Hello from Romania!

This week, I took a train from Cluj-Napoca to Timisoara. I spent six hours in a cabin with a friend, two music students, a young girl hoping to be a folk singer, two schoolteachers, and a blind, elderly woman. It was interesting to see these generations interact. At first, it was quiet and awkward. The lady schoolteacher was the first to open up, and started talking to the blind woman, and they exchanged stories about growing up and what it’s like to be old. The schoolteacher was Pentecostal, and the blind woman was Orthodox. Needless to say, their life experiences were completely different. But it was so interesting to hear them converse, and to hear the way they experienced life (it is so different from mine!) At one point, the blind woman started telling us that she lost her eyes 40 years ago, but that with God’s help she didn’t let it stop her from living her life. She writes poetry (which she performed for us), cooks (except pancakes, she says, because she can’t see when it is ready to be flipped), and makes socks for selling. What an incredible human being. My friend and I were talking a little bit with the other girl our age, but for the most part we sat and kept to ourselves. I was wondering at the readiness to talk to others that the older generation seems to have–the schoolteacher and the blind woman were so quick to make ties. I think the real bonding moment during that train ride, was when one of the musicians took out his Spanish guitar and started playing. It was sunset, and quiet except for the music and the sound of the train. The schoolteacher kept complimenting them, and praising God for such good, talented young people in her presence. The rest of us sat in peace, listening and smiling….except for the other schoolteacher. He seemed to be “tolerating” our company, and I was waiting for him to say something at any moment. After about an hour, he asks if he can borrow the guitar. Shocked, the musician handed it over. The schoolteacher warms up his fingers, and then continues with “She’ll be coming ’round the mountain when she comes”, in a thick, Romanian accent. Also on the set-list: “1 little, 2 little, 3 little Indians” and “My Bonnie lies over the ocean”. It was incredible. We found out that he teaches English in a little school outside of Timisoara, and often entertains them with his own guitar. We all had a story, and it was incredible to have an experience where complete strangers enjoy each other’s company. We threw aside generational differences, and lived in that moment together.

I feel that here in Romania is where I see generation gaps the most–an elderly woman walks by a little bit crouched, covered from head-to-toe in clothing that is what you typically imagine when you think of Eastern Europe, and quickly past her walks a teenage boy dressed like he is ready to go to the club (popped collar and all). They don’t understand each other, but they live in the same world. I see this every day here, and I hear it expressed on the bus, in the courtyard after church, everywhere. This is why it is a moment I will never forget.