A Day in the Life Of Arleen...

Leaving Moldova to Adventures Beyond....

2010-09-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

Leaving Moldova was emotional to say the least. I felt we had made the strongest bonds with the friends we stayed with. But being realistic about the situation, we couldn't stay forever. As much as I wanted to, I just couldn't do it. Either way, Olivia and I had already purchased our home bound flights from Dublin, Ireland to JFK-New York. Things were set. But we had many adventures ahead of us upon leaving Moldova.

We took a taxi from the apartment where we waved goodbye to our great friends. I couldn't help but cry...

We were on our way to la gara a.k.a the train station where we would board our train back to Bucuresti, Romania. We had it all planned out! We knew where we were going to go when we would arrive, how long we were going to stay and where ready to explore!

So the plan had been, take a train to Bucuresti, Romania, where we would buy our tickets that would take us to Sofia, Bulgaria where we would change trains to go to Istanbul, Turkey. After turkey we were going to train over to Greece and then fly to Italy and afterward fly back to Ireland to head back home. We had it all planned out! But what happened...

We arrived to Bucuresti and went to McDonald's where we bought cheeseburgers and fries. We sat outside where we had free wi-fi. The food tastes better abroad, the fries actually tasted like potatoes and the cheese was soooo good. Anywho... we headed over to the ticket sales and asked for 2 train tickets to Istanbul. The lady on the other side of the counter says "Nu," I say "Nu??." I was a bit confused. She says " You can't go today." Then I asked "Well, can we buy some for tomorrow?" again she said "Nu." (This is the time we start using our English and let them know we are tourist, they feel sorry for us and explain more this way) She then tells us that there is flooding in Turkey, some of the worst rains in 80 years and that the trains aren't getting through.

I didn't know what to do. I went over to Olivia and told her what was going on. We had planned everything out soooo well, and ... nothing! We couldn't get through. We headed back to the McDonald's where we could find out online how bad it was, and it was bad! But, what were we to do now, where were we going to go? We sat there trying to figure it out.

We got up for a bit and went to look at the train schedule. We were looking for locations where we could go. We skimmed the whole list from left to right till we got to the last column where we find.... Thessaloniki, Greece!!! Direct train to Greece, Yeh-yah!!! I look at Olivia and her face didn't even need explanation. We were going to Greece!!!

We went back to the ticket sales counter and asked for two direct train tickets to Greece. We had to wait around a while longer before the train arrived always running away from the sun. When it finally did arrive, it was nice. We were able to get our own sleeper car. 16 hour train ride, here we come.

We got onto the train and stared outside the window for a bit. The cool thing was there were outlets where I could plug in my laptop and play games. This was going to be a very long ride. At least we didn't have to share our space with anyone. I would get up very often and go to the hallway and stare out the window where I was able to get some fresh air. Hours went by and we finally arrived to the Romania-Bulgaria border. The border patrol came and stamped our passports. No questions asked...

We finally decided to go to sleep... We then reached the Bulgaria-Greece border. One of us needed to get off there, so I went into the office while they stamped and checked the passports.

MOLDOVA CONTINUED...

2010-09-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

I can safely say that Moldova may have been my favorite part of the trip. The friends were awesome! The first meeting we went to, everyone was very friendly and wanted to know who we were, where we came from and when they could plan to go out in service with us. It was even cuter that the young girls were with their schedule books out to "program" themselves with us.

The territory in Moldova was very distinct to the territory in Constanta, Romania. First off, Constanta has 2 congregations that take care of a city of 300,000 people. While Chisinau has a total of 43 Russian and Romanian congregations taking care of the population of 580,000 people. The ratios in themselves are distinct. You can walk down the street and run into other friends while out preaching. That was pretty cool! Another distinction is the land. Walking in Constanta wasn't much work because it was flat, but man! Walking in Chisinau, I felt my calves had gotten a workout the first few times going around town.

The friends are wonderful!! Can't really say that enough. The first day we went out to the piata (market) and walked around getting accustomed to buying fruits and vegetables, something we really didn't do in Constanta since we just grocery shopped... It was pretty cool. We met a few friends at the piata.

The fruits and vegetables are soooo good! Fresh and so flavorful. Unlike the foods that are sold here and processed, these are locally grown and just... wonderful.

OH, HOW I LOVED MOLDOVA!!!

2009-12-16T12:47:00.001-08:00

It is May 2010 right now, and it has obviously been a long time since I was in Moldova, but I wanted to write about it anyways because I think it is worth an entry.

The funny thing about the transition from Romania to Moldova was the fact that we didn't know exactly what we were doing or where we were going. A week before we had contacted the branch and were in need of finding a place to stay since the person that we had been planning to stay with was still in the states. He told us that he would help us out and would be in touch through email.

