Trams and Getting to Church on Time....

Money is a little tight right now. Over the past year a pop has gone from being less than a dollar to over a dollar. The dollar is losing value by the day and while Romanians are pumped about this, my bank account says otherwise : ) So, to save money we decided to catch the tram to church this morning. It's 1/8th of the price of a taxi.
We first have to take a taxi from Marghita to the train station in Oradea (about 40 min.). That trip costs (for a full car) about $16 each way. With 2 kids and 2 adults it's a full car. Once you get to Oradea you have to take either the tram or another taxi to get to church. That taxi costs about $5 each way. The tram only costs .50 Cents per way. Big savings! Okay, so we get out of the taxi at the train station and I see the tram we need come around the corner at that exact moment. So I grabbed Caleb's hand and told my friend and her son to run and we were able to catch it before it left. The thing is, we weren't able to buy tickets and get on the tram before it left. Trams can sometimes be 30 minutes before the next one you need comes by, so I didn't want to let this one pass and chance being late for church. I told my friend that at the next stop I would get off, while she stood in the door making sure the tram couldn't leave, buy tickets for us and then we'd be set (there are tram "police" who go around fining you if you don't have a ticket.) The first tram stop we come to has no place to buy tickets. The 2nd stop on our journey had a place to buy tickets but it was closed. So, I took out the money for the ticket and held it in my hand so that if the ticket police came around they would see that I had the money ready and I wasn't trying to steal the trip to church. We were 1 stop away from church when the ticket patrollers boarded out car. They made us get off and the guy and I embarked on a long arguing coversation of why I didn't have a ticket. I explained to him, "Dude, I didn't want to be late for church and I knew if we missed that tram we would have to wait another 30 minutes and we'd be late for church. So, I tried to buy a ticket at the next 2 stops - no luck. I resorted to holding the money in my hand up high, even before you got on, to show that I wasn't stealing the trip."
He and I went back and forth, back and forth...then his patroller friend arrived.
He liked us.
I think he attends the same church actually. We were laughing and still trying to talk our way out of the $16 dollar fine...the friend helped because he believed our story (which was true so he should believe it : ) and after all was said and done we were able to get the fine down to only $8 total. Whew. The funny part is on the way back to the train station after church the tram was SO CROWDED and not once during the trip did the ticket people show up. Yet, in the morning when there were only a few on the tram of course then they had to show up : )
Thankfully even with all of the hassle we were able to get to church just as it started! YAY!
So, a fun little story of life today in Romania!