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.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
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.
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I read & loved every word! It's just as i knew in my heart it would be..It's going to be a most wonderful adventure, Kerstyn!! I am so thankful that you do not let your own fears crowd out the quiet voice of God..He knew this would be amazing for you!! and for many many other people that your life will be entwined with this next year..My heart is happy!! & thankful!! i love you & pray for you constantly! love you, mama
ReplyDeletehey ker its emma i'm not sure if this will work being that we're trying to set me up an account lol... i read the whole thing and it sounds like an incredible journey you just began!!!! i wish i could be there to see that HUGE smile on your face <3 your gonna be amazinggggg over there!! and remember i told u they would love u :D
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome Kerstyn :) i'm so glad that you love it so much! The family you're with sounds awesome... wish i could meet them!
ReplyDeleteI'm so thrilled that I got to talk to you a little bit today. I enjoyed reading this, and can't wait to hear more. I'm so icredibly happy that YOU are so incredibly happy. Knowing that you are where you're supposed to be is a pretty amazing feeling. :) I wish I could come visit while you're there. I love you bunches and I miss you tons. Also I expect you to look at your photo album every day. ;)
ReplyDeleteRainbows speak volumes to me, they are God's covenant to us, how wonderful and comforting!!! I love you and am praying for you beautiful girl!!!! :)
ReplyDeleteI read this again. Wow. I'm still amazed, still very proud, and lucky to have meet you.
ReplyDelete