Lazy blogger........

Sorry, I've been a way lazy blogger lately. It just takes so long to load pictures! We went to Istanbul, Turkey about a month ago. It was an amazing experience and we had a fantastic time! Here is a link to all of our pictures from that trip. Hope you are all doing well!


Istanbul, Turkey pictures

Work, work, work.............

Nothing truly exciting lately. Mostly, we just work. The amount of paperwork we wade through just to get a few things done is insane! The guys below are all working on paperwork for the dome. Right now we are having a lot of trouble getting work visas for all the guys. We have to justify why we need all these Americans working in Romania. Aside from the issue of trying to train Romanians in very little time to do the specialized rebar and concrete that goes into these domes, we need around 5 people just to do paperwork!

At least they are kind of making progress. The ringbeam rebar is nearly all tied and they will be able to pour the concrete for it as soon as all the Americans here get their work permits. The ringbeam is where the domeskin is attached. They then inflate the domeskin like a big balloon.

The top of one of the silos affords a great view of our project.

I got a little burned out on paperwork, so I asked if I could tie some rebar with the guys. It was nice to get out of the office for a couple of days. Troy decided since I'm willing to get out there and work, he will have me trained to drive the crane. He said in his experience, women crane drivers are better anyway because they have a finer touch on the controls. I'm a little nervous about it, but at least I'll be doing something else besides paperwork all the time. In the picture, our good friend Juan Pena is working next to me. I really appreciated his patience with me as I learned where to place all the bars and tie them.

If we can't get work visas by Wednesday, we will be leaving Romania. We may see family and friends in Idaho sooner than we thought. Troy and I want to stay in Romania, but we would be very excited to see everyone! We'll see how everything goes this week.

Long time, no post

It seems like I never have time to post, but really I don't make time for it. I just get lazy. I also have so many pictures, it has taken forever to load them so I can make a couple of slideshows. In the last month, we visited Dracula's castle in Bran, Romania and during the same trip saw a citadel and another castle. We enjoyed a fantastic weekend exploring some remarkable Romanian history! I hope the slideshows will load okay!

Our trip was mainly focused on visiting Dracula's castle in Bran, Romania. While Dracula's castle was fun, I got more enjoyment out of the other buildings we saw, the citadel and the other castle.

Bran (Dracula's) castle doesn't actually have very much to do with the guy it's named after, or supposedly based on. He didn't ever live there and there is no evidence that he even commissioned the castle to be built. It's still a fun, beautiful building.

Peleş Castle

Peleş Castle (pronounced pel-esh) was built around 1880 and was the first castle in the world to have it's own electrical power source. The guide even showed us where they had a central vacuum system and they even had air conditioning when the castle was first built. Everything was so ornate! It was just amazing! Some of the pictures didn't turn out so well because they wouldn't allow a flash, and the person taking them didn't exactly have a steady hand all the time. We only had one person in our group take pictures because we had to pay for each camera, so we all just pitched in for one. We didn't go on the tour that included all the bedrooms, but we plan on doing that when Karissa comes to visit.

Râşnov citadel

This citadel was built around 1215 and served to protect the townspeople of Râşnov. There are fantastic views from the fortress. You can see the whole valley from one end to the other.

Bucharest and other parts of Romania

our story continues

It's so fascinating to learn about some Romanian customs! I will try to write about them as I learn. An interesting thing that I've been noticing more this week is that men always say, "Sarut Mana" to women or girls as a greeting or a goodbye. It literally means "Kiss your hand." I was told it is a very old greeting, but they still use it frequently. Also, when they finish a meal they say "Sarut mana pentru masa" "Kiss your hand for the meal, " their way of thanking the cook.


"Too many chiefs, not enough Indians" haha......The guys were showing how well they direct the rest of the crew. Really, Troy is the only superintendent in this picture. Next to Troy is Nicu Florea, our engineer friend from the Lafarge plant, Nicu Bamboi, our newest translator, and Bart, one of the Polish workers.

Sorin Bozman is the Lafarge plant manager. He's always calling me "Beauty" and Troy "Beast", but Troy objects and says it's the other way around. Troy gets along with Sorin fabulously. They have similar personalities and tend to joke around together frequently.

