The adventures of a girl...

DUTCH WALTZ!

2011-03-01T20:43:00.002-10:00

Today was a great day. No work, just fun. Shopping, ice skating, hanging out, watching TV, chatting, and eating.
Today I had my ice skating lesson where I got to do the Dutch Waltz ice dance... you can look it upon You Tube and get an idea of what it looks like. Of course my didn't look at all as graceful. Luckily I didn't trip my coach or we could have both go down. It's so much better when I practice on my own, and my lessons go so much more smoother. I still got a few days free this week so I can practice.

On another note. My best friend from high school found me on facebook. Love internet right now. I've been looking for her for the past almost 12 years and I guess she's been looking for me too. We chatted on facebook today and it was so nice to catch up with her and learn about her life in the past 12 years. She would tell me things I did or said and I of course didn't believe I said or did those things, but this shows me how much we can change after high school. Looking forward to talk to her more and learn more about her family.

I need to finalize my vacation to New Zealand soon before tickets get outrageously expensive. Hopefully I can go in April. I'll find out soon.

Most advanced student of the week!

2011-02-22T19:00:00.003-10:00

I felt just like a kid today. Over the past couple of months I've been taking ice skating lessons from a private coach. I've been trying hard to do what he's been telling me and practicing when I have time but I've been down about my slow progress on the ice. No, I'm not doing any jumps or spins but learning the basics and how to properly skate. But today I was able to do something I never thought I could and with my fear (of an adult) he said it might take me a while. Well today I tried it without him having to hold my hand and I DID it. I was proud of my self but my coach was smiling from ear to ear and was hugging me like a little kid. I've never seen him so proud and happy. Really made me feel like a kid and so good inside. He told me I was the most advance student of the week... but it's only Tuesday night...
Ice skating is hard work but I'm not going to give up and I'll keep trying.
On another note: is there something wrong with me or do I just always scare guys away...

Work, Work, Work...

2011-02-21T17:40:00.003-10:00

That's all I seem to be doing lately. Last week was my week off but they called me to work a couple of days and I agreed to a few hours on Thurs and Friday. Now it's my week to work 10 hours per day which of course turn into 11 hours per day and it will not end till Sunday. It's nice to have a week off but by the time you recover from the work week it's time to start work again.
Today I have such a headache from work, stinky therapy pool at work, and thinking about an important matter. Sometimes I wish I could just run away and not have to work or think about anything. But where do I run? New Zealand? - I wish (of course now the earthquake happens and it makes me a little scared, but how cares, I get to see N and M and the beautiful country.
Maui? - still have to work since it's so expensive, Europe? - find myself a rich, old dude who can support my travels and shopping and don't have to work again. Ha ha that would never happen.
Well enough of my boring thoughts... oh and I have many thoughts no one wants to hear...
Praying for those in New Zealand...

SNOW!!!

2011-02-16T07:00:00.002-10:00

Woke up to a beautiful snowy day. The flakes are are like tiny coasters coming down from the sky.
It's like a white wonderland...

Morning Glory Muffins

2011-02-15T17:55:00.002-10:00

Dry ingredients
1 cup millet flour
3/4 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour or starch
1 cup brown sugar
3 T ground cinnamon
1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 t xanthan gum (can be left out)

Wet ingredients
3 large eggs
3/4 cups unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 t vanilla extract
2 cups grated carrots
1 medium apple (Granny Smith)
1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup sweetened, flaked coconut
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F after you place muffins in turn it to 350 degrees F. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (except brown sugar, that could be added after the wet ingredients)
3. In a medium bowl, mix together the eggs (for 1 min), oil, and vanilla. (use medium-high speed with a handheld mixer or medium speed with a stand mixer). Add the dry ingredients and continue to blend for 1 minute. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the carrots, apple, pineapple, coconut, raisins, and walnuts.
4. Spoon batter into prepared muffins cups so they are two-thirds full.
5. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
6. Cool muffins in the pan for 5 min. Remove muffins from pans and cool completely on a wire rack. Store in a airtight container.
Makes 2 dozen muffins

FASTING & JUICING RECIPES

2011-02-14T13:41:00.000-10:00

Master Cleanse Lemonade

2 Tbsp Lemon juice from organic lemons
2 Tbsp Maple syrup grade B (I use 1 Tbsp agave nectar instead is lower in sugar)
1/10 tsp cayenne pepper (uses a very small pinch and work up from there)
You can multiply 4 or 5 times and sip throughout the day

Vita Life Juice
1/2 beet
3 carrots
3 celery stalks
Thumbnail size organic red skin potato
Thumbnail size radish
½ thumbnail size ginger
2-3 leaves of Greens (beets and stems, parsley, kale, or spinach)
Opt. cilantro, basil, dill, peppermint
You can multiply 4 or 5 times, as is one serving

Green Veggie Juice
3-4 leaves Greens: kale, spinach, collard, Swiss chard
½ cucumber
2-3 stalks celery
1-2 green apples
½ clove garlic
Opt. cabbage, green pepper, cilantro, basil, peppermint, or anything else green
Is one serving size?

Live Creamy Carrot Soup

4 large organic carrots ½ sweet onion
2 large garlic cloves 2 stalks celery
1 cup spinach 1 tsp Celtic sea salt
1 Tbsp cumin 1 avocado
3 cups distilled or reverse osmosis H20
Blend all ingredients in Vita mix or may cut in very small pieces to blend in another blender.

Note: taken from Hallelujah Diet Recipes

Apple and Fennel Salad

2011-02-14T13:36:00.001-10:00

2 heads fennel thinly sliced (include a few tops)
4 golden delicious apples thinly sliced
1 head celery thinly sliced
½ cup basil chopped
2-3 fennel fronds chopped

Dressing: Mayonnaise
1 cup young coconut meat or pine nuts
¼ cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 medjool dates or 1 tablespoon agave nectar
1 teaspoon turmeric

Slice fennel, apples, and celery thing with a mandolin, v slicer, or food processor slicing blade. Chop the basil and feathery fennel fronds.
Place young coconut meat, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, turmeric and dates in a blender and blend until smooth.
Toss dressing with fennel, apples, celery, basil, and fennel fronds mixing well.

Shelf life: Best eaten fresh but keeps well refrigerated for 1-2 days (after this the apples may turn brown). Note: taken from Hallelujah Diet Recipes

Time to update my blog

2011-02-09T09:17:00.002-10:00

Wow I can't believe it has actually been almost two years since I've updated anything about my life. Let's see... Well I mostly work so that's nothing to update about... I have been to Romania in 2009 which you can read about on the Romania blog. It was an amazing trip traveling with some amazing women. We worked with boys and girls with disorders from special placement centers around Romania. God did amazing things at camp. We enjoyed working together with the Romanian team and enjoying God's beautiful creation.
I also went to Maui with my brother and friend and loved to get to show them around and enjoy the beautiful Maui from the beach to the top of Haleakala.
Christmas was amazing with my cousins visiting from Romania. We got to go to the Portland Zoo Lights, Multhnoma Falls, Solid Rock Christmas Eve service, downtown Portland, and lots of shopping.
End of January I went to Palm Springs, Florida to visit my aunt and cousins. Had a relaxing time just hanging out in the sun by the pool, playing with my little cousins, walking to the beach and seeing the turtles. I also go to spend one night and one day at Disney World where I could be a kid. We had great weather and enjoyed riding all the rides and seeing all the creative things at Disney.
Now I'm back to working lots of hours, 10 hour days for a week and one week off. Not to bad for now. Hopefully I get more time off and I can go to New Zealand.
Hope to update with more exciting news.

Romania

2009-07-30T19:12:00.004-10:00

It was great going back again this year, but this year felt different then other years. It's hard to explain but it almost felt too familiar. I want to do something different then just walk around and visit family. Although I love my family, next year I want to do some hiking and camping and visit more of other cities too.
Here is a link to our Camp blog for this year so you can read some stories and see some pictures.
http://romaniamission2009.blogspot.com/
Camp was great. The kids were better then expected. I loved getting to work with the girls again this year. The boys were pretty good compared to the last couple of years. We had about 40 girls and 33 boys. We had good weather, not too hot not too cold and not that rainy. Thank God, because the weeks after the camp almost flooded and later it was too hot at least in the cities.
After two weeks at camp I went to my cousin's wedding in Sibiu. I went right from camp so I had to dress all nice and ride in a van with stinky boys and was dropped off at the wedding. Before I go on to tell you about the wedding I want to tell you about my stressful-luggage-almost-no-Cluj-free-ride incident. So I left my luggage at camp thinking D. will be coming to town before the wedding is over and I can get my luggage and ride with one of my relatives back to Cluj since I was going there anyways to visit family. Well the wedding went on for a few hours and the reception another many hours and when it was about 7pm (Cluj is about 3 hours away) some of my relatives were ready to go back and I planned to go with them. I called D. to see if she got back to town, no answer. I called F. to see if he had taken the new american team to camp yet, since I new she would leave soon after they arrived, but he was not at camp yet.
My other relatives wanted to leave by 8pm so they wouldn't arrive home too late, but still no answer from D. or F. now since he was at camp and there is no reception there.
I was stressing out. The wedding was going on till about 10pm. I didn't really plan to stay over night so I wasn't sure how I would get to the Home of Hope since I knew I could stay there any time. Home of Hope is a transition home for girls part of Heart of Hope Ministries.
I was real tired, getting bored because the bride and groom were busy, my aunt and uncle were busy and didn't really know anyone else. My relatives who wanted to leave at 8pm were for some reason still around at 9pm so I called D. again and she was 20 minutes away. I got my cousin to stay a little longer and wait for my luggage and we left Sibiu around 9:30pm. We did great timing and I got to Cluj later that night.
The wedding was beautiful and long. But not as long as most romanian weddings. They sure play weird games at the weddings. They stole the bride and her shoe. It was hard to hear when they explained things on the mike and I was pretty clueless. My cousin was a beautiful bride.

After this wedding I went to Cluj where I visited family and showed my brother the city. That next weekend we were going to another wedding, my uncle. We woke up at 4am to get ready, go pick up the bride (80 km away about 1 hour and 45 minutes) with the worse driver ever, at least at that time. We got there and it was soooo cold. I was there to take pictures, and it was my uncle. My brother was bored out of his mind. He said he would never go to a wedding again, especially Romanian. After the court house marriage we were off back to Cluj (another hour and 45 mintues in a small Dacia) and to the church. The wedding was during the Sunday service.
Took some pictures after and then off to the restaurant. Soooo long and boring. Got some good pictures but since we were related we had to stay till the end.

The rest of the week I sent with my brother and cousin visiting my grandma in the country and in the city with my cousin visiting family.
Sorry, not too exciting, that's why I want to do more fun stuff next time.

Not good at this blogging thing...

2009-05-25T13:01:00.002-10:00

Well, I'm sure you noticed that I've been kind of slacking on updating my blog. I really have a boring life and many times I have nothing to write.
Like today for instance, it's Memorial day, I decide I'll work a few hours for those clients who said they would come. I drove to Portland this afternoon for an hour (cause I live in the middle of no where) and waited and waited and my first two kids never showed up. I called them and they forgot. Of course they're having fun enjoying the sun and the holiday, and I wait in the stinky office and they forget. Now I'm waiting for my last one, who I called to cancel but she didn't answer.

A couple of weeks ago I worked at a rehab center in Vancouver for my on-call job. They told me it would be for a month, but found out that they center only has me for the one week. I was thinking, oh well I made some good extra money and maybe they'll find me something else. Nope, I still only have my regular job, which is going well but it's still part time.

I leave for Romania in 25 days from today. We are packing soon and still have some crafts prep to finish. I still haven't found a church so I haven't gone in a while, except for yesterday when i went with my parents to Crossroads. They had a guest speaker who does pottery. It was pretty good.

