that are the best. They love to say Hi! and get quite the giggle when you show them the photo you just took of them with your digital camera.

Well, that's about it for now. We're off to dinner in a bit. It's still raining; been like that all day. As I type this, Rebcca Henders (my team roommate) and Brad have gone off to get umbrellas. The site manager said it is supposed to clear up on Monday afternoon. At least we are building inside!

We're seven hours ahead, in case any one was wondering.

Check back in a few days. Until then, "Noapte Buna!" (Good night!).

Sept. 20, 2006

So, I leave tomorrow for my first Habitat for Humanity Global Village build in over two-and-a-half years. And I must tell you, I'm a little nervous. My connection is through Heathrow en route to Bucharest, Romania. The bag is mostly packed. Of course, my tools are taking up most of the room. You've got your work boots, tool belt, hammer, dust masks, brick-laying trowel, and paint rollers and tray. Then I picked up some small gifts for the family and affiliate we'll be working with: Hershey's candy (which is not available where I'm going); a coloring book and crayons; and a small plate from Our Name is Mudd in New York City, with a big apple on it (get it???) with NYC emblazoned across it (hopefully, this won't break during my bag's travels). Thankfully, the rather large suitcase will be much lighter on the return trip as I plan to leave the tools behind. The work team considers this a gift to the affiliate, as is any money left over from the team's budget.

We're being led by my intrepid friend, Valerie, whom I met during my first build in Nelson, New Zealand, in February of 2002. We'll be doing a lot of cool things, namely visiting Dracula's castle and the mountains. Not sure if the castle is the real thing or not, but just in case I'm bringing along Rosary beads that belonged to my Aunt Helen.

The best thing about these builds is the travelling I get to do. Being able to see parts of the world I never would have otherwise. It really is an awesome thing. And believe it or not, you have fun every day you are on the work site. Getting up at 6:45 each morning is not that big a deal when the day goes by that quickly. Of course, the three short breaks you get during the day don't hurt either. And lunch is provided on site. In New Zealand, this entailed tables and tables of food from the church ladies and other volunteers.

Stay tuned to this blog for further accounts of my adventures during this trip. Of course, this means I won't be able to blog about "Prison Break" for a while, but I'll catch up when I return.

For those wanting more info on Habitat, check out www.habitat.org or its international arm, www.habitat.org/gv.

I'll see you on the other side in a few days.