May 29

This morning after breakfast, I took another fast shower. I managed to cut the time down to 4 minutes and 11 seconds. I was quite proud of myself, until I got to church and Bjorn informs me that Nicki showered in just over three minutes. I’m still amazed at that. A young lady with long hair managed to shower in much less time than even Bjorn. They even checked to make sure she smelled clean. I’m amazed. Then it was time for the service. In Breidenbach they have translators for the sermons. You simply plug a set of headphones they provide into a jack in the bench, and find the channel that is translated into your language. The translator sits in a booth on the balcony. The English translator today was Adina. She did a fantastic job. For the first time in nearly three weeks, I actually understood a sermon. After the morning service, I was disappointed to discover that the Taba’s and Nitz’s were leaving for Ireland before the afternoon service. I said goodbye to them all, making certain I had an email address or two, and then headed home with the Pfister’s for lunch. After a quick lunch, I retired to my room to catch up on my blogs. At 2:45ish, we went back to church for the afternoon service. Once again, Adina did a fantastic job of translating. After the service, I met a bunch of young men about my age. I can’t remember any names, much to my dismay. We all took a walk and then went back into church for an hour of singing at five thirty. The singing was again terrific, and the young man next to me even sang with me in English. Once the singing was finished, I had to say my farewells to all my new friends. It’s so strange over here, because I’m not likely to see any of them again for a very long time, if ever. In America, when I say goodbye to new friends it’s usually not for long. I know that I will probably see them again at some point in the not too distant future on this earth. It makes the goodbyes more difficult here. Many of them did express a desire to visit America, and assured me that they would get in touch if they made it over. Lord willing, I will see some of them again. Moving on, when we arrived back at the Pfister’s, their family was gathering. We sat down to dinner with a full table. Ernst and Elizabeth have 14 children, 8 boys and 6 girls. Before the day was over, we saw 8 of them. By the time supper was over, I was kaput. I went back to my room and finished up this blog. Now I am going to get into my pj’s and go to bed. Tomorrow we go through France to the small town in southern Germany where Opa’s grandpa was born.

May 28

This morning I got up at seven thirty, put in my contacts, and pulled on some clothes just in time to be picked up by Bjorn Taba. He drove me to his house where I met the rest of the people I would be canoeing with. I went with Bjorn, Sebastian, Sven, and Jasmin Taba, their Canadian cousins Becky, Jenny, and Nicki Nitz, and Adina Csokor. We ate a fantastic breakfast and then headed for the river. The drive took a little over an hour, and then we parked and took the train. By doing this, the cars were parked near where we had to leave the canoes. The canoe trip was fantastic, better than I can describe with words. All of the Germans and of course the Canadians know English. I was so thankful for this group. I felt like I was immediately accepted as family. We laughed and joked and sang our way down the river. As we were paddling, Bjorn was telling us about his experiences in Australia. Down there, they often have water restrictions. So Bjorn and his roommates had contests over who could shower the fastest. Their record was 4 minutes and a few seconds, from the moment they entered the bathroom, until they exited dry and with clothes on. Nicki said that she could do it in that time. Bjorn disagreed and so he bet her a frappe that she couldn’t do it in less than five and a half minutes. When I got home, I tried my hand at it. I only managed in five minutes and twenty five seconds. I’ll be interested to see if I can do it in less at home. I don’t understand how you could go much faster than three and a half minutes. On the drive home, we were running late for church. At one point we were driving nearly 200 kph, which is about 124 mph. I loved it. As soon as they dropped me off, I showered and got dressed for church. Within a few minutes of me walking outside, they arrived to take me to church. At church, we sang for about an hour. The singing was absolutely fabulous. Then we headed to our respective houses and had a late dinner. I was pretty tired, and so I went to bed right afterward. All in all, it was a terrific day.

