A Special Dinner

Irina(hostess) is of Romanian Orthodox religion. (I will not attempt in my limited understanding to tell you what I know of Orthodoxy. Hopefully I will be very knowledgeable by the time I come home for nearly everyone here is Orthodox and I will be exposed to much of their culture and teachings.) Irina's sister Kati came to town from the countryside (which is what they call the little villages) for a celebration of the one year anniversary of her sons death. A special meal was made and friends and family came over as well as a priest who said special prayers and gave blessings. I was invited to be a part in every way and found it such a lovely blessing to me.

After preparations are made and the table is set the priest comes to the head of the table. Each person holds a lit candle and there is an icon set on the table as well. He sings and prays and everyone makes the sign of the cross throughout. Honestly, I have such little understanding of the ceremony but found it so moving. Kati sobbed throughout. A year after his death, I thought it a beautiful way to allow her some grief for her son. She is an old woman - 71 I think and so very sweet. I cried along with her as the priest sang.

Then the priest holds up some of the cakes on the table, one being a cake made of grains which is not sweet, and the family holds onto the plate across the table as well. He then says blessings over the food in a manner like communion. The cake has candies on top in the shape of the cross. Apparently it is a very old type of cake used in these ceremonies. I was told that they took it from Byzantine times and continue in the same method. The priest pours some wine on the top and the ceremony is over.

We all were seated and began the long process of eating many courses of food. As I am feeling so much better now (thanks for all the prayers) I was able to enjoy much of the food (minus ham). Irina's grandson, Sergio, talked with me for sometime and seemed to be assigned as my babysitter/assistant. He is 15 and very considerate and patient with me. We had a long discussion about culture and Romanian and the US and Orthodoxy and Protestantism before dinner. I think heavy conversation for a first meeting. But, I was curious about so many things and it is hard to find people to answer my questions, especially willing Romanians. I was happy to find that Sergio thinks Romanian old woman are as bossy as I do. He told me tricks to deal with his grandmother, Irina. Nice to know the ins and outs of my little hostess.

The old women like to joke about me being skinny whenever I eat and complain that I don't eat enough. They make big shapes around themselves with their arms and tiny pinched gestures with their fingers in contrast and then laugh and say something about my momma when I go home and laugh and laugh. Not sure what they are getting at but that it has something to do with my mother finding me skinny when I return to the US. Not sure I will get used to being fussed over. By the way, no one needs to worry. I am not wasting away.

I had a lovely dinner with one of the American staff from the center last night. We talked about possibilities for how to spend some of my time here in Romania. I will accompany her to one of the orphanages here in the next few weeks; a rare occurrence since they are very very shy about allowing anyone foreign into their orphanages here in Romania. But, we have the excuse of visiting one of the boys who used to live on the streets. Another opportunity is to visit a national institute for poor mothers who just gave birth. I am really looking forward to seeing these places and gaining more understanding about the social issues. Please, keep praying for my time here. I want the Lord to give significance to each experience and conversation.

So ... I tried posting this over the weekend but I ran out of time at the internet cafe and didn't want to pay for more. Sorry about that.
Some people have been asking for pictures of the children to be posted. I can't take any pictures of kids from the center here until the last few weeks of my work to discourage distrust, etc. However, at some point I will get some pictures with children that we encounter everyday around the city, maybe.
Later - e.