I watched the entire season of Amazing Race 14 online. They went to Romania and Maui, and many other fun places. It was kind of fun to watch. I really would like to apply to be on it. Maybe I can win the one million dollars.

Well, I haven't been doing anything else fun. Started running (taking real slow since i'm not a runner). I might do a 5k in June for Crossroads.

Well sorry to bore you with my boring life. Hope you're doing well.

Jilda

Visiting Maui

2009-04-18T08:32:00.002-10:00

Here are some pictures from my visit to Maui. I'll write about my trip later.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jildav

Coudy day in Washington!

2009-03-29T13:37:00.002-10:00

As I looked outside, I saw a glimpse of the sun on the green grass and longed for the warmth of the sun. As I prepared to go and embrace the sun, the clouds took over and it was cloudy again. The breeze whispered in my ear and reminded me of the place I was in. Washington.
In 11 days I will feel the warmth of the sun on my skin and enjoy the humidity in the air. I will love the beautiful view as I will look around the island and remember where I once lived and try to forget the cloudy Washington which will be waiting for me after.

Yesterday was yet another rainy and cloudy day, but also a day of celebration. My friend Heather got married to Tim. It was an amazing day and I was glad to be there even though I did not feel well. My third time being sick. Not so fun. I have a pretty nasty cough which gives me a pain in my side every time I cough and feels like my lung will come out on the table in front of me. Well, after that great picture of my sickness lets go back to the wedding.

The wedding was beautiful. The church was real nice and the atmosphere was inviting. Heather looked so beautiful and full of love. Heather and Tim looked so in love and were so excited to share their blessed day with their friends and family. It rained outside as we drove a few miles to the reception. It was cold but it was a fun place to be. The Swiss (oh did I mention Tim is from Switzerland?) wedding traditions were so cute. One was the mother in law teaching her new daughter in law about some daily chores that she will have to do. She decided on ironing a man's shirt. So she said while you can't see much of the shirt why bother with ironing it just cut it off. So she cut up the groom's shirt (sleeves and back) leaving only the cuffs and collar. So to demonstrate that her daughters and her are practicing this, the men took off their jackets and they all had their shirts cut up. It was pretty funny.

Another was the time when Heather and Tim had to sit behind each other and lift up each of their shoes as they answered questions regarding each other. If they both got it right they would receive a present. (Ex. Who drives better, Tim or Heather?).

Anyways it was a great night and I ended up staying until 10pm. A long wedding for most wedding here in the states. I guess I'm preparing for the weddings I will go to in July in Romania. Now those will be long and I better there will be no dancing at those.

Well I will leave you with some pictures (click on http://picasaweb.google.com/jildav/HeatherAndTimSWedding# )from the wedding and try to get outside to see if I can catch some of this sun that keeps playing hide and seek.

Enjoy

One more boring post!

2009-02-27T08:51:00.002-10:00

Well sorry I haven't updated lately but my life is pretty boring.
Now that I'm back in Washington, I don't do much. I've settled back into my parent's house. Bought some furniture form IKEA to complete my room.
I work about 20 hours a week, which is not what I thought it would be by now. I need more hours.
I work in Portland and in Vancouver. When I work in Portland it's about 45 minutes to the office if there is no traffic, which is most of the time since I work odd hours (10 to 6).
I have some interesting clients, but I like it. It's different from what I was doing in Maui, I sure miss the babies.
Here are a few of the things I've done since I moved back.
1. I've got to see a few of my friends and their kids. Everyone has changed over the past few years so it's a little different.
2. I've got together with friends to watch the Bachelor on Mondays.
3. Went shopping a few times. My brother's girlfriend and I had a great time at the mall.
4. Watched my first 3D movie.
5. Watched it snow, rain, get cloudy, and sunny in just 5 minutes.
6. Played in the snow, made a snow man and a snow angel.
7. Tried a few different churches, but I wasn't able to find one yet that I can attend regularly.
8. Got my car from Hawaii. Sunday it will have Washington license plates.
9. I've joined my old Romania team and will be going to Romania in June.
10. I've been sick most of the time.

Well that's my exciting life her in Washington. I will update more when I have more exciting news.

I'm back in Washington!

2009-01-14T11:30:00.002-10:00

Well I'm back in Washington. Battle Ground to be more specific. It's cold and ... let's see... cold.
I'm still trying to get used to the fact that I'm so far away from my friends and from anyone... except from my brother and his girlfriend.
I meet my boss tomorrow and I start work on Friday. My first day will be in Portland (I will probably work in Portland on Mondays and Fridays and the rest of the days in Vancouver). I am also looking for work in other places for evenings and weekends.
Well I should get back to drinking my tea to stay warm. I'll keep you updated.

Maui is out of Santa beards...

2008-12-21T17:06:00.003-10:00

As I write this blog many of you are getting ready to celebrate a very white Christmas with your family and friends. Sitting by the fireplace drinking a hot drink and enjoying each other's company. Celebrating the life of Christ the King coming to earth that we may live, opening presents and taking pictures.
I am sitting here at home on Maui where it's hot and sunny enjoying time with my friends before I leave the island. Celebrating also the birth of Christ.
We all celebrate in a different way but with the same purpose.
I hope everyone has an amazing Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Craciun Fericit si La Multi Ani!
Hugs and love, Jilda

Time for an update!

2008-12-05T22:03:00.008-10:00

I has been almost two months since I've come back from my cruise. I had an amazing time there and I loved seeing the beauty of each country (Italy, Greece and Turkey). My favorite was Ephesus in Turkey and Santorini in Greece. The cruise part was amazing too. So much food and never a moment to be bored. Not much time to rest either. I didn't want to miss anything.
The group I was part of, about 30 of us, was great also. We had Bible studies on the ship and off when we were visiting parts of Paul's journey. I met some great people from my church here in Maui and I'm glad I can spend some time with them now.

Lots of things have been going on since I got back home. One is that I've decided to move back to Washington for the time being. It's definitely been on my mind for a while but now feels like it's the right time. I've been looking for a job in Vancouver before making the decision to move and about a month ago I found a great job. I'll be working at a private Sensory clinic, working with children who have Autism, ADD, Learning difficulties, or other problems. It will be different from the job I have now, but I know I'll be learning a lot.

It was a long process (which is not yet complete) to get my Washington OT license and recently decided to also get my Oregon license. I'll be starting work once that license process is complete. Since it takes so long for the license process, I won't be moving back until January.

I gave my written notice to my current job two weeks ago. I'm very sad to leave my families and co-workers. At least my friend LK is also moving back, and we will be close enough where we could still do stuff together. It's been real sad for me to give my kids away to the other therapists. I've become part of the family to many of them and they all have a special place in my heart.

Until it's time to leave, I want to do as much as I can here in Maui. I will miss my friends, church, halau, and the beauty. I've been going hiking, taking ballet class, taking pictures, and spending time with friends as much as I can.

I still have to move out of my place by December 31st which will be a long progress since I've accumulated lots of stuff in my four years here. Since I fly out from Maui on January 12th I'll be staying with a friend until that day.

Well I leave you with some pictures from a few hikes I've done.
Hope everyone is doing well and you all had a great Thanksgiving.

Heading Home

2008-10-23T10:38:00.002-10:00

Well it has been an exciting adventure and I would love to share more with you guys but right now I have a big headache and it's late and have to be up at 5 AM. I am all packed and ready to head home. I'll be in Washington Friday and we'll be heading back to Maui on Sunday.
When I get back I will write a little bit about each city that I saw and post more pictures.
Talk to you all later.

Pictures...

2008-10-22T21:32:00.004-10:00

More update...

2008-10-22T00:37:00.000-10:00

First of all to answer everyone’s question: YES we got our luggage. It came to our hotel in Rome in the evening.

Our first trip was to the Forum and Colosseum. It was a beautiful day and walking around on no sleep was hard, but I was amazed at the size of the buildings and how it’s so different when you actually see it in person. You may see it on TV or in books many times but to actually see it in person and hear about the history is very different. I will have to put some pictures later.

That night I was real tired and running on barely any energy but I wanted to see some of my friends from camp in Romania who lived in Rome. So I called them up and at about 7:30 PM we were able to meet. My group was done touring for the day and we had dinner already (I had the same thing as I did for lunch because it was so good). We walked around, had some juice (fresh squeezed - so yummy), and had a great time talking about lots of different things. It was almost 10 PM and I was tired so I said “good night” and off to bed I went.

The next morning we were up early with our luggage ready. We had a great breakfast at the hotel and at about 8:30 AM we were again on the bus for our next tour. We went to the Vatican and St. Peters’ church with the same tour guide. The art, building and history was incredible. The amount of people that visit is amazing. I did not like the rushing, pushing, and walking like cattle through those places. It did not give you the time to appreciate what you were seeing.

Soon we were off to our ship. About an hour away from Rome. We got in the departure area, filled in our paper work and were ready to check in. Ok the next story is going to be told with little detail, but you had to be there (and maybe real tired for it to be funny). The paper they gave us to fill out asked about our past medical history (last 3 days). Take in account that I have been flying for a two days, not much sleep, and had lousy plane food. I indicated on the form that I had one too many things in the past 3 days, so when we were checking in they told us we had to see the doctor (mostly me but because L. was my roommate she was also affected). We walk over to the other room again and wait. We wait about 15 min and no one comes. The next room is empty and everyone seems to be checked in and the staff is cleaning up their stuff. L. asks some one and they assure us they will not forget about us and we will soon see the doctor. A few minutes later the lady who pulled us aside, along with the doctor, nurse and some other dude (who at the time I thought was the captain). They ask me about my problem and they say this is very serious and I need to be serious about how I respond to the questions (I was tired and I just wanted to get on the ship and of course was not taking this very seriously). Long story short I had to write a statement stating that I was not sick and would visit the doctor if any problem arouse and would wash my hands constantly throughout the cruise. For a moment I thought they would not let me go on the ship but they did. Yay...

Off we were to our rooms. Which I might say are very small but you get used to them since you’re not in there much and the ship is so big. Soon after we were on board we had a life vest drill. At 6:30 PM (which was our assigned dinner time for every evening) we had dinner where we were able to meet our waiters and other staff who would serve us for the rest of the cruise. The rest of the evening we checked out the ship (casino, gym, library, pool, outside area, stores, etc) which is a city on the water. We also had a chance to meet our celebrity singers and dancers (I thought the first show was cheesy) in a introductory show.

That first night I slept well despite the fact that the ship was rocking (I know we were on sea).

More to follow. (We are now on our second day at sea with no stops so I’ll try to update everyone on what I saw in every city later).

The Beginning...

2008-10-15T20:36:00.001-10:00

Well here we are on the cruise enjoying the beautiful view on the Mediterranean Sea, but before I tell you about what’s going on now I will tell you about the past few days.

My friend and I left Maui around 3:05 PM on a direct flight to Portland Oregon. We arrived at about 11:30 PM and my dad was nice enough to come pick us up and take us to their home. It was past midnight and we were tired, but I wanted to change suitcases and charge all my electronics. I went to bed about 1:30 AM and was not able to sleep, but soon my alarm went off. It was 3:30 AM.

We got everything together, had some coffee and soon we were on our way again to the airport. My dad was nice enough to get us so early and take us back to the airport.

We were there about 4:45 AM and we were soon checked in and at the gate. The flight to New York was about 5 hours and we had great seats. The first seats in the couch section, lots of leg room, and no one sitting next to us. We had our own individual screens and were able to play games or watch TV (of course many of them cost money but there were some free ones also). We were soon in JFK. There we got some food, walked around and soon we were on our next flight to Roma, Italia. We had OK seats and around us there were a lot of LOUD and excited people. The food was bad, the movies I’ve already seen and the service was not so good. But after 8.5 hours we were in Roma.

