Random tidbits

The last couple of days have not been very unusual as B and I find ourselves developing a routine. Yesterday I spent the day catching up on emails and visited with our landlady for a few minutes while B was at the Institute for the Study of the Holocaust meeting with the Director of Roma Studies and working at the Library of the Academy. Yesterday, I was excited to try the Christmas blend of coffee from Starbucks. It was cold in the apartment and I had more than my usual one cup of coffee, when our landlady asked me in to visit, and so I had an espresso as well. By the time B came home and we ran a quick errand, I was feeling pretty jittery and hungry. B was so nice to make some pasta while I was feeling sick and we had a simple but nice dinner.

Today B was back to more research and I spent time cleaning up in the apartment and (I must admit) cramming for my Romanian lesson. The lesson went well, but was kind of long. This evening B and I met with a colleague of his who has just finished her Fulbright time here and is off to the Holocaust Museum-quite a switcheroo! We had dinner at La Mama, a local "home cooking" Romanian chain of restaurants. I have to confess I wasn't exactly looking forward to the meal as I have not been overly impressed by Romanian food, but the evening was quite nice - the company AND the food. Its too bad that this particular friend is leaving so soon as she seems very nice and fun, but we are invited to a going away party for her tomorrow and hope, among other things, to meet more nice folks here in Bucharest.

We have been lucky to have experienced a fairly mild winter so far in Bucharest. It has not snowed yet, and though the sun has hidden on occassion, it has only been VERY cold a few days. Tonight when we were walking home, however, we experienced another weather phenomenon-wind. At one point, there were a few gusts that we both thought would blow us away! It's a good thing this happened at the end of the night becuase my windswept hairdo was NOT cute!

On our walks to and from dinner tonight we also noticed several areas where Christmas lights and decorations have been going up, which helps us to get in the mood. Apparently in Romania, the tradition is to wait to put up decorations until Christmas Eve, so we have been happy to see some already. We are getting excited for the upcoming holidays and hope y'all are too. -S