Around the World, Pt. 2

There is still so much to process as I look through my pictures from Romania. It's hard to describe the country or just the city of Oradea. The entire time we were there, I couldn't wrap my mind around a way to describe what it looked like, felt like, smelled like, tasted like...

...the only word I can come up with is this: unfinished. That's how it looks. Some things look Westernized, and others look completely undone. Some houses are big, beautiful, bright-colored homes with a gated driveway, and others might live a mile down the road in a hut made of tarp and random scraps of wood. Brand new things are being built while older buildings are in shambles. Either way--new or old--things just look like a work in progress, incomplete, unfinished.

While the looks of Romania seem unfinished, that was the feeling there in the hearts of the people. I don't think that's a bad place to be. In fact, I wish we allowed ourselves to be a little less finished and complete in our state both spiritually and economically as a nation. My instincts were to look down in pity at them as we often do other countries, because we think they have less than we have. While it may be true in the sense of belongings, I think we're missing a lot of the pieces that they seem to have in place. When we left, my joy was greater than I had experienced in a long time, and I know that's a piece that I found in Romania. I think there are many more left to find.

I'm still processing so much from this trip, but here are more pictures to enjoy and allow you to process some of the beauty of the city of Oradea and its people. I plan on posting more soon! Trust me, there are plenty...and these are only some of my favorites!