Reflections....

I said I would post more about our time in Romania.I have some time tonight to write down the things that have come to mind since being home. Trying to put into words the experience, at times seems pointless.How could I ever convey what we experienced in mere words. I shall try...the best I know how.

Tonight I want to relate what we did,felt,and saw.With what we do,feel and see here in the states.

Driving down the road today,to go to the doctors office,there were no starving children on the side of the road begging for food.Everywhere we went in Romania there were children begging...everywhere.

There were many people talking on their cell phones,that we saw in Romania too,but there was no public transportation like there was in Romania.
There were no stray dogs roaming the streets, no mule carts,with little gypsy children in the backs driving to town to beg.

At the doctors office there was nice chairs to sit in,carpeted floors,and people royally ticked that they had to wait a whole fifteen minutes to be seen by a doctor. In Romania,there are no chairs in waiting rooms with nice carpet.Rather,concrete floors,with a few tiles scattered here and there,iron beds, anything metal has rust and looks at least fifty years old.People walk,sometimes for days,to get to the doctor,and then wait hours,and hours,to be seen by a doctor.Once seen,sometimes they can afford treatment,sometimes not. The doctor decides who is worthy of operation,not if you need it.

After the doctors office,I went to the grocery store.I went to Aldis ,they have those in Romania. But we buy a whole lot more food than Romanians do.Most Romanians have their own gardens,I think all of them do,some have a goat (for milk) and chickens in their yards too (a yard that would be comparable to what a condo in the states would have IE:tiny).I picked what I needed,and a few things I did not "need" and got in line to pay for my items.Again,people were ticked that there was only one lane open,and that they had to wait. I never saw a Romanian complain about having to wait to buy food.It's considered a blessing to be able to buy it in the first place,who cares if you have to wait.

Then,I drove to my parents home. Key word drove...I passed many gas stations, most averaged 4.00 a gallon. That's cheap compared to how much gas is in Romania,I think Europeans in general are sick of hearing us Americans complain about gas costs going up. Gas in Romania,while we were there,was eight to ten U.S. dollars a gallon.

I came home,to our house that sits on two acres,and is four bedrooms,and unloaded my van. All things that most Romanians do not have. Fed the dog,watered the grass....oh and grass.

There is not much of it in Romania,and watering it rarely happens,gas is too expensive to waste it in a lawn mower.Hence,no one mows the grass,and the city does not have money to keep public grounds up...so everything is over grown....something my husband could not get over.Him being the lawn care taker that he is :).

I did some laundry today,most Romanians, do not have driers.They hang everything to dry.I on the other hand,love having a drier,and now when I use it,I praise the Lord we have it (even if it does shrink clothes,fades,and pills them,having four kids, I don't know what I would do with out it!)

I am getting ready for bed now,ah,to have a nice bed to sleep in,what a blessing that is.Many gypsy children sleep on the floor on mats,I even saw blankets outside,as though perhaps in the summers they just sleep outside under the stars.Though that's fun for one night,every night not so much.

But before bed,I think I am going to take a nice hot shower...you guessed it.Gypsy's take baths....maybe....once a month....maybe.Certainly they don't have running water,that's hot.Most take baths in the stream,and it is freezing cold.In a nutshell,though our day to day lives are similar to some Romanians, most of our lives are drastically different. Hope this gives you an idea of what Romania was like,and how going,has changed my daily perspective on life!