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

Becoming Familiar with Oradea

Greetings,

Today was the official kick off to the school year.  Classes begin on Wednesday.  This week has me teaching one class on Thursday and two classes on Friday.  The past few days have been spent preparing, getting the apartment "spruced" up, learning our surroundings, and attending church.

Downtown Oradea is a very pleasant place with some beautiful architecture.  Since Oradea is so far removed from Bucharest, the Soviets left much of the downtown standing.  The good news is that they did not bulldoze the beautiful buildings, but the bad news is that they did nothing to maintain these buildings.  Most of the Soviet building programs happened in those areas that surround the central district.  Below are a few pictures to give you an idea of the downtown and a sense of the architecture.  Reminds one a bit of Vienna.

Opera House

Pedestrian Shopping Strada

Strada in the center of town

Inside Galleria

Emanuel University is about two miles south of the downtown area.  To get downtown, we jump on a tram that costs 5 lei (about $1.50) and it takes roughly 15-20 minutes.  Most of the restaurants are Italian as they were the first group of people to come to Oradea for investment purposes after the revolution in 1989 that removed the Soviets from this country.  We have already eaten at several of these restaurants and last night we took in the fine cuisine of McDonald's.  The burger was a bit dry, the fries a bit cold, but the Coke tasted great.  The inside was much fancier than those in the States.  Internet and beer were also available.  Unlike the States, they wanted you to hang around for a bit.  To give you an idea of prices, our final bill was the equivalent of $7.00.

A beautiful lady in a beautiful park

We attended worship service at Emanuel Baptist Church on Sunday.  It is a large church with well over 4000 members and is the heart and soul of the evangelical community here in Oradea.  A two-hour service highlighted by wonderful singing and music.  It was very uplifting to hear the old hymns sung in a different language.  The words were on a screen so Cheryl and I found ourselves singing in Romanian along with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We have felt a real peace and calm and vitality during our first week and we know that we can contribute much of this to the prayers of our friends and family--prayer does make a difference and we continue to ask for your faithful prayers.

Things we miss--Cheerios, Life cereal, vegetables (Tom not so much), long and warm showers, salty pretzels, cushy-top queen mattress, kitchen sink and oven, clothes dryer, a car, and all of you.

Things we have discovered--great pastries, great people, lots of walking, true devotion, comfort in each other, and a slower and less scheduled lifestyle that allows more time for reflection and spontaneity.

I ended our last entry with the word "pache".  This is the usual greeting at Emanuel and it means peace or shalom.  I also discovered that it is spelled pace.  In the Romanian language, when c and e are together, it makes for a che sound.

Pace,

Cheryl and Tom