Alive!...barely

Hey, I'm back!
I figure before I launch into stories about my adventures here, I should tell you a little about each of the people that I am working with.
First is the Lucaciu family. Peter and Ana Lucaciu are the couple that manage and operate the ministry over here. They have four children, three of which are here for the summer. By the way, when I say children, I mean like all adults and one that is 16. Anca, the oldest here, is married and has two kids, Lucas and James. Lucas is three and James is still a baby. then there's Andrea, who is a little older than me. The youngest is AJ. Then there's Peter's parents, Buna and Cookie. (I don;t know their real names, thats just what everyone calls them) Buna I know is kind of like Nana or Grandmother. It's an affectionate term. Anyways, thats the whole family, and then there's of course Janet and myself.

So here's a summary of my week:

So this past week has been crazy awesome. Everyday we would go over to the orphanage, which is about a twenty ninute walk, and play with the 8 girls there. We play things like soccer, hide and seek, and other games like that. Then we would go back to the clinic where we are staying and eat lunch. Occasionaly we take the girls out to go different places. One day we took them to the coffee shop, which is owned by the Lucaciu's, to play in the back yard and jump on the trampoline. I think it was wednesday afternoon, we took them to a cabin that the Lucacius own at the foot of the mountain. That was fun because Peter and Ana took their van to get the girls from the orphanage and between the girls and the Anca, with her kids, there was no room for AJ, Andrea, Janet, or me. So, we set off on foot. That was the farthest I've walked so far while here. Imagine walking from Ringgold to East Ridge. It was actually pretty fun though. We got to cross this train bridge that had a lot of places where we could have fallen to our deaths. That was fun, and we almost got hit by a few cars that came drifting around corners really fast because they assumed the roads were empty. All in all it was fun. Once we got there, it was worth it. the view was absolutely gorgeous. We could see the whole town with the church steeples in the background in one direction and then the face of another mountain in the other with fields beneath it. Then we had to go back, this time though we managed to hitch a ride with someone we knew so didn't have to walk much.
We're planning another big event tommorow for the Fourth of July. The Lucacius are actually citizens of Romania and The United States so it's a big deal for them too. I'm excited because we're having American-ish food! Which brings me to my next subject.
The food here has been an experience for me. I came knowing that I was going to be trying things I had never tried, but knowing that was not enough to prepare me for what I have experienced. I will say that I have been eating a lot healthier since I've been here so no complaints there. however something I have learned is that Romanians have very sensitive paletets when it comes to food. Many of the foods have been rather bland compared to mhy usual diet. I have been able to eat almost everything I've been given though...so far. I'll start taking pictures of my food from now on so I can share the joy of Romanian edibles with you all back home.
Anyways, that's all for now. I'm going to go see what everyone here is up to on our day off. Ceau! (Romanian for hi/bye...pronounced chow)