A weekend away

I finally got a chance to get out of the city for a little bit a week and a half ago! Although I really enjoy living in a city, every once in awhile it is just time to get away and take a break from all the concrete. My church had its annual retreat in a mountain town called Busteni, and it was about a two hour train trip from Bucharest.

There were about 70 people from our church who attended, so we had to be split up into two different hotels. I stayed in a two star hotel called Paradise hotel. Later I found this four star hotel called The Ghetto (What?!). Next time I will stay there.

We arrived just in time for lunch, and then went up the mountain for an afternoon of fun in the snow.

I was unadventurous and did not ski or sled, but I did enjoy the beautiful scenery. Many of our church people are from Africa and have therefore have never really played in the snow before, so it was fun to watch them discover sledding for the first time. 

In the evening, after supper, we had an all church quiz night. The international church is truly very international. We have people from all over the world, so some extra thought had to be put into the quiz questions to make sure that everyone could relate to them. We were also divided into very diverse teams, which helped a lot. In my team, we had a Romanian student, an Indonesian woman, an African pastor, an African business woman, and an American high school student. It turned out to be the perfect mix, because we won.

The next morning was Sunday, so we had a church service, took a group picture, and headed back home. It was a great weekend away from the city, and I had a great time getting to know people at my church better.

 

Try to find me :)

Women's day

I have decided that I really like March in Romania. The winter months get very gray, cold and dreary. Just when you think you can't take it anymore....it's holiday time! In my last post, I talked about Martisor which occurs on the first of March. Only one week later it's holiday time again! March 8 is international women's day. Although it is supposed to be international women's day, I only first heard of it while living in Poland. I think it is celebrated more in eastern European countries and takes the place of mother's day in some of these countries.

There are loads of flower sellers right outside of my metro station. I love it, because I always get to look at gorgeous fresh flower arrangements one my way to school and back home everyday. They really went all out for women's day, and the area around my metro stop exploded with brightly colored flowers. Everyone had flowers and by the end of the day I noticed some of the sellers were even starting to run out of flowers! I wasn't left out of all of this. Here are my women's day gifts from my students.

Along with March and fun holidays and lots and lots of flowers, warm temperatures have finally come. The snow is melting, spring is coming, and I am looking forward to being able to spend more time outside exploring Romania.

Martisor

The snow is finally melting, and it is a mess in Bucharest! Even though it is very wet around here right now, I am very happy that the snow is melting, because that means spring is on its way. Another sign that spring is on its way is the martisor stands that started springing up all over the city.  On every street corner there are people selling small trinkets with red and white string attached to them. At first I thought it was for women's day, which will take place on March 8, and I will blog about that later on. However, I found out that Romania celebrates another holiday on March 1 called Martisor. To be honest I'm still a little shaky on what it's all about, but this is what I have found out so far about the Romanian festival of Martisor.

It is an ancient festival that celebrates the beginning of spring and fertility. The name martisor apparently goes back to the original name of March which was of course named after the god Mars. The trinkets that are exchanged always have to have a red and white string on them. The colors either stand for war and peace, or innocence and fertility, or some other combination. I have heard several. Women were to wear these charms either around their wrist or pinned to their shirt for 12 days or until the first sign of spring with the blossoming of trees.

Now a days the tradition is simply for men, or women to give women one of these small trinkets on the first of March, and I believe that's about it. My friends and I went to a fair at the peasant museum that was full of these little trinkets. Most of them are handmade, and they can have just about anything on them. Here are some that I was given from my students and friends.

Here is one that I bought especially for you! Happy Spring!