Alina's Birthday

Before leaving, I staged a surprise birthday lunch for Alina at Tahoe Joes with food, friends, and fun.  However, it was premature, because we celebrated her actual birthday in Romania.  Sunday, June 12th was Alina’s Birthday and we had a blast.  In fact we had many “blasts”-- you could even say the day was dynamite!  A plethora of explosives igniting and blowing us away, at various times and places throughout the day.  BAM! 

TNT #1, Alina dressed in traditional church clothes like she had for 18 years when she was living at home.  Cherry bomb #2, she received flowers from her brother Marius and his wife Augustina (as well as Alina’s husband). M40 #3, we went to her old (and traditional) church, where women and men sat on separate sides.  It’s also traditional for visitors get up front and share a small sermon or a song... so I did both!  Landmine #4, the whole family ate a traditional Romanian Sunday lunch outside, under a grapevine canopy...in the rain.  It doesn’t get much more memorable than that.  Grenade #5, we drove to the near by city of Targoviste while stopping by a natural spring (where Alina’s family get’s their drinking water), Marius’ newly bought land (where they will build their first house), and to see their current apartment. 

After a mirage of bombs of joy and excitement, the best was yet to come, (#6-- ran out of explosives) when we went to the small town of Baleni, where we met Augustina’s family.  We had drinks, dessert, and coffee outside and enjoyed the #1 Romanian past time:  Talking.  Our group talked and talked.  I didn’t understand more than 5% of what was said-- but it sounded like a fantastic conversation [If you’ve kept up with the blog, you may have noticed an intentional build of conflict in my lack of knowledge of the Romanian language-- more later].  Augustina’s parents are fascinating people, of whom I will write more about in the future.  #7, we went back to Marius and Augustina’s apartment in Targoviste and met Bebe and his girlfriend.  There we enjoyed the #1 American past time: watching YouTube.  Classic candid camera clips.  Overall, Alina had a very memorable birthday >>BOOM!<<