So, as I had mentioned earlier, I have problems when it comes to shopping. I have learned how to say piece, "bucata," so that I can get two apples instead of two kilograms. But I realized that half of the confusion was that most people order by weight, not by individual pieces. Last night on my way home from work, I decided to try ordering by weight. I went to this little fast-food bakery of sorts called Fornetti. It's one of those places where every...

Down the street from my flat, at the far side of a park frequented by grandparents and their young charges, is Piata Crangasi. Every day from dawn till dusk this small square is bustling with farmers and merchants selling their goods to the crowds shuffling past their stalls. Young women selling apples, grapes and blueberries, weathered old men offering their peppers and cauliflower at bargain prices, all noisily competing for the attention and lei of the passers...

I just got back from a three-day retreat in the mountains above a small village called Bran. Me, Mihaela, Cecilia, and four other ladies who are advisors in Education USA centers around Romania met there for some training and collaborating. Our villa was on top of a mountain, and as I walked out onto my balcony to take in the breathtaking view, lo and behold, there was Dracula's castle, not more than 1000 meters away! Every night we enjoyed a traditional meal i...

"Life in a foreign country is a dance of submission and resistance. Self-knowledge comes in small repeated shocks as you find yourself giving in easily, with a struggle, or not at all. What can you do without? What do you cling to?" From Expat: Women's True Tales of Life Abroad Never in my life has this rung so true as it has in these first few days of adjusting to Bucharest. Every day I am bombarded by dozens of new traditions, mindsets, cultural qui...

People told me Bucharest would be very different than America. They were wrong. It's an entirely different world over here. My two-day "layover" in Budapest was lovely. It was absolutely wonderful to just relax (and speak English!) with my friends from home. I do love Diosd, the town they live in. And it's always great to see them and catch up and scheme up ways for me to work at the school they all teach at. It was a perfect little dose of Moses Lak...