Another funny one...even funnier since I thought that until now I was the only one that had seen a chicken foot on the floor of a market. After the bird flu scare last year it has become a humorous joke. Of course, a few months ago I also saw a whole lamb (it was the skin, but it still had head and feet) hanging off the balcony of an apartment, so...you never know.
I mentioned I was in Baneasa, and just assumed you knew that was on the north side (read as edge) of Bucuresti, probably no more than a Metro (and a Maxitaxi) ride away from you. It is where 90% of expats live, and you can therefore find all sorts of goodies in the stores here. There were celebrations up here when we found cranberries the other day, but--despite finding them--no one actually bought them as they were $25/0.5 kg. I don't know why the price surprised me as string green beans run $17.45/kg.
We did have a full size Thanksgiving dinner (with plenty of dishes you could have eaten as a vegetarian), and now--knowing that you were in town missing the taste of home--I feel rather guilty about it.
I mentioned you to a few other Expats (American/Greek/French/Canadian) here, and found out there are rumors of "young expats in the center of town." I am assuming that is probably you and your friends. The consensus was that we should arrange a meeting. As we are all big travellers with families, (and therefore have some experience finding unusual things), we might be able to help you and your friends with finding things from home (we even know of the wholesale markets, etc.). And as you are all probably much younger and hipper than us, you can help us with finding some exciting things to do inside the city (we are looking for a flea market I once tripped upon and can't find again).
What do you think? Willing to take such a risk as meeting complete strangers in a foreign city half-way-around-the-world from home? We can make it a public place of course! A Dorobanti coffee house, or the new book store/coffee house on Magheru (not Libraria Noi--the other one, whose name now evades me).
Let me know and I'll make arrangements. You can bring all your friends, I'll bring mine, and we'll see if anyone hits it off.
In the meantime...watch where you step!

Sad thing is, my chicken foot wasn't even in the market, but on the sidewalk of a busy street. If you like, drop me a line at TheMaestrosButterfly@yahoo.com.

Except my boyfriend Mark, my friends are not really ex-pats, just people who got stuck at the hostel. There is a strange kind of Hotel California mojo there, and people keep returning, even if they've moved out. There are a couple of guys who might like to come along though, as one is going to school here and the other just reeeeeeally likes the hostel.

Hm. Silence of the lamb-skin. It's amazing how you can just be walking around having a (relatively) normal day, and all of a sudden there's a lamb skin. Or a chicken foot. Or an accordion player. Or a man trying to force a house door onto a bus.