Bună ziua, Bucharest!
We’ve been in Bucharest at our first Foreign Service posting for just over two weeks now.
Life Lately
We’ve been in Bucharest at our first Foreign Service posting for just over two weeks now.
Our permanent housing unfortunately wasn’t ready when we arrived, so we spent the first nine nights in a temporary apartment.
Initially, we thought this would be like an Airbnb with a stocked kitchen, cozy beds and maybe the essentials like coffee and tea.
When we arrived, we instead found a mostly empty place with two large boxes in the kitchen.
The first box had a few used electric appliances (a kettle that smelled like ramen, a vacuum, etc).
The second box was an Ikea welcome pack containing two dinner plates, two smaller plates, two bowls, basic cutlery, a cooking set and some linens.
We spent the first couple hours or so in the temporary accommodation unwrapping and opening the Ikea things, washing them and putting them inside the otherwise empty cabinets and on the beds.
Furniture-wise, the house was full. We had a beautiful, large dining table, two couches, a warm rug, television set, mattresses and bed frames. WiFi was already setup and functional, too.
This is our first tour so we’re still learning what it’s like to arrive at a new post.
Next time, we’ll be sure to bring our own hair dryer, paper towels and probably a roll of toilet paper with us too so we don’t need to run to the store immediately after landing.
The first week in Bucharest was filled with more essentials—ordering a new cage for our rabbit Maxwell, ordering a new crate and beds for the doggies—just trying to re-establish a home base here.
We’ve made progress.
We have the right food delivery apps. We know how and where to buy groceries, either in-person or online. We’ve even got a rental car to get around town on our own without needing a taxi.
Six days ago, we moved into what is supposed to be our permanent housing. “Permanent” as in, the next two years.
Unfortunately, due to a variety of health and safety issues, we’ve decided to appeal this apartment and location with the housing board.
We’re hopeful that we will be reassigned to a different apartment (possibly similar to our temporary accommodation) that better suits our needs.
Our housing situation is unexpected and unfortunate because it means prolonging this state of flux and change that we’ve already been in basically the entire year.
But I hope that in the end, the waiting and uprooting and moving again will be worth it.
We should have an answer from the embassy housing board within the next week or so.
Bucharest itself has been great. I could not ask for kinder people.
Everyone has been so friendly and welcoming. Most residents speak at least some English, which I really appreciate.
And the food—the food has been incredible. Better than both Washington, DC and London in my opinion.
I love how common seafood is here. Lots of sea bream, octopus, calamari and shrimp/prawns on nearly every menu.
I’m also enjoying how popular soups are with Romanians. I’ve eaten more soup in the last two weeks than probably the last two years combined. It’s great.
We still have many hurdles to tackle.
Buying a car. Getting our air and sea shipments. Requesting our furniture from storage in Belgium…
Lots of work ahead.
Wish us luck!
Michelle
Lots going on!