It was a lovely afternoon...

...so Anita and I decided to pack a picnic lunch and climb a mountain somewhere and enjoy the sunshine. First things first. It's Easter week here in Romania (yes, we just have to be different, so we celebrate it at a different time than y'all), and lots of businesses are closed. Still, all things considered, I had relatively little difficulty finding sandwich fixings and other picnicky necessities. Score one.

When Anita and I actually met, I realized I'd forgotten to pass along the mountain climbing memo, and the cute little heels were definitely not gonna make it.

Plan B: city park. About a 25 minute walk. Not too bad, not too bad.

Eventually, we arrived at the park. It's a European park, which means there are paved paths, big trees, and benches. And that's all. Apparently, there is a large gap in my Romanian education that includes appropriate city park etiquette. You don't play sports in these places, and you don't sit on the grass. Grass is for dogs only.

But I didn't know that. Yet. So Anita and I set up our nice little picnic on the grass. Just as we were getting comfy, I heard a man's voice say something in Romanian.

Aw, I thought, somebody wants to join our picnic.

But when I looked up, it was a cop, who graciously and firmly informed me that we were definitely not allowed to sit on the grass. It wasn't even particularly nice grass, so I'm not sure what they were intending to protect it from or for, but we decided to be amiable in order to avoid risking deportation, and we moved our picnic to a bench. I'm quite convinced that we ruined many a runner's day as he or she gazed wistfully at our princely spread (can you say peanut butter and apricot jam sandwiches?), but hey, that's what happens when picnickers have to picnic on benches.

Moral of the story: what are cops doing walking around in the park, anyway??

I'm thankful for...

20. Spontaneous worship. When the praise of God's people transcends cultures and language and all other barriers and unites people in a spirit of worship before an Awesome God.


The baptismal service had ended, and we were all scattered throughout the building in various groups. Somebody started playing the piano, somebody else grabbed a drum, and we worshiped together for over an hour.

I love worship.

This is happening not very far from where I live...

Basically, Moldova's Communist party won more than a 50% majority in their recent elections, giving them the right to alter the Constitution, and the young people of Moldova took to the streets in response.

Seems a little oxymoronic to vote in Communism to me...but I guess that's my American mindset.

New York Times Article

(Photos by Denis Graur)

Words of the Week

Romanian terms of endearment struck me as definitely not very endearing-sounding at first. I barely notice it anymore, but here are a few of my favorites:

"Scumpo"--sugar, honey
"Draga"--dear (I distinctly remember thinking this one had a rather unpleasant resemblance to 'dragon' the first time I saw it written)
"Dragalasha"--diminutive form of 'draga'
"Iubirea mea"--my love, pronounced like YOU-BEER-YAH MYAH

Kudos...

...to the rather ingenious twirps who pranked my entire bedroom yesterday--perhaps with a little bit of encouragement from some amateur criminals dear friends on the other side of the ocean. (A sufficient bribe might induce me to keep your identities unknown.)

There were hangers under my sheets.

Aluminum foil in my pillowcase.

Saran wrap across my door.

Light switches were well-taped into the OFF position.

My optical mouse was unplugged and the sensor had tape over it.

My mouse speed had been greatly decreased and my left and right mouse buttons were toggled.

Everything sitting on my desk had been taped to my desk.

A rope had been cleverly wound through almost every single shirt I own in the hopes that when I grabbed one, they would all come with it.

My personal favorite: Someone had disabled the icons on my desktop, taken a screen shot, and set it as my background, so it looked exactly the same, but none of the icons would function, because they were actually just part of the background.

Sneaky, sneaky. And I only have 364 days to come up with something even better. :)

I'm thankful for...

17. Super talented friends/family. There's more talent in this photo than words can express. (That goes for the photographer, too.)

18. Genuineness. Because it's hard to find people who are real.

19. The freedom in Christ to be real because I know Whom I have believed. I don't have to know the future, cause I know the One Who holds the future.