More People

Greetings,

Cheryl and I will be flying back to the States on Sunday, December 22.  We will leave Romania on December 19 and spend a few days in Budapest prior to our departure.  A few highlights in Budapest will be Thursday evening at the Hungarian State Opera House seeing The Nutcracker and Friday evening with our London friends Lubos and Daniela Brvenik.  The Brvenik's son Thomas enrolled at Hope College in the fall of 2012 and they stayed with us for three weeks while getting him settled.  We first met Lubos and Daniela while attending All Soul's Church in London during one of our London May term excursions.  Daniela's family is from Slovakia, so they will make a detour to Budapest on their way to celebrate Christmas with her family.

Silvia and John (Ioan)

Anticipating our evening with Lubos and Daniela highlight perhaps the greatest blessing we have received during our time in Romania, and in our previous travels.  You just simply never know who you will meet prior to leaving, so it is hard to imagine who will come into your lives.  I am lucky because Cheryl has a real gift for initiating conversations with new people and then she brings me into the conversations.  This allows me to get to know many more people than I would if I was on my own.  I guess this is one way in which two are better than one.  We wanted to introduce you to a few of the Romanian people who have adopted us into their community.

John and Silvia Fotea were the first couple we met.  They took us to dinner on our first evening in Oradea.  Cheryl had a whopping headache and could not stay awake and I was also dog tired after twenty hours of travel.  In spite of our rather feeble attempt at conversation, John and Silvia welcomed us with great energy, spoke wonderful English, and let us know that many were looking forward to our year at Emanuel.  Both John and Silvia are colleagues of mine at Emanuel.  John has the unpleasant task of trying to get me to do the things that the Dean has requested for me to do.  He is also the one I go to when I have questions about how things are done.  He may be the most excited for my departure as I am not sure if I have made his life better or more complicated.

Audriana and Ina

Cheryl's birthday cake

We have since spent many evenings with the Foteas.  They have had us over several times for dinner and games.  They introduced us to a Romanian game that is very close to Dutch Blitz.  We also had them over to our "place" and cooked tacos and one evening we treated for a special night out at KFC.  On most occasions we are treated to the company of Silvia's sister Ina, and at times Ina's roommate Audriana.  They add much joy and laughter.  Ina has been a great help to Cheryl when she needs a driver and advisor for some of her more complicated purchases.  Two weeks ago, all of them, including Silvia and Ina's brother Emi, surprised us with a dinner and cake on Cheryl's 29th birthday.

Carmen (right) with her sister and niece

Carmen Fagadar is also a colleague at Emanuel.  One of her duties is the development and promotion of Emanuel.  She is the "face" behind the University's facebook page.  We met Carmen during our first faculty meeting and she volunteered to be our interpreter.  We sure hope she was accurate as it was the only faculty meeting that we had for the semester.  Some of my colleagues at Hope might consider moving to Romania based on that bit of information.  Carmen's family has students over every Sunday evening for some home cooking and a loving environment.  Since we do most of our Face Time with family during Sunday evening, Carmen had Cheryl and I over during the day.  Romanians show their hospitality and love by the amount of food they prepare and serve.  Well, needless to say, we ate a lot of food.  It was wonderful.  And, when we were finished, we were sent home with enough food for an additional meal.

The Veduva family - Evi, Lois, Sebastian

My formal boss (I actually have several informal ones) at the University is Sebastian Veduva.  Sebastian was my first contact at Emanuel as we had several email and Skype conversations prior to my arrival.  He juggles a lot of responsibilities and probably accomplishes more in one day than I do in one week.  He has a real heart and passion for Emanuel as Sebastian has the talent and personality to do almost anything.  He has dual citizenship in Romania and America and his wife Lois is in the process of gaining her citizenship.  I so look forward to our return in the spring as I hope to spend some regular time with Sebastian trying to work through some implementation plans to move the management program into the future.  As a side note, you often make an impact in areas you never thought you would (note the sweater vest).

We spent an evening at the Veduva house sharing a meal and having a wonderful discussion that spanned many different topics.  I realize how much I miss these conversations as they occur on a regular basis with my colleagues and students at Hope.  One of the great downsides to the financial situation at Emanuel is that professors need to have at least two jobs in order to support themselves and their families.  This requires them to be away from campus most of the week, and when they are on campus, they are either teaching or behind closed doors trying to do research/writing.  I can see how the lack of collegiality impacts the quality of the program, the vitality of the teaching, and the student/faculty interactions.

