Katie, Naomi (a friend and fellow volunteer we met in Romania), and I spent the past three days walking around beautiful Budapest. This city has an interesting history and one can see the influences of the past Turkish, Nazi, and Communist governments.
Visiting this city was spectacular. The architecture was amazing especially considering the city was in ruins after every major great war. We experienced a special treat one night when we took a cruise along the Danube River and saw all the major buildings, Parliament, Old Palace, Chain Bridge, St. Stephens Basilica, and Central Market, beautifully lit up. My experience with flood management could have been called into use by the local authorities, as the Danube River began to flood shortly after we arrived. At one point we were beginning to wonder if the river cruise was a safe option.
One remnant from the Turkish days was the old Turkish style baths. Once we decided to treat ourselves to a day of relaxation, it was a matter of deciding which one. Two jumped out as being especially nice, the baths at the Gellert Hotel and the City Park baths. We decided on the City Park baths partly because they were cheaper and held the honor of being the largest in Europe. This huge complex had between 5-10 pools that varied in size and temperature. In one of the pools there was a circular partition that had a current to sweep swimmers around the circle. In total the three of us must have spent at least an hour on this water merry-go-round. The fountains that surrounded the pools made it feel like we were swimming in the ancient baths of Babylon.
We had such a wonderful time in the city, Katie is considering making it her permanent home and changing her citizenship. I think she liked the delicious food and fashion of the city.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Travel (mis)Adventures
We made it out of Tecuci, despite the fact that the train station was under water and it was questionable if trains would be running to the area at all. We ended up having to take a taxi to a nearby town called Focasani. Luckily the night before we were planning to leave we met Daniel, a conservative driving, English speaking, limited smoking, taxi driver who was willing to deprive himself of sleep and return with his taxi in a few short hours to take us to Focasani. However, on the way Daniel passed a slow moving van and was immediately pulled over by a police officer. What we didn't know at the time was that if Daniel had gotten a ticket he would have lost his license, and thus his job for three months. He was able to talk his way out of the ticket and deliver us to the train station with time to spare. We were pleasantly surprised to see the next train to Bucharest was sooner than we expected and was one of the "nice" trains. We went to wait on the platform #2 as our tickets indicated. Moments later a train labeled "Bucharest" pulled up to platform #3. We grabbed our backpacks and began sprinting down the stairs, through the basement tunnels, back up the stairs (much more slowly), and hurled ourselves onto the train just as it pulled away. Unlike Italy Kenny actually made it onto this train.
Our second impression of Bucharest was better than our first. We think the daylight and six weeks of acclimatization probably helped. We were able to see the People's Palace, the second largest building in the world after the Pentagon. On our way there we encountered a public rally to protest a new law dealing with football. We were just glad to see that it wasn't a protest against our dear government.
We spent the rest of the day wondering around and enjoying the sights but are really looking forward to seeing Budapest. I think it will be a nice change from Romania. We have heard that it is one of the more spectacular cities in Eastern Europe and that it is very travel friendly.
Our second impression of Bucharest was better than our first. We think the daylight and six weeks of acclimatization probably helped. We were able to see the People's Palace, the second largest building in the world after the Pentagon. On our way there we encountered a public rally to protest a new law dealing with football. We were just glad to see that it wasn't a protest against our dear government.
We spent the rest of the day wondering around and enjoying the sights but are really looking forward to seeing Budapest. I think it will be a nice change from Romania. We have heard that it is one of the more spectacular cities in Eastern Europe and that it is very travel friendly.
Friday, September 7, 2007
The Great Flood!
When Katie and I signed up to volunteer at the Tanner Christian Mission we did not realize that we would be actually experiencing popular stories from the Bible. The last week has definitely been the most exciting and memorable.
The weather started to get weird Wednesday afternoon around lunch time. Wednesday was the day that all the volunteers meet at Casa Hannah for Katie's goodbye lunch. This meant I had to walk 10 minutes through what was affectionately labeled "raining buckets" and "hail stones the size of marbles," by another volunteer. At one point we had to stop and take cover because the hail and rivers on the streets we so strong we were worried about our safety. The cars and trucks driving by that showered us with a tidal wave of mud and water. All we could do was laugh and keep trudging on.
