Buna Dimineata! (Good Morning!)

View from my room

Temperature: 0 degrees Celsius (32 F)
Time: 10:40 (7 hours ahead of you)
I love it!

I was just answering the three questions I’ve been asked the most since I’ve been here from peeps back in the U.S. to get them out of the way :)

Marc, Marya and I have had our fair share of adventures since our plane landed in Bucharest, Romania three days ago. I must say that the randomness of the stray dogs (and the occasional scares when they trot behind us in a dark alley) account for most of our culture shock. Marya and I probably think it’s a good idea to start walking around the front of our building to avoid such situations, but Marc thinks it’s “more fun” to walk in the scary alleys. I’m just waiting for one of us to get bitten and develop a fun case of Rabies. Pictures on this topic to come…oh, and I forgot, I already stepped in some stray dog crap. Marc’s luggage rolled through some on the way in too, so we really haven’t had the best of luck in the poo area.

The majority of Romanians can speak a little bit of English or at least get the general gist of what we’re trying to say, but the barrier can be difficult at times. We already met a potential friend because I was at a register in a supermarket and apparently the woman was asking me if I had a club card and I had no clue what she was referring to. So I’m shaking my head and saying sorry while she’s looking at me like I have three heads when the girl behind me says, “Say Nu”. So we struck up a conversation and she (Korrin) was telling us how she moved here from Canada to open up a coffee shop, which, turns out, is right near our office. I’m pretty sure we’ll be stopping by there some day this week, so I’ll keep you posted on our new city guide.

One of the most hilarious things I’ve seen so far is Amit (co-worker) open a coke bottle with his teeth. Yes, his teeth, and we’re not talking a twist off. I think you could hear Marya and me gasp from a kilometer away. So, what else? Let’s see…controlling the length of a toilet flush, the tiniest elevators you can imagine, yellow/brown Money Pit-style water, X-rated commercials/advertisements, crazy cab drivers, leaky backpacks…and the list goes on.

Oh, almost forgot, the picture is of one of the views from my room overlooking the Dambovita River. We live in like the Times Square of Bucharest so if you follow that curve of the road backwards, there is a square called Piata Unirii, which is more or less the hub of the city. More to come soon…