Daria and Raelene

I will turn over the next paragraph to Cheryl and let her introduce two of her colleagues/friends.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, I get to spend 3 hours at Hospice Emanuel.   They have a staff of 5 nurses, 1 social worker, 1 psychologist, 1 doctor, 1 pharmacy tech/insurance expert, 1 in development, 1 receptionist/accountant and a director.  That makes 12 staff, and they do amazing things with little resources.  Raelene comes with me frequently.  She helps Hospice Emanuel with fundraising, child life projects and whatever needs to be done.  Raelene is an American that is married to a Romanian pastor/professor here at the University.  She has four delightful children that we have a lot of fun with.  Daria is the psychologist at Hospice.  She is my go to person to let me know what needs to be done that day.  I am not working as a nurse (do not have a license or work visa) but I enjoy being in the midst of the medical staff.    Usually I begin my time making medication packages, taking a 500 pill bottle and packaging it into envelopes of 30 or whatever number is needed for the medication.  I also divide up donated adult diapers ( :) new)  into sizes and bag them up. Trying out homemade Romanian dishes from the nurses and the patients is another task I do. :)  However  I can help, that is what I do.  I take a Taxi each way (about $3.50 one way)  I have had some very interesting Taxi rides, and drivers.  Hospice Emanuel has an inpatient/day center in the construction phase.  What a blessing that will be when it is done because much time is spent fundraising.

We hope this gives you a sense of the people who have surrounded us in the past three months.  At some future post we will tell you a little about Ciprian and Ramona, Corneliu and Ramona, Emanuel and Nadia, Monika, Ileana, Travis and Becky (and their two children who think of us as Papi and Nani), and perhaps a few we have yet to meet.  We hope to see many of you in person while we are back in Holland so our next post can be face-face.

Pace,

Cheryl & Tom

The Jews in Oradea

Greetings,

I just finished reading the book Bonhoeffer, a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer written by Eric Metaxas.  It is an excellent read and the author does a wonderful job of capturing the complexity and depth of Bonhoeffer's life.  I have described the book as both powerful and sobering as it traces Bonhoeffer's life as a pastor, theologian, academic, and spy up until the time of his execution two weeks before the end of World War II.  It is extremely difficult for one to dismiss the concept of evil when reading about the atrocities done to those deemed "undesirable" in the eyes of Nazi Germany.  The reading of this book coincided with two other activities in such a way that makes one believe it was not simply a coincidence.

Cristina, our tour guide 

Orthodox synagogue with bullet holes

Shortly after we arrived, one of the students offered to give us a historical tour of Oradea.  She is in the process of trying to develop her skills as a tour guide and what better audience than a couple of green Americans who are very accommodating with broken English.  Cristina took us to several of the typical tourist attractions of Oradea, but she also took us to one of the old Jewish neighborhoods in the middle of town.  She then proceeded to tell us a bit of the story of the Jewish community in Oradea.

As I may have mentioned before, the country of Romania that we know today basically came into existence after World War I with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles and other local treaties.  These treaties unified the three large regions known as Transylvania, Moldova, and Wallachia.  Prior to this time, Transylvania, and thus the city of Oradea, was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  But, since they were on the losing side of the war, the A-H Empire lost significant chunks of land as a result of the Treaty.  Thus, the majority of the residents of Oradea after the war ended were of Hungarian ancestry.

The Jewish community had long been a part of Oradea.  At the turn of the 20th century, under the rule of the A-H Empire, they became a thriving community.  They continued to thrive after World War I under Romanian rule and the community grew to about 25,000 people at the outbreak of World War II in 1940.  During World War II, Romania sided with the Allies.  When Hitler conquered Austria and Hungary, he "gave" Transylvania back to the Hungarians as a token of his appreciation for their continued alliance with the Nazi regime.  Thus, Oradea was under Nazi rule and occupation during the first part of the war.  It was during this time that walls were built in the city in order to house the Jews into their own ghetto.  Soon, most of these Jews were deported to concentration camps and exterminated.  Very few remained.  Those that did remain were soon "freed" by the westward march of the Soviet army.  Unfortunately, their fate was not much better under Soviet rule than it had been under the brief reign of the Nazis.  Though they were not sent to concentration camps, the Soviets simply marched them into the streets and shot them.  They would usually shoot every other person so that the "lucky" ones could eyewitness the death of their loved ones.