May 27

This morning, we got up in good time, ate breakfast and showered. By ten we were on the road to the market in Arad. When we arrived, Oma discovered that she had never been to that market. It was pretty jank. Basically it was just a bunch of tables piled with used clothes, and a lot of people with blankets covered in random items. There was everything from clothes, to laptop computers, to old cassette players, to fresh produce. For the most part, it was simply junk that people didn’t want for themselves. So they brought it to the market and tried to sell it. I found some old keys that looked like they belonged in a castle. I thought it looked like a nice cheap souvenir, but the guy wanted $7 apiece for them! So much for that idea. A sister from church has a trailer there that she sells drinks and what we call elephant ears in America. Basically, they were flat, deep fried pieces of pastry. You can get cheese, chocolate or salt on them. I got chocolate on mine and it was delicious! Then we moved on to another market. This one was considerably nicer. There is a shop there that sells Romanian crafts. It was exactly what I wanted. I loaded up on gifts for people at home. Then we walked around the corner and discovered a stand selling purses and sunglasses. I noticed a beautiful pair of aviators that were actually sturdy. All the ones I’ve found at home that weren’t expensive have thin wire frames. I always end up bending them. I figured that these would be just as expensive. So I asked the guy, who surprisingly knew English pretty well, and was informed that they only cost 10 US dollars! I couldn’t pass up that deal. Now all I need is a few more things and I’ll be done shopping. Basically I just need chocolate. Hannah Dietrich deserves chocolate, since I missed her graduation open house. Then we headed off to another market where Oma visited her favorite purse shop. She quickly found a purse and purchased it, and then we headed back to Antioch. When we arrived, we had to hurry and pack. Shortly after arrival, Philip hands me a handmade clock that has a map of Romania from the older boys, Katarina (the little girl who is about 6) gives me a little clay whistle in the shape of a bird, and Etta (I’m not sure how to spell her name) gave me a beautiful horse decoration. With some difficulty, we managed to get everything packed safely into our bags. Then it was time to say goodbye. I managed to get a picture of everyone except Etta together. Then we said goodbye all around and piled into the van. Timothy, Tobias, David, Christian,  Adrian, and Berto(I think) all came with us to the airport. When we arrived at the ticket counter, they informed us that each person could only have one carryon bag. Since we each had a backpack, purse or murse along in addition to a carryon suitcase, we had to fit our personal bags inside suitcases quickly. It was a mess. We couldn’t just let them take our carryon suitcases because they were packed full of fragile items. Nevertheless, we got it done. Then we said goodbye to the boys and headed through security. They stood and watched us until we were through, and turned to wave. Security took forever, even though there was no line. I’m not sure what their problem was. Since Opa’s artificial hips set off the metal detector, they took him into the private room to search him. The officer made him take his pants AND HIS UNDERWEAR, down to see his scar. I’ve never heard of such a thing. Opa was not very pleased. We finally made it through and headed upstairs to our gate. When it was time to board, I was appalled. There are no seating assignments on this airline, kind of like southwest airlines. But unlike Southwest, there is no order to the boarding process. People pushed and shoved their way into the line from the side, or pushed past you from behind. We all boarded a bus that took us out to the plane. Then we repeated the pushing and shoving to get on the plane. I was carrying Opa’s suitcase and mine and people were trying to push past me. I finally got fed up and just started making use of the suitcases as battering rams and shoved back. I was thoroughly upset by the time we found a seat. I got our suitcases in the overhead bin and sat down. I couldn’t believe what I found when I sat down. My knees were touching the seat in front of me. By pressing myself as far back as I could in my seat I could just barely get space between my knees and the seat, but if I sat normally it caused my knees to push into the seat in front of me. I’ve never seen that before. It was a very long hour and a half to Dortmund. Upon arrival, we just sat still and let the cows push and shove their way off the plane before even getting up. We were the last ones off the plane. We found our bags without mishap and met Ernst and Elizabeth Pfister right outside the baggage claim. They loaded us up and we headed home. The German roads are very nice and Ernst was driving around 155 to 160 kph. I love speed. We arrived home after about an hour of driving and had dinner. I was quite hungry by then. I was also tired, so I headed right to bed after supper.

