Winter finally comes to Buc.

We were very proud of ourselves for living through our first Romanian summer.  There were a few very hot days that almost finished us off but we made it!  Then there was a short lovely autumn followed by a mild beginning to winter.  We thought all those stories of brutal winter weather were exaggerated since we had no snow and the temperature ranged from 25 to 40 degrees for weeks.  Then, about 10 days ago, we had a few inches of snow and our YSA had a great time building a snow man behind the chapel during their activity that day.  It was nice to finally see snow on the ground.  However, that was only the beginning.  A few days later we had a 2 day blizzard that dropped over a foot of snow during high winds and much lower temperatures.  Now it was time for a real cleanup. 

Elders Cross, Pettit and Ekins clearing the sidewalk in front of the church

And because they couldn't help themselves, they made a snow tunnel.

They were kind enough to make a pathway around the Church building that passed the entrance to the tunnel. 

Sora Wahlquist hauling supplies to the Church in the snow.

This is a little path someone cleared along the front of the church property.

A week later......

The joy of snow is long gone!  But the snow is still very much with us.  Temperatures have ranged from 0 - 20 degrees since the snow, often with a stiff breeze.  It was only 12 degrees with a stinging wind when Elder Wahlquist took the following pictures at 4:00 in the afternoon.

Some cars obviously have not moved for a week.  They will still have quite a bit of digging to do to get their car out.  There are piles of 4 inch ice chunks all over the sidewalks.  These piles have been made by men with shovels. 

The snow on the sidewalks has turned to thick ice.  The men with shovels (and sometimes with no gloves) have cleared little paths through the ice along the broad sidewalks for people to get to the buses.  Walking anywhere can be quite hazardous to your health.  Even the cleared paths often have a thin sheet of black ice because of the low temperatures. 

These piles of ice chunks are everywhere that the sidewalk has been cleared.

As you can see, some merchants are more interested in clearing the sidewalk in front of their stores than others!

I am so over this winter!