Reformed synagogue

It has been estimated that there were upwards of 30,000 Jews living in Oradea at one point in time with about 60 synagogues.  Today, there are roughly two active synagogues and a few other buildings that used to be synagogues that are either derelict or being renovated for civic purposes.  The pictures on either side show one of the active synagogues that has recently been renovated.  In the courtyard is a memorial to the Holocaust victims.

Holocaust Memorial

Several weeks after our tour with Cristina, Cheryl and I were having lunch with a couple of our students.  One of the students named Adrian told us of his summer internship with Asociatia Tikvah (Association of Hope).  This is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote understanding and remembrance of the Holocaust and its victims and for basic human rights.  Adrian worked on their website and also did some research on some of the stories of the survivors.  He shared some very interesting stories about those in Oradea that tried to assist the Jews during this tumultuous time.  One such story involved trying to convince the German authorities that there was a typhus epidemic within the Jewish ghetto.  In this manner, the people with "typhus" would be transported outside the ghetto, and thus have a greater chance of escape.  It also meant that very few Germans would be willing to enter the ghetto to check up on any conspiratorial plans.

A few did escape the city, but the problem was in what direction to go.  Going west meant moving toward Germany.  Going north or east meant moving toward Russia.  The fate of the Jewish people in Moldova (Eastern Romania) was simply a different method of extermination.  Going south was the safest route, but the Balkan region had not been a safe haven for any ethnicity, let alone Jews, for centuries.

Although we will never be able to empathize, all three of these "events" helped us to better sympathize with the plight of the Jewish people, and to a lesser extent, the plight of the Romanian people in general.  It is simply not something that Cheryl and I have to think about, have to deal with, or are even exposed to during our daily lives in Holland, Michigan.  Perhaps two of the lasting takeaways from this experience will be a greater sense of gratitude and a greater longer for justice.  The first of these was cemented even further during our FaceTime conversations on Thanksgiving Day.  It was probably the first taste of being homesick as we watched the family celebrations but were unable to participate in the food or fellowship.  It reminded us to have the attitude of the writer of Psalm 118:24, "This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it."  May this attitude be yours during and after the Holiday season.

Pace,

Cheryl & Tom

People

Greetings,

The Management Faculty (the European word similar to department) is having an alumni reunion this Friday and Saturday.  The first class of graduates were in 2002, and we had roughly 50 alumni here today, and expect about 75 for tomorrow.  Seeing all the current and former students reminded me that I have been promising to write about some of the people that have come around us here in Romania.  So, here is the first installment.  I suspect there will be posts in the future about those that have made our time here quite special.

First of all, the fact that we are here for the entire academic year is unique.  There are 4-5 professors (including me) that teach classes that last the entire semester. But, Emanuel also employs another model of instruction that is used quite often in the management program.  This model is to bring guest lecturers from across the globe to teach intensively (about 6-8 hours/day) for brief periods of time (3-5 days).  Most of these guest lecturers arrive from the States.  So, one of the unexpected pleasures for us has been meeting people from the States who have a similar passion and vision for serving Christ in this part of the world.  Although most of the people we are around speak very good English, it is often a welcome relief for us to have lengthy conversations in English and not have to work so hard to get our meaning across.

Janelle and Randy sharing a meal with us

Randy and Janelle Wilt are from Austin, Texas.  They stayed for ten days and this was their first time at Emanuel.  Randy taught an HR class for the week.  Janelle and Cheryl worked at Hospice for a few days, toured the town, and found nice, secluded places for lunch.  We certainly enjoyed their fellowship and miss having them around.  Their hospitality suite was one floor below us and we felt like veterans telling them how to use the showers and teaching them a few words of Romanian.  They were the first guests in our suite as Cheryl made a pot of chili for our Sunday meal.  It is amazing how quickly you can get close to fellow believers as we felt as if we had known them for years.  We hope to visit the Wilts during our "homeless voyage" in February.

