Long time no update!

I haven't made an update on here in months! I'm sorry! Truth is I'm just really not a blogger, but I figured I'd start typing and see what all comes out. I have been here for a little over 4 months now. Crazy! I am having the time of my life. Christmas time was really special, they do a lot of service here with the orphans and poor. The Christmas season is a time here for truly giving to those in need, your time,your money, yourself, I loved it. Christmas day for me was strange because it honestly felt nothing like Christmas. But that was fine, at least I wasn't near as homesick as I thought I would be :-) I am not homesick much at all anymore. It comes in waves however. Some days/weeks I really miss home and everything about it and other times I'll go weeks not really missing anything about it at all ( except those I love of course ). I will tell you this though, a thing I constantly crave is ….. Taco Bell. That's right.

A HUGE highlight of my time here so far was my trip to Italy. I went for a week, late oct-the beginning of November. I absolutely LOVED it, but who could not :-) The Alps are breathtaking. The 20 hour car ride didn't feel like it at all with such awesome scenery. Rome is incredible. Seeing the Colosseum, Looking over Vatican City from the top of the Vatican,Hearing a Gregorian chant inside the Vatican and seeing those incredible mosaics. They truly look like paintings. Venice was probably my favorite though. Because we went late fall it didn't smell at all. And the weather was absolutely perfect. That city fascinates me and truly just had me smiling the entire time. All in all a great trip. I won't spend any more time on that being that this is my “Romanian adventure “ blog. :-)

I have Romanian lessons 3 times a week with a friend of mine and the dear couple I live with.My highly intelligent friend Elena is our tutor. I've learned close to 300 words in a few weeks. One of my biggest frustrations is not being able to communicate with everyone I would like to. Specifically the children.Teenagers/adults speak excellent English for the most part. Me loving kids though and being with them so much causes me a lot of frustration with not be able to just have a simple conversation with them. So I'm happy to be learning this language! It's beautiful too :-) I plan on in the future at some point learning Italian. I am told it's extremely easy and close to Romanian;so once I get this down pretty well that's my next plan on the language list :-) Which currently consists of Romanian and Italian.

I thoroughly enjoy teaching piano to these children. I had never taught music before I got here and I have to say I love it a lot more than I ever could have imagined. It's a combination of two of my absolute favorite things in this world, music ( piano in particular ) and children. What a gift I have been given that I have the opportunity to share my knowledge and love for music with such precious minds.

I will try to update again soon. I left so much out, but this is long! With that being said. I will teach you a Romanian word. It's , pace. Which means peace. It is there equivalent of Shalom. It's pronounced ( pah-chay) the accent on the first syllable. So dear friends. Until next time.

Pace,

Kerstyn

Culture shock & Happy on 1 hour of sleep

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile, I know there has been so much that's happened that I don't have the space or energy to write. I've been here for 2 and 1/2 weeks now,still love it. That was the last time I will type " still love it ' . Because I really don't think that's going to change, I'll just let you know if it does..otherwise assume that I'm still blissfully happy, not saying there aren't going to be challenges and haven't been already, and not saying there won't be downs a long with the ups. But as a whole. I am happy. Which again, I don't think will change. One thing that sucks, culture shock.Yes I'm still feeling it.  So here's my first part of this note...
   CULTURE SHOCK:
There has been a lot of it, which I really haven't expressed..It could be a LOT worse don't get me wrong. But once I saw a note an aquaintance of mine posted and I was curious about it, so i type these next few lines thinking maybe you at home are too.
1st. There is still visible evidence that communists were in control over this country 20 years ago.I will spare you all of the details but trust me. I'd say poverty is probably the most noticeable and most prevalent.

2nd. It's odd, walking down the street one minute youll see a gorgeous mansion and the next something very run down...another thing I'm not used to seeing.

3rd. A language that you only understand about 70 words of  can be ridiculously overwhelming at times. I almost had a random melt down the other night, just because everyone in the car was speaking Romanian and I was looking out the window and everything I saw written on a sign or building was in Romanian. This is usually fine, but sometimes it randomly hits me. It just makes me feel extremely foreign and a bit shocked and overwhelmed. I can't really describe it but it didn't bother me at first, but I think for some reason I almost subconsciously thought everyone was going to start speaking English or something, or maybe I just thought I would get used to it and I haven't yet.

4th. A lot of things look different.There's nothing wrong with that it's just a matter of getting used to. Some things that look different are people,buildings,houses,apartments,food packaging,doors,windows,flooring,sidewalks,beds,light switches etc..

5th. Food. Now before I say anything, I LOVE the food here.Love love love, and it's also my best friend because I've lost about 10 pounds already thanks to it. Number 5, aka food isn't so much the food here it's the getting used to not having the foods that I'm used to.


Now on a different note....