One day went by...
Two days went by...
Three days went by...

Olivia and I were a tad bit nervous about what we were going to do if we didn't get an email. BUT! we did get one, the night before we left! It seems we did a lot that way, not knowing, then finding out one or two days before. The SuSpEnSe!!!

We left Constanta by train early in the morning on our way to Bucuresti. Once we arrived to Bucuresti, it was a matter of waiting till our train was going to leave at 7:30 in the evening. We sat around moving away from the sun, which was beaming heavily.

Our train arrived... it wasn't as nice looking as the many we had been staring at all day, but who cares, it was there. We picked up our bags and boarded the train. It had arrived somewhat early so we just hung out in our cabin. There was a young Moldovan girl who was going back to Moldova on Holiday, as well as a mother with her child. We befriended them and took pictures with them.
The train ride would take all night into the morning, about 14 Hours. Surprisingly, this old train was much more comfortable than the nicer looking ones we had been on. We were able to sleep comfortably, at least until getting woken up at the Romania border to show our passports. I found it kind of amusing how the official asked with an attitude"Why are you going Moldova?" Then me thinking "What! Are we not allowed to have friends and want to visit Moldova, Sheesh!?"

We arrived to Moldova at 9:00am and the train station was very empty, not like the train station in Bucuresti Romania. We actually weren't too sure what we were supposed to do. We knew someone was going to pick us up, but we were pacing back and forth trying to figure out when the sister would show up. Once everyone pretty much left we just sat around hoping someone would find us. Good thing, we finally met up with the sister that was going to take us to where we were going to stay. She had arrived with a cousin who drove us to our location. I do have to say it was very nerve wrecking to see sooooo many signs in Russian. I started thinking "Are we going to understand everyone; are we going to have trouble communicating anything?"

We arrived to the apartment where we were going to be staying and we met the sister Tanya and her husband Sergiu. We went inside and met her "kid" Enrique aka Richie the cat. I wasn't a huge cat fan, but he grew on me. More details to come...

OUR ROMANIA STAY COMES TO AN END

2009-08-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

It was pretty disappointing to think of our stay in Romania coming to an end. Sadly, we couldn’t stay longer. Our saying goodbye or rather our “see you later” was tough. Our last meeting was a Sunday meeting, we took pictures with some and it got a bit teary eyed for me. Going to Constanta Nord was a wonderful experience. Memories that will be cherished forever.

CONGRES IN BUCURESTI

2009-08-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

We rode with both Constanta congregations to Bucuresti in a bus. It was a three hour trip that was in an air-conditioned bus (emphasizing air-conditioned since we rarely had this). We arrived to Bucuresti and were on our way to where we would sleep. The next day we were at the Sala Polivalenta, the convention location, where we would sit with Dinah. It was nice to see her again. We enjoyed the program and were happy that we understood a great part of it. It helped of course that we had gone in English before we left Portland. Olivia and I met many from Dinah’s Pitesti congregation and she also met some from our Constanta Nord congregation. Saturday there was an amazing number of baptized ones. Out of the 4800ish in attendance, 91 got baptized. It was amazing! That afternoon a sister approached me and said “You don’t know me, but I seen your blog.” I was surprised. Apparently if you Google “New York” and “Romanian congregation” you’ll find my blog. She and her husband are Italians serving as a special pioneer and regular pioneer in Bucuresti. It was pretty awesome. We also met a couple that is serving as missionaries. They served in Africa for many years before their Romania assignment. In all we met many brothers and sisters and it was very nice!

CLUJ-NAPOCA AND HANGING OUT WITH CAMI

2009-08-24T10:10:00.000-07:00

We took a direct train from Brasov to Cluj-Napoca. Our train was an hour late both times arriving to our destination. Cami was waiting for us at the ‘gara’ and it was sooo nice to see her again. Our drive back to Cami’s place we saw what remained after an accident. We got to Cami’s house where we finally met her mom Silvia in person. Cami fed us bowtie pasta and we were on our way to the mall with a sister. We walked around, out and about at the mall shopping for stuff and it was like being at home. We went home and got ready for the next day a Saturday. We had a great breakfast and were on our way to the other mall. We spent the afternoon there where we found a Starbucks. There was also a Sushi Place! Olivia and I hadn’t had sushi since we left Portland and were craving some. It’s no Sushi Land, but it was good. That evening we were going to go out to a family’s house for dinner. We got there and it was Pizza! It was really good. It was also nice to have some association with new people, brothers and sisters that had worked on Construction projects.
We went home after a nice evening of association and chatted. The next day was our going to the 10:00am meeting and meeting new brothers and sisters there. We met Silvia a sister that Holly from the Eugene area had met on her trip to Romania a few years ago. After the meeting we went for a walk in the city which led us to the park. We waited for the swing and had our fun on it. Sadly, Sunday was our last day there in Cluj and we had to prepare ourselves for the long train ride home. We soaked in the last moments with Cami and then it was time to go to the station to get on our train. Cluj will be a memorable city and trip.