Ken, Jim, and Bob at alumni reception

Cammie

Arriving just a few days ago was a rather large contingent of people from Oviedo, Florida.  They are known as the "Oviedo Group" and most of them have been coming to Emanuel twice/year (fall and spring semesters) for close to ten years.  This year's group is made up of Joe Takacs, Ken Calhoun, Cammie Sasser, Bob Matthews, Jim Wade, and Tim Maynard.  They are here for about ten days and teach courses in Sales, Accounting, and Operations Management.  They also assist in the graduate program during the weekends.  Their visit overlapped with the alumni weekend and it was wonderful to see the impact of their faithful service over the years and to see the genuine gratitude expressed by their former students.  I suspect a group dinner with them at our favorite restaurant is in the near future.  

Ann and John sharing a meal with us

Perhaps the most pleasant surprise of all has been the visit of John and Ann Lenton.  The Lentons were year-round residents at Emanuel for several years (I think at least nine) and John was the Dean of the Management School during this time.  While John was running the school, Ann was instrumental in improving the rest of the university.  They are from the UK and John is currently the Vicar at a village church in Bramley.  John and Ann were instrumental in helping us discern whether Emanuel would be a place that could benefit from our service, and a place in which our presence would not be a burden.  In 1996, John was sent to Emanuel at the request of Lord Brian Griffiths to do a feasibility study on establishing a Christian Business School in Romania.  In spite of significant obstacles, the Business School opened in 1998 and the first Dean was none other than John Lenton.  John said that he and Ann had no intention or particular desire to move to Eastern Europe.  But, upon hearing the vision and opportunity set before him, stated that Emanuel "captured his heart", and thus changed the direction of their lives.  Seeing them this week brought back such fond memories of our discussion with them while having tea in their home and watching the Queen's Jubilee celebration on the television.

Gene and Arthur sharing a meal with us

As I mentioned, most of the visiting teachers come to assist in the management program.  We do have other visitors that assist other departments as well.  Gene Mims, a senior pastor for Judson Baptist Church in Nashville, joined us for one week and was a great help to not only the theology program, but to other organizations in the community.  They kept Gene pretty busy with roughly 12 speaking/teaching engagements during his time in Oradea.  Gene's wife did not make the trip, so Cheryl and I (mostly Cheryl) thought of ways to make his time here a bit less stressful.  As with our other visitors, we came to love and appreciate Gene and the humble way he serves this community.  The Mims' household is another new entry into the growing list of potential stops for our homeless voyage. Arthur Price is also at dinner with us and he is the young one.  Arthur is from California and is here for the semester working with non-profits, teaching a bit of English, and taking a few classes.  Most of our cantina meals are with Arthur, so it was nice for us to share a meal that was a bit more upscale.

Jenny and Cheryl in the cantina

These were all visitors who have come and gone.  One of the people we see almost every day is the chef.  Her name is Eugenia, but is affectionately known as Jenny.  She has been a real joy and has taken a particular liking to Cheryl.  Jenny and her husband Radu invited us to their church last Sunday.  They asked me to come up front to say a few words about what we were doing in Romania and why we were here.  Well, now you can add this to the list of things I have never done in the States, but have done in my short time in Romania--preached in a pulpit.  After church, we drove to Hungary (about 10 kilometers to the border) and had lunch.  Neither Jenny or Radu speak very good English, and Cheryl and I speak Romanian at about the level of a 2-year-old.  We end up communicating in Spanish!  Since Jenny and I both know some Spanish, we talk in very broken "spaniola", and then translate to our spouses.  Not very efficient, nor at a very deep level, but all in good humor.

Given the number of visitors has been a real blessing as it has allowed Cheryl to exercise her gift of hospitality even though she is not at home.  As you can see in the pictures, it has also allowed us to obey the Biblical imperative of "not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together." (Heb 10:24-25)  We have specifically interpreted this to mean eating out together!  Perhaps a bit of a stretch, but the end goal of encouraging one another is always achieved.

Pace,

Cheryl & Tom

  

Observations

Greetings,

I have always thought it a good idea to journal and have "encouraged" my students to adopt this discipline on several occasions, especially during our London excursions.  Well, as we teach in management, excellent and faithful execution usually makes any decision look good.  This is simply my professorial way of saying that I believe writing this blog is a good decision, but it has required more time and effort than I imagined.  I hope it has been a learning experience for the reader as it has certainly helped Cheryl and I to be more observant of the people and things around us.  With this in mind, we thought we would briefly share a few of these observations.

