Sunday Fun-day

    Today was such a great day! In the morning Miriam and I (Chrissie) went to church with some of the staff in a nearby town called Codlea. It's a church that was planted by missionaries of the Presbyterian church and its very small and fairly international. We enjoyed our time there and it was fun meeting new Romanian people. One of the leaders of the church, named Mark, is from Iowa. He's married to a Romanian woman and he and his wife gave the sermon today (he preached in English and she translated) so it was a nice day for me to be there! There is also a Canadian family who attend the church since they are missionaries in the area but they are in Canada and the States right now for a few months. 

On the way to and from church I saw some more interesting sights. First, a horse that had wandered onto the highway and was standing right in the middle of a lane blocking a line of traffic...it was hilarious. Second, I saw a huge field full of solar panels and right next to that was a rather large flock of sheep and tending the flock was a shepherd - wooden staff and everything! It's funny to see two things so antithetical co-existing in such a natural way. 

Jerry couldn't come to church with us today because the Bike Camp participants and leaders were busy doing some of their own learning and team building exercises. He's planning to write a post about his biking adventures soon...hopefully tomorrow. Here's a sneak-peek of his biking pictures:

This afternoon Jerry went on a 3-hour bike ride with the Max Bike camp and I did a bit of laundry and relaxed while Miriam napped. This evening for supper we had a very traditional Romanian dish called Mamaliga. It's basically polenta, which you eat with a very strong-tasting crumbly cheese (very similar to feta but made with cows milk) and sour cream. Normally I'm not too hard to please when it comes to food, especially when travelling and experiencing new cultures, but let's just say it's not something I plan to eat again anytime soon. Even Jerry said the cheese was a little strong for him and he'll eat almost anything. However, we have really enjoyed the other traditional dishes like the stews and soups they serve here. Perhaps Mamaliga is an acquired taste!

After dinner a bunch of the Max Bike participants and staff had a friendly beach volleyball game (no beaches here...just a nice sand court). I joined them after Miriam went to bed and it was a blast! It was fun trying to communicate in Romanian and English and it was a really great way to get to know some of the Max Bike participants a little better. 

This is Deborah (the girl we mentioned in a previous post). She is a Max Bike participant this week:

Jerry is very serious about volleyball:

A view of the whole court (that's the roof of the main building in the far background, behind the shed):

Another view:

And it wouldn't be fair not to post a few pictures of Miriam, so here she is helping Dagmar with the gardening yesterday:

And trying on Jerry's headlamp:

That's all for now!