Another new beginning.

We haven’t written for a while (sorry, Luke, and others who check this blog regularly!)  But we’ve been busy, adjusting to a lot of changes, the main one being that we’re no longer in Lupeni!  On Wednesday we boarded an early bus to Tîrgu Mureș, a larger city northeast of Lupeni where we will be living until April to do intensive language study.  We were sorry to leave Lupeni, where we were already beginning to feel some connections to the people and place (plus, the Carpathians are gorgeous!), but we were both eager to begin language study in earnest.  It’s a frustrating and lonely thing to not be able to communicate and get to know people, so we have been excited to start learning.

So here we are in yet another new city, trying to put down a few roots and really dive into our homework.  (It’s been a few months since we’ve had homework… hopefully we haven’t forgotten how to do it!)  We’re living in an apartment owned by a woman named Ottilia; she’s a lovely older woman who graciously rents a bedroom to us and offers to share her sarmale and whatever other delightful foods she has around.  She speaks very, very, very little English, which is good for our Romanian practice, but definitely results in some laughter and confusion as we try to communicate!  The Romanian-English dictionary is becoming a vital component of life here, that’s for sure.

For the most part, I think we are settling in well.  We just had our first language lesson yesterday, a moment Jack and I had been looking forward to since our arrival in Romania, and now we’re a bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount we don’t know.  But oh well.  This morning I stumbled across a verse in Psalms where God says, “Open your mouth, and I will fill it with good things,” and I was encouraged.  Hopefully He’ll fill our mouths with the ability to pronounce sounds that our tongues have never considered before…

Tîrgu Mureș is an interesting place to live.  It’s much bigger than Lupeni, and much more diverse.  The population is about 50% Hungarian and 50% Romanian, with a much more visible Roma (Gypsy) minority, so many of the signs on shops are in at least two languages.  All of Transylvania is sort-of “disputed territory” – it’s changed hands many times between Hungary and Romania through the course of history, and many Hungarians consider it their rightful land, despite its status as Romanian territory.  There’s not always much love lost between the two groups of people, and even in Tîrgu Mureș there has been a history of ethnic conflict and power-snatching: for instance, when the Romanians received the city back from Hungarian possession after one of the world wars (my memory fails me on the timing here), they immediately erected a giant statue of Avram Iancu, a Romanian folk hero who led an uprising against Hungarians, in the main square.   But at the same time, an early Hungarian mayor of Tîrgu Mureș is also highly esteemed, and much of the beautiful and well-preserved Hungarian architecture in the city is accredited to him, so a mix of the cultures does really exist here.  There hasn’t been ethnic violence in over twenty years, and it’s a sign of hope, I think, for a future of reconciliation and coexistence in the rest of Transylvania too.

So this is our new home for now – beautiful, interesting, and full of delicious food.  (We live dangerously close to two amazing bakeries and only a short bus ride away from shaorma shops galore!)  We don’t have internet where we live, but the Michmerhuizens do, and thanks to their gracious hospitality, we will do our best to stay in touch while we’re here.  

Much love to you all.