Errands and Education

We apologize for the lack of posts lately. The last several days have been rather unremarkable with B and I just getting back into the swing of things. B has been going back to his research centers to get some work done and I have been trying to accomplish some errands. Due to the lack of a clothes dryer here, we have been taking our heavier clothes (ie sweaters, etc) to our local dry cleaners. We must go quite often, as the ladies who work there know both of us by sight and though its not a particularly interesting errand, it has become my favorite place to go since they are always so nice. One clerk in particular is always a delight. Despite my lack of Romanian language skills and her lack of English, she always goes out of her way to make sure I understand the procedure, going as far as walking me to the posted schedule on the door or price list on the wall to point out the info she wants me to understand. She often talks to me a lot, but I usually only understand about 10% of what she is saying. She is so nice, however, that I always smile and say "da" (yes) a lot so she won't know I have no idea what she is saying. Also, their entire price list was significantly decreased at the beginning of December and they have a frequent user program, so all in all an enjoyable errand.

I also went grocery shopping and was able to buy "American Chocolate Cookies" from a store that seems to carry a lot of international products. We had bought one package of these last week and B is a fan. Though the packaging simply calls them Chocolate cookies, the signs on the display specify they are an American type cookie and indeed they are pretty similar to Chips Ahoy or such. I was also able to find today (at last) all-purpose, glass and bathroom "wipes", which is fantastic since I have really been missing bleach wipes. Now if I could just find a Febreeze like product, we would be in business.

In addition to the errands, I also found out today that I will be able to start formal Romanian language courses on Thursday through a local organization. I am excited to start the classes and hope that I can meet some other folks from the class. I had to take a pre-test today for placement and I think it will be pretty clear that I belong in the beginner class. I will also continue to meet with our landlords' son for conversation, which might be a better use of his time with me. -S