On the other side of the clouds, the sun is always shinning...

Well, in retrospect, here is a short summary of the past couple of days:

Sunday, Dec. 12

• Arrived at the short-term housing apartment to find that it doesn't look hardly anything as nice as the online pictures and description suggested. Getting to the door of the apartament from the elevator seems to be a bit of a challenge as it is pitch black on the hallway and no light can be turned on. A neighbor lady opens the door to help us find the way and tells us that she put two light bulbs yesterday in the light fixture but someone stole them both times. Decidedly, there will be no going out after night sets in, too much of a danger zone here. We barely settle in when in find out that the toilet doesn't flush and had to resort to using a garbage can to haul water from the bathroom faucet (next door). Then, trying to warm up some food for the kids, we notice the stove runs on gas and there are no matches around to get it started (and by this time it is too late to go buy any). So, as we wake up in the middle of the night here because of our internal time clock difference, we resort to enjoying some bites of cold food as we have no way to warm it up. Fortunately, one of our friends dropped some food after picking us up from the airport and we had something around.
• Actually, the entire story of waking up in the middle of the night is quite hillarious because we both woke up (thanks to Naomi) and noticed a ray of light coming in through the curtains. Naturally, we assumed we slept through the night and it was already morning. So, we got ready and dressed, only to realize we've been fooled by a huge outdoor banner light that shines right towards our window. It was morning all right, but only 1 a.m. in the morning.

Monday, Dec. 13

• We called the rental agency to take care of the toilet issue and three men showed up promptly. After a 30 microsecond ring, they immediately walked in the apartament with their own keys, something that frightened Shannon, as she was alone with the girls while I was walking the dog outside for the morning routine. Needless to say, they fixed everything to our satisfaction but we were left wondering why was there a need for three men to come together?! One was a plumber, a second a carpenter, and the third... their driver. When I mentioned the problem with the hallway light, they apologized and replied that had they known they would have brought an electrician with them. Hmmmm....
• Went to the bank to deposit some of our US dollars and make a currency exchange. First, I was told they could only make currency exchanges from one account to another. Since we have a US currency account with this bank, I needed to open a Romanian Lei account so we can exchange from one into the other. So, I proceed to talk to the customer service rep to open a second account but am told that since I opened the first account at a different branch, I need to go that branch to open the second account because their computer systems don't communicate... hmmm.... The funny part was that last summer when I opened the first account, I could not make the initial deposit at the branch where I opened the account because they were not set up to accept money. Consequently, I had to go across town to this other branch, this being the same branch where I tried to open the account today. I guess one could literally travel between bank branches all day to get anything accomplished.

We're still not fully adjusted to local time, point in case the fact that I am typing this note at 5 a.m. (hence please excuse any incoherent thoughts - they're the result of sleeplessness and jet lag), all of us beening awake since 1 a.m. and enjoying a mid-night snack and a cup of hot chocolate. And, not to forget, also spending a couple of hours cleaning up the overflowing washer that spilled water on the hallway and is full of water still inside. With the operating directions being in Italian, who knows if this little incident was part of our doing by having pressed some wrong buttons, or perhaps a clogged drain. On the positive side, we ended up with some very clean floors in the flat (something that's been bugging us, with Naomi crawling around all over the place) as we had to mop several times to remove the excess water. All in a night's time.

We choose to call this blog "On the top side of the clouds, the sun is always shinning" because as we flew up through the thick blanket of dark clouds, which gave an impression of night time in the middle of the day, we met the welcoming presence of the sun on the top side of the clouds. This analogy is pretty much like all else in life: even when things appear bleak and hopeless, God's love and receiving hands are always open to us, even when we cannot really see it or feel it... He's always there for us!

Peace to you!

-C