Our final day in Romania is drawing to a close, and what a week it's been!
Our time at the Project Ruth holiday club officially ended yesterday so we went on a day trip. Today began far too early for the majority of team members. Many have argued that 6am is not a real time. Needless to say, much of the coach journey is a sleepy blur and I can't recall all of it.
Unfortunately, our dear comrade Dog Rob was waylaid this morning (but we're pretty sure he's better now!) so our numbers were down for today's trip to the mountains of Transylvania in the north of the country. At this point, Jon wishes it to be known that the mountains were very nice. Yes, a whole day experiencing the grandeur and beauty of the area and the best adjective he can come up with is 'nice'. Oh, and 'cool' apparently.
The first castle of the day was originally inhabited by King Carul of Romania and judging by his taste in interior design, he didn't do things by halves. This palace was definitely the fancier of the two and visitors were required to wear protective footwear. As a result, Lizzie shuffled her way from room to room in size 10 slippers. It was a sight to behold. Fun times.
We stopped for lunch at a holiday resort in the mountains, we think it was called Vila Bran. The views were stunning (Liz says 'magnifique', Jenny says 'well lush' and Jon says 'cool'. What a literary team we make.) and some group members were lucky enough to grab a few moments of sunbathing in hammocks whilst enjoying the scenery.
After lunch we hopped back into the coaches, which were more like ovens at this point, and continued on our way. Reaching the second castle required a death defying climb of several steps (which Sarah became familiar with after leaving her bag and making a quick return dash). The castle, Castelul Bran, is traditionally associated with the legend of Count Dracula and his real life counterpart Vlad the Impaler. Dave was particularly fond of our tour guide as she let him bang the gong (no pun intended)! When we got back to the coaches we were all very tired but had had a thoroughly enjoyable day despite the 3 and a half hour journey and Rosie's brief encounter with a wasp!
Back at the centre now and feeling a bit sad that our week is coming to an end. There are many more people in the room since I started writing this blog. It's a bit scary, to be honest. Audrey keeps shouting 'APOSTROPHE' at me. I'm never going into journalism. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.
Thankyou very much everyone for all the prayers and support. See youz all tomorrow. BYE xxxxxxxxx
(Also Lizzie and Elle want a request list for their parents. Such demanding children. Elle would like a watermelon. Lizzie wants pineapple, mango, melon and vanilla yoghurt waiting for her. And a hug. She said please. Elle didn't.)
Friday, 8 July 2011
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Final day of project.
So, once again we've been on the go since 9am this morning. We took our last walk to the Ruth Centre, to be greeted by a bunch of little uns ready for a day of fun and games. We started off in the football court, again playing football, parachute games and various other things(very tiring after little amounts of sleep and lots of sun.) The children then came up to the classroom where we sang some songs (which they joined in with!) Dave and Rosie retold the story of Moses, managing to get Jon to fall over- again. We then did craft number one, the parting of the sea on paper. We had to decorate 3 wooden stick men (the children were okay with this, but Jenny made Rosie, Rosie made Jenny- with THE doctor- Elle made herself dressed up as pikachu. After we played musical statues we started on craft number two, making a Moses basket by weaving coloured paper and folding into a pretty box- which some children managed to add a baby Moses to! We ended on some songs and said our final goodbyes to the children, and gave them lots of sweets (they seemed happy!)
We then had lunch, and went back to the Church to have an hour nap- and one hour out of our really smelly t-shirts that we've worn for four days!
We then went to another gypsy Church, Bolintin. Here, we redid the activities of Daniel and the Lions Den. The children were a lot calmer than those from the Ruth Centre, which was nice, but it was a really hot day in a very small Church which made it challenging. We are now all refreshing ourselves before having a worship session in about half an hour.
I have to say, on a personal note, I've really enjoyed this week so far and am really looking forward to the trip to the mountains tomorrow to see more of the country! (even though we have to be awake for breakfast at 6am-EEK!)
SEE YOU ALL BACK IN ENGLAND- Lizzie Sheridan:D
We then had lunch, and went back to the Church to have an hour nap- and one hour out of our really smelly t-shirts that we've worn for four days!
We then went to another gypsy Church, Bolintin. Here, we redid the activities of Daniel and the Lions Den. The children were a lot calmer than those from the Ruth Centre, which was nice, but it was a really hot day in a very small Church which made it challenging. We are now all refreshing ourselves before having a worship session in about half an hour.
I have to say, on a personal note, I've really enjoyed this week so far and am really looking forward to the trip to the mountains tomorrow to see more of the country! (even though we have to be awake for breakfast at 6am-EEK!)