BRASOV AND VISITING ZSUSANA

2009-08-04T03:04:00.000-07:00

It has been about three years since we had seen Zsusana. She was with us in Portland for almost a year and helped many of us with our Romanian. Many of us remember that while she was here we couldn’t really communicate with her without some form of “sign-language”, which consisted of her moving her arms around so we would get the jist of what she was trying to tell us. We understood many times. This time around we were amazed how much we understood her. It was a 9-hour train ride from Constanţa to Brasov. We got there at midnight, we took a taxi to her apartment and she was waiting for us. She fed us and we went to bed since the next day we were going to pick up Dinah at the ‘gara’. The next day we woke up and got ready to get Dinah. Zsusana had woken up early, well earlier than Oli and I, and started making ‘sarmale’. I learned how to stuff them. We took the back way to the ‘gara’ which meant not getting run over by trains.

We picked up Dinah and went back to the apartment where Zsusanna was waiting for us with food. We ate sarmale and it was sooo good! We then left to the center of Brasov. We walked around and just chatted. We then went to a little outdoor restaurant to have a drink.
The next day we went on an ‘excursie’. A brother from Zsusanna’s congregation took all of us on a trip to ‘Lacu Rosu’ or Red Lake. It was beautiful. Later we made our way up the ‘Munţii Carpaţi’. The sights really are beautiful. We made it back to Brasov and I met up with a sister from there that I had met at my meeting in Constanţa.

Our stay in Brasov was pretty short since we had to get ready for the convention the following weekend. Dinah left before us back to Pitesti and Olivia and I left to Cluj that afternoon. The stay in Brasov was wonderful; it might be one of the most beautiful cities I have seen.

CAMPAIGN WORK BEFORE CONVENTION

2009-08-04T03:00:00.000-07:00

The campaign work was great. Although we would usually try to work the whole territory in the 3 weeks, our elders knew it would be impossible. They parted out specific territories for the campaign. We worked many ‘blocs’. Sometimes, because we wanted to get hundreds of apartments done, we would split up and one would start upstairs and the other downstairs and we would meet in the middle and move along to the next ‘bloc’. It really is amazing how much we would get done in one morning or afternoon. In general, people responded very well. It is hard for many of them to be able to go because of age. One of the common responses was “Sunt Pensionar”, which means that they are living off their pension and can’t afford to go all the way to the 3-hour convention. In these cases we would offer an invite to the KH. For those we didn't find at home, we are able to leave it in their mail box. It was a really wonderful experience to really just do door to door without getting in a car. Just walking…

WE NEED TO COOK NOW???SO WHAT DO WE EAT TODAY???

2009-07-12T04:47:00.000-07:00

After being fed by wonderful Lily, we needed to figure out how we were going to handle our eating situation. First off, shopping. I’m grateful to Lily since I went with her a few times to the store and learned how to buy a few things since it differs slightly from the shopping style back home. Either way, we found some good places to get cheap food. We have been cooking and eating well on our own.

There aren’t many things from home that we can make since we don’t have access to the main ingredients. Cilantro!! Jalapeños!! Corn Flour!! Black or Red Beans!! How we miss you special foods, close to our stomachs!! We have had to deal with the foods we have and TRY to make something that tastes like the food at home. Olivia made Flour Tortillas, while I made Pupusas and Curtido. We were just glad to make something that reminded us of home.
"GET THAT CORN OUTTA MY FACE!!"
Soooo, we bought corn…. And it wasn’t all that great. Not like the corn at home. Oh well, we ate it. Can’t throw food away. Same thing happened with a bottle of sauce. It said “Zacustă Picantă”. Nope not Picante!!! We are still trying to figure out ways to eat the stuff. Little by little we are figuring things out. At least I now know all the important words: vegetable names, fruit names and other foods.

NO TV!?

2009-07-12T04:32:00.000-07:00

Even though I didn’t watch much TV while at home, if I wanted to I could. Here… well let’s just say that our TV has become staring out the window and people watching. I take one window while Olivia takes the other and we start making scenarios up and giving people we see often names. For example, there is a man who comes by everyday and stands by his car. We decided to nickname him “Vogue”. Then there is the “Crazy 5th Floor Man”. He yells at people from his balcony then comes down and starts yelling at the same people in the street. There’s also the “Landlady”. That name isn’t all that great since we think she is the landlady but, ehh, whatever. She oversees the construction workers that are doing work on our building. People watching is pretty fun, just try not to be caught.

