Week in Review

As B and I are sitting and relaxing after a nice meal with a new Fulbright friend, we have realized that we have not written a post of our goings-on for some time. Last Sunday was quite rainy and cold out, which made it a perfect day to go to the movies. We saw Milk with some friends at a Multiplex theatre in a local mall followed by some drinks and snacks and a rousing discussion about the American political system. Milk was a great movie and we both very much enjoyed it; Sean Penn does a great job. There were few people (about 10) in the theatre with us and we are fairly sure most of them were American. I am told true Romanians do not go anywhere until mid-afternoon/early evening on Sundays-I think the Romanian friend with whom we attended the matinee may disagree.

Since we hunkered down all weekend, we were badly in need of groceries by Monday. After a quick dinner at a sushi place in our neighborhood we picked up some supplies and headed home. On Tuesday, a friend from the Fulbright program who is stationed in a town a few hours from Bucharest came to stay with us for the night before an early morning plane ride. We had a great time with our friend and took him to a Lebanese restaurant not far from here, which was enjoyed by all. Wednesday and Thursday were more or less normal days for us- research, errands, work around the house, and Romanian lessons. Friday was very cold and B had to get to the archives early, so when he returned mid-afternoon, cold and tired, we relaxed for a while and had a snack. Later we started to make dinner- a simple pasta meal. I opened a new box of pasta I had bought a couple months ago and noticed an odd odor. Luckily, I began pouring the pasta in a plastic container we use for storage when we noticed many of the noodles were in fact molded! It was disgusting and so we had to revise our dinner plans. We were able to have a nice dinner anyway and relax by watching a few episodes of West Wing online.

We started out our Saturday as one should- in pajamas and with pancakes and eggs. Afterward, we decided to go for a walk to get some fresh air. The one Indian restaurant we have not yet been to is supposed to be near our apartment, so we decided to try to find it. We walked about 15 minutes from our place and soon found the street on which the restaurant is located. As we were crossing the street to get closer to the restaurant we realized that the post office we had been to in November at which we picked up our package was in front of us. Not only had we been told by our landlady that we could ONLY get there by car or tram, but we realize now that the taxi that took us there used a very circuitous route! While we may still need a taxi in order to get a package back home, this post office is in easy walking distance- even on a day as cold as today. We also found a very nice, tiny bakery tucked away on the same street. We stopped in and bought a couple of cookies that were really tasty. This place is no bigger than a postage stamp, but the amazing baking smells and beautiful presentation will make you instantly want to try everything they have. They appeared to make several types of cakes and breads in addition to the cookies and we will certainly have to go another day to pick up some items to bring home. The Indian restaurant we were looking for and found is quite beautiful from the outside, even though the street on which it is located is somewhat unattractive. As B and I were headed back to our apartment, we heard a loud bang or boom sound and turned around to see some smoke coming from the courtyard of a nearby apartment block. We quickly walked back to the main road and headed home. Although its likely the sound was merely some type of fire cracker, we had no interest in finding out more about it.

Tomorrow we plan to meet with another friend of ours for dinner and drinks and skype with a friend from home and B's parents. Then, its back to the normal work week grind for us. -S