Crossing Cultures

This last Friday we had the privlage of deeply experiencing the Romanian culture in new ways. Since we had finished with the Impact building, we started our next painting project in one of the apartments that Impact owns for its staff. It was great to be able to see how well established Impact is as an organization. Of course, since the walls of the apartment had been painted several times before, we needed to scrape off the old paint. We spent the morning covered in dust and paint chips. Once we had rinsed off and brushed the dust out of our hair, we sat down for a traditional Romanian meal. Our hosts even prepared the meal using tradional methods. We all enjoyed having a more traditional style meal in comparison to what we have been eating so far in Straja. Some of us were also excited about the fact that this was the first vegetarian meal since we have arrived in Romania. We even enjoyed some homemade ice cream for dessert!

The team then began the task of baking traditional american chocolate chip cookies! In Romania, chocolate chips and brown sugar are non-existent, so we had to bring them over from the US. After having the new experience of baking without measuring cups, using a tiny oven, and not having a temperature gauge in the oven, we were able to make four dozen cookies!

To finish our day, we set out for the newly painted Impact building, where we were having a party to celebrate our different cultures. Our new Romanian friends presented some tradtional clothing, and taught us a few dances that have been passed down from generation to generation. In turn, our team shared our hertiages, and some brief history of the diverse nature of California. Nikki and Heather then demostrated a swing dance, and taught both our groups a line dance, or as we called it, "cowboy dance". After the festivities, we presented our chocolate chip cookies, and they shared with us a delicious apple cake.

It was amazing to see how diverse our two cultures are, and yet how much God is involved in each. We all feel blessed to have been able to share our culture and expereience the wonderful Romanian culture as well.