Day 5 in Romania!

Nick and I have been in Romania since late Saturday afternoon. On Sunday we walked through the pedestrian area of Pitesti witnessing small children driving around the electric vehicles - a vendor is there on a daily basis and rents them out - so it does look like a midway ride area and you have to keep watch to avoid being involved in a collision. Most buildings are concrete structures built by the communists. It is quite bleak looking but changes are rapid throughout the city. Gardens are being planted, outside exercise centres for adults with treadmills and stationary bikes and large big box stores are sprouting up although they are local brands. A real highlight of this area is it is PRE touristry - few restaurants will take credit cards and very little english is spoken. Thank goodness for our HFH - Habitat for Humanity affiliate rep., Alex who is with us for each meal and has showed us around the city on several occasions. He chooses our nightly restaurant and we have not been disappointed. Nick has even managed to get the choice meal for several nights now - i.e. we all wished we would have ordered what he ordered. Our HFH Team is small but absolutely awesome!! Out team leader Ernie who is from Victoria, Max and Cathy from Nanaimo and us!! We started our build on Monday morning at 8 am. Each day we go from 8 am to 5 pm at the work site. The Construction Manager briefed us on Monday and outlined that a scallfolding structure (120 feet in length - 2 stories high) needed to be built by Friday when larger groups would be joining us. We exceeded expectations and the structure was completed by Tuesday morning and the chipboard cladding needed to be fixed in spots where it warped on the second storey. The entire team is kept busy at all times. We are working with some partner families who are eligible to receive one of these flats when they are complete. We saw a flat on Tuesday and it is tiny, with one bedroom for the parents and children, a small bathroom and small open area with kitchen space and living room/ dining area. Perhaps 500 square feet at most! The unit that is being completed will have 8 of these flats in it. Apparently, current living conditions are quite terrible with up to 3-4 families sharing an apartment together. That is, 4 bedrooms in one apartment would house four families so the prospect of having one of these units is a dream!
We are having trouble uploading pictures so we will have to go to another internet cafe to try again another day.
Alex is meeting us at 5 pm where we will meet with a family who is awaiting one of these units. I must admit the work is tough at times and we're both quite tired. We hope to hear from you soon as we're missing everyone A LOT!! Me especially!! I apologize that we're not able to write individual emails to you all but our days are pretty full with only time to get something on the blog. Thinking of you always!!
Brenda and Nick