Pugs in Pașcani

Sorry, this post isn't about the Pug dog, but a local graffiti artist (or criminal depending on your viewpoint). I've seen the tags all over town for a while & decided to head out for a photo shoot the other day. It's tough to represent a city in photos, but here is a bit of Pașcani through one lens on one day.

Plunging In

Who knew that you could find a friend while looking for a plunger? When we first moved to Pașcani, we wandered around town trying to find the things we needed for our apartment. Our toilet is pretty awful, so we went to the hardware store to find a plunger. Of course, we didn't know the Romanian word. So, like always, we started gesturing and using our limited vocabulary to explain. (Somehow these gestures seemed a little inappropriate to me, but when you have to get your point across....) The clerk engaged in our game of charades and we struck up a conversation. She was patient, kind, and interested in our story. Most importantly, we could understand her Romanian accent and she spoke slowly! Even though her store was across town, we returned to visit her each time we needed something. After going to the store three times, I asked her to be my Romanian tutor. And now we've become friends with her family. We've cooked sarmale, gone out for ice cream, visited their families in the country (which included a whirlwind tour of many of the monasteries nearby), and learned a lot of Romanian. This friendship is perhaps my proudest accomplishment of the last 5 months.

Lucia, Mădălina & Cristi at Mănăstirea Sihăstria

Pictures of Pașcani (and Nearby Monasteries)

Here are some photos of our new town. When we came to visit for the first time, Sarah's principal took us to visit a couple of monasteries in the area as well.

As you can see from the panoramic shots of Pașcani itself, it's not a terribly small town, but not exactly a big city either. A few of these shots are taken from our apartment (on the 10th floor). Another one is taken from the top of Scarile Mare, a giant staircase in the middle of town. The town is basically split in two, between Dealul (the hill) and Valea (the valley).