We're experiencing a different sector of the city this week, as Arina and her daughter Ninni have come from Sweden for a week and are staying at the apartment they've been loaning us in Colentina. We're staying across town, in the extra room of an independent living facility for young women served by a non-profit we've volunteered with. The organization was kind enough to put us, and the pup, up for the week. The girls welcomed us to our new spot by bringing bowls of chocolate breakfast cereal, doused in chocolate milk, to our door. By far the strangest meal we've had so far on our journey, but a sweet, cute gesture.

We moved recently to a different neighborhood, as Arina and her daughter Ninni were coming to stay in their apartment for a week. As in Arina's nighborhood, here there are big blocks of high-rise apartments along the main road, and hundred year old single-story houses in the neighborhoods behind the new buildings. Walking through the old neighborhood, we came across the "National office of state secrets," where we witnessed an interesting interaction.

We sometimes feel like parents who don't have a trusted babysitter - it's hard to get out and do "adult" activities without worrying about the well-being of our pitic (this word is hard to translate, but it's what we call him a lot - it's something like a cross between a dwarf and an elf, and is sometimes translated as "pygmy").

It was a bit odd to celebrate Thanksgiving in Romania, where it's not among the holidays on the annual calendar. On one hand, there was a certain lack of festive atmosphere that made it feel a little lonely to be among the few celebrating. On the other hand, the market and the grocery store weren't as crowded as they'd be at home. You lose some, you win some. We took advantage of the latter to arm ourselves and prepare a (modest) feast in the apartment's small kitchen. We planned a menu, cleaned the apartment and rearranged the furniture, and tried to tire the puppy out early, so he'd be something akin to sane while we were eating dinner. And we ate! Our menu made only two nods to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner: cooked carrots and homemade bread. Here's what was on the table:

Big week for desserts!
Last night, Liviu made vargabeles, a Hungarian dessert popular in Transylvania (where both Hungarians and Romanians live). He made it as a pudding, but it can also be made as a pie. Liviu's version:

Tonight, we got together with two of the kids that Allen worked with years ago. They're now young women, making their lives, with partners and jobs, in Bucuresti. They still like to play, though - on the way home from dinner and a few rounds of pool, Petruta asked, with a sort of innocently wicked glee, if either of us had ever sworn in Romanian. I laughed, and said "I don't know how!" But that doesn't mean I haven't wanted to...

Searching for an adoptive family for our puppy has been interesting, frustrating, exciting, discouraging... and we continue to search.
He's been listed now by a Dutch NGO that predicts they can place him in a couple weeks. His listing, as long as it lasts, can be seen on their puppy page. Meanwhile, we continue to network every day, sending

Liviu and Adriana treated us to a performance of the Engineer's Orchestra, an excellent amateur performance group of Bucuresti engineers. The group's been rehearsing and performing for about 50 years, and they've even toured in wester Europe and the US! As an added bonus, the performance was at one of my favorite buildings in town, the Atheneum.

July 1, 2005, Romania's national bank issued a new currency, revaluing the Leu at 10,000x its previous value. A loaf of bread that had cost 9,500 Lei (abbreviated "ROL"), or about $0.40, now also cost 0.95 new Lei (abbreviated "RON"). Effective January 1, 2007, the old currency ceased circulation and merchants were told they had to

Terry wrote to ask what we do all day, and - since we've also asked ourselves this question - we thought we'd put fingers to keyboard to share a little of what settled life in Bucharest is like.

We're spending a fair amount of time buying, preparing, and eating food - no surprise for those who know us well. This might not sound like vacation activity, but after the past 18 months of burritos for lunch and speed-sushi for supper, it's really a pleasure to cook our own food! Buying ingredients is fun, too - shopping for groceries is on of B's favorite tourist activities. There are literally dozens of open-air markets where we can wander the stalls and chat with the farmers and admire all the beautiful veggies...