   The other day I got to sleep in, that night I went in to the big town that's an hour away after working at the school, we got home around 11:30 p.m. For some reason that night I could not sleep to save my life, the last time I looked at the clock it was 6 am and I'm sure I didn't fall asleep for at least a half hour after that. I had to be up at 7:30 to make it to the school to work with three year olds all day starting at 8. I prayed and asked God to give me patience that day, to help me be gentle,sweet,and not irritable. I also asked that what I know of the language would come to my mind easily. That day blew me off my feet. I couldn't believe how patient I was,how calm I was. On less than ONE hour of sleep. The language flew so naturally out of my mouth I couldn't believe it, a few times I made sentences I had never made before, putting words together that I hadn't before. It was crazy. At lunch I was completely floored, when I walked in the lunch room ( it seats probably 100 kids..im bad with estimating though so I'm not totally sure ) . When you walk in you can only see the first half of the room. When I came in I was greeted by approximately 50 kids waving,yelling "ciao Christina! " ( that's my name here ) . I almost cried. After lunch it was nap time for the 3 year olds I was with. This one girl got attached over the course of the morning because I kept comforting her when she was crying. Theodora. Gorgeous little sweetheart. When nap time came around I somehow made up a song that basically just said no crying no crying and I kept singing it to her ,amazingly it worked. I was trying to get her to sleep while i was sitting on the bed next to her(they're like all ajoined). I was so ridiculously tired I layed down ( the girl whos bed I was on wasn't at school that day ). I wound up falling asleep holding her little hand,only 3 of my fingers fit in her tiny palm. It might not sound like much but that was one of my favorite moments here so far. When I got home that night it was about 6, I knew I couldn't go to bed yet because it would wack off my sleep schedule. So I tried waiting, well around 8 I was wide awake, definitely over tired. So I couldn't fall asleep til 2. I got less than 2 hours of sleep over a course of 37 hours. Ahhhh it was crazy, but still an awesome day.


 Today I have the house to myself, it's Sunday afternoon and it's thunder storming. I couldn't be happier right now!

So much to write I don't know where to start

It's so weird that  I don't know what to say.No idea at all. Maybe the more I type things will start coming to me. I guess I could start by saying some ways it's different here.I'm afraid soon I won't notice that these things are different than what I'm used to because I'm getting used to them already and I've not even been here a week.I'm afraid I've forgotten a lot already.
     They eat real meals, at every meal.. a typical meal is soup,potatoes,chicken or some other type of meat, and a salad ( like tomatoes and cucumber ) or something like that. I went shopping the other day, there aren't shopping karts like we're used to...they were bigger baskets than we have, with plastic wheels and a plastic handle that you pulled up like a suitcase handle..only bigger. You  bag your own groceries and when the cashier hands you your change she puts it on this little plastic thing in front of you..not your hand.The pizza is different but amazing.They drink carbonated water more than regular water.On the water track, they have these awesome fruit flavored syrups, back before they had soda in communism they had this. It's amazing. and you can make your drink as sweet or not as you want. There are stray dogs and cats everywhere. It makes me sad :( They don't bother you though, they're used to being strays and people not wanting to deal with them.I'm starting to kind of get used to hearing Romanian instead of English.I said kind of because I mean kind of. haha. The other day I was counting something in my head..I counted in Romanian instead of English...it freaked me out. My brother said that's a good thing that that happened though, and I've decided to agree with him.Ummm everything looks different here haha but it's cool. And again I'm starting to get used to it. Oh skinny jeans everywhere! On the women ha not the men.I haven't encountered one bratty kid.No humidity.I've not noticed bugs/masquitoes.Nothing is siding...everything is brick and plaster.The doors in our rooms in my apt look like they would be the front door to a house in America..very nice. I know there is SOOO much I'm forgetting. :(

Now some things that are the same :D ( I helped with the 3 yr olds in the school yesterday..music starts in like a week )

little tears,giggles,hands clutching your hand and your pants leg,the words mama and daddy over and over again,hugs,whispers,fighting over a toy,not wanting to take a nap,thinking going down a slide is the most exciting thing ever,little kisses blown to you and planted on the cheek.

I've discovered something this week. With children at least,you don't have to speak the same language to communicate.

I am ridiculously blessed. 

This says nearly everything..

