A Day of Rest...sort of

Today, I've returned to a coffee shop called Haute Cup, that I came to yesterday.  I considered trying someplace else, but this place has many wonderful things, including brightly colored décor, iced coffee, kind and handsome baristas :), and the thing that shocks me most: they bring a cup of water to my table along with my coffee.  This is huge!  Water is pretty much never free here and is actually pretty expensive (relatively speaking), and is never brought without asking.  I am amazed my body is still  functioning with how little water I've had on this trip...but this place helps me!

I'm liking Constanta, mostly.  It's weird because it's a huge vacation destination for people (in the summertime though) but there are many parts that are totally run down.  The Black Sea is fantastically beautiful, but the town itself, at least the parts I've seen so far, hasn't wowed me nearly as much as the others I've been to.  I've also realized that I'm currently further away from home than I've ever been in my life!  A strange thing to think about.  But anyway, here's what I've been up to:

beginnings of the sunrise from my window

Yesterday morning was wonderful.  I got up early and watched the sun rise over the sea, then headed out for the morning.  The weather was much improved from the night before, and I came to Haute Cup and fell in love with it, then journeyed on to a nearby church. 


sunrise, continued



Definitely coffee time!



Haute Cup

 I'd found this church randomly online - I just looked up the most walkable Baptist church - but truly, the Lord was so kind in leading me there.  Funny thing is, most churches start with singing, and I've been told that when I sing in Romanian I sound Romanian, so I get this sweet experience of almost blending in for a little while. :)  The service was 2.5 hours long - which is normal here - and really great.  I'm so impacted by the way that people pray in Romanian churches.  It is a huge part of the service, and instead of just 1 person praying from up front, people are invited to pray aloud from the congregation.  At one point in yesterday's service, the pastor said that we were going to split into smaller groups to pray for some of the health needs in the church.  I had to blow my cover and tell the ladies in my group that I am not Romanian...but it was sweet because we had a conversation about it, entirely in Romanian, in which one of the ladies said, "It's ok, you can pray in English.  God understands."  It was sweet to pray with them.  Another highlight of the service was singing "Before the Throne" in Romanian, which is probably my overall favorite worship song in English.  I had prayed before the service that I would truly be able to worship there, and God totally answered that prayer.  I had another conversation with the lady next to me on my way out, still in Romanian, and was so glad to have been able to worship alongside those sweet people and not have them need to cater to my English.



Bulevardul Tomis, kind of a restaurant row

After church, I changed and went to find lunch.  I got a shawarma plate at a fast food place, then tried to do a little bit of sightseeing.  It started to get cold again though, and windy, so I did sort of a speedy version.  It's a super old city - the oldest continuously inhabited city in Romania, said to have been founded in 600 BC as the city of Tomis.  So lots of fascinating things to see...but I was cold and went back to my apartment after taking some pictures.  I journeyed out again for dinner at a traditional Romanian place I'd noticed earlier, and got what is now my favorite soup here, which I was introduced to in Cluj - bean and smoked meat (what kind of meat?  No idea!  Who am I??).  I then stopped at a little market and bought water, Fanta, and some candy, and headed back to relax some more at home with these refreshments in hand.  I live-streamed my home church service, watched tv a bit (lots of coverage about Obama's trip to Cuba!) and read some.  The internet stopped working, which made me feel pretty isolated,  but it was otherwise a good night.


Ancient grave marker from the 3rd century



pretty shot of Piata Ovidiu, the square that had seemed spooky
the night before :)

Ok, so it's still a little spooky.  This is a stray dog staring at me
from the 2nd floor of an abandoned building

one of many pics I took of the sea

 

love the colors in this one

there's a sea behind me, but you can't really tell

fun traditional décor at my dinner place, complete with
a well-dressed mannequin.

Today is supposed to be warmer (56 degrees!) and totally sunny.  I have a little exploration route worked out that I am pretty excited about.  According to the weather app, it should be at its warmest at 3:30 this afternoon, so I brought some flip flops along in my backpack and am really hoping to dip my toes in the sea at about that time :-)  Time will tell!