DAY SIX

Yesterday was a great day! Since it was Sunday, we went to a church called alfAOmega (Romanian spelling). It was a contemporary service much like I go to in the states. It was also very small, about 50 people with our big group making up a third of that. The service started at 1pm and went til about 2:30... however they normally have worship but they didn't this week because they were at a retreat when they normally practiced. So that's a bummer that we didn't get to experience that.

After church there was lots of hang out time and conversation. I met a missionary's kid... her name is Jessica and she is a freshman in college. Her parents moved to Romania when she was a senior in highschool and she loved it so much that she is taking online college so she can stay. She has her own apartment and is very fluent in Romanian after being there for about a year and a half. It was fun talking to her and getting her perspective on things.

We left church and went to the mall. The mall is a huge very nice building, that in the reign of the bad communist guy that totally screwed up Romania was built to be a feeding center. This guy's plan was to have a bunch of big feeding centers around the city so that noone would cook in their homes, and that way he could control how much food everyone got. Crazy, right? But now it is a mall, very opposite of communism! Ha! So I was very suprised by how nice it was and how it had many recognizable stores such as Reebok. We didn't shop around, just got lunch which consisted of Schuarmas! They are big tortilla type things wrapped around chicken, french fries, cabbage, and then an array of toppings and condiments that you can choose from. It was delicious! I also got gelato... all of this I got for 16 lei, which is about 5 dollars.

Romanian History, if you're interested (as told by Heather)
After the mall, one of the H2H staff, Jen, took us on a grand 2 hour tour of the whole city of Bucharest and told us all about its history. It was SO interesting! We learned all about the revolution in 1989 and were in the square where it all happened while she told us about it. It was also very interesting to learn about how Romania got to where it is today. Back in the day it was three separate countries, so this one guy thought it would unite the country if they brought in a foreign king... so they got a king from Germany and it worked! Romania was united and the king was very good. There were three more kings after him until the 30s/40s when WWII happened and since they had this tie to Germany, they were forced to fight on Germany's side. So Romania supplied all the oil to the Nazi army, until finally the army got far enough away that they felt safe, they then stopped supplying oil, and that is when WWII ended. After that, the US gave Romania to Russia, which led to all the years of oppression under communism. Through a series of events the bad guy got into power and his goal was to rule the world (literally!). So we got to see all the CRAZY things he did and built to try and make himself appear as a God. His plan was to build an army to help him take over the world and do this through children that would be brought up with that mindset and training. Enter the Romanian orphan problem since he outlawed birth control and for women who bore children gave them better jobs and money etc. If they couldn't take care of their children, no big deal just hand them to the government and they would raise them. Thankfully, after a very sad event where the bad guy had a bunch of kids shot in a square, he and his evil wife were caught, found guilty, and shot. And now Romania just has to keep recovering. The mindset is still very much there that if you have children that you can't take care of, just have the govt do it. A lot of parents use the orphanages as boarding houses and will visit their kids or have them come home for Christmas, they just don't have enought to take care of them all the time. All very interesting as I said! 
End of Romanian History

After our tour, we came back to the house and watched Titanic with the transition home boys. They were all very excited about it, which made it fun. They don't have TV at the transition home, so it's a bit of a treat. And they love saying the few english words and names they know like "Celine Deon" and "Jack." So funny! During the movie a couple of us were making friendship bracelets and one of the guys named Resvan motioned/through translation that he would make one for me and I make one for him. So that's what we did! It's so funny how they will just be very straight forward with what they want or think!

This morning we are going shopping in the biggest marked in Bucharest. They sell everything there apparently! Then we are headed to Parish, which I am so excited for since I haven't seen the kids for 2 days because of the baby hospital and Sunday's activities yesterday. It's going to be so hard to leave! I can't believe we only have three days left! :(