The welcome sign to Craiova on the outskirts of town and a picture of the building where Gary works. He works on the 4th floor (405) which is about right in the middle of the building! The short building is the security building at the entrance to the complex. The manufacturing plant buildings are all behind and inside the security gates. Everyone in town wants Ford to be successful here in producing cars for the European market.

Bunnies, bunnies and more bunnies!

Here are some of the decorations around the town square - the white one is in front of the Politia (police) station. They even have big things hanging across the street with bunnies and tulips. There is a huge "egg tree" at the city square as well as a little "house" with flowers all over it. Everything is lit up at night - very festive. Their Easter isn't until next Sunday.

This is a view of our apartment from across the street. Above the tree on the left is a bank of windows which is Paco and his wife's apartment (Gary's boss) and then our apartment is on the level just above that. You can see a white curtain in the little window, which is the kitchen. The left is Block A, the right is Block B. Behind this building is the market which is huge. It is open every day except for Christmas and Easter and it causes a great deal of traffic congestion until after 2 p.m. We look down at the market from our balcony on the back of the apartment and when the doors or windows are open the smell of the breads baking is intoxicating!

I'M HERE!

After Jon and Becca's baby girl, Lillia Jayne Spooner was born on 3-3-09 I was finally ready to make the move to Craiova. Gary has been here since the 7th of January but I arrived here on Friday, April 3rd after an uneventful flight (just the way I like it!) The weather here is better than in Michigan with the flowers and trees in full bloom! The apartment is lovely and everyone is so helpful! I am going to post some pictures from the city center where they have really decorated for Easter. The Romanian Orthodox church doesn't celebrate Easter until next Sunday. I need to research why that happens! Anyway, I am happy to be here!

A Great Adventure!

We're moving to Romania - yes, look at your world map, Romania! Gary will leave January 5th to begin his work as STA Manager for the Ford Plant in Craiova. It is a plant formerly owned by Daewoo which is being re-tooled to build Ford products. It has been an interesting and hectic fall with so much to do but we have been to visit Bucharest and Craiova and feel like we are up to the challenge. Hopefully, this will be a way that we can share our adventure. I won't be leaving to live there until the end of March or first part of April after Jon and Becca's baby is born. I just can't go until I hold that precious child. Please check back occasionally to see what we've been up to.

Buna seara!
Debby