More Bits 'n Bobs and Peles Castle

It feels like things are really slowing down, and Jim and I are looking for other ways to connect with Ukrainian refugees.  This week we will be checking out some of the housing accommodations and see if there is a role for some of our Russian speaking missionaries to help out there.  And we will still work at the Gara de Nord in the mornings.  People keep expecting a large influx of Ukrainian refugees coming out of Bulgaria, but it hasn't happened yet. I guess we'll see...

In the meantime, I’ve promised you some notes on driving in Romania.  It’s not as tricky as driving on the left side of the road (we’re hoping to do some of that in England in July!), but driving in Romania, particularly Bucharest, has its surprises.  First, it’s an old city, and it wasn’t made for automobiles.  So the streets and the tunnels and the flyovers (the bridge over the train tracks) make for some inventive and interesting directions on Google Maps.  Also, Buch drivers are daring: shooting the gap isn’t the exception here, it's the rule.  Sometimes it’s hard to see some of the lane stripes, so lanes are often really just a hint or a suggestion.  Other times, you’ll find your lane has quite suddenly become a left or right turn only.  Gratefully, Buch drivers recognize that this happens all the time and usually (but not always…I won’t call out the BMW drivers who seem adverse to merging…) let you tuck in in front of them.  

This is the flyover that starts near our apartment and crosses the 
train tracks for the Gara de Nord about 1 1/4 miles later.

An unusual driving strategy that I’ve noticed in Bucharest is what I call cluster turns.  In the US, we get in a line and wait our turn.  Sometimes two or three or cars will run the light after it turns red in order to get through, but they do it one at a time, in a line.  In Bucharest, you pull into the center lane of the intersection and two or three cars will pull up on either side of you, in back of you, and sometimes even in front of you, and when there’s an opening, the entire cluster turns left together, vying for the same one, two or three lanes on the street you just turned onto.  It’s an interesting system, and (surprisingly) seems to work!  

One more thing that I’ve noticed:  there are openings in the center meridian (usually grass meridians, or center strip parking for cars) where cars can do legal u turns or left turns.  These areas are wide enough for several cars to park, or just wide enough for one car to sit in the opening until there’s a break in the traffic and they can complete the u-turn.  Big semi trucks with their long trailers have no compunction about doing a U-turn in one of these meridian gaps.  Sometimes two side by side (see previous note about cluster turning) will make the u-turn.  It was very…unexpected the first time I saw this happen.  And none of the traffic waiting for these massive vehicles to finish their u-turns onto a two or three-lane street was brave enough to honk or express their displeasure.  I certainly wasn’t.  If that’s what the big guys want to do, they can do it. We’ll just wait patiently.  And patience is a virtue when driving in Bucharest.  It’s a big, congested city, with lots of confusing roundabouts and narrow streets.  

Heading into one of the 6 lane roundabouts...

Speaking of honking (was I speaking of honking?) … that’s often reserved for when the red light at an intersection turns green.  And it’s not rude, it’s just that the lights are placed in such a way that the first car waiting at the intersection is positioned too far forward to actually see the light when it turns green.  So the other cars behind you are just being helpful when they honk to alert you to the green light.  And, while I’m on the subject of being helpful, if someone lets you merge, the polite  way to say thank you is with a quick blink of the hazards.  I just love that.  And it happens frequently.  I think I mentioned that I usually do the driving so Jim can navigate–we each have our role, and it works well.  Most of the  time I enjoy driving in Bucharest. I can’t say whether or not Jim has enjoyed being a passenger…

Street parking on the left, sidewalk parking on the right.  Gotta be creative to find a parking space.

Parking is another interesting feature in Buch.  Have I already mentioned that is a very old city, not made for automobiles, and there isn’t enough parking.  So people park on the sidewalks, on the street corners, on the sidewalk corners, two deep on the sidewalk and on the street.  You need to keep an eye out for “nu parcul” signs, telling you not to park someplace.  And on the little street in front of our apartment building, which is a mixture of two high rises and about 10 small homes and businesses, people use their garbage cans to save spaces.  We’ve been lucky and almost every time we've taken the car out we've been able to find parking on our street when we get back.    