I've been waiting for my dreams
To turn into something
I could believe in
And looking for that
Magic rainbow
On the horizon
I couldn't see it
Until I let go
Gave into love and watched all the bitterness burn
Now I'm coming alive
Body and soul
And feelin' my world start to turn

And I'll taste every moment
And live out loud
I know this the time
This is the time
To be more than a name
Or a face in the crowd
I know this is the time
This is the time of my life
Time of my life

Holding onto things that vanished
Into the air
Left me in pieces
But now I'm rising from the ashes
Finding my wings
And all that I needed
Was there all along
Within my reach
And as close as the beat of my heart

And I'll taste every moment
And live it out loud
I know this is the time
This is the time
To be more than a name
Or a face in the crowd
I know this is the time
This is the time of my life
Time of my life

And I'm out on the edge of forever
Ready to run
I'm keeping my feet on the ground
My arms open wide
My face to the sun

And I'll taste every moment
And live it out loud I know this is the time
This is the time
To be more than a name
Or a face in the crowd
I know this is the time
This is the time of my life
My life
More than a name
Or face in the crowd
I know this the time
This is the time of my life
Time of my life....

David Cook

Why settle for just a piece of sky?

Hello friends, this is my first post from Romania! I wanted to write last night but I was way too tired. We ( me and the Nelsons,the wonderful couple I came here with ) left the stl airport around 4:30 pm on Tuesday the 7th. I went to bed around 11 pm Sept 8th ( last night ). Because of the time change and layovers and travel time, I got here at around 5:30 yesterday evening. I want to tell everyone somethings that I have felt so far on this trip. But first I want to say I absolutely love it here. You were all right, and I knew I would love it....just the leaving part was hard.  Ok so let me think, I'm gonna apologize now because this is going to be an extremely informal post, I'm going to be writing like I would a facebook wall post because honestly thats how I type when I'm thinking a million miles per hour.get ready for random and ADD. So. Waving goodbye to my family was one of the hardest things I've done yet in my young life as you can probably tell from that comment we are extremely close. When I was walking through customs  etc in stl and Chicago I was afraid of the unknown,sad to say goodbye, and extremely excited at the same time. Our flights went like this, Stl to Chicago, about a 3 hr layover, Chicago to Munich, about a 2 hour layover and Munich to Romania.In Chicago we met up with a wonderful new friend that I've known for about a month now, Magda..She's from Romania and came to visit in stl last month, she traveled back with us. Oh I have to say, some of you know I was super worried about the ear pressure ( I get a ridiculous ammount to where I'm in excruciating pain ) ... Well with the help of benedryl, my familys prayers, and these little special airplane earplug things for the pressure I got in the airport... My ears were perfectly fine :D. Anywhooo the ride to Munich was like 8 and a half hours long, and of course I didn't sleep at all, but I did watch a movie and play games with Magda and the German guy across from me, I drew a part of a keyboard ( yes.. i did.) I get creative late at night, that's really the only time I am, which can be extremely frustrating, and of course around 1 am on a plane..I felt the urge to compose and play and weeeeelll obviously I couldn't do that. Which started to frustrate me, so I decided to draw a keyboard so I could kind of play a little bit. I can hear the notes i " play '  in my head..so it worked pretty well. I also wanted to attempt to write sheet music. I've never done this before, never thought I could..well I did...kind of...about 4 measures haha but I know with practice and not being tired I could probably do it . So that was the first time I thought" wow.. my growing and changing is starting already" . I was already trying and doing something I'd never done before that would help me in the future. hmm what else.. I managed to make friends on the flights, what else is new haha When we were taking off  over Chicago I looked out the window across the aisle and thought to myself," I'm really leaving America" it might sound like a "well duhhh" moment but it started sinking in, especially being that I was on Lufthansa (Sp?) an awesome German flight...so everything over the loud speaker was said in German first. When  we got off the plane in Munich it really hit. Everything was in German sometimes English was written below, like as the 2nd or 3rd language, and I got excited when  I did see something I understood. To which i thought, this is just the beginning. The flight to Timisoara, Romania was on a much smaller plane. We took a bus with everyone else that was going on that flight , to the plane. It was crowded. And I was definitely getting flashbacks to the last time I was in Europe 4 years ago, the people surrounding me looked European (obviously). In that airport it was the first time I started feeling really different.Surrounding the German airport and airport buildings,and  next to the road from what I could see, was more  barbed wire than I've ever seen in my life combined.It kind of freaked me out a little. When I was on the airplane to Romania I put a song on my ipod that my mom had had me listen to the day I left as kind of " my song" it's called " A piece of sky"  Barbara Streissand sings it and it's from Yentl. If you want to know what I'm feeling and have been you should look it up. You won't understand the fullness of this next paragraph unless you do. The only person that really will is my mom and probably my brother. But I will write it anyway. It was about 3 mintutes into the flight and I was beginning to have little fears again, although the dear people I came here with were on that plane, I felt suddenly alone. The people in front of me weren't American,the woman next to me I'm guessing Romanian, the men behind me I dont