After a quick change into dry clothes we all sat down at Casa Hannah for a masa (lunch) favorite, pizza. Just as we got started the phone rang. One of the other houses, Casa Elizabetha, was taking on water. There had been so much rain that the ground was saturated and water was pouring into the basement. At that point it was ankle deep. As we arrived in one of the volunteer`s rental car we noticed that one of the house moms parked on a hill far from the house (foreshadowing). Not thinking two much of this, the three of us drove up to the house and began bailing water. We were making some head way when one of the girls started screaming, "too much water, too much water, no good." We thought she was just getting frustrated because all the stuff in the basement was getting wet. Then we realized that she was pointing out to the front yard. I should mention that Casa Elizabetha sits in a valley. The small stream that normally lies about 200 yard away from the house was now a huge wave heading toward the house. This wave about two feet deep and 200 yards wide quickly increased in volume to four feet deep. Realizing why the house mother`s car was parked down the road, we ran to see the rental car actually floating away. We were only able to save it by chaining it to a concrete pillar. Which took four of us to hold in in place in the four foot rushing flood river. By this time the water level had reached the stairs of the house. Our losing battle of bailing the water out of the basement was abandoned and the decision was made to evacuate the five girls still in the house. On our way out we noticed hey piles and huts floating down the river. Our evacuation route was through a corn field with knee deep mud. As you can image it was a very scary time for the girls.
When all we returned to the house the next morning for clean up, we found one foot thick mud everywhere and four feet of water in the basement. The rental car was actually sitting on top of the neighbor`s dog house. He made a point to stop and blame us for stealing his dog house. When we left Nicoresti two days later the car was still on the dog house, mud covered most of the property, and the girls were still cleaning all the carpets and the lower floors of the house.
The flood made national news and five people died while there are still others missing. The town of Nicoresti and Tecuci will be affected by this for months.
The weather started to get weird Wednesday afternoon around lunch time. Wednesday was the day that all the volunteers meet at Casa Hannah for Katie's goodbye lunch. This meant I had to walk 10 minutes through what was affectionately labeled "raining buckets" and "hail stones the size of marbles," by another volunteer. At one point we had to stop and take cover because the hail and rivers on the streets we so strong we were worried about our safety. The cars and trucks driving by that showered us with a tidal wave of mud and water. All we could do was laugh and keep trudging on.
After a quick change into dry clothes we all sat down at Casa Hannah for a masa (lunch) favorite, pizza. Just as we got started the phone rang. One of the other houses, Casa Elizabetha, was taking on water. There had been so much rain that the ground was saturated and water was pouring into the basement. At that point it was ankle deep. As we arrived in one of the volunteer`s rental car we noticed that one of the house moms parked on a hill far from the house (foreshadowing). Not thinking two much of this, the three of us drove up to the house and began bailing water. We were making some head way when one of the girls started screaming, "too much water, too much water, no good." We thought she was just getting frustrated because all the stuff in the basement was getting wet. Then we realized that she was pointing out to the front yard. I should mention that Casa Elizabetha sits in a valley. The small stream that normally lies about 200 yard away from the house was now a huge wave heading toward the house. This wave about two feet deep and 200 yards wide quickly increased in volume to four feet deep. Realizing why the house mother`s car was parked down the road, we ran to see the rental car actually floating away. We were only able to save it by chaining it to a concrete pillar. Which took four of us to hold in in place in the four foot rushing flood river. By this time the water level had reached the stairs of the house. Our losing battle of bailing the water out of the basement was abandoned and the decision was made to evacuate the five girls still in the house. On our way out we noticed hey piles and huts floating down the river. Our evacuation route was through a corn field with knee deep mud. As you can image it was a very scary time for the girls.
When all we returned to the house the next morning for clean up, we found one foot thick mud everywhere and four feet of water in the basement. The rental car was actually sitting on top of the neighbor`s dog house. He made a point to stop and blame us for stealing his dog house. When we left Nicoresti two days later the car was still on the dog house, mud covered most of the property, and the girls were still cleaning all the carpets and the lower floors of the house.
The flood made national news and five people died while there are still others missing. The town of Nicoresti and Tecuci will be affected by this for months.
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