Day 9- Friday, June 23. Radauti, Romania

Friday was another full workday, however, on a slightly changed schedule from “normal”. This is our fifth day on the jobsite, and team members are each feeling the stress of a long week with late bedtimes. There are lots of tired muscles, many thoughts about “what is happening at home”, and at least one cold.

After breakfast, we (our team) decided to go to the local bazaar, which is held all day, each Friday in the downtown Radauti area. The bazaar is a primary location for townspeople to get fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as other domestic supplies. While there were concerns from Habitat officials on whether we would be safe from pickpockets or otherwise be crime targets, we decided that it was worth the risk. The bazaar is a wonderful cultural exchange, where many different types of people can be found and observed.

While Radauti is a small city, only about 30,000 people, there are many gypsies and beggars that one needs to be wary of. Americans can be targets of crime since they usually carry large amounts of money (by Romanian standards) and typically “stand out” very easily in a crowd. In many cases this is simply due to standard of dress, casualness with wallets, money, and purses, height and light complexion. While I never felt unsafe, we were continually warned of the hidden dangers that can lurk in a poor area, much as might be the case in a deprived area of an American city.

The team did work a full work day on site, ending at 7:00 p.m. due to the late morning start following the bazaar. Today’s challenges included additional painting, installation of floor insulation, and installation of laminate floors. The ten homes are nearing completion, and the dedications should happen at the end of June. All that is left on most homes is final touches on flooring and paint, and then the installation of trim, cabinets, and fixtures. Our team was very instrumental in getting the building schedule back on track, one that was slipping in weeks preceeding our arrival. It is very gratifying to see these homes near completion and the excitement and anticipation on the faces of the families, especially the children. All of the team members are bonding in wonderful ways. We are working well as a group, leaning on each other, and putting egos aside.
Tomorrow, Saturday, is our last day on the worksite. We are not sure what, exactly, we will do tomorrow, but our feelings are mixed as we