I didn’t make any posts for the entire month of October. Life gets busy and then when it isn’t, I get trapped in a state of ennui and Netflix and I forget all about my blog. So for that, I apologize.

I love this month so much for so many reasons. I’m a huge fan of Autumn and Halloween and I also enjoy the respite of cooler weather that usually accompanies this glorious month. I love being outside and the fall season is a great way for me to reclaim my place in nature after trying to avoid it all summer 😛

The nice Autumn weather lasted for a while and then like some kind of cosmic joke, it got really cold and then snowed. The wind blew all the leaves away. I can only hope that it will warm up just a bit one last time before we descend into another bleak Romanian winter.

Here are some of my favorite things I did in October:

My girl Valentina and I had a spa day at Belaqva and then we had an amazing lunch at La Ceaun in Piata Sfatului. I ordered the Sarmale (cabbage rolls) with Mamaliga (polenta) and OMG I was not disappointed. I had a Zaganu beer to accompany my fare and really, it was just a perfect day. Big hugs to Valentina because the entire day was her idea!

 

Claudiu and I went to see Steaua Bucuresti play when they came to Brasov. It was my first soccer, I mean, FOOTBALL, game. I was a bit scared because I’ve seen news stories where people get really fanatic and violent at these games, but Claudiu reassured me we would be sitting in the neutral zone. NOPE. Our tickets were right in the middle of the rabid fan section for the other team. Hah. Anyway, there were a lot of Jandarmerie  and I felt pretty safe the entire time. We left right before the end of the game because Steaua was winning by a lot and we didn’t want to get stuck in the crowds.

A clip from the game:

It was mostly a fun time, except for the part when the Steaua fans brought out a sign that basically told the fans of the opposing team to go back to Hungary (this is a really complicated issue, but the TL;DR is that there is a group of Hungarian speaking Romanians in Romania and occasionally there is some political tension between this group and the Romanian speaking Romanians).

The sign says “Pentru voi acasa nu e in Romania, plecati” (sorry, I didn’t add the diacritics). It basically means, for you home is not in Romania, leave. I’m not a fan of this kind of sentiment, in any country. Even though I was not the intended audience, it still kind of hurt my feelings a bit. Romania is not my home, but I love living here, and I appreciate the diversity of people that I get to interact with on a daily basis.

 

We took an afternoon and played in the Parcul Craiului in Zarnesti. A nice lunch of schnitzel with papanasi dessert at Plaiul Foii and then we walked a bit in the nature.

Louis met a donkey and was very confused.

If you’re ever in search of fall color, this area in mid-October is where you want to be. Absolutely gorgeous. Probably the last day that the sun felt warm.

 

I briefly met a horse and it was awesome. In Romania, pickup trucks are a rarity. So when you need something hauled, you call in your friendly neighborhood horse-and-cart owners. This horse let me pet him. Good horse.

 

We got some early snow. The time around Halloween was kind of strange. We were expecting some cold weather and flurries, but it ended up snowing for the entire day.

and late into the night…

 

For Halloween, Claudiu bought me a pumpkin that was too cute, so I decided not to do any violence to him and kept him sitting on the coffee table instead (the pumpkin, not Claudiu).

My costume this year for Halloween was “frozen pedestrian”.

The good news is that I was able to finally complete my SweaterQuest (yearly event) and this year I achieved the bonus round of SnowPantsQuest and SnowBootsQuest. My wardrobe was severely lacking in both of these items last winter and I am happy to report that my feet and legs will hopefully be warm for the next six months.

Louis might need some encouragement.