May 26

This morning I didn't get up until nearly eleven. It was absolutely fabulous. When I did get up, I ate a quick breakfast and then went up to the balcony with my computer. I spent the entire rest of the afternoon, until about three, sitting in a comfy chair on the balcony. I was very glad for the opportunity to just rest. The weather was nearly perfect: sunny and breezy, although a little hot. After Adrianna brought us a fantastic supper, the boys took me to the ruins of an old fort in town. We rode bikes there. I climbed the highest wall, which is about fifteen feet tall. I posted pictures on facebook. Then we went over to a soccer court nearby. Before we could play, we had to get rid of a dead porcupine that was just laying in the middle of the court. Timothy and I played against David, Christian, and Tobias. We were tied at one when Christian turned his ankle. With the teams even, you would think the score would stay even. But we lost 4-1 because I'm awful. Timothy's amazing skills can only do so much. Then we headed back home and cleaned up for church. After church, we had another meal, which was also fabulous. We had a sort of bratwurst that had been split. I put some fresh honey on mine and it was almost too good to eat! Then I went out and joined the kids. David, Christian and I did a few skits for the rest of them, with Adrian helping on one of them. Then we played more Mafia. It was a good day. And now hopefully I will have a good night!

May 24 and 25

Yesterday was pretty uneventful. I managed to talk Opa out of taking us all over the place. We visited the store for some basketballs, and an old folks home. The nursing home was requesting four hospital beds. We happened to have them in inventory at Antioch and gladly granted their request. In the evening, I played games with the kids until nearly midnight. This morning, I got up before ten and took a shower. When I got out, Adriana was here with breakfast. It was fantastic as usual. Then we loaded up and headed out to a piece of ground that we own. They raise bees on it. It's about an hour and a half, to two hour drive. I slept the entire way there! When we arrived, we had to drive way out in the middle of this field. There was no road, just a series of muddy tire tracks. When we arrived at our destination, the bees where everywhere. Since I'm allergic to bees, I stayed safely enclosed in the van. Before we left, they gave us a 1.5 liter bottle full of fresh honey. Then I asked for a small piece of honeycomb. I should have known better. The bee keeper opens one of the hives, takes out an entire 1 foot by 6 inch tray of honecomb, smacks it a couple times to dislodge the bees (all in short sleeves), and then gives the entire thing to me. It's absolutely awesome. It is full of the freshest honey I've ever eaten. I've never tasted anything so deliciously sweet in my life! Then we drove to Timischwara to Philip's brother's house. His house is spectacular! They have a large, lush garden in the back, some chickens and a few pigs. The inside of the house is as nice as anything I've seen in America. To make it more impressive, he has done nearly all of the work on the house himself. They sat us down at the table and gave us some absolutely delicious ice cream, a fruity bread of some kind, and the best coffee I've had since I left the US. They also have an adorable baby, who immediately took to Oma. I even got to hold her for a little while. Then we left to see the machine that we helped finance for this man. On the way to the shop, it poured rain and even hail a little bit. I was surprised at the hail since it had been very hot all morning. When we arrived at the shop, it was every bit as neat as his house. The machine puts laminate on the side of countertops and such. It was quite impressive. I posted pictures of it on facebook. From there, we headed home. After a brief, but delicious, meal, we simply relaxed in the shade on the porch. It was very nice. Then Philip took me to his house, and I got to drive his car! We drove out to a field that he owns where a couple of the boys were picking flowers for tea. When we got there, they all wanted to play soccer. So I loaded back into the car with Christian, and we went back for my shoes. When I got back, Philip jumped out from hiding in the bushes and scared us. After helping pick a few more flowers, we walked down to the river. After a half hour of skipping stones and having distance throwing contests (both of which I won;), we walked back to an open field and played soccer for a while. My team lost of course. Then we all went back to the Antioch compound and had dinner. After dinner, I taught the kids how to play Mafia. This lasted past eleven, before it was time for them to head home. So I went inside, got ready for bed, posted some pictures, updated my blog, and am now going to bed!

