March 2006

Beginning Orthodox Lent

On Sunday, we had a feast-before-the-fast (a Shrove Sunday, if you will) at Diana and Cornel's place. I baked and baked most of Saturday and brought over some banana bread, a pan of brownies with frosting, and a spinach quiche. I've been cooking and baking like a maniac since I've been here and have really enjoyed it. Perhaps the most amazing part is that we don't have any measuring cups or spoons, and our gas oven's settings are simply "big flame", "little flame." So, when a recipe calls for two cups flour, I take a wild guess. And when it calls for 300 degrees, I opt for the "little flame." Most things turn out quite swimmingly. I've always been under the impression that recipes are mere guidelines, much to my mother's chagrin. After we stuffed ourselves exorbitantly, we played Uno which, with Romanians, is much more exciting and rowdy than with Americans. And I won't even go into the insanity that followed when we played Dutch Blitz. We thoroughly exhausted ourselves playing cards, so we watch The Pianist, which was quite sobering, and drank boiled wine.

Living without Running Water

Bethany and I finally connected with a plumber who came and fixed our bathroom leak yesterday. Of course, when I went to turn on the shower this morning, the water in our building was off (happens once or twice a week) and I could only laugh at the irony of it all. You don't realize how dependent you are on running water until you have none -- you can't brush your teeth, wash your clothes, make a cup of tea, take a shower, wash your face, etc. What a valuable resource! And yet so many in the Two-Thirds world live tens of kilometers from clean water sources. It's really something you don't think about in the States. Every time I travel and return home, I always have to adjust to drinking water straight from the tap. We have the cleanest drinking water in the world! During your next shower or when you drink your next glass of water, say a little prayer of thanks...and consider turning the water off while you brush your teeth.

Springbreak in Budapest

B and I returned from our Spring break adventures last Sunday morning at 5am. Unlike the way to Budapest, our train ride on the way back was nice and cool (we could actually open our window) and there were no old, drunken men trying to get into our cabin, which was a nice change. I really enjoyed Budapest, especially because I was able to experience it with my two good friends. We enjoyed many a cappuccino, walked a LOT, saw some sweet museums, learned a little more about the Balkan wars and communism, relied heavy on the recommendations of travel writer Rick Steves (we swear by him), learned a smidgen of Hungarian, soaked in some thermal baths with the locals, saw a French opera in Hungarian subtitles for very cheap, enjoyed good Hungarian beer, got overcharged for some chicken paprikash, successfully avoided bird flu-ridden pigeons, had some killer Indian food, and made quite the home of our two hostels where we stayed. All in all, good times.

I really am thankful for having more than one perspective of Eastern Europe. Clearly, communism in Hungary looked different than the communism of Romania. Both were destructive, of course, but you only have to ride on a Budapest metro or walk the Budapest streets to feel the obvious difference. Romania is soooooo far behind other former Soviet bloc nations that it’s not even funny. Maybe that’s because after their revolution, they voted in another communist politician! And again and again…. It’s hard to transition out of oppression when the oppression rules the state. Fortunately, and this is very new, the powers that be are being held responsible for the massive amounts of money they’ve “magically” acquired over the years, specifically Nastasu, the former prime minister, who recently resigned. We think he may be a billionaire.

Overcoming My Fear of Skiing

Well, when you think ‘mountain retreat,’ you think of adjectives like ‘quite,’ ‘restful,’ ‘slow-paced.’ Welp, not so for Straja. I’ll say this over and over again – that place is crazy. You get to the top and there are mounds of people, all wearing neon-colored full-body snow suits straight from the 80s, skiing and snowboarding in all directions, with stray dogs running this way and that. And the cabana where we stayed was equally as crazy, filled with ski bums and loud partiers. Our room was actually directly next to the disco….and I mean that quite literally. The walls were literally shaking until 2 in the morning. AND, the water was off for two days, so that meant no showers and much odor….to put it nicely.

Anyway, I finally tried my hand at skiing and actually did okay! It must be like riding a bike…once you learn, it’s hard to forget. I went down the easy slope a few times until the electricity went off (haha! Romania! No water or electricity at a ski resort) and the lift stopped working. So, I just put my skiis on my shoulders and trudged up the mountain side, bit by bit. This was hard after a while and by mid-afternoon, I called it a day. But, I am proud to say that I never fell…not once. We went sledding later on and I fell a lot, and acquired some pretty nasty (identical) bruises on the back of my calves. Honestly, sledding has to be far more dangerous than skiing. The only way you can stop is completely uncivilized – throwing yourself off the sled and hoping that you’ll land into a pile of snow and eventually stop before rolling off the edge of some great Romanian precipice. It’s an adrenaline rush, for sure.

Evangelicals and Orthodox in Romania

One of my (and Dana’s) many criticisms of Evangelical missions organizations that come to Romania is their refusal to work with the Orthodox Church. In fact, many of these mission organizations have outright hostility toward the Church, and have made it their goal to convert the “pagan Orthodox” to their understanding of Christianity. This disturbs me. And this is why I am blessed and encouraged to be a part of New Horizons, an NGO that partners with the Orthodox Church to do the good work God has for us – creating loving communities, instilling values of faith and trust and compassion in individuals, and spreading the gospel of shalom. Grant it, there are those priests (and aspects of the OC) that are rigid and intolerable. But the priests I’ve met and the theology I’ve read have really blown my previous perceptions out of the water. I think the American Evangelical Church has much to learn from the OC in terms of the sociability of the Trinity, the organic connection between the Gospel and social justice, and ecumenicalism. It’s time to stop being fearful of icons, everyone!