Spiders

I willingly admit irrational fear of a few things. Here are 2:

1. Scary movies. The last one I saw was The Grudge and I swear just the other day I heard that freaky noise while I was down in the laundry room. I ran back up to my apartment!

2. Spiders. Just tell me about a creepy spider you have seen and I shiver. Hate em! Think about it, they crawl over your body while you are sleeping, they can spin a web inside your shoe, they suck your blood (and that is only sexy if it is done by a vampire!).


This little video cracks me up though! I like the marijuana spider...first, cause I like hammocks and second cause he's willing to sacrifice for what he wants!

Huh?

On my recent trip to Romania I saw and heard several funny things and there is just one more I want to share. You know the movie Knocked Up? Well it is currently playing in Bucharest under the title:

Un Pic Insarcinata

Translation:
A little bit pregnant

Granted, I never learned much slang in Romanian so maybe it really does translate, but...?

The Spirituality of a Child

I was on the phone with my grandma tonight and she was telling me some funny stories from my childhood (6-7 yrs old). She mentioned that I had always seemed to be a spiritual child...well, see for yourself.

Car Trouble
We got into our old silver Volvo station wagon and it wouldn't start. My mom kept trying until I piped up from the back seat, "Mom, just say a prayer and then it will start." We prayed and it did start, but really, do you think God would let down a child like that!

Baptism
Natalie was 8 which means I was almost 7, Natalie had just been baptised in her white dress. My mom apparently turned to me at some point and said, "you can wear that pretty white dress when you get baptised next year!" To which I responded, "I don't want to wear that dress, its full of sins!"

So grandma, I think you are mistaken...its just sass!

Control issues and maturity

It amused me today how much like a 5 year old I can be. Surprised as you may be...it takes a lot of effort on my part to be nice all the time and I know I fail regularly. My efforts are almost entirely selfish as I generally suffer a severe guilt complex when I am mean. Really, who wants to feel bad all the time for treating ignorant idiots like ignorant idiots? That is beside the point...

Today, I almost threw a tantrum over a cart! The RT department has one that is clearly marked FOR RT USE ONLY. It has been missing for quite some time and I went searching for it today. After looking everywhere, I discovered it was being used by one of our new teachers for all of the crap she insists on carting around with her (this is in addition to her little backpack on wheels). I was low on patience by the time I found it and told her that it was my cart and that I needed it (five-year-old-ish I know). She responded by saying, "well, they gave it to me and I need it for all my things." Remember, I was already low on patience and asked her who "they" were. When she told me with that smug little look on her face I almost stomped my foot while I explained that "they" couldn't give her something that wasn't theirs to give and she better get her crap of my clearly labeled RT cart now or I was going to throw it at her. I refrained, opting to maintain my dignity and went to find a new cart.

Strip to the waist

A young man, we'll call him Jay, walked into the small private practice of Dr. Jones, the doctor who would be performing his physical exam for his college applications. Having been a healthy young man, Jay looked around the strange office not knowing what to expect. The nurse obtained the necessary information and showed him into Dr. Jones' office. It was quite large and a little old fashioned, serving as both office and exam room. Before leaving him alone the nurse kindly instructed Jay to "strip to the waist," and pointed in the direction of a small partition in the corner. Emerging from behind the partition he walked past the exam table and sat himself down in one of the formal wooden arm chairs situated in front of the doctor's desk. He waited patiently until the doctor appeared.

A bemused Dr. Jones looked at young Jay and asked, "What are you doing?"

Jay looked down realizing something must be amiss and replied, "The nurse told me to strip to the waist."

"Well son, she meant for you to take your shirt off, now put your pants back on."

Embarrassed and perplexed, Jay removed his shirt as he had been instructed and walked across the room to obtain his discarded clothes. Poor naked Jay, you can bet he never misunderstood what "strip to the waist" meant again!

(Disclaimer: Though the story is true, names have been changed to comply with federal HIPPA privacy laws.)

Cat de mult ne suferim din cauza omenilor!

