Hello Timisoara!!!!

We arrived in Timisoara at around 7pm local time on Friday the 18^th March. I'd love to say we were bursting with excitement or even crippled with fear because either of these extremes would have been easier to describe or explain than the general fuzziness and confusion we were actually experiencing. Arriving at the flat created similarly mixed emotions. The sight of five friendly welcoming faces was a genuine pleasure but the dirt and the dogs surrounding the place made me more than a little anxious.







As it happens we are very blessed to be living in a lovely new flat in a new block on the outskirts of town. Nonetheless the general state of disrepair in Romania can be a bit of a shock at first, especially when you are arriving at dusk on a cold, wet day and you've just spent a week in Switzerland (quite possibly the worlds most beautiful country and almost definitely the cleanest and tidiest).

Five days later and I am discovering that 'hello' is just as complicated an experience as 'goodbye'. It to, is full of contradictions. Excitement and hope at the prospect of new and positive experiences; fear, nervousness and insecurity about how we will fit in and cope with the new place or among new people. Since we arrived in Romania Lindon and I have experienced a roller-coaster of feelings and emotions; panic, excitement, fear, joy, regret, hope.

Luckily for us, the sun decided to make an appearance yesterday and as everyone knows, it's much easier to be positive in the sunshine. Regardless of the weather we are also blessed to have a great team of people around us who are helping and encouraging us and generally being friendly. Interestingly the other things that seem to be the most effective in helping us adjust to the 'new' in our lives is in fact the 'old'- the familiar. There is a mall near our home with shiny floors and food and clothes to buy, just like in England. The other night we even went to the cinema and ate popcorn and watched an American blockbuster- I particularly enjoyed the fact that while everyone else was having to read the Romanian subtitles, I could sit back, close my eyes if I so desired, and listen to the dialogue in my native tongue lol.

We have created for ourselves a little haven of familiarity in our flat with objects and pictures from home and these things are all helping our adjustment to the drastic changes we have experienced. We miss our families, we miss our friends, we miss our pets, we miss our view of the hills, we miss understanding more than 6 words of a conversation. We are adjusting to seeing dirt and poverty all around us, we are adjusting to stray dogs running all over the streets, we are adjusting to not being able to drink the tap water, and having to drive on the wrong side of the road. We are also adjusting to new people, a new culture and a new language. Saying hello to a new way of life, or a new job, or a new circumstance is not always easy. It often requires adjustments to our expectations, adjustments to our routine, adjustments to our character but if we can find the strength to be flexible there is potentially a whole world of new experiences out there for us to enjoy. We believe God has a plan for us to be here in Timisoara for a while, we don't know exactly what he has in store for us here but in focusing on his purposes we are finding the strength to be flexible.