Some days, kids are like pandas.

Lately, a lot of our work with kids has felt like this.

Except, there's more than 2 of them.  But they're still cute and cuddly.  So that's good at least.

Some Romans in Romania.

We recently went to a Roman Festival (it's like a Medieval Festival, but Roman...you get it) with some friends, and it was very cool (in the historical/craftman-ship sense of "cool"). 

Roman history is very contextualized here since Romanians claim that they are the descendants of intermarriages between the Romans and the Dacians, an Indo-European people living around the Danube and the Carpathians in the centuries BC. As the story goes, the Dacians were always a threat to the Roman province of Moesia (present day Serbia, Macedonia, and parts of southern Romania and Bulgaria), and in 85 AD, they actually raided several big cities and killed the governor. Emperor Domitian led a hastily-planned campaign against the Dacians in which  the Dacian general Decebal defeated the Roman legions initially, and eventually agreed to a peace treaty. 

Decebal became a client of Rome and was given a lot of money and weapons to defend the border, but was still fairly antagonistic towards Rome. This, plus the fact that most of the Dacian warriors had swords (Rome usually won because the folks they were fighting didn't have many swords) made the new emperor Trajan nervous, so he marched on Dacia in 101. Decebal asked again for peace, and then initiated a revolt, so Trajan sent troops back in 105. The Dacians put up a good fight and even repelled the first attack on their main city, Sarmizegetusa, but a treasonous nobleman helped the Romans to destroy the water pipes and the city eventually fell. Decebal escaped humiliation and killed himself before the Romans got to him, along with many other city inhabitants.

Trajan was really glad to have this border of the empire secure and to procure Dacia's rich gold mines (if you read about Rosia Montana, that's an old Roman/Dacian mine), so he declared 123 days of celebrations. He also erected what we now call Trajan's Column in Rome, telling the story of the Dacian wars. A lot of historical information about the Dacians comes from their depictions on the column, which you can visit today if you ever find yourself in Rome.

Dacia became a province of Rome for 170 years before it became too hard to defend and the Roman legions left. Most of the population stayed, however, and the mix of Roman and Dacian people became what we now call Romanian. While the Romanian language is mostly Latin based, it still has some words that people say are Dacian (for example "dor," the word that describes the state of missing someone or something). 

All that to say, no Roman festival in Transylvania would be complete without Dacians, and the festival actually ended with a fight between all the Roman legions and the Dacians. There were a lot of re-enactments, a lot of really skilled metal, wood and leather workers, and a lot of friendly animosity between the Romans and Dacians. 

The Dacians had curved swords which the Romans called "falx." The sharp side is on the inside of the curve, making the weapon like a cross between a sword, an axe and a hook. They were very effective at getting around Roman shields, or cutting right through them:

The Romans actually had to reinforce all of their helmets on the brow after the first fight with the Dacians because of how effective the falx was a breaking them.

We talked to a leather worker from Rome for a while and he showed us how to join, sew and put on leather sandals, socks and bracelets.

There were some military drills, first by the Romans showing off how cool their shields are:

Yes, the standard bearer is a true BEAR-er. He's wearing a bear skin on his head.

Then the Dacians presented themselves and did some archery practice.

Then, there was a gladiator re-enactment group from Italy who actually fought with armor and weapons modeled after historical records. These guys were actually fighting, so they used dulled blades, but they all came away with some bruises and cuts.

And then, the final battle. The Roman legions marched on Sarmizegetusa, and the Dacians bravely defended their homeland.

It had been raining gently throughout the whole battle, but when it was almost finished, it started pouring and dumping half-formed hail on us, so we beat a very dishonorable retreat to the car and drove back home. Next time we'll come with more wild warrior spirit and watch the fight to the end, come what may, but for now we're happy to just play dress-up.

Our friend Adi who told us about the festival.

Rest and retreat.

One of the most lovely things that Christian Reformed World Missions provides as support to its staff and partners is an annual retreat.  For those of us who serve in Europe, our retreat is regional, since there is usually only one family in each country.  This means that once a year we get to gather with all the other missionaries across Europe and Eurasia (as well as a few families from North Africa) in a beautiful place to be nourished -- prayed for, taught, encouraged, and loved.

This year the retreat was in Switzerland.  It was at a Christian Bible school and conference center in a little town called Beatenberg, perched high in the mountains above Interlaken, overlooking some of the most famous mountains in the Alps.  It was gorgeous.

The view from our room... amazing.

The retreat speakers focused on intimacy with God and soul care, which was a really welcome topic, as we have sometimes struggled with knowing how to feed ourselves in a church and cultural context so different from the one we grew up in.  As always, spending time laughing and story-telling and sharing with other people serving around Europe was so incredibly rich and fun and Good.  We are really grateful!

We took 3 extra days to explore bits of the lovely country of Switzerland (who knows if we'll ever get to come back again?!)  Here are just a few highlights.

At the Reformer's Wall in Geneva... it was rainy but we were still excited to see huge statues of Calvin, Luther, and Zwingli... haha. 

A cheese factory in Emmental!  These cheeses are HUGE. 

Beautiful Bern.  Look at that water!  Apparently people go swimming in the river year-round, and I can believe it... I wanted to plunge myself in to its turquoise loveliness too! 

Bern's beautiful city center.

Views on the train ride from Bern to Interlaken... 

 Rested and happy.

We are so, so grateful.

Spring cleaning isn't always what it seems.

Spring has come!  The valley is full of fruit trees, which are bedazzled in the white and pink of full bloom.  Every morning we look out our window to see the green creeping higher and higher up the slope, the last remains of snow on the peaks fading away.  And down in town, it's apparently time for spring cleaning: a flurry of sidewalk repaving, pothole filling, tree painting (weird, I know; apparently it's a European thing to paint the bottom of tree trunks white), pruning, planting, washing.