1. Common courtesies - Keep in mind, we have lived in Holland, Michigan for the past twenty years.  For those of you that don't live there, it is a place where nothing moves at four-way stop signs because everyone is trying to let the other person go first.  Opening doors for others is common place.  A smile and a word of hello is the standard form of greeting on Main Street, be it friend or stranger.  We realize this is not the norm across the United States and are reminded of it every time we visit Corrie and Ross in Chicago.  But, for the majority of Americans, common courtesies are still taught and if not expected, they are certainly appreciated.

This is not the case in Romania.  It certainly is the case within our Christian community at Emanuel, but outside of our "bubble", things are a bit aggressive.  Driving is an "every man for himself" proposition, walking down the street takes me back to the days of dodgem cars, and getting through any doorway is a "first come, first in" rule.  The deeper observation comes from the look, or non-look, on the people's faces.  Eye contact is never made, let alone a friendly gesture of greeting.

When we inquire about this, we are generally given two different, but related reasons.  First, during the Communist rule, the last thing anyone wanted to do was to stand out.  The saying was that "any nail that is sticking out will get hammered down."  Showing common courtesies and a friendly greeting were ways in which one stood out.  The second reason provided to us has to do with hope.  There is a certain sense of hopelessness that still pervades the people.  We know that the hope we have within us through Christ is an eternal one that not only influences our future, but also impacts our present.  We also realize that we can have a certain amount of hope because of the opportunities afforded us by living in the United States.  Romania is a country that systematically and proactively eliminated almost all the remnants of spiritual hope while simultaneously eliminating any remnants of earthly hope in the form of opportunity and freedom.  Hope is so closely akin to joy, and when hope is gone, there is very little joy.  Unfortunately, this is what we see in many of the faces.

Choir loft at Emanuel Church

Students singing during Wednesday Chapel service

First-year Management students during Fellowship hour

2. Singing - It is amazing to us, but it seems like everyone in Romania, at least everyone associated with Emanuel University and Church, has a beautiful singing voice.  This is such a foreign concept to me because as many of you know and have heard from experience, I can't sing at all.  We have been so blessed with the singing while we have been here and it is a big part of any gathering.  Perhaps the acoustics are better or perhaps the Romanian language is conducive to harmony and melody, but we have stopped trying to analyze it and have simply enjoyed it.  I tried to upload some videos of the students singing, but I kept getting an error message.  So, our plan is to bring back some CD's so you can enjoy them as well.  It will be one of the fondest memories we have of this place and certainly speaks to the power of music to move our hearts.

3. Salt & Light - The mission and vision for Emanuel has always been steeped in the notion of being salt and light to the community of Oradea and to a lesser extent, the country of Romania.  Sorry that I got a bit preachy during my first observation, but the contrast, in terms of hope and joy, within versus outside of the Christian community is quite remarkable.  Although it is difficult to see from the picture, the stained glass window in the chapel at Emanuel University depicts a sower who is sowing his seed into the city of Oradea.  It is a spectacular sight from the street when lit up at night and is a constant reminder of the purposes undergirding this institution.

Other news items revolve around food.  Although the food in the cantina is nourishing and satisfying, it can be a bit tasteless and is heavy on the starch.  So, Cheryl and I (mostly Cheryl) decided that we needed to eat out at least once/week.  Well, we have been doing this already, but Cheryl had in mind a nice place to eat once/week.  We have found a very nice place that we have come to call our own and are already on a first name basis with the waiter.  We can have an entire three-course meal with tip and tax included for about $16-$20 per person.  The food is top notch and the variety is impressive.  We are usually joined by others who are visiting Emanuel for a brief time and serving in some capacity.  Who we have met and their interesting stories is fodder for future posts.

Pace,

Cheryl & Tom

Leadership Matters

Greetings,

Plaque outside the Pollard Center

On Monday, Emanuel University unveiled the new William Pollard Center for Leadership Development.  The Center will be part of the Management program and folks around here are rightly proud of this new addition.  Mr. Pollard (Bill) has been here since Friday speaking in classes and in church.  He was also granted an honorary doctorate from the University.  Bill has been associated with Emanuel for over 15 years through his friendship with the president of the university Dr. Paul Negrut.  I found it quite ironic that I found myself in Romania having a lunch conversation with one of the leading voices of Christian business leadership.  God does work in strange ways.  I was quite honored when he asked if I could meet with him next summer so as to apprise him of how he could most effectively assist this institution, community, and country.

