Feb 21 2016. It is a wintery morning, as it snowed and rained most of yesterday. The poor sellers in the Piata were frantically trying to cover their wares with plastic sheeting and it was often not successful. The cold does keep the meat from spoiling. Okay, the first 2 pictures are just the winter landscape from our terrace. The third is a picture of what the parking lot is like just below us, imagine trying to wind your car out of that. It is the place for a Smartcar. Also , not a place for the timid. #4 is a picture of how our place is heated; it is all hot water heating on wall radiators- one adjusts the temperature with a valve at the bottom- no thermostats.  #5 is a picture of the towel rack in the bathroom. This is a very nice feature of Moldova as you can turn on the hot water thru the rack, both to dry your towel and to have a nice warm one after a shower. #6 is our drying rack. Remember there are very few dryers here, so clothes get to dry inside. In the warmer weather [a few now] you hang them out of your window. The language here continues to be very frustrating; in our neck of the city. I would guess there is about 75% Russian spoken and written up here. We are trying to figure out just how to learn it here and there is no easy solution. Having said that, our English is no easy task. We were meeting with Pres. Sergei Covali, one of the councillors in the mission presidency who is fluent in Romanian, Russian and English. I said I did not want to ruffle any feathers and he had no idea what I was saying. In Romanian, it would be "ciufule cateva pene" and has no useful meaning other than to bother some poor duck. Ah, what a learning experience. By the way, Deb found out a stuffed potato in Moldova is a potato skin filled with chicken, peppers, celery, cream and the potato. Way good- well, at least to me. Something to try, Russell. Well, Wednesday, we get to go to Romania to Iasi to get a car. I am a little apprehensive getting it across the border, but we will have the Cooleys with us. Oh yeah, he speaks only American.