Selgros anyone?

This evening my family went to a store like Sam's, which has just opened in Iasi. It's a German company called Selgros (no, it does not mean Sell gross). We stood outside in line for a long time until we found out that the card we need can only be received through a business or foundation. In other words, a ordinary person cannot just get a card and go inside. We were quite disappointed because it would have been the largest and cheapest supermarket in town for shopping. The other one is several miles outside town and we are carless. At least with Selgros we are able to ride the bus there and come home by taxi. We should be able to get a card through our association. We are expecting two more super stores to open very soon, so we are excited about that. These two will not require cards for entry.

I don't have my glasses

This morning I was at the bank waiting for someone when a Romanian man approached me and asked if I would fill out a form for him. He said he couldn't see the form without his glasses. I said sure, but at the same time hoping that the person I was waiting for would appear. I almost told him to ask someone else since I was a foreigner, but I decided to do what I could. I managed to fill it out as he gave me the information he needed. I told him at the end that I hoped that I filled it out correctly because I am foreigner and told him where I was from. He said that he noticed. My accent and my the questions I asked while filling out the form gave me away. Once again he explained that he did not have his glasses. Knowing that he was probably apologizing for bothering me, I told him "Cu placere am facut asta" ("With pleasure I did this"). He shook my hand and went on his way. It's the little things like this that makes it a joy to be a child of God and his missionary on earth.

On the lighter side

Here is a joke that Romanians have been circulating lately. They are laughing at themselves.

"A robot has been invented that catches criminals. The Chinese robot caught 100 criminals in one hour. The American robot caught 200 criminals in one hour. The Romanian robot was stolen."

Ethan and school

Today, Thursday, March 8, is international women's day. Romania celebrates this day in many ways. At school Ethan and Nathaniel will put on a program at their school to honor their mothers. Unfortunately, Stephanie will have to miss one of them because their schools are presenting them at the same time. The boys will recite a brief poem. However, this is not what this blog is about.

Yesterday, Ethan came home and gave Stephanie the invitation he had made for her. Stephanie took it, looked at it and commented on how pretty it looked. That's when Ethan broke into tears. He told us that his teacher had stood by to look at what he was coloring and said, "Ce urat colorezi." If there were moments in which I would not have wanted Ethan to understand Romanian, this would have been one of them. He told me that he just sat there in silence the rest of the time. What had she said to him that made him feel so bad? "How ugly you are coloring".

We were shocked that a teacher dedicated to the eduation of our children would say such a thing! We were quite upset with the teacher. I told Ethan that what she says is not important. He had made it for his mother and that is what counts. She liked because it came from him, not from the teacher. At first I decided that I would have a talk with the teacher about it.

This morning, however, Stephanie and I did more discussed the matter more fully and decided that talking to the teacher would probably not be the best way to handle it. Ninety-nine percent of the time she is very good to him and helps him as much as possible. Ethan brings home a comment notepad each day to show his progress and grades in class. Stephanie plans to write a comment to the teacher, thanking her for helping Ethan and telling her how pretty his invitation was. Ethan likes his teacher very much, and we do not want jeopardize this relationship.

We have several reasons why we decided not to talk with her. The first reason is cultural and the second is parental. One time, one of the boys was coloring a picture and Mihail, one of the brothers here, told him "no, that looks ugly". We did not translate that and just let it go. It seems that Romanians have a different perspective on this that we may not understand. It seems also that Romanians in general expect a lot more artistically or academically from their children than we do, whereas many parents in American culture would expect alot out of children in athletics. By observation, we've noticed that children here are sometimes not allowed to be just that--children. But, I could say the same thing at an American ballgame.

Also, it seems that schooling styles differ here in that the styles we've seen seem to be the same as the American style, say, fifty years ago. For example, when children ask a question or want to comment, they must raise the hand, stand next to their desk and ask the question or answer a question in a complete sentence. We wondered if the teacher's comment to Ethan was a common practice to what our parents or grandparents may have experienced in school long ago (no, I don't mean to make you feel old! :) ). We understand that teachers want to challenge their students, but did teachers then challenge them in a negative way such as the Romanian teacher? Perhaps some of you who are reading would like to comment on your experience and make comparison.

The second reason we declined to comment is because of the "self-esteem" movement within the past 20 years that sends parents into a frenzy for any comment or deed made by a teacher. We did not want to overeact as some parents in the states do when their children are corrected firmly by a teacher. Much of the self-esteem doctrine is not healthy for children who are not challenged to do their best. We also want Ethan to learn how to take criticism and how to endure, rather than having Mom and Dad hover over him at every turn. We want our children to have a good self-imag, knowing that God loves them and gives them the confidence to work hard and build that esteem through the things they accomplish by the Lord's help.



The difficulty is knowing when to intervene on our children's behalf and when to let them "ride it out". Sometimes those lines can be quite blurred in special situations where we must try to must understand where the others are coming from.

Please feel free to leave your comments and even suggestions.

Thanks,
Eric

Seminar in Oradea

On February 24, Costel, Florin and Mihail went to Oradea, Romania, which is located on the western side of the country for a three-day seminar on evangelism and unity in the church by Phil Jackson. The seminar was very encouraging for us all. We focused not on methods and techniques of evangelism, but on the theology of evangelism. Theology means the study of God. Doing a theology of evangelism focuses on God's role in evangelism. Once we understand this, the matters will fall into place. We learned how evangelism and missions is, in fact, really not our responsibility, per se. Missons evangelsim is God's task and He will bless his mission and His people with or without us. We learned that when we begin thinking about missions from God's perspective, we will focus less on numbers and more on strengthening the relationships we do have. Missions evangelism is God's program, not ours. Evangelism flows from the nature and purpose of God. He is a sending God. This is very encouraging and motivating for those churches who think size creates worth. It was encouraging for some of the Romanian Christians who have been focusing more on our human endeavors than on the opporunities that God has and will place before them in their relationships with others.

It was God who went seeking Adam and Eve. It was God who heard the cries of His people and sent Moses. It is God who sent Jonah. It is God who sent His Son. It is in His nature to seek lost people. Once we truly understand that evangelism is God's activity and that He wants us as His partners in the endeavor, only then will we have true motivation and encouragement to persevere.

Move

On February 17 my family and I moved into a new apartment. If you recall, we had to move out of our old apartment in October 2005 due to plumbing problems. We stored all of our things in different locations. When we returned in June of last year, we stayed at the Schroeder's apartment for six weeks and than moved to the Hollands' apartment until the move. We stored all our things on three floors of their block and some of our furniture in another area of the city where we have a small dormitory-sized room for storage of our material. The space we are renting is an apartment in a villa. The space is more than twice of what we moved from. It has five rooms (a living room, two bedrooms, an office and a play/study rooms for the kids). We will use part of the space for our activities and worship once we get everything in order. It is nice to once again be in our own place. The apartment and the area is quieter and less stressful. We also think that we have found owners that will treat us fairly, as compared to the previous two. The owners live above us and will be available when we need them. The wife is a high school math teacher. The husband works for the Romanian government department for the preservation of historical sites and traditions. He travels from place to place as a photographer. We are not sure to what extent this involves Orthodox tradition, but it probably plays a major role. Their daughter is a professor of economics at the local university.