Bits 'n Bobs and Dracula's Castle

 We started off the week by taking a Preparation Day (!!!). We've been here for six weeks and haven't taken a real preparation day (although we do nap most afternoons...so there is that).  We worked at the train station until about 8:45, then headed off to pick up another senior missionary couple and drive 3 hours to Bran, where there is a castle popularly (but not historically) associated with Dracula.  Our friends the Bartholomews, the senior couple serving here with Young Single Adults, organized an outing for five senior couples and two companionships of young missionaries from Brasov, which is near Bran.

Bran Castle, aka "Dracula's Castle"

We drove with the Wilckens, another Emergency Senior Missionary Couple from Enoch, Utah, who serve at the ROMexpo.  The Bartholomews took the mission van and picked up the young missionaries, and the other Emergency Senior Missionary couple in Bucharest, the Forsythes, drove the newest long-term senior missionary couple, the Briscoes, from Michigan. 

Our field trip group at lunch.

Getting out of the city was very nice.  The flat countryside and farmlands gave way to foothills, then to mountains and narrow winding roads that climbed into the Carpathian Mountains and Transylvania.  Transylvania is a historical and geographical region that has at times had its own government, been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and is now part of Romania.

The Castle itself was built in the late 1400's as a way to control the trade route through the mountain pass and river valley of the area.  It was renovated in the early 20th century by Queen Marie, the first modern-day queen of Romania, after the redrawing of many European national boundaries following World War I.  She was a Ponds Cold Cream model: here's a photo of her Ponds' ad.

Queen Marie's picture for the Pond's Cold Cream
advertisement in 1924.

It's a typical castle with windy and steep staircases, an armory, a well, lots of gabled roofs and fairly modest living areas.  Several exhibits were given over to Bram Stoker and the literary Dracula, although the real "dracula"--not a vampire, but a Wallachian Prince in the 15th Century, Vlad the Impaler--may never have even visited the castle.  Nevertheless, we purchased a dracula's castle refrigerator magnet to remember the trip.  

Instead of driving back the way we came, Jim made a case for heading back a different, slightly longer route.  The Wilckens and the Bloods all agreed.  It was very scenic, very long, and often surprising.  Lots of carts driven by horses for the local farms along the way, lots of cows and chickens acting like they own the road (in the cows' case, they do), and lots of scenic (and some not-so-scenic) towns along the way, and lots of winding narrow mountain roads. 

Snow capped Carpathian Mountains

Picturesque villages

Non-gas dependent transport

Is that me gripping the steering wheel, hoping 
the cow and her bell won't decide to come over for a visit?

Happily, cow and bell had other things on her mind. I don't
think she even noticed us....

Got back to the apartment around 7pm and was pretty tired.  It was a long day, lots of driving on winding mountain roads, then busy Bucharest traffic (remind me to write about driving in "Buch" one of these days).  

The rest of the week was the usual: train station in the morning, often a nap in the afternoon, shopping for supplies in the afternoon and evening.  Rinse and Repeat.  

Here are some highlights of our interactions this week.

I'm not sure what I'm looking at in this picture (some of the birds flying around the rafters at the
Gara de Nord??? But These three women came by to get some roller bags that we were able
to get for them--they were leaving this week.  They said the kindest thing: 
When they left Ukraine, they didn't know what they would find.Would
anyone understand them? How would they communicate?  Where would they go?
Who would help them?  They knew they had to leave Ukraine, but they were worried they
might not be accepted in Romania.  Instead, they said, everyone has been so kind and there were
people here just to help them, and they were so grateful.  We all teared up just a little.  
And hugs all around.   I shared her comment with Andre, who is a supervisor
in the Red Cross Room 4, and he was so happy.  Sometimes Romanian travelers
aren't happy about giving up their waiting rooms to Ukrainian refugees and sometimes he doesn't hear the gratitude of those he helps serve.  I'm glad I 
passed along the compliment.  He was so happy and relieved.

It was raining so hard on Wednesday--everyone wanted an umbrella, which we
didn't have in our donation clothing tent.   
But I carry my garbage bags with me everywhere.  Another woman had
the brilliant idea to make a poncho out of one.  And this woman decided a hat/hood would be
just what she needed. She was going to wait in line outside the Ukrainian Embassy, and
would definitely need some protection from the rain.