All of the ceremony surrounding leadership began to crystallize the impact of the Communist leadership here in Romania, most notably the last Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu.  He was run out of office and killed in December of 1989, but his legacy remains quite ingrained in this culture 24 years after his death.  While here, we have been able to not only observe this legacy with our eyes, but to hear it from the mouths of the people who lived through this time and whose parents and grandparents lived through this time.

Centralized planning meant, among other things, that you were told where you would work, how this work was to be done, and how much work had to be done.  A factory was built in any town or village of a certain size.  Homes on the outskirts of town would be leveled and the people would be moved into flats within the city limits.  The factory would be built on this land and the land would also be used for farming.  All the people in the town would work at this factory.  The central planning committee would tell the factory how much they had to produce each month (no more and no less) and would provide the workers with a certain amount of pay and a place to live (in the flats) for a minimal rent.  Heat in the flats was controlled as well as the electricity.  For most of the flats, this meant one light bulb per apartment.  During this time, churches were either destroyed or left to decay.  

Since the revolution of 1989, the opposite has been happening.  Churches, primarily Orthodox churches, have been built and/or renovated, while the factories have been abandoned and left to rot.  The flats, even with a new coat of paint, are still a blight on the landscape.  The millions of dollars spent on the church renovations is quite controversial as even though most of the country identifies themselves as Orthodox, these churches are empty most of the year except on Christmas and Easter.  You get the sense that the government is trying to make up for years of religious suppression by throwing money at the buildings.  So, in our travels, one could always pick out the Orthodox church and the Communist flats as these were the only buildings over one story tall.  As you got closer to the town, you would usually drive by the abandoned factory.  The picture of the factory below is right next to the beautiful historic downtown of Sibiu, pictures of which we shared with you in our last post. 

One of the nicer abandoned factories

It is very interesting to hear of how people view life before and after the revolution.  Life for Christians and the Christian Church is certainly better.  They are free to worship and open, blatant persecution by both the government and the community has diminished significantly.  Many would say that the Church is not as vibrant as it was and has succumbed to the temptation of comfort and more and more to a materialistic mindset and yearning.  The saying here is that before the Revolution, people had money, but there was nothing on the shelves to buy.  Now, the shelves are full, but there is no money.  It is difficult for us to imagine the complete upheaval of people's lives once Communism fell.  Their entire way of life was altered without warning and without any training.  Like kicking the bird out of the nest well before it knew, or was capable, of flying.  Indeed, leadership matters.  It makes us realize and appreciate the Scriptural imperative to pray for our governmental leaders.

On a much lighter note, I have attached a few pictures of some students and families that make up some of the life here at Emanuel.  Students love to take us out and show us the town.  There is another family that live right down the hall from us in the dorm.  One of the pictures shows Raelene and her four children.  Husband Elijah was in the States at the time of this picture.  The other pictures are of some of our students.  The final picture is Cheryl's favorite, especially the shoes.

Pace,

Cheryl & Tom

Four-day Getaway into Transylvania

Greetings,

Cheryl and I had a very enlightening and enjoyable four days within the Transylvania region of Romania.  Unfortunately, this post may sound a bit like a travelogue, but I will try to add a bit of education because I can't help myself.  We spent Friday traveling from Oradea to Sighisoara.  I have included a map of Romania so you can follow our travels.


The distance to Sighisoara is a little over 300 kilometers, or about 190 miles.  In the States, this trip might take us about 3 hours.  Well, not so in Romania.  Many reasons why this three hour trip takes about 4 1/2 hours.  First of all, 50 kilometers of this trip were expressway.  The rest were on 2-lane highways that weave their way through each village.  Each village is about 2 miles apart and the speed limit in the village is 30 miles/hour.  Second, most of these roads are traveled by trucks.  There aren't many roads, so each one is quite crowed.  Therefore, it is very difficult to pass.  Cheryl's hand is still a bit sore from clutching the arm rest as I found passing to be an enjoyable way to alleviate the stress from slow driving.

