Oh Silent Night!

It is  five minutes to Christmas here in Bucharest. Earlier in the day, Susan (who is visiting for the holidays :) :) :) ) and I were discussing how it just doesn't seem like Christmas without the candlelight service on Christmas Eve at Gordonsville Baptist Church. My church here has a Christmas Eve service so we went like good girls. It was the children's program along with the carols sung by the youth. I knew quite a few of these carols because I have been attending the practices for the past five Saturdays but didn't join in the singing because I missed a dress code memo (aka I thought it was okay to wear pants because it was the children's program but it really wasn't a good idea).

Anyways, towards the end of the service one of the leaders got up to lead the congregation in the closing hymn before being dismissed. Right as he stood, the electricity in the church went out. Everyone whipped out their cellphones lights to see. Then, they started to sing. It was Silent Night and we sang by cellphone light instead of candlelight. Susan and I sang along in English but we forgot a few verses. It was an awesome!
Merry Christmas everyone!

Residency!

After six months and six days of being in Romania, I am now officially a temporary resident. I was approved for residency for five years which is the longest period of time permitted without reapplying for Americans. It has been a long process full of surprises like having to be fingerprinted or cards not being printed but it is over :)

Thank you all for your prayers for this!

Also, thank you Madi and Mishi for all your trips to the Immigration Office and waiting in line for 2.5+ hours :).

Mos Nicolae

December 6th is Mos Nicolae or Saint Nicholas day. I didn't really know this nor do I keep up with saints' days because they are just way too many of them but Nicholas is special and very important to candy lovers. On the night of December 5th, children all over Romania and other countries put out their shoes. In the morning "Saint Nicholas" has filled them with candy. This is sort of a pre-Christmas holiday.
To celebrate this Christmas tradition, volunteers from the Romanian company InMedio came to visit. They held a Christmas program for the 1st and 2nd graders during which they made ornaments for their classroom trees, cards for their parents, and sang carols.