The last two days have been kind of a blur. I'm kind of glad I have this blog to make some kind of order of them. They're not a blur, because so much has happened, more because of my state of mind. I've been sleeping a lot at weird times and I can see how this internet stuff could be a way to escape the discomfort that comes from being bombarded with different stimuli.

I went wandering Wednesday. I didn't get too far. I got some magic pizza finally. It was delicious. Just how I remembered it. I started walking. I passed the Teatrul National, took some pictures, stopped by the bookstore there to see if there were any particularly interesting children's books. Found a cool dictionary completely made up of phrases. I panned through a few. There sure are a lot of ways to say that someone is a little off in both our languages. As I stepped out of the bookstore I saw two 20 somethings in white shirts. I stalked them past the langosi stand and down the stairs toward the villa. Like literally 3 feet behind them most of the way. In Romanian, I asked them if they were mormons. They have a new word for elder on their nametags, and I asked them what that means. They asked me where I lived and I said seattle. Uh oops. They told me they were going to give one of the sisters a blessing at the Villa. They didn't seem to want any help so I went back to get a Langosi. Then I walked past the orphanage in hopes of glimpsing one of my kids. Part of me was hoping to see Mihai outside with a minga, but until writing this I didn't realize how impossible that would be. I started walking and I was like, I wanna see the villa, plus didn't I run into these guys for a reason? I went and asked them if they knew where a hardware store was. They told me. I was kind of expecting this little place that Andrew and I went to last time I was here. I called Radu on my way over there; he told me about outreach that night.

I went down to the hardware store. They have a new place called Prakteker which is exactly like home depot. It was kind of a mind warping experiencing being inside this place. Me and Andrew were wishing for a place like this when we were trying to get stuff done for Alex. Anyway, it's just past Iulius mall and it was HUGE. I got a shower curtain for the girls' apartment across the hall and by shower curtain I mean a set of tubes that wrap around the tub which you secure to the wall with provided holds and one, which you hang from the ceiling. I got a pink one. I walked home with enough time to see if the thing would work and grab a drink of water and a couple twizzlers from my 2 lb bag (for emergencies).

I got my camera stolen at outreach. When you get stuff stolen here, it is your fault. It's kind of like letting your guard down in a fight, but when you first get here you sometimes forget that you're in the fight. Later on it becomes second nature. That is one of the first lessons you should learn. I learned it a long time ago and again in the prep class; I'm not stupid, but sometimes I do stupid things. Forest Gump's mom can (insert obscene idiom that communicates that I don't respect her opinion). At any rate, the second I realized it was stolen I had a flashback to the prep course where Holly said, "Don't bring your laptops or cameras to outreach... cameras to outreach... to outreach... outreach... reach... each... ch." Yeah, just like that. So I won't be posting pictures or vids on here for awhile.

I started telling everybody at outreach, not really wanting to accuse them. I wasn't really. I was just in WTF mode. I wasn't mad for very long and I wasn't surprised for very long either. I was just like dang, there's some important things on there. Well the most important was a video Robert recorded for me telling me he was gonna miss me. Robert's a guy I take care of who has become a really trusted friend. Other than that, outreach was really fun. I got to hang out with Radu and Andreea and saw some people I hadn't seen in a long time... and play cards and ping pong with them.

On the way home, one of the sisters who is pretty tight with this kid Iulian (who is known for stealing crap) confronted him about it. I kept walking. What was I gonna do, kick his ass? I really appreciated that gesture though. The sister was from Brasov and her companion was polynesian. They could definitely hold their own here, which I've heard is one of the most dangerous areas in the mission for sisters.

More about the missionaries. Every single one of them out here has met me before, except the one from Brasov (and come to think of it, she probably has too when I was here before). One of em taught me when I used to go to the MTC with Dorothy. One of them I met on a plane from Seattle to Utah, and the others all taught me in the MTC, some even very recently. I was thinking back, trying to remember if I had been an impatient jerk with any of them. One of them said it would have been a service if I had, because it's a lot more like the field.

That night I took a sleeping pill. I don't know if it's being used to the tour or the excitement, or the heat, or jetlag, but I'm having trouble getting more than 4 hours or so of sleep at a time. I'm pretty overly affected by medicine. I slept till like 130 or 2. No crap. That was today. I can't believe that I'm in Iasi with some of my last time to be alone and wander on my own and I'm sleeping so much during the time I can do that. I tried cooking for the first time here. I made some oatmeal someone left in the other apartment and WaaaaaaaaaAAAAaaay too much pasta. Pasta gets bigger when you cook it and when you don't think straight. Mario came over to get the money so we can get into the orphanage earlier. She complimented me on my Romanian again and told me in effect that I should know better than to get my camera stolen. Exactly.

I went out for non alcoholic drinks with Stefana. It's not a date (Holly and Ashley), because she's engaged woo hoo! She'd just been around the country with him and we got caught up on each other's lives and I gave her a Huxley book that she had requested. It felt good to be out of the house and with someone I know. I don't realize how much I need social interaction, especially since a lot of times I really enjoy being on my own. Like yesterday I called Mario from the hardware store to confirm my shower curtain purchase after being alone all day and she was like why are you asking me this? If you need it you should buy it. Do you need my help, we can go tomorrow if you want? Then I just said without realizing it, "Yeah I guess I don't. I think I just needed someone to talk to." I suppose communicating emotional vulnerability isn't the best way to convince Mario that I'm a good facilitator, but I guess I was kind of lonely.

Iasi has a different feel when you're on your own. It's a little more exciting and fun in some ways and a little more overwhelming without the buffer of the group. I can get around a little better than I used to. I'm a little more aware of what's going on. It's less fantasy, but more beautiful.