it's cold!

it's the middle of october and it's 36 degrees outside! BRRRRRR! the high today was only 53. it's pretty windy, so i think the face and ears suffer the most. unfortunately we don't have all our winter gear yet, most importantly the hats! we bought one for reese today to cover her ears. all the children are wearing them. all the women are wearing scarves too, but they were wearing them in like 65 degree weather! that's weird to me. anyway, we've been really busy.

she's not a huge fan of the hat just yet. i need to sew some yarn on the bottom so i can tie it under her chin. that might help it to stay on a little longer.

thursday, reese and i met up with a mom and her two daughters (we met them at the playgroup earlier in the week) in the city center. she took us to the big central market where i've been wanting to go. there are some pretty strange looking vegetables in the market. i can't wait to try one of them. it's so funny looking. she says it tastes like celery, which you can't get here. i'll definitely take a picture when i get up the nerve to try it. she showed me some of her favorite booths for different things. she's been going there for a couple of years so knows all the people she buys from. we rounded one corner and her girls got so excited to see this one man b/c they knew he was going to give them a treat! she also showed me an asian store where i can buy american goods. odd, i know, but if i need a pancake fix, that's where i go for the mix and syrup! i need her to take me again b/c it's a lot to take in at one time. i didn't buy anything this time, but hopefully will make it back this week. after the market we went to her house for lunch. so nice! after that reese and i braved the bus and metro by ourselves. it was a great success! i can't wait to do it again!

friday, reese and i hung out at the mall a little bit. here she is watching a water fountain. (it's easier to let her walk around outside than in the mall b/c there are too many people.)

one highlight from the weekend is that we got the keys to our flat! i would be a little more excited if we could actually start staying there. :( unfortunately our air freight isn't out of customs yet, so we are just waiting. :( i'm a bit bummed because i'm so ready to get in there and get settled. and, to see all my stuff and get some different clothes to wear! at any rate, we are excited about the flat. it's really cool.

another highlight from the weekend: on saturday we went out to lunch with a co-worker of matt's and his wife and 6 month old son. the husband is american and the wife is hungarian. they live in the apartment that she grew up in. it's old communist government housing that was built in the 1970s. there are 6 or 8 ten story buildings plus a ground floor. we enjoyed lunch out and then went back to their place for cake. i could see us getting together with them more.