Last Moments

[Anna Holladay]

Since I failed to update for the last month I was in Bucharest, here are a couple of nuggets of what was happening in my life: (My full blog can be viewed at annaisinromania.blogspot.com)

The week of Thanksgiving was another Gypsy Smith School (GSS) session at Project Ruth. Just like last time, the men attending the session ate all their meals in the cafeteria of the Ruth School, so on Thanksgiving Day Brittany and I were busy washing dishes while everyone back home was eating mass amounts of food and subsequently napping on the couch with a food coma. Brittany and I yelled "Happy Thanksgiving!" to everyone we saw, and I'm pretty sure some people at the Ruth School thought it was our Independence Day. For our dinner we ordered Jerry's Pizza, which is the only place in Bucharest we've found to have actual pepperoni, and Brittany made homemade macaroni and cheese, which required a trip to the grocery store 8 stops away on the bus and a splurge to buy cheddar cheese.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Tammy, Brittany, and I threw a Thanksgiving party! Many of the administration at Project Ruth, pastors at Providenta Baptist Church, and their families attended. For weeks before the party, we scoured the city to find ingredients that would make our favorite American dishes, or in some cases, ingredients that would work as a substitute. The kids enjoyed their crafts of teepees, spoon pilgrims, macaroni necklaces, and coloring sheets and everyone seemed to love all of the food!

The night of December 4th was the first night that all of the city lights around Bucharest were lit up. Brittany and I tagged along with the youth (let me remind you that you are a "youth" until you get married) to go see all the lights! We had a great time and ended the night eating at KFC... so really, how could it go wrong?

On my last Monday in Romania Ralph, Tammy, Brittany and I drove to Peles Castle, near Sinaia, and to the town of Brasov so that I could see more of the country than Bucharest. We girls giggled nearly the whole time, but Ralph got some peace and quiet when we slept most of the way home, even with the windy mountain roads.

Peles Castle- the summer residence of King Carol I, Romania's first King.

trying to keep warm in Brasov!

My days spent at school were full of assorted tasks like scanning the hard copies of hundreds of pictures onto a computer, cleaning the dorms where visiting teams and the men from GSS stayed, hosting teams from America and England while they worked at the Ruth School, washing, drying, and ironing the sheets from the dorms, and planning and having English Clubs and Chapel weekly.

The 8th Grade English Club after they decorated the school's Christmas tree

Ironing sheets!

Weekly chapel service On my last Wednesday in Bucharest I was surprised with a "thank you/going away" party in the school's cafeteria! I was upstairs in the office, and was very close to finishing the scanning of all of the school's photos. It got to be around 1 pm, and we hadn't eaten lunch yet (which was pretty unusual because Ralph doesn't play around with not eating lunch.. and I appreciated that) so I asked Brittany, "When are we eating?" and I got this response from Ralph across the room "Lunch is optional today." I should have known right then that something was awry, but I was clueless. After some persuading from Brittany and Ralph to go downstairs, (I really wanted to finish scanning those pictures!) I got up and walked down to the cafeteria to a wonderful surprise complete with pizza, cupcakes, and wonderful friends :)

Among other things, Tammy and Ralph gave me a plaque reading "Totul este posibil cu Dumnezeu", which means "Everything is possible with God"

Mishi, Project Ruth Executive Director, with Tammy's beautiful sign that reads "Thank you Anna"

I am extremely grateful for everyone's hospitality over the past three months, especially Ralph and Tammy for inviting me into their home and feeding me delicious meals, and Brittany for feeding me delicious meals and letting me crash on her couch for the two weeks of GSS. (And for being my real life friend, not only my "we're two Americans in a foreign country together" friend.) I already miss everyone that I was blessed enough to meet while I was there and I can't wait to go back!

[Missy Ward]

Wonderful post, Anna! I have enjoyed reading your blog. Thanks so much for sharing about your teaching experiences in Romania! I am sure that you are dearly missed.