IS THAT LATIN MUSIC I HEAR…??

2009-07-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

When I had gotten to the beach I heard salsa music in the distance. I was like “Where is that music coming from?” I hadn’t heard much Spanish music since I had gotten here, so it was pretty cool. I saw a restaurant in the distance where I assumed was where the music was coming from. It was actually during the futbol game that I saw Olivia and some of the other sisters dancing in the sand that I decided to ditch the game and go join the girls. We went a little closer to the restaurant and we were teaching the basic salsa step to the sisters. After a few of us dancing for a little bit, the futbol game was done and the party was going to continue.
We ended up going to the restaurant which was Brazilian and ordering some drinks. It was nice to have the background music and a few times we got up with the brothers and sisters and broke into dance. So by the end of the night 3 different types of exercise: Water game, Futbol and Latin Dance. It was Marvelous!!!

PLAJA ŞI FOTBOL

2009-07-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

After the water game there was a soccer game started in the sand. It was pretty nice to have them want sisters to play. Being in situations where the guys were worried they would hurt us, it was a relief that we would just play equally. I did warn them of my liking to watch Futbol and not knowing how to play it too great, but they didn’t seem to mind. I at least was able to contribute a few times to the other team not making goals, but hey… I’ll show you the bruises from the game later (just kidding ;P)

MAMAIA RESORT

2009-07-04T12:50:00.000-07:00

So a special pioneer couple is leaving our hall and we are getting two new brothers. Because their new assignment starts on July 1st, we did a little going away hang out thing at the beach. It was wonderful. Pretty much you get there with your swimsuit underneath your clothes and once your group finds a spot to sit on the beach, into the water it is. The beach was packed but the water was wonderful, it was warm and the sky had a few clouds which was nice because we didn’t want the sun beaming on us completely. We played some game which was of throwing the ball to our team without having the other team catch it. It was fun and really entertaining at the same time because the bros would jump on the other bros back and try to take the ball. Bummer I couldn’t take the camera into the sea to show you the flips and tackles they were doing during the game.

I"VE GOT INTERNET!!!

2009-07-04T12:48:00.000-07:00

Been doing a lot of “borrowing” from our neighbors. We had been very desperate for internet since we really hadn’t gotten a good connection since we arrived to Constanţa. That is why our blog posting is very random and not as often as we would like. Also, for those with messenger service, sorry if I ditched our conversation a little early or without saying “Good Bye”, I really have no choice when I lose the internet connection. Oh well, hopefully you all forgive me. :)

MÂNCAM TOT ZI!!

2009-07-04T12:41:00.000-07:00

Well our stay at Lily’s had been awesome… we were VERY well fed. Lily is an awesome cook! Every morning our breakfast was mostly on our own. Bread, butter, homemade jam, slices of meats, and cheese. Olivia would drink tea and because of my not wanting to say no to her, I ended up drinking coffee. Yea, to all you who know I don’t drink coffee because I am allergic, I almost killed myself a few times. I figured, my body would get used to it (Recommendation: Drink some Turkish coffee if you haven’t yet). Oh well, I drank coffee and am alive to tell it!
Lunch: 3-Course meal everyday! I remember the first day she started cooking lunch for us. We had one plate in front of us which I would say was a perfect portions size. Little did we know that there would be another plate of food coming once we finished the first one. There was a bowl of salad as well to eat from. Then at the end a little dessert which was either strawberry (căpşun) or apricot (caisă) compot she made.

Dinner: Pretty much the same as lunch. The amount of food was unbelievable. Many of you know what kind of appetite I have, and even then, I felt like it was too much. So any of you planning on coming, prepare your stomachs.

Summary: Lots of Carbohydrates, Lots of Meats, Veggies and Fruits. Pretty much all food groups.

NO SMOKING!

2009-07-04T12:39:00.001-07:00

What does this mean to you if you see it indoors? It means don’t pull you cigarette out and start smoking it. Well, the rules aren’t enforced inside the mall. The food court has a McDonald’s and a KFC. It also has a bar and a dessert place. There are many busting out their cigs even though the “No Smoking” signs are plastered everywhere. No one complains since they want to keep the business going and not lose customers.

SUNTEŢI PROGRAMAT…???

2009-07-04T12:38:00.000-07:00

One of the hardest things to get used to is not the food (the food is wonderful), nor the walking. It has been the way we need to schedule ourselves for service about a week in advance. At the Thursday or Sunday meeting after the program, everyone breaks out their schedule books and starts to book themselves. At least Olivia and I were able to check out a territory. Because of this we’ve been going out on our own some of the days we hadn’t scheduled ourselves, but little by little we are meeting many from the congregation.

