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Tamyra Crossley's
Romanian Report
October 2002
The weather is quickly changing and there is already snow on
the mountain peaks. We have had to dig out winter coats and outfit the
children with gloves, hats and scarves for school (a special thank you to Jane
Byers and all those who sent winter items for the children). Once again
this month has been a busy one. We moved into the new rental house (which
is larger and more private) and both the children and I love it. The front
play area is filled with apple and pear trees and we have been very busy canning
fruit and preserves for the coming winter months. With the move, we had
the anticipated adjustment with the children. While our older children
did much better this time, we are still dealing with some behavioral problems
with three of the younger children.
We have also had a change in our help. Elena is no longer
with us and we will miss her. It is quite a commute for her and
she wanted to be home more with her own daughter. We spent several
months praying and searching for someone to come and help minister to the children.
With school starting it was very important that we get someone that could not
only help around the house and run errands but also be able to help with the
homework assignments. We have been blessed with Onca. She is a member
of the Zarnest work that Bro. John Sanders started and we have known her for
several years now. She just completed high school and now lives with us
Monday through Friday and has really been a blessing. While I "try"
to be superwoman J, there is just more than one person can handle (laundry
alone is a full --- time job!). So much of our time is spent running errands
(dentist, doc. visits, school forms and meetings, etc). Things that
may take an hour or two in the states, can easily turn into an "all day" project
here and I found that I was having to spend more and more time away from home,
which defeats what I am trying to do. With Onca’s help I will be
able to spend more of my days with the children instead of on the road.
Getting the children registered in school turned out to be
quite the project. I was required to get a release from their old schools
before the new school would allow them to attend. Several weeks before
school was to start, I would travel to Brasov only to find that the school was
closed and no one was available to help me. Because the children attended
four different schools last year, I would spend the better part of a day going
to one then another trying to locate someone who knew something about when someone
would be there to get the necessary papers I needed. Finally, a week before
school was to start I was able to find someone at the schools, only to be told
I had to have a paper from the new school stating that they would accept the
children before the old school would give me a release. I went to the
new school three mornings in a row, only to find the grounds vacant. Finally,
I was told that I needed to go to the Principles house and the person offered
to go with me to talk with her personally. We talked and she told me that
I needed the release from the old school first. I began to plead and told
her that all the other schools said they would not give me a release until she
said she would accept them. She shrugged and explained that each area
does things differently. I asked if she would be willing to write on a
piece of paper that she would allow them to attend her school? She agreed and
went on to explain that she was almost done with her raking (hay) and would
meet me down at the high school because that is where the stamp is (you do nothing
without a stamp here). I went to the high school and waited (until her
hay was stacked) and again as she wrote out a separate letter for each of my
five children that would be attending her school. Thinking
my troubles were over I went to the old school and was met with a lot of resistance
(they receive funds for each child enrolled) and had to listen to each one explain
that I could have the children take a bus into Brasov each day and continue
to go to their school. I politely declined and explained that I
did not want them traveling alone every day on the bus. Finally,
after weeks of running, all five children are attending the local school here
in Bran. We have one in first grade, two in third grade and two in fourth
grade. Their hours are the same and they are able to walk together to
school each day. Brittania and Lassyn have both started with their home
schooling and we time their school schedule to fit with the other children.
Alex has also started college for computer programming.
I was reminded again this week that my way of thinking and
the Romanian way of thinking can be so very different. The woman that
brings us our milk, informed us that they had more cows than they could handle
and were going to butcher some this week. She wanted to know if I would
like to buy some of the meat. I agreed. Now in my minds eye, I pictured
roasts, hamburger, ribs, etc., all packaged separately (just like the grocery
store J). She delivered it yesterday and asked where I
wanted it. I opened the small freezer drawers and she looked at me, shook
her head and said "nu pot" (not possible), she then walked over to my kitchen
table and pulled what appeared to be a quarter of a small cow (leg still attached),
out of her bag and plopped it down on my kitchen table! Now I was the
one feeling a bit foolish J. I paid her and looked over my purchase with no
earthly idea what to do now. Butchering was not something I had
on my list of job skills. As I stood there staring, Onca smiling asked
what I wanted her to do. I grabbed a knife, handed one to her and asked,
you haven’t by any chance done this before, have you? No such luck, oh
well, here goes and we began hacking away. I have no idea what you would
call the cuts (other than just chunks of meat) but I at least managed to get
everything into my freezer drawers!
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