Lazy Day

Started the day off great! I was able to talk to my siblings, Nana, and Alicia and John. I love them all and I'm glad they are doing so well! It was great being able to talk to them. I can't believe Alex is sitting!! and scooting himself all over! Yay Alex!!

My day consisted of just staying at the apartment. Two of the girls aren't feeling well and we just decided to stay here. Later that night we went to family home evening at the church.

Family home evening is the young single members in the branch, the missionaries, and us.  That night it was just the missionaries, us and two members, Alex and Alexandra.  There were playing ping pong when we arrived. We watched ping pong for about an hour and talked to the soras and Alexandra. Alexandra and Alex are really good at ping pong, so are the elders. After that we went down to the chapel and sang a couple hymns with Nehi. The music was beautiful. Sora Smolden has a beautiful voice. I could listen to her sing all day. At night Alexandra came over to our apartment and visited with us. Alexandra is so talented. Her paintings are beautiful. She painted one of Joseph Smith that is hanging in the church. She also makes these origami pencil holders.

Alexandra told us a lot about Romania. She told us about how she feels about Romania and what she wants for her life. She told us in Romania there is no middle class, its really rich, rich or really poor. She told us most people in Romania never leave because they do not have the money for it. She said she is 28 and has never been on an exhibition. She wants so badly to leave Romania. She said being a painter in Romania is nothing. She said she can't survive off of that because no one buys paintings. She told us if she could leave she would. Alexandra has been through so much and is so strong. It makes me sad knowing I can't do anything for her. My heart just broke as I heard her talking to us. I wish everyone could have enough. She is such a great example of enduring and staying strong. Talking to her and hearing her story about Romania made me realize how ungrateful and unappreciative I have been. This was an eye opening experience for me. 

What a Beautiful Day

The sun! Sunday was a perfect day because the sun was shinning all day! Today was the first time since I have been in Romania that the sun has been out. I wouldn't think the sun would make such a difference but it did!  Church was good! It was a bit overwhelming with the whole thing being in Romanian but it was good. The Soras (sister missionaries) translated sacrament and relief society for us. Surprisingly there are a lot of members who speak english so that was nice! The members are very nice. They were very friendly and welcomed us right in! I probably said the phrase "mea numesc Megan" a million times. I met a ton of great people.  Christina was one of the speakers at church and I loved this part that she quoted, "However far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love." After church I came back to the apartment and had lunch and took a nap. The rest of the evening I talked with the girls and we got to know each other better.

Main Steet

Its sooo Cold!

I could handle the weather before today. It wasn't that bad but today it was freezing! Just look! We ended our day early because we were so cold and had no desire to be outside in that weather. At least if it was sunny we could go explore Iasi.

In the morning we took a tram to Dasha. We walked up and down the streets and window shopped.

Chelsea took us to a huge piasa and also showed us a place where there are tons of gypsies. She just pointed it out we didn't go close to the place. After that we were so cold we just headed back to the apartment. We ended up staying there for the night.

Buna Ziua!

It was a good day! I slept in late, I guess I am still adjusting! Chelsea showed us a little around Iasi. She showed us the orphanage and where we will go to church.

She also took us to St. Paraschiva Metropolitan Cathedral. This cathedral is the largest Orthodox church (biserica) in Romania. The main religion in Romania is Orthodox. It was really neat to go inside their church. It was very different and unlike anything I know. While I was inside I mostly watched the people that were inside and looked at the building. So many of the Romanians were kissing the pictures inside. Also a lot of them were just kneeling and praying. Inside you get the chance to kiss the hand of Paraschiva and write a prayer. We ended up doing both. We waited in line to go kiss the hand of Paraschiva. I touched the blanket of where her hand was but I wasn't too sure about the whole thing so I didn't kiss it.  After that we wrote a prayer and handed them to the priest. After we handed him our prayers he rubbed something on our forehead. I'm not really sure what it was, neither was Chelsea. Some oil maybe. After that we waited inside and just observed. One thing I noticed is that these people are very passionate in their religion. They all seemed very dedicated and focused. The whole time there was someone reading prayers. Well thats what we thought they were doing. Chelsea also thought that maybe they were doing the sacrament. There was a huge circle of people around a table. We couldn't get close enough to see but that is what Chelsea thought. On the outside of the building on the side was a little room with a whole bunch of candles. They would light candles for people that have passed away.

After the church we walked down main street and looked at different stores. 

Ate my first covrigi

We came back to the apartment for lunch and then went and explored! We walked down the streets in Podu Ros. It is just a small place within Iasi. Mostly we just window shopped. We also stopped by the Palace Mall again. The rest of the night we stayed in the apartment and just relaxed.

This Will Take Some Getting Use To

I arrived in Iasi at 7. Mario, the romanian facilitator, was there to pick us up and take us to our new apartment. This is me and Sarahy coming in!

Kaitlin

The apartment

My bedroom

The bathrooms

The other bedroom

Entry way/ Hall

The door

The kitchen

The couch room

The view from our porch

 After we got in we decided to try and go back to sleep for a couple more hours. I tried to go back to sleep but I couldn't. I was too excited! Plus I already slept a good amount on the train. After we rested we went grocery shopping at Hala Centrala and the Piasa. 

The Piasa

Hala Centrala

Then later that night we went to Palace mall. This is a new mall that just opened in Iasi during the summer. It is the nicest mall I have ever been to! It makes me feel like I am back in the US again. Oh and Romanians listen mostly to American music. So at the mall and shops I hear American music but everything else is Romanian.

Sarahy and Kaitlin got shaorma. Its a really popular meat in Romania. Chelsea and I ate at Clatita Uriasa. It is a really good crepe place.

I Arrived in Romania!

After the plane being delayed for an hour and a half I finally was on my way to Romania! Since the plane was delayed we didn't get into Bucharest until 5pm which is when our train was suppose to leave. So all four of us missed our train into Iasi. When we finally arrived at the train station we weren't really sure what to do. Thankfully the missionaries spotted us and came over and helped us! It was transfer day so all the missionaries in Romania were all there. There was a ton of them! They were nice enough to let us keep our bags with them. We ended up getting the next train to Iasi which didn't leave until 11pm.

First romanian food was gogosi! Its like a cream filled doughnut.

Yup that is us eating McDonalds. It actually is a little different than the McDonalds in the US. 

Our room inside the train looked like this! It had 3 beds on each side. The room was tiny. It was a 7 hour train ride to Iasi so we slept the whole way. 

My Last Day in London

Hyde Park. The biggest park I have ever been in

The building is part of Kensington Palace

Buckingham Palace

Portobello Road. This is where I got Ashley and Sabrina's present!

Ridding the Double Decker

Harrods (the mall)

Since the hostel didn't have wifi we would go searching for places that did