SIDEWALKS ARE FOR…

2009-07-04T12:35:00.000-07:00

Cars win!!! Yea, one would think that the sidewalk is for pedestrians, but guess again. It has been very interesting to walk around town. It turns into giving the cars the sidewalks and us walking on the street. Oh well, we get a nice breeze every time a car drives by, but CAUTION.

ALL THE SIGNS AROUND TOWN

2009-07-04T12:32:00.001-07:00

“Nu Parcaţi, Garaj” Really…? “Don’t park, Garage”. That sign is all over the place. It’s kinda funny because it goes against what we are used too in the states. It’s also funny that I haven’t seen any cars parked in a garage.

“Strada Nu E Tomberonul Tău” “The Street Isn’t Your Trashcan”

THE MOSQUE

2009-07-03T12:16:00.000-07:00

So we were just walking around and came across the biggest mosque in Romania. Constanţa has a high Muslim population. After Romanian Orthodox, it is the next most followed religion here. There are many people of Turkish descent that moved here and now speak both languages. It is very interesting to approach them and have a conversation with them regarding paradise. We have to find a common ground with them, so now I have a reason to look at the Reasoning book for presentations for that population. We were able to visit the Mosque and walk around in it. It has the second largest Persian rug in the world. It’s so big that it still needs to be rolled up.

BLACK SEA AND THE CASINO

2009-07-03T12:09:00.000-07:00

We went to the boardwalk for a stroll. The sea looked wonderful. When you see it, you understand why it is called the Black Sea. The color seems like a mixture of dark blues, greens with a hint of black. It is very rich and pretty. The boardwalk has one of Constanţa’s most famous landmarks, the Casino. Sadly, the place is falling apart because the city isn’t trying to do anything to restore it. It has a wonderful potential and many of the residents of Constanţa think the same, but what can we do. Take Pictures and share them.

WASHING BY HAND???

2009-07-03T12:06:00.000-07:00

Yea right!! Our dear Lily had a washing machine, but hey!, no dryer?? After the wash was done it was fun to see our clothes drying in the open air!!

Update!!

2009-07-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

Sooo, the last place I left off was telling you of our Carpenter’s Paradise! Well, we aren’t there anymore but I will explain our transition a little bit ahead.

If you have been reading Olivia’s Blog, I really like the format of writing about different situations/ events. Mostly this is because I forgot to keep track of things in the chronological way I was doing it… Sorry!!! Any who, my format will now kinda imitate Olivia’s Blog.

Dublin to ROMANIA!!!

2009-06-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

Romania is pretty much where we are staying most of our time in Europe.

First off, compared to Dublin, it was HOT!!! We get off the plane and load onto a bus to the immigration and customs area (which we flew right through). We got to our baggage claim and picked our stuff up. We went through the last security and were being expected by Ioana. Ioana is a sister that I had been in touch with for a few weeks before we started our travels. She is Lindsay’s friend and she had been nice enough to offer herself to pick us up from the airport. Once we exited the building into the street, the heat got to us once again.

Ioana told us that we had to take a bus and later a taxi to get to the sisters house where we were going to stay at the first night. The bus ride felt long since we were still tired from all the travelling we had been doing. Once we got into central Bucharest, I got some wake-up calls of how we definitely weren’t in the US anymore. If you don’t want to know the sad realities of this world skip the next paragraph.

After getting off the bus, we were walking to one of the corners and saw many children that were very dirty and asking for money. The worst part was walking by a group of them and getting a whiff of the glue they were sniffing. Many of them were gypsy. We found a taxi to ride, and while the driver was putting our luggage in the trunk, a kid was taking things out of the cab through the driver’s side. The driver came and saw what he was doing and hit and kicked the kid. It made my stomach hurt, but what can someone do when they are in a foreign land?

Once we arrived to the sister’s house where we were spending the night, Alexandra, we were ready to just drop and sleep. The next day we had plans to wake up early and go to the meeting at 10am with Ioana. We woke up and got ready and Ioana picked us up to go to the meeting. We went into town and went into their beautiful Kingdom Hall. The KH have windows to create ventilation because of the heat. After the meeting we were heading back to Alexandra’s to pick-up our things and transfer it over to Ioana and her sister’s apartment. A brother was nice to offer his car to take our things to the other apartment rather that breaking our backs. This is the same brother that got us in contact with Constanta and we were on our way to making plans to get to the city.

Once we made it to the apartment we were pretty much ready to just lay on the bed and sleep. Bucharest is HOT in the summer. We had made plans to meet with Dinah on Monday at Bethel and were able to talk with Camelia for a little bit. We went to the park with the sisters after the meeting and it was nice. We got a good idea of how much walking we were going to be doing.

