A look back at 2021

Got my third booster dose of Covid vaccine.

Getting my EU Blue Card renewed has been more painful than it should have been.

Small post on my experience finding a new house to rent as a foreigner in Romania.

As of yesterday, Jo and I completed our second dose of the COVID-19 vaccines, and I feel much better knowing that we have some sort of protection against COVID. In the Beginning Romania started its vaccination program quite early, as early as December 26, 2020. The vaccine rollout was done in three stages: Stage 1: For Health Care Workers Stage 2: For high-risk population (age 65+) and people working in key areas such as public transport etc Stage 3: For the general public While stage 1 started on December 26, stage 2 started around about Mid February and stage 3 was most interesting - it started with the opening of the waitlist on March 15 and vaccinations starting on March 31.

It started with a noticed posted on the door of my apartment way back in Late October, stating that the district heating would start soon. I couldn’t believe that Winter was coming so soon but saw on news about first snowfall in the mountains as early as late September and I knew we were in for some early snow. Few months in, we’ve had more number of snowy days here in Bucharest as compared to last year, but still much lesser in volume as compared to last year.

Last week, Jo and I completed our Seventh wedding anniversary. All these years have gone by so fast, it’s hard to believe we’ve been together for so long. The pandemic has been quite hard on us. While I moved to Bucharest last year, we were waiting for Jo to get her paperwork done. And just as we got her paperwork done and submitted to the Embassy, the Indian govt imposed the lockdown in India, and accordingly the Embassy shutdown, cancelling all appointments.

When I moved into current house, I was quite happy to note that there was construction going on for Bucharest Metro M5 line. Having a metro right next to your house is of course quite nice to have, considering it makes getting into and out of the city that much easier. My landlady, however, brushed off my optimism mentioning that the M5 metro line has been under construction since a long time and most had given hope on it.

It’s been 7 months since I’ve been in Bucharest. The past couple of months I’ve been under quarantine and staying indoors. That aside, people kept asking me how’s it been in Bucharest and how’s life been in Bucharest, how different life is compared to Bangalore. Sunset at Bucharest Moving across the world is a huge endeavour and even though I’ve done my share of travels, moving and settling in Bucharest while smooth, experiencing day to day life in Bucharest took me by surprise.

I returned to Bucharest from my 15-day visit to India on the the first of March. The next day as I was walking to office, something was different. The flower shops were livelier than usual. The Mall was buzzing with a lot of small vendors, selling red and white trinkets with flashy boards. I thought these were because of some sort of sale and just passed by them. Trinkets at Plaza Romania Mall Flower Shop Then when I reached office, I saw more such flowers, chocolates and trinkets.