My new digs

January brought many changes to my Romanian life. I moved to town first of all. I had been living in the village of Manastirea Humor, but it had become increasingly more difficult to get out as it got colder and winter settled in. The maxitaxi was grand at school hours, but otherwise, it was never consistent. It waited in town unti lit was full and then made the run. It was horrible to wait for an hour before it came by. In balmy weather that is not such a problem. In freezing weather, standing outside is just not fun. When I called for a taxi, they came about half the time. I am sure the girl taking the call was not sure what I was saying, but nevertheless, it was cold standing outside waiting to flag one down. I finally decided to move to town and so I made the move in mid-January. I now have a room in a house with a tailor and his wife. I can now walk anywhere and make plans to go out for a cup of tea if I want at a moment's notice.

The road to my new place is a bit rustic. I am not sure yet whether it is dirt or pavement. It is covered in ice and snow. I have to cross the railroad tracks to get to town. Trains come through rather often. It is an interesting sound as they are electric. I hear the whistle from the station at the other end of town and soon I can feel the train appproaching. The engine is attached to a power cable above and so there is no engine sound. Only the sound of the metal wheels singing on the metal tracks. It gets louder and louder and then the ground seems to tremble. They rumble by every hour or so. It is not loud so much as it is a sound of motion. Some days I wait for the train to pass. It seems to snow a bit every day…