Getting into a Routine

The past couple of weeks have been very busy for me, but I do feel like I am finally starting to settle into a routine. I am obviously at school teaching everyday, and then on Tuesdays and Thursdays I have started going to a baby hospital and spending a couple hours playing with abandoned babies. (More on that later.) On Fridays I attend an evening Bible study, and there are usually other events that pop up to fill in the rest of my week. For example, I had the opportunity to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving a couple weekends ago with a Canadian missionary couple who live in another part of Romania.
Even though my days are settling into a routine, living in Romania is never routine. So, here are a few random things that have happened to me, or that I have observed.

1.  I have now lived in Romania a little over two months and I have already seen two dead bodies laying in open coffins. The first was on the street while I was walking to school, and the second was inside a bread truck that I was walking past. I may not be buying bread from that company again...
2.  A couple weeks ago I woke up to my bed shaking, and realized that I was experiencing an earthquake. 
3. I have learned that I must pay my electricity bill to a robot inside of a bank.
4.  I possibly broke or seriously injured my hand by banging my hand against the stair railing at school. It's been almost three weeks, and it is finally starting to feel better. It's just been a bit of a struggle since I can't not use my right hand. 

Here is a picture from one of my first graders. It apparently depicts his family, who all have smelly feet.

This is my life in Romania right now. I definitely am starting to feel more comfortable in my surroundings, and enjoy observing the random oddities of Romania. 

The commute

This week, I thought I would write about how I get to and from school everyday. I don't take pictures while commuting, because that is odd and I don't have time for that. However, I did do a quick search on the internet and found some pictures that I think will give you a pretty good idea of what traveling by public transportation in Bucharest is like. 

Since I am supposed to be at school by 7:45 every morning, I try to leave as close to 7am as possible. I begin by walking about five minutes from my apartment, past the flower sellers and down to my metro stop.

I go two stops on this line, and then switch at the main metro station in Bucharest. It looks something like this in the mornings.

Then I get on the other line and travel for another two stops.

Here I leave the subway system.

I catch a tram at this point. I couldn't find a picture for my tram stop...so if you feel like messing around with google steet view, you can see that my tram stop is about a two foot wide slab of cement in the middle of a fairly busy street. It's kind of an exciting place to be.

I take the tram three stops and then walk about another 5 minutes to get to school. Believe it or not this is the fastest way to get to school.

In the afternoons, I have found an easier way to get home. I simply take the bus from the school to the end of the line. It drops me off at another metro station, and from there it is only three stops to home. 

I tried taking this route to school and found that the bus does not get through morning traffic like trams and metros do. So there is your quick lesson for the day on Romanian public transportation.