Am ajuns!

Draga familia si prieteni (dear family and friends):
Am ajuns! I’m here in Romania, safe and sound, without incident. For the most part, we ("we" being a faculty member, her assistant, and myself) didn’t even have to deal with delayed flights. This week is marţişor, a celebration of spring where women are given red flowers and threads as a symbol of love and friendship. So I’d like to give a shout-out to all my girlfriends out there and wish you a happy marţişor. If I had remembered to bring the connector cable, I might have been able to upload a few pics at this point (yes, especially for you, zachary). I’ll be headed to the market soon to pick up some bottled water and a Poiana cu stafide (yes, especially for you, bigred) and a lemon Fanta (Sam, you’re not reading this anyway; why do I bother…).

At a layover in Washington DC we came across a cute little grandma headed on the same flight to Vienna, with a final destination of Varna, Bulgaria. The faculty member I’m traveling with knows a few words in several languages and was quickly impressing her with a few words of Russian. The lady looked relieved to have found someone friendly who at least knew a few words, and we were all fast friends. She pulled out pictures of her family and told us about each child and grandchild (we smiled and nodded…). Didn’t recognize much in the way of vocabulary, but the affection she radiated was well understood. I love connecting with people. It’s what makes this life meaningful, I think.

Well, I didn’t sleep at all the night before we left, and I’ve only caught a few hours here and there on the plane rides over. It’s 3:30 pm in Romania, and hopefully I can keep myself awake a few more hours and get my body used to Romanian time (9 hours ahead of Utah) before crashing (of course, I won’t find an internet café to send this email until long after I’ve crashed). We get to visit the orphanage briefly tomorrow, then for longer in days to come. I’m so excited to see my kids again! Although, I realize that they probably won’t remember me specifically and that a few have passed away or been fostered out since I was here 2 years ago. It will also be most excellent to visit with my students from last semester – this is one of the best groups I ever taught, and I am anxious to see how they are holding up in the field.

Well, my fine-feathered friends, it’ll do your hearts good to know I made it alive to Romania. More news later.
cu drag (with affection),
Mighty Bob