I can park on a sidewalk on a corner, too.

I'm sure that's more that you ever wanted to know about driving and parking in Bucharest, Romania. But when you come to visit, now these things won't be a surprise.

We’ve had some lovely experiences this week.  Even though the pace is slower, Jim always finds people to help, or people find him at the train station.  One of our friends, Lyudmilla, a woman that we met early in our service at the Gara de Nord has stopped by the station several times over the past couple of months to talk with us. One time she brought us a jar of yummy black olives as a thank you for a suitcase that we were able to give her. Recently she showed us some photos of the evangelical church that her congregation was building in Ukraine before the war, and told us how much she missed it. She asked if she could join us at our church last Sunday, and we said, "of course!" We didn't end up seeing her there however, and thought maybe the transportation hadn't worked out. But she stopped by yesterday to apologize for not coming the previous Sunday, and told us that she was having some health problems and was going to have surgery on Monday (tomorrow). So we will be praying for Lyudmilla's successful procedure, and will call her Monday evening to see how she's doing.

I can't remember if we've already shared the story of a woman that we had helped early in our time here. We had given her and her husband a suitcase. And she was memorable because she was just so happy! Happy to be away from the bombs, happy to be in Romania. Just a happy person. When we saw her last week she was distraught. She and her husband were waiting for a bus in a crowd and there was some miscommunication and her husband left the suitcase--with all her documents, passport, phone and money--on the sidewalk for her to bring onto the bus. She thought he had it, and when they discovered the mistake they went right back to the previous stop, but the bag and all her papers were gone. She was distraught. She was at the train station to find out how to get to the Ukrainian embassy to get her passport and new papers when we ran into her. Jim gave her 30 lei (Romanian currency--its about $6.50). At first she refused to take it--she literally backed away like we were on fire or something. We convinced her that it was just to help her with bus money or anything she might need on her way to the embassy. She finally took the 30 lei and we helped her find her way to the Embassy.

About 6 days later we saw her again, and she was back to her old self: ebullient. She had stopped by the tent to say thank you. She said that she had her new passport already, and they had helped her to get a used phone, too. We asked her if she and her husband could use a suitcase, because we happened to have one in the car. She was so grateful, and even happier than the first time we met her, if that's even possible.

This is what happy looks like...she is such a lovely person.

Other fun happenings this week: we took a field trip to Peles Castle (pronounced

"peh-lesh") near the town of Sinaia in the Carpathian mountains.  Four of us senior missionary couples took the train (a 90 minute ride) to Sinaia and then walked through the town and up the hill to the castle. The fact that it was Children's Day, and a national holiday, didn't deter us. The train was packed with kids and families heading to the mountains for a fun day, but--luckily--the palace wasn't too crowded. It’s a beautiful 19th century palace that has intricately carved wood walls, ceilings and trim, murano glass chandeliers, and probably the largest collection of armaments in Europe. It was the first European castle to be independently and fully powered by electricity.  The castle was featured as the royal castle of Aldovia in the Netflix film A Christmas Prince and its two sequels, A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding and A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby.  Aldovia was just beautiful.

The Bloods, the Bartholomews, the Bowlers and the Briscoes
on a field trip.  I'm afraid we didn't get past the "B's"

Murano glass chandelier and carved ceiling.

One small part of the armaments collection

Papanas, a traditional Romanian dessert that we had at a local restaurant.  It was delicious.

The flowers next to our outdoor dining table looked too perfect to be real--but they were real.  And perfect. 

Finally, as we get closer to our departure date, we find ourselves taking more photos of our friends and fellow volunteers.

The clouds were beautiful, and eventually poured sheets of rain on us during lunch and also while
we were touring the castle.