Don't let the bed bugs bite...for reals people.

Oy! Bad news everyone, we've been attacked by fleas. And it's way worse than mosquitoes, even though the bites are similar. They are worse only because they are in my bed. Every time I feel like a disgusting person, I try to remind myself (as Ally and the others have helped me) I am a very hygienic person. I don't have fleas, the apartment does. Still, it's a bit harder for me to fall asleep at night with that knowledge. Good thing I can sleep through anything right? Oh man, just talking about this makes me itchy. We'll figure this out though, little itchy bites won't kill me...just maim. Kidding....kidding! Basketball does enough of the maiming for me... :)

That's what I get for playing too hard on an asphalt court eh? I couldn't quite get all of the gravel out of it, so I may just bring that little bit of Romania home with me!

Alright, now that we've got the fleas etc. out of the way, and you still will all give me hugs when I get home, (remember, I don't have fleas) on to other business. First I want to say that I am very grateful for the knowledge that Ryan and all of the other missionaries are safe in Chile. 8.8...wow. My prayers are with them...

Aside from that very sad news, this week has been great. I finally got going with my research!! Thanks to an incredible woman I work with at Section 2 (not sure if I can say her name...) I have been able to get two interviews in this past week. For any of you that don't know, aside from working with the kids (which is wonderful, yet challenging, and oh so much more) I am here doing my own undergraduate research called "The Motivations to Nurse: A Study of Nurses and Nursing Students in Iasi, Romania." It's a professor mentored, university approved research project that stresses me out to the max! Anyway, that was such a relief to finally get to begin interviewing for my research :). Some other highlights of the week? We went to the Philharmonic to the "Seara de Balet si Opera" which was heaven for me! The music was incredible, plus they played excerpts from Offenbach, Carmen, and other classics and it was a lot of fun to get dressed up and go out to that!

I also had my first opportunity to go on splits with the sisters this week! I loved it...though apparently sister missionary apparel likes to give me a hard time. We were laughing so hard!

It really was a great experience for me, and would have only been made better if I had actually been able to freely converse with people. Really, I would love to serve a mission! I still don't know if it's in the cards for me but I'm still 19 so there's time to figure that out I suppose :) Anyway, Sora Kimball and I spent a couple of hours knocking apartments, and I had so much fun. They would open the door and automatically I'd take it away with "Bună seara! Credeţi în Dumnezeu?" Good evening! Do you believe in God?....wait for their answer and then let Sora Kimball take it away while I smile and nod. I've had quite a few people from home ask things like "So, are you fluent yet?" and my answer? No way! But I do alright, I get by. I'm pretty good at pretending that I know exactly what people are saying, and can say enough in response to make them think I know more than I do. Some days I do better than others :) I'm constantly learning, and it's a lot of hard work. I hope to know as much as I can before coming home, and I know that I'm capable of being fluent, time just doesn't permit. So I do the best with the time I can find and try to be happy with that. Wow, that was a tangent though! Basically, I loved playing missionary for a night, and have so much respect for what they spend each and every day doing.

On Saturday we got the chance to go and visit the city of Bacau (ba-co), which is about a two hour train ride away from Iaşi. It was my first time out of the city officially, and my first time on a real train with compartments and everything! The Harry Potter nerd in me was really excited about it, although it was certainly no Hogwarts Express. Similar set up, just...lots older and much less clean. Still fun though! We went with the majority of the youth from the branch here in Iaşi, and went for a combined activity with the youth there! It was a long day, but lots of fun!

Here's a picture of the sign on the front of branch in Bacau, and I love the name of the church. Just try saying all of that five times fast!

Here we have Erika, Radu, Mihai, our new friend Robby (who's here for a couple of weeks, he's come in the past with BYU but is now just returning to visit the kids), and Ally while playing a fun "Get to Know You" game.

Aurelia and I :)
Me, Elder Oberhannsly, Robby, and and others being very involved in a grueling game of balloon volleyball with a string for a net. After the activity we found ourselves with a lot of time to kill before our ten o'clock train ride home, so a few of us took a trip to the nearest grocery store to pick up food for the trip home and found a couple of treasures along the way. It was so foggy outside, the air just shimmered and it felt like I was constantly standing in a cloud. I was wet, but it wasn't raining, crazy! It made for some really great pictures, doesn't this just make you gasp?

And then for the best find ever, they don't mess around with their playgrounds here! I was SO excited, I mean just look!
Yes, that's right it's a mini Farris wheel!! Those would so be in every way illegal and considered unsafe in the states, but it sure was a lot of fun!

We summed up the week with a great time at church on Sunday, although we did have to say goodbye to Sora Jones, who's served her time and is going home. We will definitely miss her! I also learned today the full extent of why I am grateful for my trencher black coat. While hurrying to church in the morning, I had an...accident....

Kasey and I got our ab workout laughing about the fact that my skirt just randomly fell around my ankles! I couldn't believe it! And a Romanian man just happened to be walking past at the precise moment that it dropped and I yelped...awesome. Needless to say we got more than a few strange looks as I quickly remedied the problem. Once we were out of eye sight and could breathe again, Kasey just had to re-enact the moment for the camera and like I said before, I am truly grateful for the long black coat that has served me well :) Thanks for talking me into it Mom! It's been a great week, I can't believe I only have 47 days left!