Our cars get caked in cement powder, which only comes off with vinegar. We take it to this car wash down the street. They charge a total of 16 lei to detail the inside and outside. That's the equivalent of about 5 U.S. dollars! I feel so guilty, I always give them a generous tip.

While we were waiting for the car to be washed, one of the Gypsy carts came by. These drive all over the roads, even the highway. A lot of times, these carts are filled clear up with plastic bottles the Gypsies collect from the landfill and take to be recycled. I'm curious if the little money they make on trading the plastic in is worth the effort. At least they are doing a part to help the environment.

The city council in Medgidia pays Gypsies as street-sweepers. They are out there all day, sweeping the gutters. Their brooms are homemade out of sticks.
What a long, arduous job!

Mariana is standing here outside a place where they make mici (pronounced meech.) They grill ground pork spiced with onions and other spices made into long meat rolls. They dip it in hot mustard and eat it with bread.

And here I am trying mici for the first time. I actually really enjoyed it! I liked it so much, I was craving it a couple of days after and went back for more.

An open air market where they sell homemade and homegrown goods.

An example of some homemade products at the market. Dried herbs, pickeled peppers, and homemade juices. I was a little hesitant to try juice placed in a reused Coke bottle. I mean, do you think they sanatized the bottles before doing that? And how old is the juice? Is it possible that it is now fermented and could be considered "happy juice." Hmmmmm........

Homemade brooms made out of reeds. I was very impressed, but didn't buy one. I haven't the slightest idea how I could attach it to a broom handle and make it stay on there for longer than one sweeping of my front entry-way.

This was the most gorgeous day since we've been here. The sun was out, there was a slight breeze, but it was warmer than jacket weather. This was taken on the bridge that leads into Medgidia. The canal runs into the Black Sea.

Mariana and I on the bridge while going for a walk. We couldn't stand to stay inside and work in the office on such a beautiful day!

Troy and I also took a little jaunt over to the Black Sea later the same week. It was starting to cool off then, but still nice weather. We hunted seashells and Troy skipped rocks on the water. It was one of the only days we've had off. We'll be glad to take a little vacation in a week. That's right! In one week, we will be flying home to Idaho to see everyone! Can't wait!

Homesickness finally wearing off.

While we have been having a lot of fun out here, we've also been working some really long hours. Sadly, we still haven't had a chance to get to more historical sites, so most of our news revolves around work. At least it seems that Troy and his company are starting to make progress on the project.

The picture on the side of the port-a-potties is so amusing to all of us!

The Black Sea with part of Constanta in the background, and the beach I hope to frequently visit in the summer!

Trying more Romanian food, I'm about to eat liver. Notice how I'm trying to seem excited to try it? No really, it wasn't that bad tasting, but I don't care for the texture. It might have been even better if it had been warm. The food was kind of cold.

This is Alin, our branch president (all of 28 years old), and one of our office translators. Here, we are about to go into a state authorized document translator's office. This office is a tiny box in the wall, maybe 6 cubic feet. I hope she doesn't pay much rent for that place.

Mariana, Alin's wife, is such a darling! I love her to death! Everyone in the office just adores her! She is such an amazing, brilliant, caring woman. She helps me so much in the office and around town running errands. She speaks English, Spanish, French, Portugese, and Romanian. She helps me quite a bit with the Romanian language. I couldn't do much without her!

Gearing up to go down into the pit to give the workers some lunch. They were in the middle of pouring concrete and couldn't really take a lunch break.

Troy paused in the middle of raking concrete to pose for me.

The concrete floor they were pouring with two pump trucks. It took Troy until 7 am the next morning to finish this floor. I worry about Troy spending all night out in the cold night air sanding the concrete, but he still seems stay healthier than me.

Larry, the other superintendent on the Dome, me, and Mariana out looking for deals on cars for the company in Bucharest. Doesn't Larry look so pleased to be out doing it? He was getting pretty impatient by the end of the day.

Still walking around the car lot looking to find an affordable but still decent car. I am loving the other pair of boots I got for Christmas. They are so warm and comfy!

Nic came with us to drive the other car back home. He found this hoody in Constanta. Not "Welcome to Miami"? Instead it's "You are welcome to Miami." Is this a subliminal message meant for the Cubans? "Here, take Miami, you've pretty much already overrun it." We all had a laugh over it.