We arrived around 7:30 AM and after getting our stamps in the passport we were off to get our bags. One lady came up to us and asked in full spanish if we knew where something was but since neither of us speak spanish we were not sure what she was saying (for those of you wondering, yes I know Italian and spanish sound alike, but she did specifically say “something espaniol”). We were not sure how to help her but I hope she figured it out. We found the belt the luggage was coming on and we waited... and waited.... and waited... After a while no more bags were coming. Almost everyone was gone. We asked some one what to do and we were off to Costumer Service. While in line I saw someone that looked familiar (Before this I was looking and looking for anyone that seemed like they belonged to our group because we were not sure at this point how we were going to get to the hotel and plus we did not have out hotel name to even take a taxi there). Anyways back to finding the person I knew. I could not remember her name but she seemed to know mine and I was not about to loose the opportunity to get a ride to the hotel. I talked to her and she gave me the hotel info and said she would be waiting for us to take the bus with everyone else (about 10 people).

We did the paper work for the luggage and we went to meet everyone else. My friend D. also just arrived so she was waiting for her luggage. We went out side of the airport and there was a girl holding up a sign with our group name on it. We met others who were already in Roma and after everyone else we were off to our bus. Our group escort was Saia. She helped to make sure we all got to the hotel safely.

When at the hotel we had time to change some money and relax for a little while before meeting with everyone. We had introductions and I was real surprised to see how many people from Maui were there and I did not know they were coming. We grabbed a quick lunch (yummy bread with tomatoes, yummy cheese with really yummy eggplant - it was the best sandwich ever) before heading on our first tour.

Well that’s it for now. Coming soon: Details on our first and second tour, and cruise stories.

Jilda

Nothing Exciting!

2008-10-05T11:59:00.002-10:00

Well nothing exciting has been going on in my life since I've come back from Romania but I will entertain you all for a little while.
I've been working a lot and hanging out with friends in the evenings and on weekends. Some weekends we went hiking and lots of going away or birthday parties.
Last weekend my friend L. and I went for a day at the spa at the Grand Wailea where we enjoyed the Therma baths and a massage. It was amazing. I wish I had the money to do it more. It was a special for $99 and it was for L.'s birthday so those were the main reasons I was able to do it right now.
Otherwise, I am getting ready to leave on Friday for my next adventure. One of my co-workers and I, and other people (who I know or don't know) will be leaving this weekend for a cruise on the Mediterranean Sea. We will arrive in Rome, Italy on Sunday October 12th and spend the first night at a hotel. We will do some touristy things until Monday afternoon before we get on the ship at 5pm and leave on the water at 6pm. I'm hoping to not get sea sick or feel claustophobic in our little room.
Over the next few days (two weeks) we will visit four cities in Greece, two cities in Turkey and Naples/Capri in Italy.
I will keep you all updated as much as I can over the past few weeks. Please pray for safe travels and health.

Read the new blog!

2008-08-07T00:32:00.002-10:00

I'm sorry I am not able to update you all about what's going on here at camp, but as a team we have another blog which we are updating for our church.
you can click on the left side where it says Romania Mission.
Please leave comments.
Miss you all

So far from home...

2008-07-23T22:52:00.002-10:00

Well I'm sitting her alone playing on the computer, listening to music and trying to read a book.
This morning at 5:00 AM my friends left to catch a train to their next destination (Budapest, Hungary). N, M, S, J.L., and I met up in Sibiu. N, M, and I had some fun times in Sibiu where we spent some time exploring the city and enjoying each other's company while eating and drinking (don't worry no alcohol). My cousin helped us make reservations on a bus for the next day to head up to Cluj (my hometown).
The next day we met at the bus station where we waited and waited for our bus. N who was worried we would miss the bus kept asking people and looking around for the bus. One lady said yes the bus comes but it stops outside at the gate. After waiting not so paitiently we saw the bus pulling up on the street, but after a few minutes it did not come into the gate so we took our stuff and ran to the street. The bus no longer came in the bus station as I remember, but just stops on the street just outside of the gate across the street. We made it on the bus and after getting out seats together we were off on our 3.5 hours bus ride to Cluj.
On the way N. and I listened to music, looked at pictures, watched a movie (Cloverfield) and took naps.
Oh, man I just saw the garbage truck and I was wondering when it comes so I can get rid of all our garbage. Oh, well I guess my cousin will have to put it out for next week.
Back to my story. The weather was cloudy and rainy while going up to Cluj. It was good though because I remember last year it was so hot I was wet when I got to Cluj. Cloverfield was not the best movie to watch on a bus, because it is so shaky and I got pretty car sick. At least the nap helped.
Before I go on I want to tell you my phone story. So I went to the phone store and charged or added 10 euro worth of minutes on my phone. I received the txt saying my credit was added. I tried to use the phone but the voice mail said I was "in a period of expiration" and needed to add credit to undo the expiration status. I went back to the phone store and told the nice lady what happened. She checked on my number and said that in did my phone was in that period but should be fixed soon. I left and after a few hours checked again. Nothing. I saw "call failed" and heard the "you are in a period of expiration and need to add credit to work" multiple times. During my time with N. and M. I went to the phone store again and the guy who was there this time contacted the main office of Orange and he said my phone should work sometime today.
So now back to Cluj. Being the next day I was mad my phone still did not work and we had to call the people who had the key to my aunt's house where we were staying. N.'s phone died also so we found a place where we were able to charge up her phone so we phoned the lady who had the key and she was waiting for us. We found two taxi's and off we went. We made a block detour to get the key and we were soon at my aunt's house.
We paid the taxi drives adnd we were soon in the yard. The gate key worked. The door key not so much. We were stuck outside in the rain with all our stuff. We looked to see if a spare key was hiding somewhere. No luck! I called a few of my relatives and found out the key I had was to the other side of the house. At least we were out of the rain, but since that side of the house hasn't been in use for a while... it was cold and dark. As we were waiting my cousin Marta arrived with her boyfriend and she was very surprised to see strangers in her yard. She recognized me and while talking to her she told me she did not know we were coming.
We put our stuff in the house and rested for a few minutes before deciding to go the mall to explore and have dinner. While talking to N. I learned that I overpaid the taxi driver since I paid 53 lei from the bus station to here and she paid 10 lei including tip. (we needed two taxis since there were 5 of us and lots of luggage. also the taxi was 1.79 lei per km, but since I was so tired I did not realize 53 was a lot of money). I was so mad, how did I not realize I was paying more for a ten minute ride then for my 3.5 hour ride from Sibiu (our bus ticket was 28 lei).
I was furious.
On our way to the mall we both paid 11 lei each for the taxi. We were amazed to see the mall. There was Starbucks, Pizza Hut, and many other stores I don't shop at. We had dinner in the food court (McDonalds, pizza, Shaorma, salads, etc.) and later walked around the mall looking at books, trying our luck at the casino and admiring the fountain. N and I had Starbucks to take home.
Off we were in another taxi. The whole time I was out I looked for my taxi so I can give him a piece of my mind for ripping me off. And at night I was dreaming about the words I would use when I saw him. Still upset about that.
We made our bads and off to sleep we were. We all slept in the next morning. After getting ready and have a good breakfast we were off to the city center. It rained all night but in the morning it stopped so were able to walk. We walked and walked. I don't even know how much we walked but we went to the train station to buy the tickets for them for tomorrow. We walked to the center of the city and were able to see old churches, many statues and old buildings.
We went to have lunch at a restaurant where I had great tea last year and wanted to have more again. We were all pretty hungry and excited to sit for a while. I ordered soup, two different salads, tea, and french fries (I tried french fries three different times in Sibiu and non were what I expected, so I was giving it another try). When my food came everything looked good, but when I tasted my fries they were not what I expected. I asked for a different kind of potatoe side (potatoes with garlic, N. had some on her plate and they looked good), and the waitress looked at me funny probably thinking (what a pig, eating all that food) and she asked "you mean you want another portion"? to which I answered "yes".
The potatoes were a lot better. The tea was great and I was full. Off we went back to our walk.
We went on different streets but we were still able to find the tea place that sold the same tea I had at the restaurant. Last year I looked for it everywhere and no luck.
We were back home and relaxing. In the evening we ordered Pizza Hut which is a big deal here in Romania as it is a new thing. The way they do it is they give a taxi driver the pizza and they take it to the person and we pay the taxi driver for his time and for the pizza.
It was great pizza.
And like I said now I'm sitting her alone waiting for my aunt and sad that N. and everyone else left.
I'm bored.

Update on Contest!

2008-06-30T19:02:00.003-10:00

Well the lady called on Saturday at 1pm (4 hours before the show) to tell us that both of our photos made it in the show. I wasn't able to go, but one of my co-workers went since she lived close by. She said there were other photos, but mostly paintings. They were both hanging in the front by the window.
Anyways that's all I know about the show. Now we wait to see if anyone buys them. If anyone does we make about 50% ($60 each, we make 30 on each).
Now back to all the work I need to do before I leave for Romania.
Stress, stress, stress...

Gallery Show!

2008-06-27T18:00:00.004-10:00

So I finally got the camera I've wanted for a while a Nikon D80 with a 18-50 lens.
It's big and heavy but it takes great pictures.
That was the introduction to the following story.

One of my co-workers (#1) found a flier about a contest called "Art inspired by Dance and Life" and she was talking to another co-worker (#2) who is pregnant about taking pictures of her in co-worker #1 belly dancing outfit. But they did not know of anyone to take pictures. Co-worker #2 knew I liked to take pictures and I wanted to get into taking more professional pictures, so she mentioned it to co-worker #1. We all talked about this on Tuesday of last week. We did the photo shoot on Wednesday, we chose out two favorite out of 200 on Thursday, on Friday we framed them and printed them and on Saturday we turned them into the Gallery. We have not heard from them as of 7pm on Friday (6/27/08) and the show is tomorrow, so we think we made it in the show. Well for those who are wondering what the pictures look like here they are: (Note the photographer's name on the picture).

Too much... and nothing interesting....

2008-06-01T23:49:00.003-10:00

I've been real busy for the past couple of months getting ready for this weekend. We will be having a Mission Auction night where we will be having lots of silent auction items displayed, entertainment, and hopefully a Live Auction. I have been making tickets, fliers, posters, letters, sending them out to businesses, asking for donations, etc. Just today I sat in the office of the church for almost 6 hours, inputting all auction items in the database.
On top of having to do all this auction stuff, I have my full time job, which is also keeping me pretty busy.
During the last week, we also had a guest who slept in our living room. Not so exciting to go home and not really have a time to yourself for a few minutes.
Of course my Romania trip is also coming soon and I have to get things ready for that. Crafts to order, papers to finish, things to pack, donations to pick up, etc.
Like I said in my Title, way too much going on and nothing really interesting for anyone to read about so that is why I haven't been posting much.

Hope everyone is doing well.

RANSOME NOTE!

2008-03-29T10:06:00.007-10:00

I HAVE YOUR SHEEPIE... IN ORDER TO GET SHEEPIE BACK YOU HAVE TO COME BACK TO MAUI AND REDEEM YOUR SHEEPIE... SHEEPIE WAS TAKEN HOSTAGE AND TAKEN TO ANOTHER ISLAND...
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CALL THE SBI (SHEEPIE BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION) BECAUSE SOMETHING MAY HAPPEN TO SHEEPIE...
HERE ARE SOME PICTURES SO YOU KNOW HE IS STILL ALIVE AND WELL BUT BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU DO OR YOU MAY NOT SEE HIM AGAIN...

Whales, whales and more whales!

