Halloween in Romania

Instead of regular language lessons last night, Maria was invited to go for Halloween with Alexa and Florin. Mihaela came and picked her up around 4:30pm and they headed back to her house. Maria said they played some games, got costumes on, and practiced their poems.

After they were ready they went to the parents' houses, the grandparents' and other relatives' houses. When they were there, they recited poems in English and Romanian. They received "sweets" for their hard work.

When they came to our house, one boy was very pleased to "show off" his command of the English language. As soon as he came in, he turned to me and asked in English, "you do not speak Romanian?" I said, "no, do you speak English?". He said, with a slight lift of his chin, "yes, I do." I said, "I like your red hair". He just smiled!

At the end, the last boy stepped forward and said, "This is an American classic...(long dramatic pause)...Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat" Steve and I laughed out loud. He looked at us and someone asked, "it is American, yes" Steve replied, "yes, I've used it myself quite a few times!"

Maria had a wonderful time and we were grateful that the Bucurs took the time to include her in their plans. Here is a picture of the kids and the "sweets"!

Times have changed...

Warning: This post contains a high level of geekiness. You should already know which one of us put it together.

Ok, I'm just posting about daylight savings time. We just changed our clocks today and started wondering about the length of daylight here in Bucharest compared to our relatives in Greenville, SC and Schenectady, NY. Thanks to the internet, we didn't have to wonder very long.

Bucharest

Greenville, SC

Schenectady, NY

As you can see, the length of our days here in Bucharest is pretty similar to my hometown of Schenectady. Greenville, however, has a much longer day throughout the year. In December, Greenville will have nearly 1 extra hour of sunlight! You can get more data here for practically any city in the world. Each city has a cool graph to accompany the table.

So for you South Carolinians, are your making good use of all that extra daylight?

In Home Massages

When I woke up Thursday morning with a slight crick in my neck I asked Mihaela if she knew a good massage therapist. She said one of her good friends was a massage therapist. She called her right then and we booked two massages for this weekend.

Aurelia came to our house this afternoon and gave each of us an hour long massage. She was great! I could tell that she really knew what she was doing and we both were delighted with the massage. Modesty is not as crucial here as in the states but Steve agreed with me that he was comfortable the entire time.

The kicker is the price! For two hours of massage, in our home, the cost was $20 USD Total and that includes a tip. Steve was ready to book her for next weekend. We needed to see when the competition is then I'm sure we'll be giving her a call.

Hand-Knit Rhythmic Toe Shoes

We have had a pair of rhythmic toe shoes hand knit for Maria here in Romania. All the girls on her team wear this kind. Even the National Team girls, who work out in the same gym, practice in the hand knit shoes. Maria says they are more comfortable than our leather ones. They move easier and I would imagine feel more like socks. Of course we took pictures of Maria's feet after I sewed the elastic on them!

Paying Bills

We are still in the process of learning how and where we pay bills here. Let me go through all the bills we have:

Phone Bill - We get an actual bill in the mail and then I can go to the phone company which is at the end of our road or I can pay this at most post offices. This one has become easy since I just carry the bill with me and run in a post office when I have a minute. This is what I imagine most Romanians do also, since the bill does not come with the return envelope enclosed, as it is in the states.

Cable - This bill comes about 1-2 days before it is due. We thought this required a long trip to the company which is several bus stops away and then a long walk. We discovered, however, that they have a satellite office in the Cora (like Walmart). So when this bill comes, Maria and I get to go eat lunch at KFC...I mean go to Cora and pay it!

Electric - The lady actually hand delivers our bill in the evening and we can choose to pay her on the spot. If we aren't home, she leaves it in our mailslot and we then have to walk to the electric company. Not too far or, once again, pay it at the post office.

Hot Water and Heat - Our next door neighbor reads the meters and takes up the money at various times downstairs in the lobby. We still don't understand when these times are scheduled. Tonight, as we came in from language lessons, they were downstairs. So we quickly came up, got extra cash, and the camera and headed downstairs. The picture is of her "office" downstairs and our receipt - stamped of course!



She mentioned that since Romania will be joining the EU in January that all the heating costs had gone up. We paid around $70 USD for the month of hot water and heat. This is higher than last year but not outrageous. Many of the people here are not very excited about what the EU will mean for their day-to-day lives.

Gymnastics Attire

These are the clothes that Maria's coaches want her to practice in until the heat is turned on in the gym! They are very concerned that the girls will get sick from being cold. This culture has yet to embrace the idea that illness comes from germs and not the temperature of the air.

Maria has on: A long sleeve unitard, two long sleeve t-shirts, long tights, ear muffs, thick socks, and gloves.

The Losing Streak Has Ended!

It's official, my losing streak at Monopoly has ended. I have won the past two nights in a row. I know my blogging audience has been very concerned over my lack of Monopoly skills so now you can sleep better tonight!

My Husband ROCKS!

Steve called from work and told me to go get the remote for the air conditioning. I got it and he said to look and see if there was a "sunshine" next to the "snowflake". I said, "Yes, there is, does that mean what I think it means?"

It did!!!!

We now have heat in the den. The bedrooms are still chilly but we can add blankets to the beds to sleep. Just the sound of the heater running is warm. :) I am so thankful since it is supposed to get down to 36 degrees tonight!

Maria and I did bake cookies yesterday. Mimi, Steve's friend from work, had given us 38 Hershey Kisses. Someone gave them to her from the American Embassy. So I made one of my favorite cookies. Peanut Butter Blossoms with a kiss on top. Yummy! Steve took some to work to share with the Romanians.

I'm a much more content woman since the tip of my nose has returned to normal!