The next day we made our way to Bethel where we spoke to brother Brenca and the service committee there. Dinah was running a little later than we were but we were waiting for them for the tour and lunch with the Romanian Bethel family. The food was mighty good. The tour was very nice as well. It was nice to see Dinah after months of not seeing her.

After the Bethel tour I had made plans to so some service with a sister from Ioana’s congregation. Another view of how much walking is done. It is a TON of walking. I was dead and by the time I got to the apartment, I threw myself onto the bed.

Tuesday came along and it was the day to leave to Constanta. The cool thing was that we had made arrangements to meet with the elder’s wife who I had been in contact with. She was in Bucharest for job training and we met with her and rode in a car to Constanta. Her name is Irina and she is from Moldova and her husband is Denis. The other sister that was with her was Lili. She speaks English and Spanish. Our conversations were a mix of all three languages. We transferred our things to Denis’ and Irina’s car and made our way to a sister’s house where we would be staying for some time.

The sister’s name is Lili also and she is married to an Austrian man. The husband is a carpenter and the house was pretty much a carpenter’s paradise.

New York to Guinness Land...

2009-06-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

So you know of our fun in New York. Next we were on our way to Dublin Ireland the 3rd of June. My cousin with Arelys her baby girl picked both Olivia and I and had once more slice of pizza at Valentino’s and one last Italian icee (until the day we return through there). So we were on our way to the airport where we checked in our backpacks no problem. We exchanged some money into Euros and went through security no problem. We were waiting for a while and got on to the AerLingus airbus which has a 2-4-2 seating. This was going to be an all-night flight, and although I was planning on sleeping, they set up a system that would pretty much prevent anyone who gets distracted easily from going to sleep. Each passenger has an individual TV screen with access to TV shows, Movies, Radio and games. There is even a game controller to use. I don’t know about many of you but that is the first time I had ever seen all that on a flight. So yea, both Olivia and I didn’t sleep, even though we should have been. Once we were reaching Dublin Airport we could see all the green, the green Ireland is known for and it was beautiful.
Once the plane’s wheels touchdown I realize we aren’t in the US anymore. Now, all I was thinking of was getting through security and hope to find someone waiting for us past Immigration and Customs. I had been keeping in touch with a brother in the Romanian group in Dublin.
Romanian group in Dublin??? Yea, that’s another funny story…
So when Olivia and I bought our tickets, we were planning on only spending one night in Ireland. A few months later though, we got an email informing us that they pushed our flight forward one day which meant an extra day in Ireland. So here we are thinking that two nights with all of our stuff would be… hard. So I give a call to Steve in Bethel and ask if he has any connections in Ireland and he says he remembers 2 brothers that served in Bethel that were Irish. He sent a message to one that had gone back to the Ireland Bethel.
Weeks had gone by and I hadn’t heard a thing regarding Dublin. Finally, the week before Olivia and I were leaving Portland, I see a call coming from Ohio and I think, ‘telemarketer’… Once the answering machine started going “Hello, I am calling to get in contact with Arleen… My name is … O’Malley… from Ireland…”, I ran to the phone and picked it up. This was the brother that informed me that he had already been in contact from another brother in the Romanian Group in Dublin. He told me that the brother from the Romanian group was awaiting my email to make arrangements of where we could stay while we were in Dublin.
Sooo, back to our arrival in Dublin, we picked up our baggage and made our way out to where we were hoping to find someone waiting for us. There were a few people around but we had no idea who to look for. I had sent a link to the brother to my blog which had a picture of both Olivia and I (during convention) , but after travelling for hours and not sleeping, not having any make-up on, we should have expected the brother not to recognize us (yea, he said we didn’t look the same, lol). Oh well, we met and were on our way to our hosts house.
Sebastian, the Romanian brother that picked us up, gave us a few hours to recuperate. Either way, we ended up just using the computer to try and communicate with whoever we could at home. We weren’t sure what our internet situation would be a little later on so we sent out quite a few emails to people. So Sebastian came-a-knocking and we were on our way to explore Dublin. He brought another brother that was from the Romanian congregation in Athens, Greece. Julian is his name. We walked around town and met up with another sister from the group, Cristina. We did quite a bit within the time we were there. But, we realized we should have rested, because after a while, we were so tired, our reaction time after being asked a question was about 5-10 seconds after. So we asked Sebastian if he could take us back to the apartment.
Once we got there, we went online a little bit and caught up on a few things. But, what we really wanted to do was sleep. We went to sleep and I personally didn’t wake up till the next day. We rested a long time and pretty much stayed in the next day. Later that day Sebastian came over and asked what we had done. We had done nothing, stayed in, but wanted to go to a pub and try the Guinness out. Sebastian having something to do was looking for someone to go around town with, but everyone was already busy.
Olivia and I ended up going into town by ourselves and finding The Temple Bar Pub. Apparently that one is about the best one to go to and we happened upon it. We had our Guinness and a show. We went to a Subway and had dinner, which was really good compared to the US. We got back to the apartment and we were good until the next day when we needed to leave to Romania.
We packed all our things and had everything ready for the next day. We slept and were ready for Sebastian to take us to the airport. We really saw all the seasons during our stay in Ireland. It was raining when we got dropped off at the airport. The airport staff was really nice and we got through to security and to our gate. We realized we were on our way when we saw that pretty much everyone around us were Romanian and me realizing how little Romanian I could understand.
Romania is next… (To be continued…)

