So here's another story from summers in Romania. This is an old blog that I posted on MySpace...this is from last summer...

This one takes place in a cave (I'm kinda claustrophobic and a little scared of the dark so I don't really care for caves, but I went in anyway). Exploring Romanian caves is more like a spelunking (I don't think I spelled that right) adventure. We had to climb through trees and bushes down this hill. There really was no trail. This old Romanian man with no teeth was our guide. He was really nice, but it was funny to see him smile. Anyway, we slipped and slid down the hill to the mouth of this cave.

It was not lit and there were no clear paths. In fact we all had to pair together and carry flashlights. I don't know how this stuff always happens to me, but I was paired with Mircea Litean. Those of you who know Mircea can start laughing now. For those of you who don't, let me explain.

Mircea is one of the ten kids who live at Casa Noua (the new house). He is ten years old with blonde hair and big glasses.

He also only has one volume: LOUD! He doesn't have an inside voice. He is very funny (if you understand what he's saying, but he doesn't like people laughing at him). He's also very energetic and a little mischievious. Finally, he is also very clumsy.

SO...I was paired with Mircea and we happened to be the one team without a flashlight. Now this cave was dark...like pitch-black in some places. So I was blindly trying to make my way through this cave with a walking disaster gripping my hand.

One part of the cave was dimly lit by natural light from the ceiling of the cave. I could kinda see a large log. So I tried to guide Mircea over it. Then as he hopped over the log, I heard him exclaim, "Yuck!!!). I had no idea what this was about but I suddenly felt myself pulled to the side as Mircea tried to avoid a large, deep puddle of mud. He managed to escape unharmed, but I found myself knee deep in a mud puddle.

I could barely see anything, but I suddenly felt water wash over my shoes and up my legs (I was wearing jeans at the time). I turned to Mircea and said, "Multumesc (Thank you), Mircea," because in avoiding the puddle, he managed to drag me through it. He just laughed and said he was sorry.

When we finally emerged from the cave, I got a good look at myself. My shoes and jeans were a nice shade of brown and were caked with wet mud. My tennis shoes are still stained with mud and I just laugh whenever people ask me how I got them so dirty...but I couldn't stay mad at Mircea. That is impossible!