Familiar sight in Romania

Perhaps the most unusual reason for our delays were the horse-drawn wagons full of sticks and hay, and the people leading their cows and horses back from their pasture.  This is a fact of village life here in Romania.  In the picture of the wagon, you get a small glimpse of the village housing.  Each one fronts the street, has a courtyard to the side, an outbuilding in the back that houses equipment and animals, and then some acreage behind this for gardens and crops.

Sighisoara is a town that was settled by the Saxons in the 1200's.  Prior to this, Transylvania was part of the Bulgarian Empire to the south.  In the early 1200's, the Hungarian Empire conquered this land.  As part of the defense of this area (which was the furthest south and furthest east of the empire), the King of Hungary deeded land from several cities to the Saxons.  In return, the Saxons built fortified cities and emigrated great distances to settle and live in these cities.  Since Saxony is present-day northwest Germany, it was no surprise that this town had a very German feel to it.  Although most of the Saxons have since left this area, many are making the move back and German can be heard quite often in the streets.

Main street with school and church above

The town is divided into an upper and lower town.  The upper part is the old fortified Saxon town.  This is where we stayed.  We arrived in the rain, but woke up the next morning to beautiful sunshine.  The pictures try to give you a sense of the beauty and history of this area.

Our hotel on the right

Arty photo

Singing in the rain

Looking down at upper town (lower town in background)

After a morning in Sighisoara, it was off to Brasov.  Brasov is a lively city right at the elbow of the Carpathians.  You can see the mountains from most any vantage point.  It is also a Saxon town as can be seen by the picture of the town square (Piata).

Main piata

We arrived in town and they were having an ethnic festival right in the town square.  It was fairly crowded and we had a fine time finding a parking space.  A "kindly" gentleman found us one and proceeded to demand 15 LEI.  Not knowing the local customs, I gave him a 10 and then pleaded ignorance.  He seemed to have come to that conclusion as well and let us park.  We roamed the town and enjoyed the local talent at the festival.  We also spurred the local economy by purchasing a few things from the local artisans.

Foothills at the edge of town

We are finding that some things are more expensive here (clothing), but most things are considerably cheaper.  We are also finding that we are used to non-smoking facilities.  Romanians love to smoke, especially at mealtime in restaurants.  Cheryl and I have had to adjust our expectations upon entering a cafe and don't tend to linger as long as we would in the States.

We stayed in a resort town just outside of Brasov.  It was quite a climb to reach it, and the views were spectacular.

Our view

This is a ski resort and it is trying to make a comeback since the Soviet time.  The hotel and the area around it are a bit rough around the edges.  A landscape architect would have a field day in this place, in fact, they would have a field day in all of Romania.

Doing what I love in a place I love

If there is a master plan, or a strategic plan of any sort, it is not apparent to our amateur eyes.  But, even if we humans have goofed a bit, God certainly created a masterpiece in this area.  At night, we were treated to a fireworks display outside our window and music until 3am.  One other interesting event happened to us during breakfast.  It is apparent to almost all at first sight that we are Americans.  As we were leaving the table, one of the patrons asked us where we were from.  When we said "Michigan", she said she was a Romanian now living in Massachusetts.  Her husband next to her was an avid Red Sox fan and was overjoyed that his team had just eliminated the Tigers.  I held my tongue and wished him the best.

Catholic Church in the Piata Mare (Big Square)

After Brasov, it was on to Sibiu.  Another Saxon city,  Sibiu was voted a UNESCO world heritage center in 2007.  They have been working very hard spiffing up the city and it shows.  We loved the other two towns, but we could see ourselves living in a town like Sibiu.  Once again, the Saxons settled this town.  We were able to eat in a German restaurant which was a nice change from our basic Romanian fare.  Cheryl had apple strudel twice during our brief 24-hour visit.  Our hotel was also very classy and was located just off the main square.  After a self-guided walking tour of the city, we capped off the day with a trip up the clock tower.  We leave you with a few photos from Sibiu.

Our hotel and rental car

Part of the original wall

Stairway to the lower part of the walled city

Another arty photo

View from atop the Clock Tower

Pace,

Cheryl and Tom

Our New "Digs"

Greetings,

Cheryl and I are certainly settling into our new surroundings.  We have felt a real sense of calm and peace.  FaceTime has been a great way to stay close to our families even at such a great geographic distance.  Cheryl loves the clarity of the images and I love the fact that it is free.  Here is our attempt to give you a small sampling of our daily life and in our new home.

