Odds and Ends

It has been a few days since I have had a chance to sit down and write, and there is so much I have to share! I will do the best I can! First, I have thought of some other things that might be of some interest about daily life in Brasov. One of the things I forgot to mention is how much walking I do. My house is just about in the most perfect location I could imagine. It is right in the middle of the hospital where I work and the Projects Abroad office. It takes about 5 minutes to get to either place on foot. The city center is about a 20 minute walk, which is not bad at all. People here walk so fast! I will think I am going pretty quickly, only to be overtaken by a local who is super fast!

My roommate, Talia, left last Friday. I have been missing her, but will get to see her again in August! She is doing a tour through the states and will get to make a stop where I live! As best I can tell from my house mom who speaks no English, I will be getting a new roommate tomorrow. I don't know any details about that, though. Firm Foundations had a new volunteer arrive on Friday from Canada. His name is David and he is close to my brother's age. He got to change his first diaper, and I must say I was impressed with his willingness to jump right in. He has added a fun dynamic to our group.

Back to the house, the whole family is there now. Last Monday morning when we woke up I could hear men's voices so I knew the husband and son had made it back. Sandor is the father and Alex is the son. Unfortunately, our first meeting came right after I had rolled out of bed on my way to the bathroom- pajamas, bedhead, and all! They are very nice, though. I think Alex is home for summer break from school. I think he is also about my brother's age, and does speak some English. The other night he accidentally locked Talia and I out of the house!

My final random bit of info for today- Saturdays are wedding days. I had seen a couple of weddings and brides in the park taking pictures, but it was not until this past weekend that I realized the full force of wedding season! I was showing David around the city and all of a sudden there was a long train of cars with balloons tied on them all honking down the street. This happened a couple of times while we were walking. Then we caught a bus to the grocery store and saw more cars with similar decorations parked with lots of people around and spotted a bride. Later, on the bus back we saw a big group of people walking down the sidewalk and 2 brides in that crowd, followed by several more in the park. I am convinced that you could pull off a "27 Dresses" scenario in one day here!

A few days ago I had a braid in my hair while I was working at the hospital. One of the nurses saw it and communicated that she really liked it. I saw her again a few days later and she noticed that my hair was not braided. She came and found me later that day with another nurse who could translate for her to ask if I could come back the next day to braid her hair. So, I got to go back to the hospital on Saturday and french braid Maria's hair! She was so excited and it was really fun!

Nell, thanks for sharing my blog with everyone! Love from Romania!