know...Romanian I'm pretty sure... the man across the aisle..well he just looked like a member of the mafia that got killed off in Boondock Sts. The man behind me kept singing ( veeeery different music )  and laughing, and kneeing and kicking my seat, but when he laughed he sounded like the dad in Fiddler on the Roof. If youve seen that you know what I'm talking about...when he kind of does this..non laugh back of the throat whistling noise type thing. I dont know how to describe it, but it added to the foreign land feel. So back to my little fears coming back.. i looked out the window and saw incredible clouds, that's when I prayed, I begged God to let me feel his arms around me like a hug, at this time I was listening to Papa can you hear me, also from Yentl..it made me think of my dad and my family..I asked God to make me feel safe like my dad and family do, to take my worries away, and told him I was scared, I asked God to comfort me. And He did..about a minute later..and I didn't even realize he had answered my prayer til a few more minutes later..After I prayed I did a few little things, got adjusted etc. I looked back out the window about 2 minutes later and was suddenly calm,and excited,and didn't feel alone. Looking out the window I saw the clouds (again) , A Piece of Sky was playing on my ipod, the clouds began to part and I saw my first glimpse of Romania,my new home,below me was a rainbow, obviously not the arched, potof gold at the end kind but it was a brilliant strip of colors all the same.In that moment I thought " My life is about to change...so much more than I know." We were greeted at the airport by part of the wonderful family I'll be doing ministry/working with. I met the director of the school as well ( he's part of the family ) I could tell immediately I was going to love them. Such wonderful people. I have a new friend, Silviu. He's 7...or 8... or almost 8... I dont know I was confused. I have a few pictures with him on facebook. He was my buddy on the hour ride into our little town Lugoj. It's amazing how you can communicate without speaking the same language. We laughed and teased just like if he were American, or I was Romanian..sure there were a few frustrating times that we had, not knowing what eachother was saying,but that is to be expected. I have to tell about the drive in...in one sentence " We're not in Kansas anymore ". They drive here kind of like me ( just kidding daddy :D ..kind of...  ) they go around eachother on a 2 lane road constantly.Which Im not gonna lie was fun. On this major road like 2 lane road, going about 50 mph I'd guess...we passed a horse drawn wagon.yes.my head whipped back to look again. Before I knew it we were in Lugoj, I noticed a lot of older women sit outside of their homes, alone , or together. Looking around one second you see poverty the next a gorgeous building of brilliant architecture. It's different for sure. But I love it here. We ate dinner at the apartment of the wonderful family I'll be doing ministry/working with. The Olarius. We were at Daniel Olariu's home, he and his brother Gigel are the powerful duo who's familys I will be spending the majority of my time with here. They are who greeted us at the airport and drove us back. I was welcomed in the apt with a hug and kisses from Daniel's mother.She is wonderful.I'm guessing she's around 70 years old. She cooked us a 3 course meal by hand. ( I ate my first reallyyy fresh chicken! ) It was delicious. And I felt as much at home as I could without my family. They asked me to play piano which I managed to do despite not having slept in over 24 hours.I was surprised how completely not nervous I was.. I played How Great Thou Art. To which Mr. Daniel Olariu started belting out in Romanian. It was such a wonderful moment. I took pictures outside with my new little friend Silviu and his sister Louise(sp?)..shes 2 and a half. I also met Robert their older brother who is also such a sweetheart, he's in 7th grade, he plays piano too. :) There I met Daniel's wife and his brother Gigel. They are all wonderful. I feel so alive here. There is so much more but I have already written a novel. Today I go to the school for my in person interview. It's rainy out.Which reminds me of rainy days at home. As I was laying in bed this morning I heard an old church bell...a few of you know how much I love those. Out my bedroom window i see the gorgeous courthouse. When I came into the living room to write this I looked out the window to admire my new scenery and walking down the street was the same wonderful older woman who made us dinner last night.  I will spare you from reading anymore if you haven't given up already haha. All to say. It's new. It's different. It will take more adjusting, but I am ridiculously happy. I was laying in bed this morning and noticed I was smiling...didn't even know it..Life is beautiful and God is good.

Last weekend in America for a long time!

You are officially reading my very first blog post ever. In history. Feel special. haha It's Saturday the 4th and I leave in 3 days. I said the date because I'm not sure if it will say the date automatically on here or not... but anyway. I don't have much left to do getting ready wise, I have one suitcase left to pack, and my carry on which will be my satchel.I'm getting so excited!!! I've hated saying goodbye to so many amazing friends though. That has honestly been really hard, but I trust that they will still be there for me when I come back :) For those of you who don't know, I will be living in a little town called Lugoj, I'm posting a picture of it from a bridge that I'll walk on every day. I really still can't believe I'm going, I don't think I'll be able to believe it until I'm on the plane. I believe I'm going to grow a lot on this trip in many different areas. I can't wait.:)  Please keep reading as I post! I know this one was ridiculously boring but I'm just trying to start getting used to this. haha You are all amazing and thank you so much for all of the encouragement. I can't wait for you to share this adventure with me. Thank God for the internet!