Finally settled (dust, that is)

Hi all! We arrived easily and reasonably well adjusted, both physically and mentally, on the appointed day, and were quite overwhelmed by a large airport welcoming party from the American International School of Bucharest, ready to whisk us off to our appointed lodgings. Great beginning! Then we learned to our bemusement that they had not really been expecting us at all at that time, but rather, had been awaiting a different group of teachers who had been delayed by storms etc. and who were, even as the cell-phone-frantic administration sorted out the situation, partying in Warsaw, ready to arrive the next day. We were actually scheduled to arrive much later that same evening. (Wires crossed somewhere in the email network of communications, I suppose.) Once it was sorted out that it was us and not them, we fought our way through horrendous rush hour traffic, through suburban Bucharest, with our jovial and intrepid administrator, Arnie, at the wheel.

He deposited us at our digs. Now we had lived in apartments before, but this one, by any standard is massive. Nine foot ceilings, tiled floors in kitchen, bathrooms AND large balconies (2)! Hardwood floors newly refinished. Large and airy windows. This place was built according to the aesthetics characteristic of Soviet era architecture, we are enjoying the legendary Eastern Bloc workmanship. So there's a piece of baseboard missing. Maybe the lightshade in the bedroom is gone and the drain in the kitchen floor is plugged. And what if the washing machine empties onto the kitchen floor. At least you've got one! We enjoy watching the swallows building their nests right outside the bedroom window, and the dogs you may have heard about? yep, they bark and revel all night long, fortunately at intervals. "Tackle everything with a sense of bemusement--that's the way to get through your Romanian experience." --advice from our IT man here at the school. Sage words indeed.

Finally, last night, after our fabulous weekend in the Carpathian Mountains (near Bran, Brasov), we managed to find the time to utilize an arsenal of cleaning supplies that we garnered from a department store near here, to tackle a layer of dust on everything, and to scrape away the glue and cement that these fine aforementioned construction artisans had left for us.

But really, everyone we will be working with is SO nice. We live in a block with 3 other teacher couples, and by any comparison, we are having a wonderful time so far, and are optimistic that it'll only get better yet. More (much more) later.

Friends, if you wish to email your Romaniac buddies privately, we are reached at ednmillie@hotmail.com .