Picturesque End to a Long Day

Today was a very long day, but I enjoyed it. Let's see, when I got up it was way too cold to go running. So, I got dressed and decided to head into the regional center called Risconi. For every region of towns, there is a city that is it's regional center, and I have to go to my regional center in order to receive packages sent in the mail. It's always worth the trek, though. Anyway, the post office in my village told me that there was a package waiting for me at the regional post office. So, off I went today. I might add that this post office is only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so it was today or next Tuesday. I dressed warmly as it was very cold outside, and although it was sunny, there was several feet of snow on the ground, and a very cold wind blowing. Days like this are described by Moldovans as soare cu dinti (sun with teeth), which is a very apt description considering that it is a very biting cold. Then, I walked the ten minutes or so to my local bus stop, which is really just a place by the main road where everybody stands to hail any passing busses, vans, rutierras, cars, heading in the right direction that are willing to stop and pick up passengers. I only had to wait about ten or fifteen minutes, before a van happened along that was heading to Risconi. The ride into Risconi is about fifteen minutes, and once there, I headed straight for the post office. However, at the post office, I ran into a snag. The package wasn't for me, but for my host mom, and thus they could not hand it over to me. Kinda disappointing, but I worked through it. :( I still needed to buy some items, and the outdoor piata (market) didn't have the specifics that I was looking for. So, I decided to head into the larger city of Balti, which is about 35 minutes from Riscani. So, I waited at the bus stop in Riscani, caught a rutierra into Balti, and headed to an actual grocery store (similar to a small grocery store in the states), and bought my necessities. Then, I headed home. I hurriedly ate lunch, and then rushed over to the school at the urging of my counterpart, who called saying the director of the school wanted me to go there with my camera to take pictures of a concert that some of the kids were putting on. I got to sit in the front row and take pictures of kids dancing, and singing. It was cute, and they were all very excited to see how the pictures looked on my camera. Then I headed to work to teach an English lesson. After an hour of English, I rushed back home to do my homework for my Romanian tutoring session. On my way home from work, the sun was starting to go down, and I just had to take pictures because it was so beautiful. So, please humor me, while I post some of these pictures. I am having a hard time deciding which ones are the best, so forgive me if I post too many. I am just so in awe of the sunsets here, and winter sunsets have such a unique beauty. The snow casts a kind of mysterious, untouchable, pure sheen over everything. So, here you go. A few sunset photos. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did. :)