May 23

This morning, I woke up sometime after ten and took a shower. The Augostinovs already brought breakfast. When I was finally showered and awake, I joined them around the table. Katarina, their daughter, was sitting at the table shyly. When I finished eating, I propped a folded shirt on the table and started playing peek-a-boo. Soon she was giggling and playing along. Then Oma gave her a little toy car and I tried to get her to sit on the floor and roll it back and forth. She refused to do this but was quite delighted to chase it down and bring it back every time I would roll it. I soon got bored with this and so I rolled the car and then quick hid around the corner when her back was turned. She came looking for me and I tickled her. She wasn’t sure she liked this so I went back to rolling the car for a bit. Then I went and hid again. This time I acted all scared when she found me. She found this to be quite fun. We did this two or three times and then I hid under the covers of my bed. She couldn’t find me. So I helped her out a bit by calling to her. When she found me, I acted all scared and rolled off the bed. She followed me to tickle me and I pulled her down with me. She laughed for a bit but then had enough. I followed her back to the kitchen where she was by her dad. When I came into the room, she came over to me with the serious, shy look on her face and held her hands up. I picked her up and she just snuggled into my shoulder. It was so sweet, my heart melted into a puddle on the floor. She sat on my lap until she had to go. Opa decided it was time to shower so that Philip could take us to the Metro store, which is like a Sam’s Club. Oma and I took the opportunity to explore the buildings and see what they have done since Oma was here last. The compound is quite amazing. There are three separate buildings. One holds three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and dining room, and a small sitting area. Each of these bedrooms contains two bunk beds, and closet space for four people. In two of the bedrooms, there is a sink. There is a light switch next to every bed, top and bottom bunks. I think this is an ingenious idea, because it allows you to turn the light off from bed instead of tripping across the room in the dark. The building across the way hold the washer and dryer, honey purifying and packaging machines, a plethora of donated wheelchairs, a large area for packaging food and clothing, an upstairs with two bedrooms, a nice sized balcony. The third building contains all the donated clothes that Oma and others have purchased with donated money and sent over in sea containers. It also contains all the donated garments from Germany. There is quite the assortment of clothing! This building is also home to the pallets of canned and dry foods that are distributed throughout Romania and other eastern European countries. Then the four of us piled in Philip’s van and headed off to the store. After a detour to pick up and drop off two of Philip’s girls, we made it to the Metro. That place was quite amazing. They even sold six packs of Mountain Dew two liters! It’s only the second place I’ve seen Mountain Dew since arriving in Europe. Obviously, I had to have some. We also stocked up on candy, and a few other odds and ends. In the fish section they had Octopus, and a variety of other fresh seafood. I was quite impressed with the large tanks of live fish. Philip was already in the checkout lane, and none of the rest of us know Romanian, so I’m not sure what kind of fish they were. There were some pretty large fish there though. I kind of wanted to buy one. Oma talked me out of it and we left. On the way home we stopped by his parents house. They have a large amount of chickens and a beautiful garden full of potatoes, onions, spinach, lettuce, peas and more. Their dog was wagging its tail in a very friendly manner until I put my hand out. Thankfully, I’m not completely stupid and so I held out my fist. He bit me pretty good, but didn’t do much damage because he couldn’t get his mouth around my fist. Finally, we headed back to Antioch and I got settled in the reclining chair with my laptop. It wasn’t very long before our supper showed up, thanks to Adrianna. Katarina came over and just kind of watched me till I noticed her and offered her my lap. She immediately took me up on that offer. I was in the full reclining position when she sat down, and I soon realized that I was quite stuck. I couldn’t lift her from that position, and I couldn’t move my laptop either. I had to have Oma come and take my laptop. Then we sat down and ate quickly and I went out to play with the kids. They had a beat up old soccer ball that they were using since it was less likely to break anything. We immediately started an intense game of keep away. This lasted for over an hour, leaving me exhausted and soaked with sweat. Then they all got tired of the game and started begging for a new game. So we played a game of Red Rover. This didn’t last very long, before they got bored. So we moved inside and played the Name Game. It was quite interesting. We played for about an hour before most of the kids had to head home. I talked with David for a while, and learned that he loves computer games. We discussed the various games that we both knew and then it was time for bed. We all headed to our respective homes and I got on the web and conversed with some awesome friends and then headed to bed. And now we’re all caught up!!!

