Exploring Iasi

Things abut Iasi that you'd never find in America:

1. Stray dogs. In packs. One hands around our apartment. Others sit by crosswalks in groups of 6-7. Came from when under communism, people couldn't keep pets in certain homes, and couldn't afford to feed very many pets either. Like stray cats in America- but more. 

2. Chocolate. European chocolate is the yummiest. We went all the way to the grocery store just to buy chocolate. I feel like my mother.

3. Mall decorations: Decorated barrells. What an interesting idea. Pretty sure you'd never find a barrel with lingerie all over it in America...

That blue thing coming out of it is an arm.

Legs sticking out? What the heck. :)

4. Donor Kebabs! Scrum-di-ddl-y-ump-tious: (adjective) Donor Kebabs. No alternative definitions sufficient.

5. Pastries. Lots of them. Delicious too. 

6. A very old university. Like BYU- but cooler architecture, cooler pillars. Iasi is the 2nd largest city in Romania, because of the university. The population doubles when school is in session.

7. Old churches. Lots of famous people built these. Most are Orthodox, some are Catholic.

This one is Catholic.

Just look at how intricate this design is:

8. Silly manicans. In America, all store manicans for clothing are white, with unpronounced facial features. Here- they're all over the board. They even have huge guts with outie belly buttons, like this dude.

But- Hannah fell in love, so whatevs. 

9. Bianca. A girl our age that just so happens to live next door to the podul ros apartment and who just so happens to be graduating from the university in July in geography and hopes to work as a tour guide. Seriously? We're so lucky. She did a great job guiding us around Iasi today.

10. Underground shopping centers.

11. Cool side shops. There were some similar in DC, but not like this. It's like a mini-farmers market, but they're mostly clothing items, and all the little huts are identical. 

12. Gypsies. Today in the mall we saw the first glimpse of what Hannah said was a gypsy.

 Long skirts, head scarves, big earrings.

13. An unusual number of people limping. We saw three people limping on the way to church. 

This man is one of many.

14. Everyone dressed the same. All Romanians tend to dress the same: leather boots/shoes, dark pants/skinny jeans, dark long coats, warm hats. I didn't think I would stand out as "American", until I realized I was the only one I had seen all day in tennis shoes. This man is very typical. Plus check out his Russian hat. 

 

15. Traditional Romanian clothing: 

Other cool stuff:

Lights above the street.

 

An elementary school- scoala primara

City hall- with lights that make it look like the walls are diamonds.

A very ritsy mall:

A teacup shop:

Strollin':

Apartments: