Este Ger! Nu Stati Afara!

When I found out about Moldova about 10 months ago, I looked up the weather. Basically, the winters are slightly milder than in Boston. No problem, I thought. Well, it becomes a problem when you account for Moldova's lack of adequate heating. Last week was particularly frig, and I have quickly gotten accustomed to wearing four layers, gloves and a hat in the classroom. Things won't improve any time soon; a preview of the days to come, courtesy of AccuWeather.com:

Monday, January 23 (Happy Birthday, Claire!)

Day: Mostly cloudy and bitterly cold. High 5Вє F. RealFeel (Combining temperature, wind and humidity): -4Вє F.

Night: Breezy in the evening; otherwise, partly cloudy and frigid. Low 0Вє F. RealFeel -20Вє F.

Tuesday, January 24

Day: Periods of clouds and sun. High 11Вє F. RealFeel 3Вє F.

Night: Partly cloudy and bitterly cold. Low 4Вє F. Real Feel 4Вє F.

Wednesday, January 25

Day: Partly sunny and frigid. High 15Вє F. RealFeel 18Вє F.

Night: Partly cloudy and frigid. Low 14Вє F. RealFeel 11Вє F.

Thursday, January 26

Day: Very cold with times of clouds and sun. High 23Вє F. RealFeel 27Вє F.

Night: Mostly cloudy and cold. Low 18ВєF. RealFeel 15Вє F.

Based on this forecast, I have picked Wednesday as the day that I can finally go to the county hub to do some shopping. I figure once the wind chill is back in the double digits, I can finally wait 30 minutes on the side of the road for a rutieraВ without losing any digits. That said, HUGE PROPS (and this from someone who hates overuse of capital letters) to Mereseni's two visitors from this weekend, for being brave enough (recklessly insane enough?) to battle their way through Moldovan weather and transportation.

So do any of you Americans want to visit Moldova for Christmas 2006?