May 22

This morning Dejan woke me up at a quarter till 8. I got up, splashed some water on my face and set about packing up the last of my clothes. Before long, I had everything packed and Dejan was yelling up the stairs to come get breakfast if I wanted some. After another delicious breakfast, I gave Andre, Matej, and David each one of the little flashlights that I got from Opa. They said thank you, and Matte seemed quite delighted. Then I headed back up to the room and put away the last of my stuff in time to hear Dejan call: "Benjy, uh, we should go." I carried all my stuff down, only to be told that I didn't need it yet. So Dejan, Daniel, and I headed off to church. When we got there, they had already been singing. We went up to the front of the men's side in time to sing one song. I had forgotten my English book so I sang in Serbian to the best of my ability, which wasn't very good. Then the minister got up and preached. The service was set up very similar to our services in Wolcott, except he read only out of the new testament. After the service, we had to leave as the greetings were given. After chatting for a while with Monica and the others in front of the church, we headed back to their house. After chilling for a while, we beaded back to the church. Dejan, Danijel, Natalija, Andre, and I joined the rest of the young folk in sandwich making. By working in assembly line fashion, we made 600 sandwiches in less than an hour. First, I helped Dejan carry tables and benches down from the lunchroom to the foyer. The second job given to me was to figure out how to work the air conditioner. The instructions were in English, so they hoped that I could figure it out. Unfortunately, I was not able to accomplish all that they wanted, but I got it set on high so that it would be cool when all the people arrived. Then I set to work wrapping trays of sandwiches with Dejan. We made a great team! Finally, we headed home again. After a bit of YouTube watching, my group showed up. I felt quite loved as I received hugs all around. I asked Opa for another light so that I would have one to give to Natalija, but he couldn't find one. Instead, he had a pen with an LED light on the end. I figured that would be as good, if not better. We were in a hurry to leave, and I couldn't find her so I left it on her desk with a little not that simply said: "For: Natalija From: Benjy :)" and rushed off to church. When we arrived, people were flooding in from all over. There were visitors from all over Serbia, Hungary, Australia, America and maybe even Romania. The church was packed with at least four hundred people. Church started at 3. After a service, we sang from about four fifteen or four thirty until about five forty. The singing was spectacular. At first, the singing was very slow but very good. Then another leader took over and it sped up and got even better. I wish I could have recorded it. After the congregational singing, the kids all sang several songs for us. this lasted till six. Then a minister got up and had a prayer for the meal, and we all went and ate. I got to talk to a lot of people who can speak English, and got several email addresses. Unfortunately, I cannot remember most of the names. Finally it was time to say goodbye to all my new, but very dear friends. It was very sad. I was very disappointed that I didn't get to say goodbye to Andre, Natalija, and Matej. Philip Augustinov took us back to the Murtins to get our stuff. Much to my delight, I found a not on my luggage that said, in very neat handwriting: "thank you. Natalija" At least I know she got the pen. Then we loaded everything into Philip's van and we left for Vladimirescu. The drive was fairly uneventful and we arrived at our destination by midnight Romanian time. We are now seven hours different than home. The older portion of the Augostinov family was waiting for us as we arrived. Oma and Opa greeted their old friends with enthusiasm and introduced me all around. After a little conversation, they headed home and we all went to bed.