Still Alive

2009-06-09T03:13:00.000-07:00

Updates and Pictures COMING SOON!!!!

New York... Great to be Back Home

2009-06-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

So we left Portland on Saturday May 30^th on a JetBlue direct flight to JFK airport in Queens, New York. The flight was 5 hours long and we didn’t sleep at all… Once in New York, we went to our luggage claim and went outside to wait for my cousin. Once she picked us up at the terminal, we were on our way to her house. There I met the baby, Arelys who is sooooo cute. They have a pit-bull named Nautica who was cute too. We had gotten in early so my cousin had Valentino’s Pizza ready. We had that for breakfast.

So on our way to Romanian meeting which was in Queens and as I look around I get these feelings of déjà vu. The last time I was around here was in 2001 one month before 9-11 happened. We had a nice time at the Meeting and chatted with many of the brothers and sisters. Sadly, being we hadn’t had any sleep… we were falling asleep at the meeting. It’s funny how things work out. One of the couples that we met, the sister grew up with the brother that was going to pick us up in Dublin, Ireland. Once again, a very small world. There was also a brother we met that was from the same exact congregation we are going to in Constanta. After the meeting we were on our way back to my cousin’s house.

Before we made it back though, we drove through my old neighborhood and bought some more but fresh pizza and garlic knots for lunch. That was the flavor that I haven’t been able to forget. After that we treated ourselves to some Italian Ices (yummm). We ate but also being that we were tired, Olivia and I took a nap on my cousin’s sofa bed (very comfy) and slept till it was about 4ish. We were TIRED…

A while later we got a call from the Bethelite couple that was going to pick us up and take us with them to Bethel for the night. Once they got there we started our way to Brooklyn. Once there we moved our luggage there and went out to get some take-out Chinese food (which I love too!) We went back to the Bethel apartment, ate our food, and prepared ourselves for a long day ahead.

We woke up on Monday on Bethel time and made our way to Morning Worship. It was very encouraging and the food was wonderful (as always). So off we went to our first tour. Steve gave us the tour pretty much of what’s left in the 117 Adams Complex. Very different to what I saw last time in 2001. Once we were done with that tour we went over to the Office Complex (25 Colombia Heights) where Lisa gave us a tour. Being that I know Lisa from way back and we had a former Bethelite couple in our group, we got into places where typical tours don’t get into. We went to Lunch and once again, good. After lunch Olivia and I with two other sisters in our tour group were on our way to the Stanley Theatre. We received our tour from a sister from Barbados. We got done with the tour we were heading back to Brooklyn a bit earlier than we were told but we decided to wait at the bottom of the Towers (21 Clark ST) building which is the one that Lisa does Housekeeping in. To my surprise two of my aunts were there in the lobby suitcases and all and we were ready to leave that night after dinner and Bethel Family Watchtower study on our way to Patterson. We got a quick tour of where Lisa works and made our way down to dinner which is set up cafeteria style. Tray and go into line and take what you will eat. Steve had Watchtower comments and that was cool we could be there while that was happening.

All 6 of us left Brooklyn to Patterson, where Olivia and I were sleeping in the van the whole trip there. We arrived a little after 11pm and we made our way to a suite. The room that we stayed in was beautiful and had great views. We woke up early the next day and made our way to Morning Worship. The cafeteria at Patterson is pretty big and fits all the Bethel family of the complex. We made our way to the tour. Then afterwards we had to make our way to lunch. After lunch we were to be on our way to the Wallkill Bethel.

We made it to Wallkill Bethel and had the tour of the printery which was stinkin awesome! The way everything works was amazing and being that we were tired, it was nice to have such an awesome tour guide that with his sense of humor kept us awake. After that tour we went to the Wallkill cafeteria and had dinner there. Funny thing was we sat at a table where there was a brother from Eugene, OR and was in the Russian.

The three Bethel Complexes in New York were an awesome way to spend our time while in New York. I came to appreciate the work all the brothers do very much.