2008-02-03T13:33:00.000-10:00

So I went on a whale watch yesterday with some of my co-workers. It was a windy morning, and I was not looking forward to getting on the boat. I knew the waves would be rough. As we were waiting for your boat to be ready, I was looking around at all the tourists who were waiting to see their first whale. There was a family with two children not far from us. Dad was taking pictures, kids were eating (chips, candy, junk), mom was taking care of the kids. I told my friend, "look at what those kids are eating, their going to throw up on the boat."
Soon we were ready to get on the boat. No need to walk the wind will push me to the boat.
Off we were on a good start. The captain announces whale were spotted not too far away. We head toward the blow in hope of seeing whales. Not long into our ride there are whales close enough to see them. We get closer and the motor stops. Whales have been spotted. Cameras ready! Oh, so many people. I went inside and opened the windows. We were surrounded by whales 2 or 3 times. They were so close, you could almost reach out and touch them sometimes. A dolphin, oh, never mind it's a false killer whale. Yes, a false killer whale (basically known as a large dolphin).
Here is a pictures of one:

The whales were amazing. Almost all traveled in threes. A mama whale, a baby whale and the escort. Jumps meant they were communicating aggression (mostly "don't get any closer, or we may attack). Some tricks were mama whale teaching the baby whale. After an amazing 2 hours we were headed back to the harbor. Remember the kids, well guess what one of them did get sick. It was not pretty and it sure didn't smell good. They had to close the outside because it was getting too rough and water was coming on the boat, so all those bodies where stuck inside. I couldn't take the smell so I got wet by looking outside the window or staying in the back of the boat.
Well here are some whale pictures.

Snow on Haleakala!

2008-01-29T22:25:00.000-10:00

Well this morning I woke up to find out that we have snow on top of Haleakala. It was a beautiful sight. While driving around I could see the rain, sun, and snow. It was a little colder than usual, but the heat is coming back soon.
Here is a picture I took of the mountain.Here is another pictures I found on the internet. A little closer view then I could get from my house. Now, who said I have to go to the mainland to see snow?

Roommate!

2008-01-23T19:21:00.000-10:00

Well I recently found out that my roommate will be moving back to the mainland at the end of February. I have to find a roommate within the next few weeks. Anyone want to move to Maui?
I hope to find the best roommate for me so I don't have to loose this place. It's cheap for Maui and it has a pool and it's located across the street from the beach.

At the Pool!

2008-01-22T20:58:00.000-10:00

So I was just hanging out by the pool trying to get a tan, when I overhear this conversation:
Kids: Are you Santa?
Man: Yes
Kids: If you're Santa, what's my name?
Missed that answer.
Kids: Thanks for the bike
Man: You're welcome
Girl: Hi Santa
Man: Hi Jessica (mom told the man what the girl's name was)
Girl: (Smiled)
Man: I need a break
...
While Man was laying on the beach chairs he was listening to a walkman
Kid1: Santa has a recorder
Kids2: He is playing a video game
Kids3: He has his own set up
...
Lady: you can teach Santa how to swim. What would you say is the most important?
Girl: (didn't really hear how she explained it, but it was cute)
Man: I'll race you
Girl takes off kicking on her boogie board, and looks back
Girl: you're not swimming
Man is using his hands to swim but walking in the pool
Man: I am
Girl talks to him from the sidelines and she is ready to jump and race him to the other side
Man: Look over there
Girl looks away from the pool in that direction, than looks back
Girl: (with a surprised look on her face) Oh, no ( and jumps in the pool kicking away)
Man: I'm winning
Girl: No
Man slows down so the girl can win
Girl: how come you never win?
Man: You can win all the time.
Girl: I can
...
It was an interesting conversation to say the least. These kids totally thought that this guy was Santa. He had the belly, the white hair and beard, and he was old.

Just something to read for all of you who do...

Happy 2008!

2008-01-01T08:21:00.000-10:00

Hope everyone had a blessed day in the new year. I will be spending my last day in Washington. Tomorrow I leave to go back to Hawaii. It was great being here spending time with my family and friends. I was very happy to get to see snow. It wasn't a lot but it was something.
Christmas went well and now we are in the new year. I have to think about some of the things I would like to do in the new year before it flies by again.

Let's review my new year resolutions from last year.
1. Join a gym or start some kind of work out program for myself. - Done (I've joined Power house and I also started eating differently)
2. GO to Israel. (Visit N and M) - Done (I got to visit Palestine and Israel)
3. Lead a team to Romania at the Camp of the Good Shepherd. - Done (It was a great experience and I will be doing it again)
4. Find a potential Husband (of course if it's God's will) - I seem to have difficulty with this one. I prayed for one this year.
5. Save money to adopt a kid from Liberia. - It's in the process. It's expensive to adopt.
6. Sponsor a child in Romania. - Not yet
7. Finish my notes that I am behind on. - Not yet. Still working on them.
8. Start reading the Bible. - I sure started but did not finish.
9. Participate in a Hula dance at Church. - Yes and loving it.
10. Finish Martha's CD of baby shower pictures. - Done
11. Learn to Swim - Not confident enough yet. Will have to work on that harder.
12. Go snorkeling. - No
13. Visit my family at least two times. - August and Christmas
14. Get a six pack or at least a flat tummy. - Ha Ha never
15. Eat at the Four Seasons resort. - Eat? I even got to spend a weekend there.
16. Visit Family in Romania. - Yap in July before camp
17. Visit Keira and Lianne in Oahu. - Saw both of them but not on Oahu, but in Maui. They came to visit me.
18. Go to the Big Island (it will be my last island to visit) - Done (Hilo side and Kona side)
19. See C. and C.'s baby. - Yes, at Christmas time. They are cute.
20. Write a letter to N (different then the above). - Done.

Looks like I will have to come up with a new list. I'll have to think about that one for a while.

Christmas List!

2007-12-11T21:32:00.000-10:00

Ok. So I decided on some things I want for Christmas.
It's not much but it's some ideas for those of you who want to bye me something.
1. Lots of Jamba Juice Cards
2. Joby Gorillapod - from REI
3. A head lamp - cute one I can wear on my head :)
4. Cute Beanie hat
5. Books by Donald Miller - I only have blue like jazz, but I read the other four
6. Any Seasons of Veronica Mars, Private Practice, House, Monk
7. Books on digital photography
8. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
9. Jump drive USB 4+GB
10. Any gift cards

That's all I can think about for now.

Second weekend!

2007-11-26T22:24:00.000-10:00

This particular weekend was the weekend of October 19th. My friend (classmate from UPS) from Oahu came to visit for the weekend. I flexed my Friday so I only see one kid and then we can do touristy things.
L.K. came in on Thursday night a few hours after my homeless roommate came from Peru. This was my second time at the airport that day.
After a Thai dinner we were off to the airport again. L.K. arrived safely.
The next day we were ready to see one kid and then do touristy things.
Our first stop: Ulupalakua Ranch where we bought some cool gifts. Some of you will have the opportunity to receive some. Lucky...
Next we went to the Maui's Winery in Ulupalakua. We tasted some wine and enjoyed looking at the other things they had in the store. L.K. got a little drunk (well maybe just a little) on the wine so we had to wait a little before moving on to our next location.
We were off to the lavender farm where we had some tea and scone. The flowers are beautiful there and the view amazing.
It was getting cold and windy and we were getting hungry so we went to Kula Lodge and some great pizza that they make in their outdoor oven.

The next day we went and drove around the back side of the West Maui Mountains. It's so beautiful there and such an exciting drive. We went to the olivine pools, the blow hole, stopped in Lahaina for lunch and then off to the Maui Ocean Center.
Here are more pictures.
So that was another one of my busy weekends. More to come later.
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving...

One of my many busy weekends!

2007-11-08T23:15:00.001-10:00

So my roommate got married on October 13th. so soon I'll be getting my old roommate back. Yay.. but also real sad LT is gone.
It was a beautiful wedding. LT was like an angel when she walked through the church doors. The food was great, mostly Hawaiian food. The same as our Luau dinner.
I'll post some pictures too so you guys can see my new dress for those who are interested.
The reception was interesing. There were so many people that my table and one other one were stuck by the pool away from everyone. It felt like we were at a different party. It was ok though cause I walked around most of the time.
The groom and his friends did the Superman song dance, it was so funny to watch.
Ok, so I don't know what else to say about it but here are some pictures.

I am still alive!

2007-11-02T17:13:00.000-10:00

OK, so I know it's been a while, but I have been really busy with work. I am currently relaxing on the beautiful island of Lanai at an amazing resort. We love you auntie Yvette. It's much more peaceful then the resort on the beach. Less people, more quiet, lots of green, and relaxing things to do. We just took a walk in the gardens and had a cappuccino by the fireplace. I'll post some pictures later.

So I know it's been a long time since I got back from Romania, but it sure is still fresh in my head. I posted the pictures from that second week. We worked with boys from a state placement center who have some kind of mental, learning, or mild physical disability. It was a challenging week, but with the help of God we survived. It was nice to see some of the kids I've seen in 2003, but they sure have grown. The challenges of that week included stealing, fighting, and cursing. The week was also exhausting after we thought the first week was challenging, but after looking at the second week the first was nothing compared to this.
God gave us the patience and rest we needed, and we were able to survive and love on those kids even in time of disappointment.

So anyways, here are some pictures from the second week of camp.
Enjoy.

Click on http://picasaweb.google.com/jildav

First week of camp Pictures!

2007-10-03T23:28:00.000-10:00

Well so I finally uploaded the pictures from the first week of camp! You've read the stories, now you get to see the pictures. Enjoy.
Click on http://picasaweb.google.com/jildav

First week of camp!

2007-09-29T14:13:00.000-10:00

Well back to my stories. I can't believe it's taken me so long to update again.
So on Saturday we arrived late at night so we met the Romanian staff and had dinner together and just played around with the few kids that were there for the weekend. On Sunday I gave the team a tour of the camp and after a few hours of free time (trying to get adjusted to the time) we were off to work. We put together the care packages, which included the soup, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, wash cloth, and comb. We also arranged all the crafts and made sure we had everything we needed for each craft. And we also started cleaning up camp and putting all cabins together (making the beds and cleaning up).
Monday morning we finished up what we had left to do and we were waiting patiently for the boys (from around villages) to arrive. The first group from Talmaciu arrived around 11am and we just played with them (mostly soccer) until the rest of the boys and Romanian staff arrived.
The vans were starting to pull up. Lots and lots of boys came out of the vans. I knew one boy out of all 55 of them. I knew some of the Romanian staff and the leader. Marcel is a great leader. He works with children in the villages around Brasov every week and he has an amazing heart to help those children and their families. With God's grace he and his wife had a little girl a couple of years ago and I was so happy to see her. She is a beautiful and smart little girl.
Back to the kids. The kids were between 9 to 19 years old. Some were there for the first time and some have been there before.
The first day we introduce ourselves to the boys and told them our name, where we were from, if this was our first time there, our favorite sport and the animal that we are most afraid of. Can anyone guess mine?
The rest of the day we got to know them by playing with them, eating together and having fellowship together. The boys had the opportunity to read about each one of us. We had our pictures with a little bit about ourselves on the wall in the fellowship hall so the kids can know us better. Here is a picture of that. During the week it was time to put the team to work. At the camp we had three interns who were in charge of the camp areas. We had to help them out with dishes every meal of the day, so a put up a list of each helper per meal, who had bathroom duty, and who was cleaning the hall after each meal. Some needed reminders some were always helping out. The team was great.
For the next few days we got to really know the boys. We did crafts (box cars, kites, albums, name tags), played games (tug of war, soccer, chess, volleyball, 4-way tug of war, and other indoor games), ate all meals together, went on a hike, walked down to the store for ice cream, and shared the love of Christ with them.
We didn't get to have the bon fire this week due to lots and lots of rain. We also had some power outages and no water for a few hours. My team got to learn how to be flexible. We talked about it at all meetings and still some of them were surprised off all the changes that were going on at camp. That's camp life, you never really know what's going on.
Here is a picture of all the boys from the first week of camp.

Before the first week of camp!

