23 October 2017 - Week 29

Our daughter came to visit!!!   But, before we get to that, we have a couple of things that happened at the beginning of the week. We took a picture of the hay at the forest being cut.  We don't know if the ground is leased or if farmers own property in the forest, but it is fun to watch the things that happen there. 

Also, Brent came home from one of the walks that he takes around the city with this sad picture of the river that flows through the middle of Arad.  It is so sad that the trash you see alongside the water is not uncommon.  Such a beautiful country should be better cared for. 

Ok, now for Jennifer's visit.  We met her at the Timisoara airport on Thursday, evening.  She boarded a plane in Bozeman on Wednesday morning and headed to Seattle.  From Seattle, she went to Chicago and then flew through the night to London.  (She would have loved to spend some time in London, but it was not possible this trip.)  In London, she changed planes again and landed in Bucharest, Romania before finally ending up in Timisoara.  

On the way out of the airport, we discovered a "Jumbo" store nearby so we had to stop and let her experience that.  The store had lOTS of fun stuff, but it is laid out to keep you traveling through the store rather than heading out the door, so if you loose interest, you are stuck until you walk through the whole store.  She didn't like that. 

We arrived at our apartment in Arad and settled in for the night. Her suitcase was full with so many goodies it is hard to remember them all.  Chocolate licorice, rice krispie treats, sour patch kids, Oreos in two flavors, Brent's huge coyote hat, lemon pepper, onion soup, ranch dressing mix - it was like Christmas. 

 In the morning we drove to Deva and Hunedoara to see the Corvin Castle.  Here we are at the mall in Deva having a Kabob lunch from Spartan, a greek cuisine.  Brent  is eating KFC. The plate of food  and bread you can see in the bottom picture are mine.  The bread is served as part of the meal.  We loved the bread. 

Before you arrive at the castle a torture attraction is set up at the side of a building.  Jennifer talked Brent into putting his head through the hole.  Notice the sharp blade up above him. Scareeeeey!

Brent had been to the castle twice, before this visit with Jen, so he knows his way around.  We were happy to follow him through this historical place again.

On the way back to Arad we stopped at the store where we like to pick up our groceries.  Jen was impressed with the pay to get a grocery cart system there.  Many of the stores have this system which we think is their method of keeping track of their grocery carts. 

The next day we spent our time in Arad where we have been living for the past 7 months.  We went to the flower shop where we buy our Sunday flowers.  

Then we went to the branch building to see the transfer schedule that came out that day.  We drove to the forest where we take our walks and then went to a local restaurant where we had some delicious hamburgers and chocolate souffle. 

After our tummies were full, we went for a walk in the town center to explore the shops.  We went into a shop that sells Romanian clothing among other things.  The owner of the shop wanted us to look at a shirt that she had on a mannequin sitting up high on a shelf.  She reached up and as she pulled it down all the legs used to show fancy ladies stocking began to shower down on Brent.  Here he is with a couple of the legs he caught.  Look how upset he is about it?!?!?!

We also found a wonderful street market with lots of flowers and vegetables.  Then we walked to the huge Orthodox church in the middle of Arad. 

It was our lucky day, we found a horse and cart to take a photo of. 

We bought a little cup of gelato and spent a few minutes sitting in the little park by the church.  We went to the church where we held a branch "Get to Know you" activity.  

Sora Piper and Elder Custer doing a card trick

We had a good day and returned to the apartment to prepare for the Sabbath day. 

Sunday brought meetings in Arad branch and our usual trip to Timi about an hour away to attend their meetings too.  We visited the town square and huge Orthodox. We took the Sisters with us so Sora Castandea could speak in church.   

Arad Branch and our car.

Our car.

Timisoara branch building.

Timisoara Orthodox church

Timisoara city center

What a great weekend it was!  We loved having our daughter visit.  We felt lucky that her husband and boys were willing to get along a few days without her.  She took a day and a half to get here, three days with us and then 2 days to get home.  What a whirlwind, but we enjoyed it a lot.