Heat

So it's cold again and the Institute has no heat.

Edith found an decrepit old heater for me. It works. Sort of. My right leg and the table top are hot. The rest of me is still cold. I nicknamed it Pete.

We tried making a fire in the fireplace but no such luck. Hers works fine, but I can't even get paper to light. I'm going to blame the whole thing on the fact that the wood is wet. Seriously. Dry wood would be so much better. We're going to bring lighter fluid next week. Hopefully we won't burn the place down.

Have I mentioned that I have yet to see a fire alarm or a smoke detector in Romania?

I went to get some pizza at lunch and I heard the unmistakenable intonation of English being spoken. I didn't beat around the bush. "Hi, where are you from?" The two girls and one guy were very very nice and friendly. I was on a role, so I asked them what they were doing tonight. Sadly, they're going to the symphony.

We started talking about our jobs. They work in Croatia. Doing what? All I can say "Am I one of the few non-theology volunteers left in the Balkans"?