Simplicity probably sums it up the best.  At times we feel like we are living out a Little House on the Prairie episode, but all in all, it is quite good.  Let me give you a tour of our place.

Living room

The living room also acts as our dining room.  We face the southeast, so we get nice sunshine through our windows.  Through the door is a small balcony that gives us a 180 degree perspective.  We are on the third floor, but in Europe, this means we are four floors up.  The two chairs are fairly comfortable, but the couch is a bit lumpy and acts as a place to store things.  The lamp is also used in the bedroom, so this forces us to decide which room we will read in.  It is amazing how just a few simple things can turn a dorm room into a home.  Cheryl does a great job of this--note the mums on the table, the dishcloth on the dinner table, and the tablecloth on the coffee table.

Kitchen

Early Musings about Romania

Greetings,

We have been in this country for two weeks, just enough time to make some initial observations.

Emanuel University - The school was an underground Bible Seminary prior to the Revolution in 1989.  After the overthrow of the Soviet system, it was free to grow and pursue its vision of being salt and light to the people and community of Oradea, Romania, and beyond.  The school has added programs in social work, literature, business, and music to go along with its theological studies.  It has about 400-500 students.  Resources are scarce and they literally have to watch each dollar (lei) they spend.  Professors have to work other jobs and many other professors will come and teach one-week intensive courses.  I am a novelty in that I am here for the entire academic year.  The education here at Emanuel is very high quality when compared to other Romanian institutions.  The impact they have with what they have been given is truly inspirational and convicting.

Romania - This truly is three different countries within one country.  For those of you that have to get out your world atlas to recall the geography of eastern Europe (like we had to when we first began thinking of this venture), I have added a map of Europe.  I think Romania has the shape of a fish, similar to Nemo.

You can see by the map that it is quite far east.  It is somewhat of an island when it comes to language. Romanian is a Romance language and is surrounded by countries that speak Slavic languages to the south, Hungarian (Finnish) to the west, and Russian to the north.  By looking at the Romanian map below, you can see that the Carpathian Mountains cut through the country like a backward L.  The area to the north and west of the Carpathians is Transylvania.  The area to the east of the Carpathians, including the now independent republic of Moldavia, is known as Moldova.  The area to the south of the mountains is loosely known as Wallachia.  It includes the capital of Bucharest.  Historically, Transylvania has primarily been influenced by, and was a part of, the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  Moldova has been mainly influenced by Russia.  Wallachia's main influences have come from the south--Orthodoxy religion and Ottoman Empire administration.  The Romania that we know today mainly came into existence after World War I.  Oradea is located in the northwestern part of the country, and thus has more of a western European feel (though mainly in its architecture) than in the other two regions.  This brief description is quite black and white, but it gives you a general feel for the country.  When introduced, people will tell you which of these three regions they are from.




















Time - Well, in Romania, the calendar is divided up into days, weeks, and months; and there are 24 hours in a day.  Even so, time is treated differently.  As most of you know, Cheryl and I live a bit less "scheduled" life than most of our contemporaries in the States.  This is sometimes out of choice, but more often due to our somewhat bumbling natures.  We do enjoy spontaneity and flexibility.  We certainly get that in Romania.  As you can imagine, this has its pros and cons.  For example, when inviting people to go out to dinner, the response we get in the States is something like, "I will check my calendar and get back to you."  When they finally get back to you, it may be one to two months into the future.  The Romanian response to the same question is something like, "Yes, how about tonight."  For us, this is a pro.  On the other hand, when I inquire when I will be teaching next week, or even what I will be teaching, the answer usually shows up the day before.  I guess the two go hand in hand--if you don't know what you are doing today, you are always free for dinner!

On a personal note, we are doing well and have been welcomed with open arms.  The cook at the cafeteria always gives us extra helpings and extra desserts.  We certainly will not lose weight while we are here.  We have met some very wonderful and dedicated Christian men and women.  We will introduce you to some of them on our next entry.  In true Romanian style, I don't know when the next entry will be posted.

Pace,

Cheryl and Tom