SEE YOU ALL BACK IN ENGLAND- Lizzie Sheridan:D
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Day 3.....
Chicken, AGAIN. The vegetarians seem to be suffering - today at a Lebanese restaurant Mishi declared that in Lebanon they class lamb as a vegetarian option.... ( We think he was joking)
The holiday club was the best ever today - when we arrived the kids were ready and waiting (they were early, apparently unheard of for the gypsy community!), boys very excited for the football and the girls interested in lots of hugs and attention. There were even more children today - the families are so big here that word travels fast and each day they bring more and more cousins! Those with blue eyes were particularly favoured - so many children were pointing and the phrase "you have beautiful eyes" was very common! Alice (or Alee-chay, as they call her) had an admirer who was fascinated by her blue eyes and blonde hair!
The songs are very popular, as are the dramatic retellings of Bible stories - each day sees Jon fall on the floor at some point, which seems to be a highlight for the kids! Today we told the story of Daniel in the lion's den and the lion mask craft was extremely successful with lots of "grrr"s from the kids.
The boys were also terrorised by a small girl in a pink dress who was keen to punch them all in the stomach!
This afternoon we visited a museum of peasant history, an outdoors museum where there were examples of houses throughout Romaia's history. We then took a boat trip on a lake in the biggest park in Romania - also bizarrely home to the Hard Rock cafe!
The evening was eventful - after an interesting yet delicious dinner at a Lebanese restaurant, where we all had something out of the ordinary, we visited Revolution Square. This was home to the revolution in 1989, followed by the execution of Ceauşescu. It was fascinating to discover Romania's history first-hand - the director of the Ruth School told us how life was like under Communism and seeing the bullet holes in the buildings in the square brought the history to life.
We are all off to bed now (well the older members are) another busy day tomorrow with 2 holiday clubs to run, then off to the mountains on Friday!
Chicken, AGAIN. The vegetarians seem to be suffering - today at a Lebanese restaurant Mishi declared that in Lebanon they class lamb as a vegetarian option.... ( We think he was joking)
The holiday club was the best ever today - when we arrived the kids were ready and waiting (they were early, apparently unheard of for the gypsy community!), boys very excited for the football and the girls interested in lots of hugs and attention. There were even more children today - the families are so big here that word travels fast and each day they bring more and more cousins! Those with blue eyes were particularly favoured - so many children were pointing and the phrase "you have beautiful eyes" was very common! Alice (or Alee-chay, as they call her) had an admirer who was fascinated by her blue eyes and blonde hair!
The songs are very popular, as are the dramatic retellings of Bible stories - each day sees Jon fall on the floor at some point, which seems to be a highlight for the kids! Today we told the story of Daniel in the lion's den and the lion mask craft was extremely successful with lots of "grrr"s from the kids.
The boys were also terrorised by a small girl in a pink dress who was keen to punch them all in the stomach!
This afternoon we visited a museum of peasant history, an outdoors museum where there were examples of houses throughout Romaia's history. We then took a boat trip on a lake in the biggest park in Romania - also bizarrely home to the Hard Rock cafe!
The evening was eventful - after an interesting yet delicious dinner at a Lebanese restaurant, where we all had something out of the ordinary, we visited Revolution Square. This was home to the revolution in 1989, followed by the execution of Ceauşescu. It was fascinating to discover Romania's history first-hand - the director of the Ruth School told us how life was like under Communism and seeing the bullet holes in the buildings in the square brought the history to life.
We are all off to bed now (well the older members are) another busy day tomorrow with 2 holiday clubs to run, then off to the mountains on Friday!
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
Salty Yoghurt, Anyone?
So, today was day 2 of the holiday club at the Ruth School. There were quite a few more kids, which made it much harder work! They seem to like it when someone falls over during the dramatic re-tellings of bible stories - Joseph being thrown down a well, Goliath falling to the floor (tomorrow is Daniel being thrown to the 'lions')...
This afternoon, we went to a local Gypsy Camp and did day 1 again. There was a very different feel - we were out on a dusty, stoney street with constant need for avoiding "machina". The duck, duck goose went down well, as did Joseph being thrown down the well (again!).
It's been really good fun so far, and very rewarding. At the Gypsy church service, they had very interesting music, and we all shook everyone's hand at the end. At least this time the sermon was translated for us, so we actually understood the majority of the 2-hour service!
After the service, we went to a kebab house, where there was the option of a drink that was described to us as "yoghurt with salt added". I thought it tasted of sour milk, but Jon seemed to enjoy it...