But this spring cleaning isn't all it seems.  We haven't seen Lupeni looking so spiffy since we moved here, so we were curious about the sudden effort.  Turns out, it's an election year.

(Insert ominous music here.)

Now, I am not usually a cynic or a pessimist.  In fact, my optimistic tendencies to find the silver lining in everything have driven many a friend, including my husband, crazy at times.  But even I am struggling here.  Yes, I am grateful that the sidewalk we walk down every day on the way to the office, once as rippled and cratered as the surface of the moon, is now covered in shiny black asphalt.  I am happy to see little kids finally able to ride their scooters and moms push their baby strollers down the hazard-free sidewalk, as they should, instead of down the street.  I am happy that the benches in the park are being repaired and repainted, that new playground equipment got installed, and that the shrieks and giggles of happy children are filling the warm, sunny air.

But really?  I would be much happier if the mayor had been doing his job all along, rather than saving up his good deeds for a showy attempt to buy good will in the months before an election.  (He's disqualified from running, by the way, since he's been under house arrest for the last year by the national anti-corruption bureau... but his son is running.  So it's not a big step forward.)

Plus, some of the "repairs" seem to actually be making things worse.  Our apartment used to look out onto two big, beautiful willow trees -- one in the park across the street, and one in the empty lot in front of the neighboring block.  But in the past few weeks, men have come with chainsaws to "prune" the trees -- though in this case, pruning means simply hacking off all the branches and leaving the trunk standing naked, like a giant bare stick stuck into the ground.  No one knows why the mayor has suddenly sent his people out to hack all of Lupeni's most beautiful city trees, but I've heard rumors he's selling the wood.  As if the rampant illegal logging in the mountains around our town wasn't enough.  Sigh.

As a foreigner who works for a non-political NGO, I don't feel like it's my place to do or say too much about the elections... which is hard for me!  So for now I am simply praying, oh Lord, have mercy.  Give the people of Lupeni wisdom in finding an alternative, a leader who will steward resources wisely and actually care for the city well.  Give them the power and courage to stand up to corruption and vote-buying and lazy, selfish leadership.  Give them hope for this city, a vision for its flourishing, and the wisdom and passion to bring that vision to life.

A visit from the board.

Last week, Jack and I hosted two members of the Christian Reformed World Missions Board of Trustees.  The Board apparently sends its members out periodically to visit different fields so that they can better know the places where CRWM missionaries are serving and therefore make wise and informed decisions.  I think that's great and we were excited to have them come see Romania.

But we were also really curious how the visit was going to go.  Steve and Jan, the other CRWM missionaries who live in Romania (who are actually employed by CRWM, while we are merely partners), are currently on home service in the United States.  So we were asked to show the board members around the country, introduce them to Steve & Jan's partners in Târgu Mureș (some of whom we knew, and others we hadn't yet met), and also bring them to Lupeni to see the work we're involved in with New Horizons Foundation.

It went really well.  One of the board members was actually on the Residence Life staff in our dorm when Jack and I were at Calvin, so we already knew him and were happy to spend a week reconnecting.  The other board member was new to us, but we quickly grew to like him too.  Over the course of our time together we were able to introduce them some of our favorite places and people here, and they were encouraging and prayerful and delightful guests.  It was fun for me and Jack to get to know some of Steve and Jan's partners up in Târgu Mureș, and we know it was encouraging for our local partners here in the valley to be visited by caring outsiders who took the time to listen and learn.

Here are just a few pictures from our time together.

A visit to the cantina at Betel. 

A stop at the lovely Peles Castle in Sinaia. 

Checking out the construction of new walls at the Fara Limite Climbing Gym. 

Listening to a partner in Targu Mures describe visions for a work training program for street kids, 

focused on construction and agriculture.

A trip up to snowy Straja to see where VIATA camp is held each summer.

A rest stop in Horezu, where we saw some of Romania's beautiful pottery. 

The board members even joined us for games at IMPACT!

A walk around Bucharest their last morning, where we wandered by the People's Palace. 

Smoke-free.

A happy announcement (from my perspective, at least): as of yesterday, Romania is smoke-free in public places!!!

Though Romania has been part of the European Union since 2008, it lags behind in a number of ways -- for example, we still use the Romanian leu instead of the euro.  Also, until March 15, Romanian restaurants, bars, train stations, you name it, were hazy and gray.  But yesterday the law changed, and people now have to step outside to light up.

As a non-smoker and a person with allergies, I am personally thrilled.  I know for some people, this is a frustrating change.  But in the interest of public health, I am really grateful that Romania has put this into law.  And yesterday evening, as we went out for dinner with some visiting guests, I was pleasantly surprised, as person after person in the restaurant quietly got up, slipped on their jacket, and stepped outside for a short smoke.  The air was clearer than I had ever seen it inside that restaurant.  I had expected more complaining or resistance, I guess -- but nope.  The change was made, and that was that.  Hooray!

Marțișor.

By now I am a few days late, but I just wanted to wish you a happy spring!

The Romanian holiday of Marțișor might be my favorite day of the year.  On March 1st, the streets are full of vendors selling the earliest of spring flowers -- snowdrops mostly, and a few early tulips too -- and little red & white bracelets with baubles attached.  Men buy them for their wives and girlfriends, parents buy them for their children, students buy them for their friends -- and by the end of the day, every vase is brimming with flowers and every lapel decorated with a little splash of color, a little drop of hope that spring is coming, that the winter is almost over.