2007-09-01T10:00:00.000-10:00

Ok. So let's see where we can start.
After I said Good-bye to my family in Cluj, I took the "air conditioned?" bus back to Sibiu. I got to sit behind the driver this time so the ride was not too bad, except for the fact that my driver and the driver (not driving - second shift) were watching TV on a little tv that was placed on the dashboard. I couldn't believe they were watching TV and driving a group of people on very dangerous roads (we only almost got hit once).
So I got to Sibiu about 9:30ish PM and I took a taxi to my cousin's house. The taxi driver was so talkative and I was so not in the mood, but listened nonetheless.
He was telling me how he was from Sibiu and he works a lot,and this morning when to Baia Mare (2 hours further south then I was this morning) and had come back and went right back to work. He was then telling me about a country town he stopped in to get vegetables and fruit and the lady was real nice and told him he can go pick his own from the garden. He was hesitant but he also gave her something he got real good vegetables.
Me to myself "that sounds familiar" to the taxi driver "What town were you in?"
Taxi Driver: I think it was Chisinau or something like that
Me: Oh, I have a grandmother who lives in one of those towns and I thought maybe it was the same one but it's not. Any ways
Taxi Driver: (going on and on about his stop) He also talked to the lady across the street because she saw his Sibiu license plate and she was also from Sibiu (Valia Aurie - where we were heading) and just moved there with her husband.
Me to myself "that sounds real familar"
Me: tell me the town again
Taxi Driver: Chisinau
Me: are you sure it was not Catcau?
Taxi Driver: could be, I just asked someone a few towns later but did not look myself what it was. Why?
Me: well I have a aunt from Valia Aurie where we are going right now and she recently moved there with her husband and it just sound it the same.
Taxi Driver: Do they have a little girl there?
Me: yes, my cousin's daughter and my grandmother is there also
Taxi Driver: wow, it's them. What a small world? It was meant to be that you take this taxi.
Me: yeah
taxi driver: where are you from ?
me: Cluj, just visiting Sibiu
taxi driver: can I ask how old you are? (brave of him)
me: (with a little hesitation) 30
taxi driver: I'm 31 and single ... blah... blah... are you married?
me: no
taxi driver: why not?
me: (wanted to ask him "why aren't' you?") because I'm just not
taxi driver: (getting real close to my cousins' house) well you should call me if you need a taxi while you are here. What are you doing tomorrow? my name is ...
me: getting ready to head to a camp in the mountains to work with kids
...: (remember we were speaking Romanian this whole time but had to translate for those of you who don't know Romanaian) so what are you doing after the camp?
me: going to America to visit my parents
...: I hand a feeling you were from there. Here is my phone number to call if you need a taxi or your family does.
me: thanks got to go. have a good night!

Almost had myself a husband. Oh, well he was short and talked way too much anyways.

So I got to my cousin's home and they were ready to go to a concert in the center, so I decided I didn't have anything so why not I don't have anything tomorrow.
I'll post a video so you can decide for yourselves what you think of the guy.

The Plaza was full of people. I've never seen so many people. I'll have to post the video I took later. For now just check out the one I have above just to see what kind of music he sings. Sometimes he just sits there with his drink (probably Vodka) and make hand signals and his band sings, but he is the famous one. It was an interesting night to say the least.

At the last minute at night my cousin and his wife decided that they will be going to visit my grandmother. So the next day they left early in the morning and I was home all alone. I slept a lot. Did some last minute things for the camp. Visited with friends in town and on the internet. I talked with one team member who arrived in country. It was a good relaxing day.

The next morning I was picked up by the same driver who picked me up from the airport and we headed down to Bucharest to pick up the rest of the team. It was another long trip to Bucharest but at least it was not as hot. Before reaching the airport we had a meal at McDonald's. I got a Happy Meal just for the toy.

We got to the airport and we quickly found R. She arrived early and had been waiting for about 30 minutes. F. should be arriving soon so we checked the board and it said his plane landed. The other three should be at the airport soon, since they have been in Bucharest since last night.We arrived at the airport about 1:00 pm. We wait and wait and we don't see F. come out and the other three have not arrived yet. About 2:15 pm F. arrived safe and sound. Then soon we saw C., he arrived by taxi but S. and J. were in the taxi stuck at the entrance. After figuring out where everyone was it was 3:00 pm and it was time to go. We still had to stop at a store to get some food. The grocery store was big almost like a mall. We got what we needed and off we went to camp. Still 6 hours to go.

More on arriving at camp and the first week of camp.

Pictures!

2007-08-29T23:03:00.001-10:00

Hello Everyone. I'm in the process of writing more about my trip but I just haven't had the time yet, so I put up some more pictures of my time with my family in Cluj and Sibiu.
Click on http://picasaweb.google.com/jildav

I hope I get some time this weekend to write more about my time in Romania.

Cluj!

2007-08-02T20:03:00.000-10:00

I can not believe the week flew by so fast. I got to visit the city and lots of relatives.
I'll try to recapture the week for you.
Sunday I arrived by bus in Cluj and it was about 100 degrees. I think I was mostly happy to get off the oven bus. I was picked up by my aunt and uncle in their Dacia (Romanian made car for those who don't know). I arrived at my new residence for the week and a half (or a few days) and was quickly fed. I don't remember everything I did that day but I do remember at night I was not able to sleep very well because the loud noise and the building shaking every 5-10 minutes was keeping me up. What was the noise you ask? Well it's this thing they call "tramvai" (some kind of streetcar or tramway) that run until late at night and start up again around 5 am.

The next few days I went around town visiting with cousins and other relatives. Buying lots of things. 1 dollar = 2.27 RON (Romanian money)
My cousin, her daughter and I went to a cafe and had this wonderful tea. Austrian tea, so good.

I also went to visit my aunt up on the hill and we went for a walk and took pictures of the city. It's a beautiful view from up there.
Here some pictures of Cluj from the hill.

Sorry I didn't get to finish this post but I leave for Camp tomorrow morning and I will have less time, but I will post when possible.
Here are more pictures.

My cousin and her daughter.

In the country visiting my grandmother.

2007-08-01T03:57:00.000-10:00

CONGRATULATIONS CRINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In Sibiu and on the way to Cluj!

2007-07-26T07:19:00.000-10:00

I slept well, only waking up one time during the night. The next morning I played with my cousin's daughter, Estera. She is so cute.

Then, my cousin and I went in to town, walking many miles to get there in the heat of the day.

The center has changed so much, being redesigned by the Germans. I got a phone number, 01140746974992. Then we met with a guy my cousin was trying to set me up with and had some juice. Then we walked around the town. There were these water fountains that come out of the ground and with the heat everyone was playing in the water. It was so cool on my feet. I also had Gelato and we walked around the city for a while.

I met lots of the kids from previous years.

Eva, me, Adry (from Washington).

My cousin and I having Lemonade (same place that I named earlier).

Around Sibiu.

The next day I left early in the morning. I took the bus to the bus that will be taking me to Cluj. I almost missed the station where I had to get off. I got to the bus station and my bus came quickly. We actually sat in somewhat of a line to get our tickets and on the bus. Some people were ready to push their way in the bus because they had a reservation, but after the bus driver told some people to get off and wait to see if there were any seats, people didn't push anymore.

I got a seat towards the back. There was a girl in my seat but her mom told her to move to another seat. Then they kept moving cause I guess they didn't have a seat. I wanted to listen to music and sleep but my MP3 player ran out of battery and I forgot to charge it the night before. Oh, by the way my cousins told me that this company Dacos will have AC and since it was so hot I was hoping that they did since it was a four hour ride up to Cluj. But guess what, there was some air that was blowing through the vents but it sure wasn't AC. Anyways, sweat was dripping down my back and all over me and everyone was complaining. After one stop we wanted to open the window that was on the roof of the bus, but this old "mos" guy that was sitting a couple of seats in front of me said he didn't like the air blowing on him (maybe "curent) so he got up and closed the window and everyone was yelling at him. But he said that he had a reserved seat and could do whatever he wanted since that was his seat. I almost melted the rest of the way but I made it alive.

My aunt was waiting for me and off we went to her warm house.

More later.

On the way to Sibiu!

2007-07-25T22:51:00.000-10:00

Well I get to the airport in Portland and I pass the luggage test (I made sure my bags were under 50 pounds the night before), get my ticket but no seat assignment (great, now I have to hurry to the gate so I can get a good seat). I hurry to security (one stop to get a travel pillow since I forgot mine at home) and make it to the gate way before our flight leaves. I ask for a window seat and he gives me a exit row seat toward the back. I walk around till it was closer to our time to leave. While we were all waiting they annouce that Lufthansa is giving away free magazines in english and german and everyone runs to the shelf. Man you think they were giving away free food.

I get to my seat and it's a great seat. Next to the window and the door. Plenty of leg room. I was sitting next to a lady from Austria who was visiting her daugher in Eugene. Across from us was a couple who had a 6 month old baby and she did not stop crying till we were well off in the air, but at least she slept most of the time. I slept great, got to see a couple of great movies (Goal 2, and Catch and Release), and ate some OK food. It was a pretty good flight given the fact that it was 10 hours long.

We got to Frankfurt in time. I had about 1.5 hours to wait for my next flight. I tried to call my friend but she wasn't home and her mom gave me her number but she didn't answer. I waited to get in to the gate area because once you pass the security there are no bathroom on the other side and there are plenty of people I didn't want to deal with. Once I decided to go in I forgot I had water in my bag so I drank it all before crossing over. Clear. Oh, now I have to find a seat between all these people. I decide to go and check to see what seat I have (hopefully it's a window). Plane leaves at 10:15am, it's 9:45 and there is no one at the counter. Oh, this is a great start. Someone finally comes, everyone comes to the front (remember romanians don't know what a line is). She confirms that my seat is indeed a window seat. I stand to the side, closer to the door to the bus that will take us to the plane. The lady behind the counter yells at a few people to stand in line she also says that only if they dont' have tickets they should be in line since she needs to start boarding (remember plane leaves at 10:15 and it's now 10am). A few more minutes she starts the boarding process, and again people rush to the gate. Crazy people, why can't they wait nicely in line? We're all going to the same plane and we have assigned seats so no one will miss the plane.

We get on the crowded bus to the plane. I meet a man who is going to Romania and will be going on a cruise on the Danube. His wife is sick from the plane food. I ofer a pill that I also took and I feel great. He didn't think she would take so, oh well. We get to the plane and I again have an exit seat, but there is an empty space between my seat and the window. I tried to sleep the whole flight so I can be awake on the ride from Bucharest to Sibiu. We're finally here. I pass passport control, get my luggage and I am out with no problem. I wait and wait. I see someone famous and everyone with cameras and videos run after him, I think it's a soccer player.

Iulian, our driver finally arrives, we find the team, and off we go to the "oven" van. He nicely offered us some water, but guess what it was nice and hot. Oh, well. We drove over to the hotel to get the trailer. I got to see Jill, my old leader. She gave me some encouraging words and off we went on our 6 hour drive to Sibiu.

It took us about 2 hours to get through Bucharest through all the traffic and crazy people who apperantly don't care if they may get hit. So many cars, and in this heat. I think it was about 107 degrees at the time. Remember we had no AC. We were sweating from head to toe. Even the seats were wet.

We stopped in Pitesti at McDonalds, where I managed to eat a salad. Not too bad. I slept a little on the way, but after so many hours we were in Sibiu where I was taken to my cousin's house.

More later.

My adventure begins!

2007-07-22T04:25:00.000-10:00

I guess it already began but finally you get to read about it.
So I left Maui about noon on Wednesday July 18th. I got to the airport in time to get on my plane. I asked the nice lady if I could have a window seat closer to the front of the plane.
Lady - "There are no windows left"
Me - "Oh, maybe I'll just stay where I am now"
Lady - "I can give you 16J but there is no window there"
Me - "What do you mean?" (thinking she just told me there are no window seats left)
Lady - "I don't know how else to say it, there is no window there"
Me (think about what she said I realized ...) "oh, you mean there is a wall there just no window"
Lady - "yes"
Me - "I don't care I just want to sleep anyways" ( I only got a couple of hours of sleep the night before)

Well, so I get on the plane and I find my seat. Business class, last row.
I sit down and I feel a little claustrophobic. Seat does not go back since it's next to the wall, and the seat in front of me is a few inches from my face. "oh, I was glad I didn't pay for a business seat"

People come on the plane and I watch to see who is going to sit in front of me. One "bigger" lady sat right in front of me. Then later a "bigger" guy sat next to her.