So...I missed my flight. Regardless of what others believe about being "stuck" on vacation for 2 extra days, I gotta tell you, it is lousy! I left for the airport a little before 11am for my 1:55pm flight. I knew the bus takes an hour when there is traffic, I did not however, remember that in Romania you should always expect the unexpected. Now just one little hiccup, no big deal, but nobody can recover from 2 disasters. Marie walked me down to the bus and right as we got there they were closing all the streets in Piata Unirii. We asked the lady at the ticket booth when the bus would be coming and she explained that the streets were closed and she didn't know why, for how long, or if the bus would come at all. Nice...she pointed us to the next stop on a road that wasn't closed. We waited until the bus should have come again (seeing for ourselves that it was closed because of a marathon) and I decided to take the metro to the next main piata to catch the bus there. It came quickly enough but by this time it was noon...no big deal, if it takes an hour to get there I still have an hour to check in and go through security, Otopeni is not a big airport. As I squished on the bus (when I say squished, you have NO IDEA!) We seemed to be in an awful lot of slow traffic, I knew we were in trouble when I saw boys who had gotten off 3 stops before passing us on foot. Turns out there was a huge car show out by the airport, drawing even more traffic than usual, BAH! Is it too much to ask for there to be a little city planning, huh? By the time I ran into the airport, almost in tears and found the counter and asked to check in it was 1:35. I am fully aware of the across the board rule, no one goes after the 30 minute prior mark, so what did I do, I pulled out all my best romanian and through big fat tears I argued and begged to no avail. I was sent to the ticket counter where the lady told me I could go on the next flight for $200 extra and handed me an itinerary for TUESDAY! It is a really good thing I never learned how to be mean and curse in Romanian because I was limited in the abuse I could fling at this unhelpful woman. She refused to look for a sooner flight, insisting that the direct flight I was on from OTP to JFK did not depart every day and she could not change my route. Another girl about my age ran up at this point having missed the same flight and seemed to have a little more persuasive power. I let her interrupt knowing she might be able to help us both. Bottom line, after more tears from both of us, some yelling from all three parties it looks like the other girl and I will be on the same flight Tuesday afternoon. She is missing exams at her university in Chicago so I cannot complain too much. Though I will miss work I know that Michelle is kind and loves me and wouldn't fire me because of this. The girl offered to let me stay with her if I didn't have somewhere to stay. It made me remember that I love Romania and Romanians, mostly. Luckily I knew I could stay with Sora P. and I headed dejectedly back into the city. I fought for a seat on the bus and listened to my iPod the whole way back. I knew the sisters would be at the capela for conference so I trudged across town with all my luggage in the rain (I know, really, worse and worse). Conference was amazing and I think it even crossed my mind that I was glad I had missed my flight so I could listen to the wonderful talks. I will leave around 9am on Tuesday to catch my 1:55 flight, I'm not taking any chances!

Athens

We have been in Athens since Wednesday and it has been great. We seem to get lost all the time and tonight at dinner I was looking around and it clicked, I get it, I could get around Athens now if I needed to but we leave tomorrow. Pity! Really, Athens is a total maze despite the gigantic Acropolis as a landmark, it has never taken me so long to get my bearings.

think I mentioned in a previous blog that you are either a ruins person or you aren't. By that I mean that some people think ruins are cool, old and generally interesting to see. Those of us that are ruins people (some may find it cheesy) find ourselves walking in the footsteps of people who lived thousands of years ago. How could that not fascinate you? I find myself in awe at the magnificence of the columns and the detail in the sculpture. Maybe it is because I love history so much but I could spend hours sitting at a site just imagining what life looked like back then. When you think about it, America is so young. I have walked this week where Apostles of the Savior walked. I have been transported to a time when massive temples were built to honor Gods and where civilization was not so uncivilized as we often believe. I have loved every minute of it and must say again how lucky I feel!


I know you can look on google images and find pictures of all of these things, probably better pictures at that, but these are my pictures, proving I have been, seen and done amazing things. If
I could only get this excited about my everyday life...

Pictures

Here are a few pictures, we have taken over 400 so far. We have seen some incredible things...enjoy!

Marie in her headscarf in the Blue Mosque

The Aya Sofya in Istanbul

Me inside the Aya Sofya

Marie at the colorful bazaar in Istanbul

Marie and I at the Hamam, not the one we had our bath at, this one has been turned into a carpet shop

Marie loves to take the picture and then keep taking pictures long after your pose is done...Topkapi Palace, Istanbul

How about a cruise up the Bosphoros for a Sunday morning activity?

Our new friends in Selcuk, there was belly dancing, waterpipe smoking and I observed

Ephesus ruins, beautiful but the camera battery went dead before we were finished

Marie insisted I pose...this is St. John's Basilica in Selcuk, Turkey

Self portrait, those blue and green eyes seem to be drawing a lot of attention


Marie, St. John's Basilica

I think I got at least 50 of the sunset at St. John's

First night in Athens, Greece...Marie and me in front of a dark Acropolis

I love my brother and Asian Invasion!

First of all, I love my brother, well all of them actually but I am speaking today about Brandon who is on his mission in Samoa. I just read his letter, thankful for the modern convenience of internet that allows me to know how he is doing on his little island in the Pacific while I am in the near east seeing all that is amazing. He is so happy and such a great example to me. He rocks and I love him!

Second item of business and sorry there isn't much time and I don't have pictures but I wanted to update the interested about the interesting. We were in Istanbul for 4 days and I recommend it to anyone loves travel and culture. We are in Selcuk now, near the Ephesus ruins, and it is also beautiful and surprising. We spent the day at the beach yesterday (sustaining only minor sunburns) and went to Ephesus today. This is where the asian invasion comes in, wow, so many tourists and so many of them asian! I love ruins, there is so much "scope for the imagination" when you find yourself wandering around an ancient city that once housed 250,000 people. I believe I saw my first of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, the Temple of Artemis. Maybe it isn't on the list anymore, it was pretty cool and again, wow! We fly to Athens tomorrow for more ruins, beaches and general fun fun fun!