We're here!
It's a beautiful country. To me, it's a mix of Greece - χορηγό style, Mexico, and a little of Kenya.
At the airport, the customs officer was probably the nicest border patrol person. He said "oh, you're Greek. Do you speak Greek? I know some basic phrases and bad words." And we thus decided to part ways with γεια σου :) Outside the airport, we got picked up and began our three-hour van trek to the Pro Vita Orphanage in Valea Plopului.
We almost got into an accident when a chicken had to cross the road.... yes, it's not a joke.
What is really cool is that each home has their own small plot of land attached where they grow their own things.
There are so many churches. We even passed a sign for a church dedicated to St. Spiridon in one of the villages.
We walked around the campus/orphanage area with many of the new friends we had made from the orphanage. We hiked up to the closest church (picture below) and saw the beautiful mountains all around us. Many of the kids at the orphanage that we met thought my name was so funny and they kept repeating it over and over again. One of the girls thought I was a teacher and much older than I was (maybe it was the hat). I was told I looked at least 25-30 and surprised them with the fact that I was 19.
We watched many of the boys play soccer, watched the large pigs eating near the fields. We then met Father Tenasae who is crazy great. He thought I had been to Romania before (asked me twice if I was sure that I had not been there before) and told me that I looked Romanian.
~~~
We unloaded one of the food trucks, filled with donations for the orphanage. Inside the kitchen, there was a huge carcass of definitely a pig just lying on the kitchen counter....
We had a mini Vespers that all the kids lead, with the Father Tenasae prompting them for different prayers. Definitely a feeling of being at home...even though we can't understand the language.
Dinner - there was so much confusion of where to go and where to sit, but you could feel so much love - we learned how to eat raw onions with salt from a wonderful Romanian lady who tried to speak to us in Romanian and then German, but we had no common language... nonverbal communication is amazing :)
American pop music - on the radio (which I guess I shouldn't have been as shocked) and a way to connect with the kids... everyone knew a lot of
Pulling up to the Orphanage
Our view from where we were staying
Drum?
Cheers for our raw onions
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