Here is where the love affair in front of me developed.
guy and girl started talking, sharing a movie dvd player, drinking together, laughing, putting their seats back squishing me, ordering lots and lots of drinks, getting drunk, talking stink about Portland, etc. The flight attendent rolled her eyes at them for ordering so many things.
When the guy got off he hit his head on the luggage thing above, and another lady said "oh, you hit your head" He just walked off the plane rocking side to side while walking.

It was a great thing to watch, very entertaining.

Slept at my parent's house in Battle Ground. They have lots of chickens and goats. So funny, felt like I was on a farm.
Anyways I got a good night sleep and the next day I was ready (well I did have to run to Fred Meyer's to by a toothbrush on the way to the airport) to go.

More on my adventure to Romania.

4 day Birthday Celebration!

2007-07-15T23:14:00.000-10:00

Well I finally reached the end of the third decade of my life, and I don't quite feel different yet, as someone said I will now get sick more (and I was sick on my birthday).
I do feel better now and I am ready to become a 30 year old mature woman (What is that exactly? - no clue). I am not married and no where close to it, I do have a good carreer, I don't have any kids (not ready for them anyways, I just work with them), and I have traveled more then most people (my favorite thing).
Anyways I wanted to tell you all a little bit about my birthday celebration.
Friday morning my friend and I headed for Lanai to work for a few hours before starting our wonderful weekend. We saw three kids and headed to the hotel where we were greeted with leis. We were told our room was not ready so we spent three hours in the teen game room sleeping or trying to on the couches in there. When we got our room we were so excited (at least I was, L. went to bed she was so tired) I started jumping on the beds and unpacking moving in to our new place. I was so big and elegant. We also had a great view.

The rest of the weekend we just spent relaxing and enjoying the pool, spa and fittness center. I had three other friends come out. We had two rooms and we all tried to spend time relaxing but one evening we went out dressed up for dinner together. It was good and somewhat out of our price range, but worth it for the fun.

Here are some pictures from our weekend.

Breakfast on our lanai.

Relaxing at the spa.

In front of our room.

Around the hotel.

Birthday celebration at Caffee Ciao at the Kea Lani.

Dessert goodness!

Well, that's it for now. I leave for Romania on Wednesday so my next post will probably be a little before or when I reach Romania.
Have a wonderful day.

Happy 4th of July!

2007-07-04T23:02:00.000-10:00

Well as I promised here is a quick update on what is going on in my life.

Busy, busy, busy. That's the main thing happening. I am trying to catch up with work but more work is being added day by day. I have to also get ready to leave for my vacation, so I have to see as many clients as I can and get others to see the ones I can't.

We have 2 weeks till Romania so our team has been working hard at raising money and getting everything ready for that. It makes it challenging when everyone on the team is spread out around the country. One person is in Portland leaving for Maryland soon. One left two weeks ago and he is in California, leaving for Europe soon. One leaves on the 17th of July. I leave on the 18th of July (going to visit family in Romania before heading off to camp).

Camp does not start until August 5th, but we are all meeting in Bucharest on the 4th and going together as a team (first time together) to the camp to prepare it before the kids come.

First week we will have 60 boys from around Sibiu and Brasov area, and the second week we will have 60 boys from an orphanage (the boys have mental disabilities).

We have a fun week planned for them each week. We are making box cars and will be racing them at the end of the week. We are also making kites or Frisbees depending on the week, key chains, scrapbooks or photo albums (the kids will all get a camera per cabin and they will have two days to take pictures of what they want and at the end they will be able to put together a album of at least three picture each. Debbie is still looking for disposable cameras in Romania for us so we don't have to carry them from here but no luck yet. if not we will have to take them in our carryone's which already has all our personal stuff since our other two suitcases each are filled with supplies.

We had a garage sale last weekend and the weekend before making a good amount of money. Praise God. We are still short on scholarships but we are getting there.

I have been real stressed and busy lately so this weekend for my birthday I will be spending time on Lanai at the Four Seasons with my good friends enjoying our time at the pool and spa.
Happy Birthday to me.

Next weekend I have a conference on the Big Island (the last island I needed to visit, I've seen all the other ones) so I will be there until Saturday evening.

July 15th is our packing party at my house and hopefully we will be able to fit everything we got in the 8 suitcases we have.

Well since today is Forth of July, we had a big party in Launiupoko at a friends house eating lots of good food (lots of raw food) and cake (even raw). We saw the fire works and enjoyed time also celebrating birthdays for 7 of us. It was fun.

I am going to leave you with some pictures. Enjoy.

The group at the 4th of July Party.

The Birthday cake with everyone's name on it.

The Raw Food 4th of July cake.

Still Alive!

2007-07-02T21:25:00.000-10:00

I know everyone is interested in hearing from me but I have been real busy and I promise since I have Wednesday off I will update at that time.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Fishies!

2007-05-29T22:16:00.000-10:00

Hey Everyone,
I thought I should update a little bit about what's going on with me. So a week ago we spent a day at the Grand Wailea Resort pretending to be rich tourists. It was a fun day going in all the pools and down the slides. Even up a water elevator. We also got burned.
The next weekend I worked on Lanai and after seeing three kids my friend and I spent the day at the Four Seasons pool and spa (compliments of my friend who works there). Great day. But when we got back to reality and we had to drive home we were stuck in traffic for two hours before heading home. The rest of the weekend was good. We went to the Maui Ocean Center, watched movies, and worked out. Of course there was a little paperwork to be done also.
For my birthday in July I will be taking a few of my friends for a night at the Four Seasons on Lanai. I can't wait.
Anyways I will live you now with a few pictures from our trip to the Ocean Center.
Always Me

For you Swell!

2007-05-11T18:33:00.000-10:00

I got this in an email and I thought of you. Enjoy!

Pacific Islander Worship Festival!

2007-04-29T12:18:00.000-10:00

Saturday we had the Pacific Island Worship Festival where our chuch and many other churchers from around the islands and some from the mainland.
It was an amazing time worshiping with everyone.
Here is the Hula song we did at the Festival last night.
Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S6dJbCCvSk

OK try this.

Only in Maui!

2007-04-26T00:02:00.000-10:00

1. You see someone walking in their swimsuit, with just a towel or not, in Safeway.
2. Some local stores will tell you that slippers and shirt are not required to walk into their store.
3. People walking down the street in just their swimsuits.
4. Able to buy fireworks in the grocery store.
5. You see car seats on top of the car not inside the car.
6. Slippers as dress shoes.
7. You can by liquor in a grocery store until 11 pm.
8. No road rules or parking rules are followed.
9. Cars are abandoned on the side of the road.
10. People in stores take breaks whenever they want and just put a sign on the door that they will be back in 5 minutes and come back whenever they want.
11. People sit in the back of a truck on beach chairs while there is a law to wear seatbelts.

Thursday!

2007-04-20T21:45:00.000-10:00

I'm sorry I am not good at updating very often, but when something exciting happens I am sure to let you know.
Yesterday was our staff retreat and we spent the day at the beach playing, swimming, getting massages, learning hula, belly dancing, eating real good food, getting things (new bag, PTO, small gifts), and spending some quality time with people from work.
It was an amazing day. Didn't have to think about work except for the time the OT leaving wanted to talk about her cases.
Today it was hard to work after a relaxing day yesterday. I was so tired by 3 pm and had to go home.
Sorry, life in Maui is not more exciting, but the beach, the weather, the short days, and long nights, are pretty much it and not much has changed.
About my trip to Romania. I have currently 4 people including me. We are still planning to go in August. Please pray that we will get the right people to join our group. We found out that the church has too many groups going this year and we are too late to join in the fund raising so we will have to do that ourselves. Many negative things right now about the plans for the trip but I know God cares for those children and we will have the best team to care for them.
Next Saturday our Halau will be participating in the Worship Hula Festival and we will be performing the same song we did on Palm Sunday and some people will be doing the same song from Easter.
Hope everyone is doing well and I will try my best to keep you guys updated.

Week update!

2007-04-01T20:21:00.000-10:00

I wanted to share the Hula song we did at church today with everyone, but I couldn't figure out how to put the video on here. I'm not sure it can be done.
Anyways, here are a few pictures from our performance today. This is some of my friends and I in our Hula attire.
This is my roommate and I after church.

Well, not much to update. This past week was a long week. I had something every night. Monday I went and worked out. Tuesday I had Hula practice. Wednesday we went to see a movie about the "Lost boys of Sudan". Thursday my friend and I (my friend who was my movie friend who is moving to Cali) went to see Amazing Grace. Friday I worked on Lanai, went to see a movie called "the Tiger and the snow" with the same actors as in Life is Beautiful, and then went to church. Saturday I worked on my Hula skirt that took forever (4 hours), went to a dinner, and then watched a movie with my friends and had wine. Sunday I was at church from 7:30 am to 12:00 doing Hula for both services, then we went to lunch, took a nap and watched a movie "Lady in the water".
Have a good week everyone.

Check out my pictures!

2007-03-21T22:41:00.000-10:00

Thanks everyone for reading the stories, now it's time to see some pictures.
Click here to see my pictures.

Enjoy

Going South!

2007-03-15T20:53:00.000-10:00

Well, so where did I leave off with my stories. Oh, yeah, we drove by a waterfall.
Ok, so we were on our way down south. We drove south by the Jordan River, through the West Bank and down toward the Dead Sea. Here is a list of some of the things we did on the rest of our tour.
1. Got to float in the Dead Sea pool at our hotel (it was warmer than the real Dead Sea). I did however step in the Dead Sea. Feels a little oily.
2. Visited Masada on top of the mountain. Nice view from there.
3. Drove down to Beer Sheva (28 miles from Gaza). Our next hotel was here and we got to go to a mall where a security guard had to check our purses before heading inside.
4. Next we were in Jerusalem. We stayed at a beautiful hotel. Grand Court.
5. Walking distance from downtown and the old City.
6. We went to Bethlehem. We had to drive through the wall that was built by the Israeli around the city. Real sad.
7. After visiting the church where they remember the birth of Jesus, we went to Herod's castle.
8. Went up on Shepherd's Field and talked about the meaning of Psalm 23.
9. We had to leave Bethlehem early due to the riots starting.
10. Dude at the check point came on our bus and checked our passport.
11. In the evenings we walked downtown and saw all the crazy people dressed up for Purim (a Jewish holiday where they remember the good done by Esther for the Jewish people). They dress up in costumes and they have one day where they are allowed to get drunk. Wow, they sure know how to party.
12. The next day we walked down the Mount of Olives as a group stopping continuously to discuss different events in the Bible.
13. Had the Lord's Supper at the Garden Tomb ( a place remembered as the place of Calvary and Jesus' resurrection - not real just man made).
14. Visited a place known as the upper room.
15. Visited the Old City. Walked the Via Dolorosa. Much better with a tour guide who knows what he is doing and where he is going.
16. Shopping, shopping and more shopping in the Old City.
17. Walked on the rampwalk (on top of the wall of the Old City). Good view from there.
18. Met people who work at the hotel. One was Romanian.
19. Holocaust museum.
20. I met wonderful people in my group. There were 40 of us. Great group dynamics. Prepare to come home.

I had an amazing time there and I will never forget all I have seen and learned.
Sorry about the list, but I think it's easier to read than paragraph form. If you have any other questions regarding my trip feel free to ask me.

The next few days!

