August 28, 2008: The Shepherd’s Hut

Dear Friend,

I woke up at seven this morning. There was nothing to do at this point, except look out the window at the mist hanging in the air. And the mountains. You really could just look out the window at the mountains forever. Panoramic, it just goes on forever. Everything was so still. It’s going to be difficult for me not to make Lord of the Rings allusions while I’m here in Straja. I said during my visit to Yellowstone National Park that I had discovered where Middle Earth is located in the United States. I think I’ve found that Straja is Romania’s Middle Earth.

Shortly after everyone woke up we headed for breakfast at the Restaurant Montana just down the mountain from the FNO Cabană (FNO stands for Fundatia Noi Orizantui, which is New Horizons Foundation in Romanian.) It’s a quaint little restaurant. We all sat at a rather long table. Each place was set with the usual tableware and also a glass of red liquid. Daniel told me it was a sweet tea, very much like cool-aid, that most Romanians drink during breakfast. I tried some, and as I suspected, I didn’t enjoy it much. From that point on I brought my Nalgene with me to Montana.

Our meals at the Montana have been almost as quaint as the restaurant itself, which is not to say they’ve been scant. We don’t leave feeling hungry. The meals are just simple. They’ve all included bread, which might as well grow on trees here. Fruit is hard to come by sometimes, but meat certainly isn’t. Lunch and supper begin with a bowl of soup and then the main course. Supper usually involves some form of potatoes or rice with a meat. My understanding is that we’re experiencing traditional Romanian staples.

We found out today that the FNO Cabană used to be a shepherds hut, or at least the downstairs living room was. The living room was where the shepherd kept his goats, so there had been quite a bit of mold to clean up. The rest of the cabană was added on later. FNO plans on doing renovations to turn the cabană into a ski resort. There has to be new pipes put in and bit of decorating, but it’s possible. The fact that we’re staying in additions to a decommissioned shepherd’s hut is really cool.

When we returned to the cabană, Janelle handed out our semester schedules. I got a schedule up until our backpacking trip in the Retezat Mountains. After that, my schedule will change from the schedule of the study abroad students. Janelle went over the schedules to make sure we all understood it and didn’t have any questions. I was somewhat in the dark, not having the rest of the schedule in front of me, but that was okay because I had a schedule for the next couple of weeks. I’m on a need to know basis right now.

Dana showed up during this time of schedule discussion. After we finished discussing the schedule, Dana began telling us about the semester courses he would be teaching. It sounds, though, like the study abroad students have some great classes coming up. In conjunction with our training that was supposed to take place today, he also explained more of New Horizons’ mission and its beginnings. He had Chelsea read 2 Thessalonians 1:11 – “With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.” This verse played a major role in prompting him to come to Lupeni, Romania.

The rest of the day was spent waiting for the weather to clear up. This upcoming week we will be participating in Viaţa, a ropes course and wilderness camp, so we all have to go through training. “Viaţa” means “life” in Romanian. It’s a summer camp for kids to come and learn about community, trust, and working together. It hadn’t started raining at this point, so we decided to hike up more of the mountain.

There’s a path going up the mountain that leads to a giant, metal cross that looks out over Straja. We took the path to that point and I almost died. You can look out from this point to Straja and to the Jiu Valley, where Lupeni is. The valley is absolutely gorgeous from here. You fell like you’re on top of the world at this point, until Daniel points out that behind us, beyond the cloud, is Straja Peak, our eventual goal and destination. Because of the fog, however, we won’t be making the hike today.

As we have just arrived in Straja I’ve been trying to take it easy. Not much has happened, therefore. We’re still suffering from jetlag. Janelle reminds us continually that not taking naps will help us get over that. We’ve planned a little as a group to make it a morning practice to hike up to the cross and back again as a way to prepare ourselves for the Retezat. Also, we’ve been thinking of things we can make ourselves in the cabană for meals instead of always going to Montana. It’s been very low key, which we’re all appreciating greatly.

Blessings.
Kailen