I feel like Mariana and I are becoming good friends, though I'm not sure how she feels. She probably thinks I'm a huge dork most of the time! ;p

Here are some observations I've made since we've been here:

Romanians are still insane drivers! It's hard to remember sometimes that they actually have rules for driving. All my previous conclusions about drivers here have not changed. They driver like crazy people (Troy says they are aggressive drivers and that his brother Thayne would fit right in) and they honk at the slightest provocation. At least they don't flip people off.

Never go grocery shopping on Friday night or Saturday. People drive their shopping carts like they do their cars. It's crowded beyond belief and people don't hesitate to ram their cart into the back of your ankles! They are not polite about getting through the crowd either. If shopping carts had horns, they'd be laying on them the same way they do in their cars. They don't say excuse me or pardon, they just butt right on through wherever they need to go.

Romanians steal. Many of them will take off with whatever they can. They have security guards EVERYWHERE. They have them in the parking lots at the mall, one for each aisle of cars. They have them at every single shop in the mall. There are 7 or 8 outside Carrefour, the Romanian "Walmart" inside the mall, and too many to count walking all around the store at all times, especially the electronics department. Out at the jobsite, we've had to replace nearly every small tool we have because the Romanian workers we had subcontracted from another company took off with them all. We found out they stealthily throw them over the fence and come back for them later. They have cameras all around the jobsite, but it's hard to catch these guys in action. At night, there are guards all around the jobsite, otherwise the gypsies would be over the fence and taking off with the rebar. Now, I suppose not EVERY Romanian steals. We have long discusions at work with Mariana and Alin about "overgeneralizing." Now it's kind of a joke with our Romanian friends. We end a lot of sentences with, "because we all know Romanians steal." They take it with good grace, mostly because we all know Americans steal too. In fact Americans are probably worse because many act honest on the face of it, and enact dirty deals behind the scenes.

Romanian missionaries come back for Romanian girls and take them to the States. Alin gets frustrated because he would really like to continue to build the membership here, but we told him it's hard to expect them to live here. While Romania is great and all, the U.S. just has so much more to offer! Alin has never been to the U.S. so we told him he can't understand. We really want to take Mariana and Alin home with us to see what it is like. They would really like to be able to go to Temple Square and see Salt Lake. I hope we will get the chance to help them do that.

It's hard to find a truly fantastic restaurant here. Troy said at least the food isn't as bland as it was when he worked in Latvia. They do attempt to Americanize a lot of the food, but I guess it's just hard to get quality goods here. In the U.S., there is enough competition to make people try harder to give better quality. Here, you're just lucky one guy can get it for you. At least McDonalds is better here. Can you believe that? McDonalds here actually is way awesome! The chicken tastes like real chicken breast instead of processed meat, and the burgers are bigger. It does cost a little more here (figuring in the exchange rate), and there is not the same variety of choice, but it is so worth it!

There is a mountain of paperwork for everything you do. If you get in a little fender-bender on the street, you spend half the day in the police station. If the police pull you over and you have an undocumnted scratch on your car, they think you are trying to get away with something because you didn't report it (nevermind the fact that most people don't have time to spend half their work day filling out forms.) Out on the dome project, when the inspector comes for each stage, everything has to be documented, stamped, signed, discussed fully in a two hour meeting to make sure nothing was missed, and finally they are passed off to continue the building of the dome. There has to be a piece of paper for every fragment or particle they are putting into that dome (at least that's how it seems.)

Romanians appreciate us trying to learn their language. Even though most of them speak at least a little English, we can always get a smile from the grumpiest person by trying to speak Romanian (probably because our accents are so horrible.) The state inspector we had was being a real hard-nose, tearing us down at every turn for tiny things. Then one day he addressed me, maybe thinking that I was Mariana, and I told him in Romanian that I was sorry, but I didn't understand and asked him to repeat it more slowly. I still didn't understand all the words he used, but I got the gist of it and was able to get the document he was asking for. He seemed to lighten up after that, even later wishing us a Happy New Year in English! You would have had to be here to see the turn around in the way he treated us.

