Observations, Adjustments, and Realizations

Observations

• Sewing needles, pens and tissues are readily available from peddlers on the trams.
• Anything can be sold on the side of the street, including baby bunnies.
• When walking in a busier area of town, it might be a good idea to have a tuba with you that you can play to let people know they are in your way.
• I saw a total of nine black people this past week.

Adjustments

• It takes 40 minutes, 2 subways, 1 tram, and some walking to get to school each day.
• I don't have textbooks for all the classes I teach.
• Simple things like buying food can be really intimidating when you don't have a clue what the cashier/vendor is saying to you. 
• I have students who are required to call me Miss Fessel...weird.
• The lock to my door is often stuck, so I need to figure an extra 5 minutes or so when going somewhere, just so I can get in and out of my apartment.

Realizations

• No matter how many different subway systems you've navigated before, you will have to spend some time getting lost and going in the wrong direction, before you've learned your way around.
• Romania and Poland are two different countries that, while more similar to each other than the US is to either, they will have different products in the grocery stores.
• No matter how many different countries you have visited or lived in, there is still a learning curve when moving to a new place. 

Conclusion: I wrote this about a week ago, when I was really getting discouraged about all the little things that I wasn't getting right away. It takes time to become accostumed to a new place, and I knew that in theory. I even knew that in practice....I had been through this before in Poland, but I still let it get to me. I really just missed the comfort of familiarity.
I have a lot of new things to get used to: a new job, a new country, a new language, a new roommate, etc. There really isn't one thing that is the same in my life right now as what my life was like a month ago. I am not writing all of this because it's easy to complain, it's easy  to get overwhelmed under the circumstances. However, God has been teaching me so much lately that I need to really depend on Him and His strength to get me through. Step by step and day by day I learn a little bit more and eventually my life here will become familiar. I am so blessed that God has chosen to bring me here to Romania, not only to use me as an ESL teacher, but also to teach me to trust in Him more fully.