Craciun Fericit!

"Michelle, update your blog. I need something to read that makes me laugh!" -Nelly. I just love her!

Well, here's a belated Craciun Fericit (Merry Christmas) from Chisinau! It has not really felt like holidays around here as life continues on as normal, unlike in SC where you are constantly reminded that it's Christmas time. I will say that the week before Christmas I found myself feeling very sad at times being away from family and friends. Christmas is my most favorite time of the year, and being away from home for the first time at Christmas was a little harder than I expected it to be. My roommate is in America right now so I was alone all week. I wanted at least to buy a Christmas tree but could not find one around here. Then, the day after Christmas I saw so many street vendors selling them. Hmmf! Then, I remembered that on the Orthodox calendar Christmas is January 7. Some people in Moldova celebrate on December 25, but many celebrate on January 7. So, I guess I still have time after all to get a tree if I want :) Another bummer on Christmas was the weather. Every year I want so badly to have a cold, white Christmas. In SC, I might get a semi-cold Christmas but never a white one. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I would finally get my cold, white Christmas being in Moldova. Well, it was looking good...temps were freezing the week before. Then we get to about December 23 and a blasted heat wave decided to breeze on through. The temperatures began climbing to around 40-45...then 50...topping it off at around 60 degrees ON CHRISTMAS DAY! Now, I know you're probably thinking that 60 is not hot. No, it's not. BUT, when the high temps have been like 15-20 degrees, 60 feels like summer. I was actually sweating a few times during the day. Then when my family told me how cold it was there and that it snowed I just wanted to cry. De che????!!!! Why??? On December 26, it was back to freezing again. Of course. Then on the 27th, it started snowing and finally stopped around 7-8 inches.

I didn't blog so that I could focus on the negative. I wanted to blog so that I could say how in spite of the "differences" (not negatives) of my holiday this year, there was really no other place that I wanted to be. Not even home. I had a wonderful and eventful Christmas. Here's the quick run down:

Christmas Eve - My teammate and I had a Romanian lesson in the afternoon. After, we celebrated Christmas Eve by going to a nice restaurant downtown. After that we decided to go to my apartment and watch a movie. Well, we walked to the bus stop close to the restaurant and then realized that the road appeared to be closed. Grant it, the restaurant is not really that far from my apartment...if you are going by car! There was nothing to do but walk, so we began walking in hopes that the road would open up somewhere and we could catch a bus or rutiera. I would say we had walked a little over a mile and then discovered why the road was closed. There was a marathon going on!! The most interesting thing about this race was that people were running in their street clothes. I saw girls running in their spiked heels and boots, tight jeans, and diva jackets! It was so funny. So, finally, we walked to a place where we caught a rutiera coming from the other direction and made it back to the apartment only to watch 5 minutes of a movie before Rafael learned that he had to go home! Adventures!

Christmas Day - I slept in...a very different way to spend Christmas morning! We had a big dinner/program at church from 5:00-9:00 that evening. I got to church around 3 so that I could help finish decorating and also to practice the songs I was singing that night. The whole event was so great! I loved watching everyone celebrate and worship using their unique gifts and talents. There was singing, drama, instruments, poems, etc. I remember thinking during the program just how blessed I was to be here. Sure, I missed home and my personal family traditions, but I was abundantly grateful to be able to celebrate Him who called me to Moldova, in Moldova! Breaking out of my traditional way of celebrating Christmas was a unique and special time for me. I realized more and more how we, as Americans, tend to make Christmas about the gifts, traditions, schedules and parties and we really do loose sight of why we celebrate. In Moldova I did not exchange gifts, I did not have to organize my schedule in order to attend 10 different Christmas parties, I didn't have to worry about whose house I would go to this year. I just focused solely on Christ and His entrance into a fallen world that He would redeem through His sacrifice and love. I was able to worship freely and purely with my church family. Not because it's tradition and it's what we do, but because it's yet another day that we have to exalt and praise the Savior of the world.

If I am home next Christmas I feel as though it will be completely different for me after this experience this year. It's all making perfect sense to me. Because He IS greater, I MUST become less. The concept of dying to self is becoming clearer everyday. It is not an option.

Some random interesting things that have happened in the last few weeks:
* Was approached by 2 Jehovah's Witnesses on the street. I told them I did not speak the language and told them as clearly as I knew how in Romanian that I know Jesus Christ and I am a Christian. They were still very insistent that they evangelize to me. After everything they said I would say "Imi pare rau, dar nu inteleg" (I'm sorry, but I don't understand). Finally, one woman threw up her hands and motioned for me to go away!

*I started official Romanian lessons. We were supposed to have one teacher, but she canceled the first two lessons we were scheduled to have. So, the director assigned us another teacher, Elena. She is wonderful!!! Please intercede for her as she is seeking Truth. Yesterday, we were checking our homework. We had to write 10 sentences using vocabulary words that we learned in the previous lesson. Well, Rafael and I both wrote sentences that said something like "My bus stop is next to my apartment." When we read our sentences, Elena instantly got this intense look of confusion on her face and then busted out laughing. We misunderstood Elena when she told us that "cada" means 'bath tub.' We both thought she said "bus stop!" So our sentences were saying that our bath tub is outside next to our apartment!

*I was going to the office one day and the rutiera was so incredibly crowded that I was stuck standing in the middle of people and could not move at all. Normally, many people get out before my stop so I am able to see where we are. Not this time! When I was finally able to see out the window I realized that I was in the middle of some town that I did not recognize at all! I quickly got out and found that I was WAY past my stop! So, I walked back up the street towards the office until Vitalie came and rescued me in the car! It would have been quite the pleasant walk if I wasn't being followed by some crazy dog barking at me. I tried talking to it in Russian thinking that would scare it away, but apparently my Russian is not so scary!

For photos and video of my Christmas here, check out my facebook. I guess I should go ahead and say Happy New Year!!