We slept and slept and slept in this morning…it was 10:15am when we woke up, but it was only 3:15am at home, so I guess it’s okay. Jaco DuPlessis picked us up at 11:00 to tour Theranova and Casa Minunata, and then have lunch. We ate on the patio of a beautiful restaurant with his entire family. Scott ordered sea bass, and surprisingly, Jack ate a large portion of it. Jaco and Adrianna have two children, Mark (12 years old) and Jessi (9 years old), both of whom speak perfect English. Jaco is from South Africa, so although they have lived in Romania their entire lives, they have grown up speaking English too.
Sorry…we forgot to get a picture of both the Whitlock and DuPlessis families…
Scott and Jaco:
Jack with a custom socket paint job:
Teo picked us up from lunch, and we stopped at an open air market. It was incredibly crowded with people selling fruits and vegetables from their gardens. Teo told us that when he was very young he helped his mother sell cheese from their goats there. The market also had a flea market attached to it. Teo said that is where he bought his first baseball hat, and it had USA on it!
When we returned to the house, Emma had finished her nap, so we all put on our swimsuits and headed to a hotel pool in a resort area outside of town. As we traveled to the pool, Teo took us to the village where he grew up and showed us the house he lived in. It was the largest home in the village. When his Mom died, his Dad did not take care of things and they eventually lost everything. This is how Teo ended up living alone for a year and a half.
Picture of the house Teo grew up in. He said it had been upgraded since when he grew up, but the same footprint.
The pool had a normal pool and a pool fed by hot springs, so it was very warm. Emma loves “apa” (Romanian for water).
On the way home, we stopped at friends of Teo and Tunde’s to say hello. For our few minute stop, they had prepared sandwiches and juice for us. Romanians are so hospitable! Also, we got that typical Romanian greeting of kisses on both cheeks like we’ve all seen those little Romanian gymnasts give in the Olympics.
We got home at 8:30pm, and Tunde made us another fantastic meal, salmon, potatoes and broccoli and a great dessert called Snickers Cake. Jack loved the salmon. That’s two fish in one day for him!
I got to put our little sweetheart to bed tonight….no not Jessica, Emma. She is a very friendly little girl, we are having so much fun with her. She is repeating some English words from us, and we are learning some Romanian and Hungarian words from her. She is very loved by her American family.
We will be attempting to Skype our parents tonight. Cross your fingers we can get through…
Kim
No comments:
Post a Comment