When in Moldova

After all of that adventure, we were quite ready to sit around and do nothing for the next few days. We did a little of that, but we also tried to balance it by getting some things done and seeing the city a little. Also, it was hard to get too much done when certain small people kept waking up at 1 am thinking it was morning time, making us all extra tired all the time. But we've mostly gotten past that now (cross your fingers!)

We did end up deciding to find a closer apartment (Mihai and Vlada are doing the searching for us, and they've found one so far in the PERFECT  location, but alas! it is furnished with super beautiful and fancy wood furniture that I am terrified our children will destroy over the next year, so I think we are looking for another one that is less fancy) so we've moved temporarily into a house owned by the non-profit (where they normally house visiting professors and such). It is huge and lovely and we're happy to have somewhere safe and nice to stay while we find somewhere to live, but we're also REALLY looking forward to not living out of suitcases anymore (we're going on 3 weeks and counting!!)

Besides looking at potential apartments, we've gotten Nikolai registered for preschool (hooray!) and done a lot of walking around and going to parks (with very little getting lost). Luckily, many (if not most) people speak Russian here in addition to Romanian (the national language), so Jesse's Russian skills have gotten us through all of our necessary transactions (buying groceries, buying ice cream, buying peaches and plums and grapes from a street vendor). We are still learning Romanian so that we can communicate more in peoples' native tongue (and also so I can communicate at all!), but it has been a relief to not have to stress out too much over every little transaction and communication. 

Below I've compiled a conglomeration of photos from outings and icecream at two different parks (ok, we've only had ice cream at a park once, but we did have popsicles the day before as a consolation prize when we got the directions wrong and couldn't find the park). 

Here we are at the Dendrarium with our ice cream. Mine was cantaloupe flavored, and it was the BEST ICE CREAM I'VE EVER TASTED. I am not even joking you. I don't even like cantaloupe that much (it's yummy, but not my favorite fruit) and it was divine. Also, our four scoops of icecream on 3 cones was like 40 Leu, the equivalent of like $2, which makes me want to go back and get it every day (though Jesse continually reminds me that although things are cheaper here, we also have a more limited budget, so we can't go crazy. But Jesse, this icecream makes me insane!! What's a girl to do??)

It was almost bedtime, but we let the kids play on the playground, hoping that they'd sleep well that night.

We've been trying to make Nikolai walk most of the time (we keep telling him his legs need the practice so they can get strong, but it's also because I just cannot carry him on my shoulders for miles every day for a whole year!) but on the way home he got to ride on Jesse's shoulders. 

The sunset here is lovely, and it was even lovelier in the gardens. 

They had lots of varieties of roses, including some that had several color blossoms growing on the same bush!!

We definitely kept a tight grip on Miriam next to these water features (we call her our "water baby" because she can't NOT get in any water she sees!)

On a different day, at a different park: 

There's no sign, but this looked like one of those tiny free libraries. As a librarian-in-training, I was super excited to see it! Hooray for reading and free knowledge!

Looking forward to this week, we hope to find an apartment, celebrate a few Moldovan national holidays, and gear up for the start of my semester! Wish us luck!