Jim helped this family of ten onto the train.  There must have been thirty bags. He just passed the bags up to someone inside the train one by one until there were none left on the platform.  It was hard to believe that it all fit since there wasn't really enough space for it all.  He was too chicken (Jim's words) to go inside the train to see where they stored it all.

Some people are heading back to Ukraine, including Odessa (which is still getting bombed).
Sometimes it's a family member they need to care for (parents and grandparents who
couldn't evacuate), sometimes they just want to go back home.

)

This woman was desperate to get back as soon as possible.  Jim searched his resources to try to find something and found some phone numbers for some busses.  They called the number, the bus had a space available, and was getting ready to leave in about ten minutes from a hotel five minutes away.  Jim and the woman could hardly believe how it so quickly came together for her.  Little miracles.

Friday night some of us gathered to celebrate Sister Probst's birthday and get to know the newest long-term senior couple that will be heading to town farther north at the end of the month.  We met at a Lebanese restaurant at the AFI Cotocentri Mall just up the street because we know that restaurant, the food is good, and there's parking on site for those who are driving.  The food was good, and the atmosphere was ...humid and very warm.  Apparently Romanians have a thing about air conditioning, and don't turn it on very often.  The main food court area of the mall is under a big dome (natural heat lamp) and the Lebanese restaurant is on the second floor of the perimeter of the dome.  It was a little toasty, even for me.  But delicious food and good company made it all worthwhile.

The birthday girl is on Jim's right.  The only way she agreed to come to dinner is 
if we didn't make a big deal about it.  So we didn't--no waiters singing, no free dessert.
Just a nice dinner.

In other news, we have our plans to travel home!  We'll be leaving Bucharest on June 16.  That seems very close, all of the sudden.  And we realize that we haven't gotten to know some of the other senior couples as well as we'd like.  So we arranged to meet another senior couple, the Bowlers, for dinner on Friday night.  Sister Bowler's sister lives just a short walk from our home in Highland, in a neighboring ward.  More small world moments.  We invited the Bowlers to dinner at a restaurant, and Sister Bowler offered to make eggplant parmesan for us instead.  It was delicious and very fun.  We'll have to invite them to dinner again...and hope Sister Bowler cooks.  :)  They have a nice apartment in a lovely neighborhood over near Herestrau Park and lake, which we have visited in the past.  We took a little walk around their neighborhood lake after dinner, and had a really nice time getting to know the Bowlers.  

The Bowlers, from Irvine, CA.

A note about all the help we have received from family, friends, and a few people we don't even know who donated to our "bag and stroller fund" so we could buy roller bags, strollers, shoes, and pay some transportation fees: we have been so grateful for your help and generosity.  We didn't ask--you just offered, and donated.  Thank you, thank you!  We couldn't have done what we did without you.  But, just recently, the Church is making Humanitarian Funds available to us to pay for these things.  So, if you still want to donate to help Ukrainian refugees, your donations to LDS Humanitarian Services will go directly to helping people in very real ways.  Humanitarian Services already does things like provide food, partner with other NGOs to provide housing, wheelchairs, and medicine.  And now they are letting us help individuals directly with bags, strollers and other needs.  So...this is very good!  People have asked about other NGO's that we've noticed at the train station and other places, and we can say that the Red Cross, World Central Kitchen, and Doctors Without Borders have really stepped up.  There are so many people and organizations that are doing good work here--these are just some of the NGOs I'm aware of.  

So, we've had a good week: some good work, good fun, and getting to know some of our other senior missionary couples.  And it feels like things are slowing down a little bit at the train station.  There are fewer people coming into Romania from Ukraine, and more people going back home.  We don't know how that will change next week. We know that some countries, like Bulgaria, are starting to limit the number of accommodations for Ukrainians.  We think we'll see more Ukrainians coming back through Bucharest on their way home, or on their way to a different country while they wait for safer conditions before returning home, although changing conditions in the war always make this hard to predict.  

Love to all--have a good week.