2007-03-12T17:45:00.000-10:00

Our next stop was Tiberias, where we stayed at the Golden Tulip for the next couple of nights. During the time that we were there we got to go on a boat over the Sea of Galilee. We also saw many parks that were closed by and drove up close enough to see Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. We saw many military bases on the hills looking out toward Lebanon and Syria. The very northern part of Israel is very cold. While we were visiting one park (where no other tourists were) we were met by a rain/lightening/thunder storm. Good thing that day we went to the hotel early and we got a chance to hang out at the pool and in the sauna. Good times.
While we were driving by the borders I saw many fenced areas that had signs on them saying "Danger Land Mines". We drove by such a fence no more than a foot away. Sorry no pictures we were going way too fast. While up north we were close to Mt. Hermon which is a mountain near the Lebanon Syria border, about 2000 feet above sea level. It snows on this mountain and there are a few ski resorts only open a couple of days a year. When it does snow, a few days later people get excited about the water that they will get from the result of the snow melting. We went to a point near the bottom of the mountain were we got to see a waterfall that everyone was so excited about, but to us who have seen waterfalls many times it was a small dirty waterfall. It is here that we got to try the famous Israeli apples. They look like the red delicious apples of Washington but quite smaller.
Well enough for today, I'm getting sleepy.

First day of my tour!

2007-03-11T18:28:00.000-10:00

After a sad good-bye, I joined my group for our first of many meals together. Some people ate cow tongue without knowing ( I don't eat mystery meat). We had a short meeting where our tour guide introduced himself to us. He has been training Israeli Tour guides, he is an archaeologist, he has been on the history channel, and has lived and studied in Israel for over 7 years.
I had a roommate who was actually from Maui, also from my church but I didn't know her. There were 8 people from Maui and one from Oahu. 12 students from Ohio, and others from Florida.
During the evening I learned a little bit about Shabat (a Jewish holiday where they seem to be eating and hanging out a lot) there is also a Shabat elevator which stops and goes to whatever floor, you can't push buttons. Don't get on that or you'll never get to your room.
Shabat is observed from sun down on Friday until nightfall on Saturday. After about 7pm on Saturday stores open up and people are out on the town. Around the town they have Shabat lines (which look like power lines) which indicate how far you are allowed to go out of your house during those times. there are many things not allowed to take place during Shabat as it is a time of rest.
So any ways the next day we had to be on the bus with our suitcases at 8am and off we were on our adventure. We went to Caesarea (Acts) where were saw excavations of a palace from the Roman times and aqueducts by the Mediterranean Sea. Then we were off to Nazareth (church of the Annunciation) where the angel appeared to Mary and also where Jesus lived. We learned about the set up of a house during the time of Jesus. Jesus lived in a cave with Mary, Joseph and their animals. It is a cave set up into three rooms the back room is a stable, the middle is a guest or storage room and the front is a main room (where the family lived). Gives you a different perspective on how Jesus lived.
We saw many other things, but these were the highlights of the first few days.
More later.

Nightmare at the Airport!

2007-03-10T09:26:00.000-10:00

I will start my stories with my last story before getting home.
So I left the wonderful hotel at about 1 am. The airport shuttle picked me (and another couple leaving at the same time) at the hotel and off we were to the airport. The driver seemed old, tired and ? maybe drunk. The worst driving of the trip was left for the last few hours in Israel. The guy was a crazy driver, speeding down dark streets, turning corners and turning around in the middle of the street. He picked up many other people. Orthodox Jews students going home for their spring break. They had some big bags, which of course ended up on top of my small bags. So much for trying to make sure nothing breaks at least before I get to the airport.
So anyways, we get to the airport for $11 at about 2 am. Our flight was scheduled for 5:30am, but we told the driver 4:30am to make sure we got there 3 hours early and I still almost missed my flight.
So I head over to my airline line to check in and as soon as I get there a guy takes my passport and asks me why I was in Israel and how long. In the next few seconds another guy takes my passport and asks me the same questions. He then says "come with me" and that's when the nightmare started. He asks me millions of questions about why I was there, with who, why it was three weeks, what did I see, where do I work, where do I live, who I work with, how many people work there, what is an OT, how many OTs work there, how many kids do I have on my caseload, do I have brochures from where I went, do I remember being there, and blah blah blah. Next he took me to a place to x-ray my suitcases and the people there took me aside again. They took everything out of my purse, backpack, and two suitcases to scan and swab them for any unwanted things. After an hour or so of questioning and scanning a girl took me to a back room where I was scanned with a metal detector. The button on my jeans kept beeping so she had to call someone else to check it out. Close to a strip search.
Next I went back to my suitcases where I tried to re-pack them to make sure nothing will break before it reached Maui. A security girl came and took me to ticketing where I found out my flight from Amsterdam was canceled and I needed to fly through Minneapolis and I would get home on Thursday instead of Wednesday. She told me I needed to got to the travel agent to get that changed, so off I went with my security guard. The travel agent could not find me another route to get home, so with my new security guard off I went back to ticketing. After checking in my luggage he walked me to the security check where I got to go through a special door and didn't have to be checked again like everyone else. A few minutes before boarding I got to my gate and I was off to Amsterdam. In Amsterdam I was able to change my flight through LA and get home on Wednesday, since I had to work the next day. I took a little nap in the airport and soon I was on my way to LA. I sat next to a guy from France who was interested in seeing all my pictures from Israel. He was real nice, he actually got headphones and a snack for me, since I was sleeping. After 10 hours of flying I was in LA. Passed passport control and customs and after searching for my gate in a different terminal and going through security I barely made it to my gate. One of the doctors I work with was on the same flight. I got some food and off we were to Maui. The flight was pretty empty, so most people had a row or two seats to themselves. They even gave us some food.
Well that was my first story and there are more to come.
I leave you with a picture from the plane passing over Iceland or close by.

HOME!

2007-03-08T21:44:00.000-10:00

Well, I'm home safe and sound. It was a long flight and I am real tired since I had to work today. Just one more day of work and I will relax all weekend. Thanks for everyone's prayers.
I will soon write about my tour and my airport adventure.

In Jerusalem!

2007-02-22T05:51:00.000-10:00

Well it's been almost a week since I arrived. It feels so much longer. I have been in Nablus, West Bank till today and I have met some wonderful people there. Everyday N and M and I left the house at 7:45 am to go to school where I helped put notes together and sometimes with lab. When I didn't have much to do I played games or talked to people. We ordered real good food at lunch which was more than enough for all of us. It was yummy.
Yesterday N and I went for a walk around the neighborhood with a neighbor and some kids. We got to see the area around where they live and spend some time with the local people. From the area we were at we could see a glimpse of the Mediterranean sea. We also saw an amazing sunset.
Today we arrived in Jerusalem, and after checking in at the hotel we went and walked around the old city of Jerusalem. Parts of the historic sights of where Jesus was judged and killed.
It was interesting to say the least. Every where we walked there were people walking and selling things. Where the historic sights were, there was a church built on top of it or around it so you couldn't see much. It was a big maze and we barely found our way out.
We are back at the hotel now and tomorrow we will do something (not sure what yet) before N and M drop me off at the hotel. I start my tour on Saturday.
Hope to hear from you all later.

Some Pictures from my trip!

2007-02-20T05:31:00.000-10:00

Well I know some of you read my journal, but I haven't seen any comments yet. Well, since I know you want to see some pictures I am going to put some of the sites from what I've seen so far.

On our drive from Jerusalem.

From N and M's house. View in our back yard.

I will write more stories later.

Jerusalem to Nablus!

2007-02-19T02:06:00.000-10:00

Hello everyone. I wanted to wait to write in my journal after I knew how many fo you were interested, and then our internet did not work yesterday. Sorry.
Well here are a few stories from my fist couple of days in Palestine.
N and M and the driver (Mustafa) picked me up from the airport about 3am. I had not problem at passport control. They asked me how long I will be staying in Israel and how I knew my friend in Jerusalem. Of course you don't say you are going to Nablus since it's a Palestinian territory. I went over to baggage claim and one of my suitcases came with the first few suitcases and my second one soon after. I had no problem with customs.
I waited a few minutes outside till N and M arrived. They said they had a few problems at the check point because the driver was an Arab Israeli.
We got in our Toyota SUV and headed to the hotel in Jerusalem. No one was on the roads and it was dark. We went through 2 check points and after 45 minutes we were at the hotel.
I was so glad to get a shower. After traveling for 2 days I don't think many people wanted to be around me.
We all had to sleep in the same bed since it was a small room with one bed. We tried to sleep but it was cold and after 20 minutes (thinking it had been 2 hours) we were awaken by the Muslim prayer. We tried again to sleep and I think we all had a not so good sleep of 2 hours. N and I went down to have breakfast. Real good fruit (persimmon), bread, cheese, and tea.
Our driver was there at 7:45 am and we were on our way to Nablus. We drove through hilly and white rock sights. Houses built on and in rock and in valleys. I never seen so much white.
After 30 minutes, we were at the check point to Nablus. We couldn't drive through (too many Israelites with guns) so we walked with everyone else through chain link fence with barbwire on top. Some drunk or stoned man with a wagon took our luggage through the check point. There was a driver waiting for us at the other side, who drove us to the school, and N and I to the house to put our stuff away.
We came back to the school and I got to meet some that work there. I also met some students. At lunch, we walked to the store across the street to get some pita and falafel and some unknown salad. I never had so many people stare at me (well maybe in Africa), but it felt different.
The food was real good, but a little dry. At about 2:30pm we went home and we didn't have much food so we ate some small frozen pizzas and watched Veronica Mars. It was so so cold.

Well that's it for now I will write about my first night here tomorrow, as it is time to go home soon.
Thanks for your interest in my adventure.

Israel!

2007-02-17T04:01:00.000-10:00

Wow! Words cannot describe the scenes I saw today.

Amsterdam!

2007-02-16T08:47:00.000-10:00

Just leaving Amsterdam. I spent the day with a friend (who I just met) who showed me around the city. I am so exhausted, I can't even walk straight. Soon I will be on my last flight to Tel Aviv.
The flight from LA was good, seemed real long. Everytime I woke up it seemed like we haven't gone very far. We got a real good dinner and breakfast. At breakfast I think I became invisible because the flight attendent forgot to give me water and breakfast, I had to ask.
We took a boat ride around the Canal in Amsterdam learning about the history of the city. We also went to Anne Frank's house and the palace.
Well, I will write more later. I can't seem to think right now.
I am doing well otherwise.

I'm in LA!

2007-02-15T11:00:00.000-10:00

Hello everyone. I just got to LA a few hours ago. My flight from Maui to Honolulu was good, except I didn't kn0w I was going through there I thought it was direct to LA. So when we got to Honolulu they tell us that we might not be able to leave because they have a exit light missing and they are not allowed to fly. We eventually left at about 1am and I was over 2 hours late arriving in LA. We also had to take passengers from a flight to Alaska so we had to wait until they filled all the empty spots on the plane. It was so tight in my seat trying to sleep, but I dozed off a few times.
My wonderful friend was waiting for me in LA since 6:30am, but she got to take a nap before she had to pick me up. After a few drives around we found each other and we are currently in Santa Monica walking around the pier and shops.
Thanks for all your prayers and I will try to update you from Amsterdam. I leave LA at about 5:45 pm if the flight is on time.

Itinerary and Hotel Information

2007-02-13T00:20:00.000-10:00

Ok, so for those of you who care about where I will be, here is the information I have so far.

Wednesday February 14th I leave Maui at 9:30pm on Northwest Airlines. I arrive in LA at 7am. I will be spending time with my friend for a few hours, and than I leave LA at 5:45 pm. I arrive in Amsterdam at 1pm and will be spending some time in the city with a friend's cousin, before I leave on my 9pm flight to Tel Aviv. I arrive in Israel at 2:30am where I will be greeted by Swell and Sheepie. I am so excited to see them. I get to Israel early the 17th on Saturday.