One of the best things about the trip so far is that it's not just the kids who are benefiting - as a group, we are getting closer, and having such a good time. It's certainly helped me with my faith (and with my music and english courses... and Rosie's french). I don't care that my hair is disgusting and my t-shirt is smelly with 3-days' worth of sweat - just seeing the kids run down the road to greet us this morning made all the fundraising, all the cake sales, all the travelling worth it.
~Audrey
This afternoon, we went to a local Gypsy Camp and did day 1 again. There was a very different feel - we were out on a dusty, stoney street with constant need for avoiding "machina". The duck, duck goose went down well, as did Joseph being thrown down the well (again!).
It's been really good fun so far, and very rewarding. At the Gypsy church service, they had very interesting music, and we all shook everyone's hand at the end. At least this time the sermon was translated for us, so we actually understood the majority of the 2-hour service!
After the service, we went to a kebab house, where there was the option of a drink that was described to us as "yoghurt with salt added". I thought it tasted of sour milk, but Jon seemed to enjoy it...
One of the best things about the trip so far is that it's not just the kids who are benefiting - as a group, we are getting closer, and having such a good time. It's certainly helped me with my faith (and with my music and english courses... and Rosie's french). I don't care that my hair is disgusting and my t-shirt is smelly with 3-days' worth of sweat - just seeing the kids run down the road to greet us this morning made all the fundraising, all the cake sales, all the travelling worth it.
~Audrey
Monday, 4 July 2011
A message from Alice and Liz
It's hot. Well, hot-ish. Alice says she is cold now (but she's sitting under the air-con so no wonder!). The kids are cute and very friendly and happy, despite the, erm, interesting pictures some of them drew on their t-shirts!
The food is (using Alice's choice of word), NOM. There are all sorts of weird and wonderful things for breakfast, Dave probably had the weirdest with biscuits and milk :/
Lunch was a buffet-style selection of strange meats, cheese, bread and some unusual things which vaguely resembled sausages but tasted a bit like chicken nuggets. But hey, it tasted good so who really cares what it was.
Dinner seems to be comprised of lots of bread and soup and pickles/gherkins (Alice's favourite! Not!) for the first course, then some chicken and various other stuff. The cakes were also kind of strange.....
So, in brief, that's the food. Everything else is also good :D
The food is (using Alice's choice of word), NOM. There are all sorts of weird and wonderful things for breakfast, Dave probably had the weirdest with biscuits and milk :/
Lunch was a buffet-style selection of strange meats, cheese, bread and some unusual things which vaguely resembled sausages but tasted a bit like chicken nuggets. But hey, it tasted good so who really cares what it was.
Dinner seems to be comprised of lots of bread and soup and pickles/gherkins (Alice's favourite! Not!) for the first course, then some chicken and various other stuff. The cakes were also kind of strange.....
So, in brief, that's the food. Everything else is also good :D
More detail on this morning, and some stuff about this afternoon.
Jennie asked me to go into a little more detail about what we did this morning, so here it is!
We started with a game of football whilst the kids arrived, and the boys were shown up awfully by the significantly younger Romanians. We got the parachute out and had a laugh with the larger number of children, then headed up to the classroom.
We began the club by singing some songs led by Tom and Dave, and did a short drama about Joseph which sparked hilarity as Tom was thrown into the well with dramatic flailing of arms. We did a short bit about the message of the story, brilliantly translated by our translators. We did some craft and some games and ended with a prayer, then went on to a well-deserved lunch!
The people's palace was very grand and various comments arise about how great it would be for a party. (Mostly from Tom, Dave and the newly nicknamed Dog-Rob.) And we went to town and had a great tour, seeing the living place of Vlad the Impaler (aka Count Dracula!).
Now we're settling down for a supper and a good sleep in preparation for tomorrow!
We started with a game of football whilst the kids arrived, and the boys were shown up awfully by the significantly younger Romanians. We got the parachute out and had a laugh with the larger number of children, then headed up to the classroom.
We began the club by singing some songs led by Tom and Dave, and did a short drama about Joseph which sparked hilarity as Tom was thrown into the well with dramatic flailing of arms. We did a short bit about the message of the story, brilliantly translated by our translators. We did some craft and some games and ended with a prayer, then went on to a well-deserved lunch!
The people's palace was very grand and various comments arise about how great it would be for a party. (Mostly from Tom, Dave and the newly nicknamed Dog-Rob.) And we went to town and had a great tour, seeing the living place of Vlad the Impaler (aka Count Dracula!).
Now we're settling down for a supper and a good sleep in preparation for tomorrow!
Excitement!
The team went down to the Ruth centre today to start their first day of holiday club. The kids had fun and nothing went wrong, suprisingly! We are off to the Presidential Palace this afternoon, and everyone is currently onto our one balcony is a desperate attempt to squeeze a tan out of the weather!
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