Overall, I'm starting to really love it here. Troy suggested that when we go home in February, we could ask to be transfered to a different job, but I found that I don't want to leave just yet. We are making so many friends and learning so much about this culture. I'm excited to continue to gain all the experience we can here!

Why can't wit be inherited......from your in-laws?

I freakin' love my aunt's blog! She makes me laugh, all the time! In fact, sometimes my husband gets annoyed because I'll burst into spontaneous giggling at awkward moments in our office trailer at the job site because I'm reading her blog.

Here are a couple of her recent posts I particularly loved:
I missed it!
Aha!
Happy New Year!

I wish I was half as witty! It's a blog I don't mind reading over and over! Hope you don't mind me sharing Aunt D!

Craciun Fericit! Happy Christmas!

Buna Ziua! (Good day!) Ce faci? (How are you?) Craciun Fericit! (Happy Christmas!)

See? Starting to get a few phrases down. No really, I'm learning more phrases than that. I taped post-it notes everywhere, all over the office, with Romanian words on objects, which has really helped. Also, the other day I spent the whole morning and afternoon driving around picking up things for the jobsite with Mariana, one of our interpreters, and I asked her to give me directions and commands all in Romanian. Just simple phrases, but it really helped! I can see why I haven't gotten very far with learning Spanish. You can study in a book, listen to CDs all you want, but until you are actually there, seeing and hearing the language used in context, you will never truly get it. Learning Spanish has had it's benefits too though. There are a lot of words and phrases in Romanian which are similar to Spanish. All in all, I'm determined to be able to at least carry on a conversation and understand what others are saying by the time we leave Romania.

This is a traditional Romanian dish called sarmale. It's made with pork simmered for several hours in tomato sauce or paste with spices, then the pork is wrapped in pickled cabbage. I tried this at the branch's Christmas pageant/party. It's kind of a different taste, but with sour cream and parmesan cheese, it's pretty good!

This is a wrap we have for lunch a lot of the time. It is marinated pork with french fries, cabbage, and mayo wrapped in a sort of tortilla. It may sound (or look) gross, but this is really awesome! And fattening. Romanians eat A LOT of carb foods......breads and potatoes especially.


This was so amusing to me. This stray dog was laying right in the way in front of the automatic doors at the gas station where the warm air would hit him sometimes. People in Romania treat stray dogs like mascots they don't have to take responsibility for. They feed them, partly because they don't like to waste food so they give them leftovers, and partly because they hate to see the dogs starving. But it just makes the dog population keep growing. When the government tries to do anything about it, people hide the dogs because they become attached to them or something, and it's illegal to kill them unless you "accidentally" hit them with your car. No, we don't try to hit the dogs, but they sure are an annoyance.

Christmas dinner in Romania. Nic, one of the American workers here, joined us. We really missed having a big Christmas dinner with family. I started feeling a little homesick Christmas Eve. I don't think there has been a single Christmas when I wasn't home to see my parents and siblings who could make it. *sigh* At least I was able to call them on Skype (an internet call service) and visit for a while. It was great to talk to everyone, including my brother Blaine, who is on a mission in Colorado, a little bit (thanks, Dad, for working so hard to make sure we could conference call!)

I attempted to make a pie. I use the word "attempted" because I couldn't find all the ingredients I usually would have used and I couldn't find canned pie filling either. So, the pie really didn't turn out. Do we really realize all the conveniences our country affords us?

Women here wear boots, everywhere. Teenagers wear sneakers. Teenagers wear boots too, but most women do not wear tennis shoes. Maybe that's one reason several people have mistaken me for being younger. Ha! I wish I still looked like a teenager!

The outfit I got for Christmas.....wool coat, boots. Hey, I had to make an attempt to fit in! Plus I've been looking for an excuse to spend money on a really decent pair of boots! Do I look Romanian yet? Maybe once I learn the language, they won't be able to tell. If I never open my mouth to speak, they really don't know. Most Romanians have dark hair. I've seen only one or two blonds, and not like a true tow-headed blond, but more of a dirty blond. Troy and I fit right in....uh, except for the language.....and customs.......and driving. Well, actually we're starting to fit in with the driving too. Now the problem will be that when we get back to the states, we'll drive like crazy people and get pulled over for wreckless endangerment or something.

I hope you all had a great Christmas! We missed our families, but we are having a great time out here!