February 17 to 23, I will be with Swell and Sheepie. And most of you know where that is.
February 23-24. - Mercure Marina Hotel in Tel Aviv. # 011-972-3-521-1777.
February 24-27. - Jordan River, Carmel in Tiberias # 011-972-4-671-4444.
February 27-28. - Novotel Thalassa at the Dead Sea # 011-972-8-955-3333.
February 28 - March 1. - Paradise Beersheba in Beersheba # 011-972-8-640-5444.
March 1 - 7. Grand Court Jerusalem in Jerusalem. # 011-972-2-591-7777.

I will also have a cell so if you really need to get a hold of me you can reach me on that number which I will give you when I get it. If by any chance you need to get a hold of me at the hotel you can just tell them that I am with "Legends' CTSP group". Also Friday and Saturday is our weekend days so many places are not open.

March 7th I leave Tel Aviv at 5:30am. I have a short layover in Amsterdam and I fly to Seattle for another short layover and I am on my way home.

Well I hope this information helps you some.

Thanks for all your prayers.

I did it!

2007-02-11T18:04:00.000-10:00

So I finally went in and got my hair cut. I donated 10 inches of my hair to the Locks of Love (www.locksoflove.org). I have been growing it for over a year and I finally got the guts to do it.
Here is the before and after picture of how long my hair was and how short it is now.

I hate smoking!

2007-02-10T11:44:00.000-10:00

This post is for those neighbors who smoke outside and ruin my clean air that comes in the house and are giving me 2nd hand smoking. I hate the smell so here is a sign just for you.

Getting ready for my trip!

2007-02-10T00:05:00.000-10:00

So I have less than 5 days to go until I leave for my trip to Israel. I am very excited about all the things that I will be seeing and all the people I will be meeting. I have much to prepare before I am ready to leave. Here is a list of all the things I need to have done before I am on my way.
1. Complete all my paperwork for work.
2. Buy more warm clothes.
3. Pack (after I do laundry)
4. Have my first Romania Team meeting.
5. Hair cut?

Well those are just some of the things that I have to get done in the next 5 days. The other day I went and bought myself a pair of closed toe shoes (Skechers) and I have been wearing them around the house to break them in. I feel like I am loosing all my circulation to my feet when I wear them. I haven't worn closed toe shoes for a long time and my feet have been used to slippers and are a little more flat and wide than usual. OH, man I think my feet are numb.
Anyways, tomorrow (Saturday) I was approved to work so I can finish all the paper work I need to do before I leave. It's good because I can cut a little out of my vacation day use.

Cold Israel here I come.

Wednesday!

2007-01-31T06:51:00.000-10:00

Not much going on here. The weather has been real windy and rainy. I hope it will quiet down soon cause I have to go work on Lanai on Friday. I am not looking forward to the boat ride.
Yesterday, was so sad. I had a meeting with CPS and today one of my kids will be taken away from their parents. I know it will be better for the kids, but I still feel sad about the whole situation.
This past weekend I had another classmate visit from Oahu. We didn't hang out much since she had 3 other friends with her. We had dinner and breakfast over the weekend. The best Belgium waffles, yum.
I also got to see the movie "Catch and Release". It was an ok movie, but I like watching movies with Jennifer Garner.
Sorry for the sort post, but I don't have much going on here.
Hope everyone is well.

Another Aloha Friday!

2007-01-26T12:22:00.000-10:00

For those of you who were interested in the lyrics of the Aloha Friday song, here they are:

It's Aloha Friday, No Work 'til Monday Song Lyrics

c 1982 Paul Natto

Here is where I sit, all cloudy and blitzed

with the Primo bottles lying everywhere

Got a guitar in my hand and a Wesson Oil can

Under my okole for a chair.

CHORUS:

It's Aloha Friday, no work till Monday.

Doo be doo, doo doo be, doo be doo be doo be doo!

(Repeat)

The cousins all here, drinking up my beer

got keikies running everywhere.

I got some poki on the side while mama's trying to hide

the Miller and the Heineken beer.

(CHORUS)

OK. You know when you wanna get away, I mean one ting

about Friday ma, da working work is ovah yeah.

Frankly, ya, I feel good man.

I work hard all week long.

I can't wait to get away, you know like down like the beach.

I'm cruise dis weekend yeah, get one hot concert too man,

dat's the most important ting. But main ting too,

is to get enough money fo gas and to go out to da disco.

I like to see all da beautiful chicks Yeah!

So now I gonna jus kinda cruise, take my Bank Americard,

you know adderwise, how can I get money?

Right, plus den my friends always say

eh braddah, you can buy me one drink then.

THIRD VERSE

Kimo and the crew sucking up the brew

pulehu meat smoking on the side

All the surfers are a-droppin'

while the highschool are a-poppin'

down Kaluakaua for a ride.

CHORUS:

It's Aloha Friday, no work 'til Monday.

Doo be doo, doo doo be, doo be doo be doo be doo!

REPEAT

Have a great weekend everyone!

Last Weekend!

2007-01-22T17:59:00.000-10:00

I been having wonderful weekends with people visiting. A week ago K. visited me. She is an OT who travels and will be working in Boston. I haven't seen her since we finished school back in Tacoma. I also met her friend J. who is also an OT at Maui Memorial. Nice to have a few new friends.
This past weekend I had a visit from L. who is now an OT. Congratulations L.! We has a good weekend. Going to church on Friday, later to Sansai for sushi, watched a movie till late in the night. Saturday morning we mad waffels, went to the beach to get a tan, went shopping in Wailea, and went to dinner at Manana Garage. Sunday we went up to Haleakala and quick tour of Kula Louge. She also taught me how to wire wrap. Thanks for the necklace L.
Today I got my car fixed so I rented a car. I got to drive around a PT cruiser convertable. It was a cute car. Now I have my car back and it's almost like new, with new breaks, axels, timing belt, water pump, AC.
Enough about all the car parts.
I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends. I enjoy spending time with people and learning about their lives. Last night I was talking with a friend from Liberia for four hours and he told me all about his life. Thanks! It's amazing to find out that both our lives were changed at 12 in different directions. God is Amazing! He cares for us and brings us through different trials to test us and to prepare us for His Will. I have so much more to learn about God's Will, but for now I want to spend more and more time with him. I enjoy His creation daily and I just need to thank Him every minute.
Well I hope everyone is well.

LAHAINA LUAU!

2007-01-15T12:46:00.000-10:00

We finally had our Holiday party for work. We went to the Lahaina Luau! It was a beautiful day. We were all allowed to bring one person as our date. I had my friend's daughter as a date since my friend was bringing her boyfriend and didn't want to pay for her daughter. Two of my friends also got to go as someone else's dates.
We arrived there all dressed up in our beautiful dresses. We were greeted by our boss and were given a ticket and a picture ticket. We walked on where we were again greetted by a boy only wearing a wrap around his waist, who also gave us a Mai Tai. Later another half naked boy gave us a lei and walked us to our table. We had a open bar, so I got another Lava Flow and a Little Tita (lets just say I know why I don't drink). After a time of mingling around and taking pictures it was time to sit down and wait for the next part of the Luau, FOOD!
Poke, crab salad, taro rolls, mahi mahi, fruit, fried rice, Kalua pig, lau lau, and many more delicious things!
Desserts too! Haupia, brownie, etc.
Of course ... next..... the ..... DANCING!
Tahitian, Kahiko, drumming, story telling, Uli'uli, Pu'ili....
Let's just say I never knew hips could move that fast...
It was a good show and 3 and a half hours later we were stuffed and ready for a nap.

Well, tomorrow it's another week of work. Have a great week everyone.
J

ALOHA FRIDAY!

2007-01-12T17:37:00.000-10:00

Well it's Aloha Friday. This has been the longest week ever. I think I was getting used to a four day week with a three day weekend. And now next week is another week with a monday holiday. oh, what am I going to do.
Anyways, it has been a hot week also. Sunny days and warm evenings. Sorry for those of you who are dealing with snow. I miss snow, but I am glad I don't have to deal with it right now.
Things in Maui have been good. We had a Tsunami watch on Friday evening after the earthquake in Japan, but nothing happened, Thank God.
Well, just wanted to update everyone on my status. Have a great weekend everyone.

The new Year!

2007-01-04T21:56:00.000-10:00

I can't believe we are already 5 days into the new year. The last two weeks have been real busy for me. I worked on Christmas Eve day, Christmas day, New Years Eve day and New Years day, and some days in between. I was watching a 6 month old baby girl from 3 to 10pm. I got used to it after a while but it's just too hard watching a child in a hotel room. She was a cuttie and I got attached. They left the island already and they asked me if I wanted to move to Chicago for 2 months to help them out, but I told them I liked my job here. I also took care of a littl girl I had last year and the family requested me.

Here are two pictures of
the kids I nannied for.

Well, now I'm back to my normal schedule and I am enjoying my evenings off doing whatever.

Everyone have a good weekend.

2006-12-31T11:45:00.000-10:00

HAPPY NEW YEARS TO ALL OF YOU!
LA MULTI ANI LA TOTI!
HAU'OLI MAKAHIKI HOU!

New Year Resolutions!

2006-12-27T21:58:00.000-10:00

So I was thinking about all the things I want to do in the next year. And some of the things on my list I already have planned and will be doing them.
4 days to go until the next year:

1. Join a gym or start some kind of work out program for myself.
2. GO to Israel. (Visit N and M)
3. Lead a team to Romania at the Camp of the Good Shepherd.
4. Find a potential Husband (of course if it's God's will)
5. Save money to adopt a kid from Liberia.
6. Sponsor a child in Romania.
7. Finish my notes that I am behind on.
8. Start reading the Bible.
9. Participate in a Hula dance at Church.
10. Finish Martha's CD of baby shower pictures.
11. Learn to Swim
12. Go snorkeling.
13. Visit my family at least two times.
14. Get a six pack or at least a flat tummy.
15. Eat at the Four Seasons resort.
16. Visit Family in Romania.
17. Visit Keira and Lianne in Oahu.
18. Go to the Big Island (it will be my last island to visit)
19. See C. and C.'s baby.
20. Write a letter to N (different then the above).

Well, Soon it will be 2007, Can you believe it?
J

Tourists

2006-12-26T22:05:00.000-10:00

There are so many tourists here that I am afraid I might run over some by accident or on purpose if they don't get out of my way. It takes me longer to get to work or anywhere around here. Also I think because they are on vacation they don't follow the rules. They just stop in the middle of the street to ask for directions, or because they found their hotel and have to turn. Or they cross the street where ever they feel like it and they don't say thank you when you let them cross.

Today someone at work made me mad. She just keeps changing my appointments for me and doesn't know what she is doing at meetings, even though she has been working for a while. She started aguing with me in front of the parents telling me I need to do something before the 3rd and when I told her I have too much to do she says that she has 9 papers to write. So, at least she doesn't have kids to see and her papers are just fill in the blanks.

Anyways, enough about my bickering over someone at work.
Have a great week everyone.
J

Christmas in Maui!

2006-12-26T15:14:00.000-10:00

Well, I didn't wake up to a white Christmas, but rather to a sunny warm Christmas. I spent the morning with my friends (Audrey, Annie, Diane) at Diane's house in Kula. She lives in a tree house with a beautiful view. It is so quiet and peaceful.
We made waffles with fruit and had hot chocolate. After opening some fun presents we went outside cracked and ate macadamia nuts off the trees in the yard.
Later it was time for me to go to work, so I got home with 30 minutes to spare. I decided to open the rest of my presents. I got many wonderful things. I got some slippers and a shirt from my great friend K. N.P. sent me a big present containing some wonderful fun things. I even wore some right away.
I spent the rest of the evening with a great 6 month old girl and a 6 year old girl. I have more respect for those of you with babies ( and I had a good kid).
I hope everyone had a good Christmas and you all got what you wanted.

Mele Kalikimaka
J