Sunday report on a Monday morning

Sunday report on a Monday morning

Dear All,

It's been such a whirlwind busy week that last night I just dozed off and forgot all about the weekly update! Sorry! Reprieve for you!

Work at BC has really been very busy as all my off-sites have now begun their courses, hence the days are full, not just teaching but travelling between classes too, albeit with a driver from BC, but nevertheless, one hour of traffic going and the same coming back takes up quite a lot of time, and is tiring in itself! Still, never mind, the students are all very nice and it's fun to have them.

My Romanian classes each Monday have started and I'm thrilled as I'm not as stupid as I had imagined. We read articles from newspapers, attempt a little grammar, try to have conversations on a variety of subjects, do role plays - and I just wish that it was more than an hour a week....

I finally got to see a doctor about my back (recommended by Aless) who said it was in a bit of a mess, and I start a two week course of intensive physio today...so spare me a thought!

I had dinner Thursday night with Ruth and Rebecca (good BC colleagues) in a great Indian restaurant not far from here. We could have been in Southall so transported were we! Excellent food, nice ambiance... good to find a new restaurant to try. Biryanis, tikka masalas, naan bread and lassi! Yum! We were there til we got thrown out. Rebecca will have her baby in ten days and so there was much talk of schools, bringing up children here, the do's and don'ts. The baby will have a Romanian name, though Rebecca won't tell us what it is. I await with great excitement the arrival of this little girl-with-Romanian-name!

Friday night, out with Gabi, Aless and Flori - dinner at City Grill (everywhere else was full) and we ended up smoking aniseed narguile at an Egyptian Bar on the calea Victoriei (see photos on Blog). Such a nice evening, we laughed so much, drank too much and were generally unruly! Does you good.

Mother, Michael and Adrian arrived on Saturday. Lovely to see them. The weather took a drastic change for the worst - torrential rain, high winds and a serious drop in temperature. We had dinner together with Lucia and George in the evening at Vatra, next to Carpati, a traditional restaurant with a good menu of marvellous Romanian dishes. Régale of vinete, stuffed mushrooms, good wine, etc... We were all together again yesterday for lunch (see photos) at a charming Italian restaurant of George's choice (a good one) - and it became quite a celebration. It was Mum and Michael's wedding anniversary - 18 years (oops, I hadn't any idea) and a pre-birthday lunch for me (unannounced), as I had the most beautiful silver bracelet from Lucia and George - I nearly cried, I was so moved. So, generous and kind, and utterly unexpected. Bless them. I shall wear it always.

The rental car arrived at Carpati hotel as planned (I nearly collapsed with shock as I was pessimistically expecting a battle in order to have it in time!) and so last evening, we sorted out who lived where, what sights they had to look out for in order not to end up in Bulgaria... It was quite a laugh! I think today, they're off to Sinaia, despite the rain. They can visit the monastery and Peles indoors, and the restaurants are nice not to mention the fabulous views of the Bucegi. I'm supposed to meet them after work at 20h30, but I don't imagine they'll be back until later due to the heavy traffic which prevails in bad weather!

And that's all! My big news really, apart from the arrival of my guests (!) is the physiotherapy. I'm half impatient, half a bit nervous. We shall see. After the two week treatment I shall see about aquagym with Aless though it's quite true that in the cold weather I have little incentive or motivation to get my kit off!

That's all for this week,

Love to you all, write soon, keep warm

Sarah xox