So it’s 9:30 am here and I just finished breakfast but before I get to that and what we’re doing, I feel the need to hash out the details on our horrible 50-something hour trip the past two days.
My first flight to Detroit was uneventful and while I thought the Detroit airport was going to be a huge letdown, it was actually the nicest airport I flew through. There’s this big tunnel with music and flashing lights that you walk through to get from the different terminals and there’s a tram that goes inside right by the gates that was pretty cool. I had about a 2 hour layover and was able to get Einstein’s bagels while I waited. About an hour before my flight, I started to travel into hell. A family with triplets who had to be under 2 years old sat down near me and I got to spend the next 30 minutes or so before we boarded listening to the parents give in to them and watch the children throw and scream and do all that fun stuff. You can imagine how excited I was to have the prospect of sitting near them on the 7 hour flight. Sure enough, they were 5 rows in front of me but fortunately, the plane was big enough and I had my headphones on enough to not be bothered by the constant screaming throughout the flight. I watched Sunshine Cleaning, The Proposal, the end of X-Men Origins, and I think something else while we flew which meant that I didn’t really sleep at all. The food was good… dinner at 4:30 was chicken and rice and breakfast at like 4:00 am was a simple egg biscuit that was delicious! We landed in Amsterdam almost an hour earlier than planned (5:05 am) and ended up sitting on the plane for about 20 minutes before the airport actually opened and ground crew came to get us off. Just imagine was that 20 minutes was like with 3 little children screaming about wanting to stand up on the seats and not be strapped into their seatbelts. When we got off the flight, I was pretty tired and grumpy. I meandered around the Amsterdam airport for awhile (since I had a 4 hour layover) and I was surprised at how old and un-special the Amsterdam airport was. I thought it would be really modern and neat but it wasn’t. There were all these shops to buy chocolate and electronics and tulips but I didn’t get anything because I was tired of carrying around what I already have. That, and I didn’t have any euros. In an attempt to find some “comfort seats” which are different and more comfy chairs apparently (there are signs indicating the way to these comfort seats), I plopped down on some regular seats in what I thought was a quiet area until I looked to the right and saw a baby care lounge. Fortunately, it wasn’t noisy because it’s like a big room with cribs and changing tables where you can go to let your children sleep between flights. After a guy sat down not far from me and started shaking the seats and singing, I decided to go check out the Yotel upstairs, which is a hostel like place where you can hang for a few hours and sleep on a bed. While I was tempted to get a room, I found an open comfort seats and passed out there. The comfort seats go fast and people were basically staking them out so I was happy to find one. I fell asleep there for about an hour and then made my way to the gate an hour before we were supposed to board. Each gate has an x-ray machine there (instead of one big one at the check in area) and since I had seen long lines before, I figured getting there early would be good. However, in the end it didn’t matter. No one was there screening yet so I just walked in and sat down. About 30 minutes later though, the crew clear us out in order to re-screen the area before screening us and letting us in (yes, it was a big waste of time for the crew but whatever). It was there waiting in line to get back in that I learned that Romanians have no concept of standing in a line. We had some many just cut right in at the front of the line or just causally linger until they find a little space to fit in. I went through the screening with no problem and sat there for a bit watching everyone else go through. I also learned that at this airport, a pat down is a pretty severe. They touch you in about every place imaginable and stick fingers down your waist to check the inside of your pants. I would have been fairly uncomfortable if they had done that to me. Fortunately though, a woman checks the women and a man check the men (they should indicate how much of you they touch). We boarded that flight around 9:30 am and guess who had another screaming kid on the entire 2.5 hour flight! However, I was so tired that I immediately passed out and didn’t hear the kid at all the entire time. I woke up at one point for breakfast #2 which was a little bit more interesting than the first. It was a package with a “pancake with pear and matured cheese” and one other one with shrimp (which I didn’t eat). While I really do like pears and cheese, together they are not that good. However, I still ate it because of my love for cheese! I landed in Bucharest at 1:30ish and as I was picking up my luggage, I met up with the two doctors and their wives who had just gotten in as well. We all got together and waited about 4 hours for the other Dallas group to arrive and I got another 1 hour in there. Around 5:00 pm, after we had all gotten there, we made our way out to our bus. We were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was (we all didn’t think it was that nice 8 hours later), but all of our luggage would not fit. Most people brought two bags plus a bag or two of medical supplies so we had to call for an extra van which took about an hour to get there. We were all sitting in the parking lot waiting and almost got hit by multiple cars. Another lesson about Romanians is that they don’t really care people outside of their cars. Finally, around 6:00 or so (I was so tired that it was hard to keep track of the time), we loaded up and headed out. We drove about 30 minutes (which felt like 2 hours) and stopped at Carrefour (like Wal-Mart) for some classic Romanian dinner… McDonalds and other fast food. Schantile and I split a pizza and then got some good apple pie and cheese pie for dessert. I think around 8:00 pm we left for real and were told it was going to be awhile before we made it to Severin. Now, because the best was so crammed and the road was so bumpy, thin, and we had a bus driver that seemed to have a vengeance for us, it was a terrible ride. We stopped like 3 times for bathroom breaks and then would just sit there for like 20 minutes while everyone got through. I never got off because we stopped at some pretty icky looking places and also because I was trying to sleep through most of it. We also had to stop at 11:00 pm to see this new orphanage building that a local wanted our group leader to see. Finally, after much bumping, slamming on the brakes, and honking at dogs to move (and by the way, there really is an issue with homeless dogs everywhere), we got into Severin. As everyone started waking up, we got a brief tour of what we were passing even though it was pitch black outside. We drove along the Danube River through most of the town and on the other side, you could see the crops they were burning in the mountains in Serbia and Bosnia. We got to our motel (not the Hotel Continental we all thought… instead the Continental Hotel Motel), unloaded all the bags as a group and got to our rooms. It was about 2:30 am then. We unpacked and then crashed around 3:00 am. The room is fine and is just about a step up from a hostel room. We all have a view of the Danube and we’re on the second floor so we had our windows open all nice and it felt really good. As I’m writing this, I’m looking out the window at Serbia across the river. The continental breakfast was ok (toast, meats, cheese, sunny side up eggs, and a mixture of other stuff) and now I’m just hanging out for about 10 more minutes before we start our day. Since we got in so late, we’re taking it easy today. We’re meeting at 10:30 am in the lobby for a quick orientation and then we’re driving an hour to a village called Lupsa. We’re going to play with the kids there, eat lunch with them in the feeding center and then head back into Severin to walk around the main part of town. We’re going to have an early night and then we will start the medical clinics tomorrow (Friday). So I think that it is for now. I had a lot of other details I wanted to mention but I don’t think I have time since I need to pack up my day pack and go find the rest of the group.