After the Bethel tours, Lisa and Steve took my aunts and Olivia and I back to the city this time to Queens to visit my uncle, aunt and cousins. We got there and man!! my cousins have grown a ton! We were there for a little while, and afterward we were on our way to my aunts’ apartment to spend the last night in New York. We slept well and my cousin picked us up for the next few steps of our travel.

To Be Continued…

Portland Convention

2009-05-24T21:06:00.000-07:00

This is Olivia and Me at the Convention (which is AWESOME). We caught the first one in Portland to get one in English before we left to Romania. It was great to see people. It's kind of funny though... I barely know anyone at the English Convention, but I saw many people from the RBC Quick Draws, so I felt like I actually knew some folks. The program really is wonderful, and I can't stress that enough. I'm a bit bummed out I can't make it to the Spanish Convention, especially since it is in Portland this year. But, hey... we are going to the one in Bucharest July 31-Aug 2009!!!!! Can't wait to send you some pictures of that one...

10/17 Days Left...

2009-05-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my last day of work! Not really by choice... Kinda funny. Well today was supposed to be the last day, but since yesterday I really had nothing to do, they gave me "early retirement". Which I'm not complaining about, it's actually better.

So, looking at the title you might be wondering, why 10/17 days? Well It's 10 days till we leave Portland on our trek, but it's actually 17 days when we will set foot on Romanian soil!!!!

So here are some pictures of the city Olivia and I will be in...

Busy Day...

2009-05-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

So, Saturday was very very busy...

Went to the Romanian class at 10 am and had a really good class where we corrected eachothers sentences/presentations.

Went to service for a few hours before we had to go to meeting. Had a good experience in service with a Romanian couple and the Franco's.

The meeting started at 3:00 pm and it was a speaker from Seattle. A few extra came down from Seattle. The talk was good. I really liked the illustration of the deaf frog and how we should be like it when it comes to gossip.

We had to leave almost right away after the meeting to head over to North Plains, where Olivia and my old spanish congregations threw us a going away to Romania party.
Katie and I performed our "famous" dance (wait for a link to the video in the near future)
It was wonderful, and I am very appreciative of being able to spend some time with brothers and sisters I hadn't seen in forever. So to any who were there, THANK YOU!!! Your support and love is awesome and I'll see you once we get back (for all those who think I wont, I WILL be back).

Seattle Weekend

2009-05-11T20:52:00.000-07:00

Sooo, only a few days left...

Left on Friday around 6 to Seattle with Reyna and Olivia. Got there and stayed at the Pitt's. We showed up to a 10 girl sleepover. The 3 of us slept on 2 twin beds which was funny. Anywho, We got up and went to service. Olivia and Reyna did Romanian while I joined a sister in English service. It was really fun. We then went to the Pitt house and took naps. One of the girls kept coming in and trying to let us not sleep, she then brought in our weakness... food. She later revealed that she was trying to keep us awake and get us fat.... too funny...which is why she kept feeding is.
We went to Santorini Greek Grill (106 Central Way Kirkland, WA 98033) I had the Gyro Plate and it was MIGHTY good.
Went back to Pitt's with the food and watched the movie "Australia." VERY GOOD might I add... After the long but good movie... We all chatted a bit and went to bed.
We woke up and got ready for the meeting which started at 10:00am.
Misael did very good on his first Romanian talk.
After meeting, we went to Pitt's and chatted with Pam before we headed over to Misaels for the dinner.
Misael has a ping-pong table which Olivia, Reyna, David and me RULED!!!!(We were bouncing off of every hard surface)
Food was AWESOME!!! like always. Said bye to many of the friends there and got direct connections in Moldova, soooo... most likely gonna visit there too!!(So EXCITING!!)
I drove Olivias car back to PDX and it was a mighty good weekend!!

25 Days Left!!!

2009-05-05T09:29:00.000-07:00

Olivia and I are at 25 Days before we leave PDX. Our itinerary is very exciting actually!

Sat May 30th- The day we leave to New York(same day as our Romanian class Graduation).
Sun May 31st- We get in at around 6:00am. We are visiting the Romanian congregation there, visiting family and spending the night at Bethel.
Mon June 1st- Tour of the Brooklyn Offices.
Tues June 2nd- Tour Patterson and Wallkill. Go around the old neighborhood and visit with family friends.
Wed June 3rd- Chill, walk around, go eat my favorite pizza and chinese food, until its time to go to the airport again. 5:00pm, Leaving toIreland!!!
Thurs June 4th- Get into Ireland at around 5:00am. We are hoping to visit the branch office there.
Fri June 5th- Have fun in Dublin
Sat June 6th- We leave to Romania where we get in around 9:00pm.

Starting Out...

2009-03-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

Sooo, I'm just writing in something to start this thing out.
Jus so that my page doesn't look soooo lame. :)

You'll be hearing from me later...