Friends and Sunshine

We haven't written in a bit, and thought it was past time for an update. This week we got back into our regular routine--I went to do research every day, and S had her tutoring, language classes, and usual errands. After I came home from research and S finished her tutoring Monday, we decided to take a walk down an unexplored street in our neighborhood, and found three sites of interest. First we found a small specialty food shop that also had a cafe and even sold a wide variety of fine chocolates, and right next door was an organic/natural food store. Frankly it didn't have much, but we might pop in there from time to time just out of curiosity. We also discovered a Lebanese restaurant and decided we'd have to try it soon. On Tuesday we both had a pretty rotten day: S was confronted with more than the usual amount of rudeness while shopping, and I had numerous hassles at the archives, topped off with someone attempting to steal stuff out of my shoulder bag. We decided to head to the Lebanese restaurant we found the day before to cheer us up--I think I enjoyed it more than S did (my kebab was delicious, whereas her baba ganoush wasn't terribly interesting), but it did put us in a better mood.

Wednesday and Thursday were fairly uneventful, but on Friday we met our friend Diana for dinner at what has become our favorite restaurant, Karishma (see one of our earlier restaurant reviews). As always, we had an excellent meal, made all the better by our friend's company. We talked about a wide range of issues, from research, to the ins and outs of life in Bucharest, to American politics. After returning home, we capped the evening off with an episode of our favorite tv show, The West Wing.

Friday was also wonderful for another reason--the weather! The temperature soared up to the mid-fifties, and in the afternoon the sun even came out. Today the weather was even better (the temp. was the same, but it was sunnier outside), and we both agreed later that Bucharest is much more pleasant when the sky is clear--it provides a nice contrast to the grey buildings. Even better, we got to enjoy the day with several of our Fulbright friends based in Bucharest. We met them at a cafe on the same street as the National Archives, and after hanging out there for a bit we walked around Bucharest for a couple hours. And based on a tip from one of the Fulbrighters- we actually found Maple Syrup (thanks, Emily)! Tomorrow, depending on the weather we'll either check out a large outdoor market or catch a movie, but so far as I'm concerned, this weekend has been a lot of fun already.--B