Setting up Camp

Camp is all set up and ready for the kids.
This week I learned how to pitch a tent, not just any tent, but British Army tents. As a group, we set up 15 military tents and 3 large pavilion tents. My favorite part of the work had to be when one of the Livada staff members. Alina, and I were cleaning out the storage shed. We had almost cleared out the entire shed and together pulled on a large tarp sitting on the top shelf. Two mice fell over our heads and we both screamed as they ran to out the shed. I picked up a pole and poked at the rest of the tarp and one more mouse ran off. We hesitantly drug the tarp on the ground out the door as we laughed at our adventure. It wasn’t really the mice I was afraid of as much as it was the shock of rodents almost falling on my head. We managed to clean the mouse droppings and organize all the new supplies without running into any other live creatures, a fun bonding experience for the two of us. I borrowed the pics from the livada blog because I was working too hard to take pics.

I am becoming familiar with Targu Mures this week as well. We made a few trips to Real (pronounced Ree Al) which is something like a Wal-Mart or Super-Target. As long as I have Real, I could manage to live here. The evenings have been interesting walking around the city center. We found a cute coffee shop with free internet, which is where I am writing my blogs. We also tried eating out a few times. I have learned that hot dogs here have some thick nasty casing and that Chinese food (sticky rice) tastes the same everywhere. I am also able to read menu items and understand what most of them are, which is great progress.

The other night two of the girls and I went out to dinner and ran into some of the mentor apartment girls. The mentor apartments are places for older orphans in Livada’s care to learn skills they need for real life, like cooking, budgeting, and other things orphanages do not teach. The girls joined us walking around the center and showed us the fun places to go. As we were talking, we saw a man chasing after a woman, both yelling in the street. He tried to kiss her and hold her arm back and she was trying to push him away. The man was obviously drunk. We didn’t know what to do and of course none of the interns spoke Romanian. Ani bravely asked the women if we should call the police. We stood at a distance and as soon as the man turned to walk the other way, Ani called the woman over to us to make sure she was safe. The woman explained that the man lived with her and her kids and often acted like this when drunk. She had a scar on her head that looked like she had been hit. Ani proceeded to boldly tell her that she should kick this man out and did not need to let him treat her this way. The woman had heard the same thing from friends but did not listen. We offered to pray for her, which she allowed, and then we parted ways. Hopefully God will use total strangers to help her realize her situation and make the right choice. Regardless of what she does, it was amazing to see Ani take such leadership counseling a total stranger. I have no idea where Ani is in her relationship with God, but she obviously has been through a lot in her orphanage days and it was great to see how God could use her and her experiences to help her be bold and counsel others. I am sure God will do great things with her.