Cristina met me at the post office, and I checked her out veeerrry carefully. She wasn't wearing a black cape or red lipstick; in fact, she wasn't wearing any black at all. Maybe she was in disguise! I looked at her teeth, but they weren't pointy either.Obviously her disguise was better than I had expected. It was time to catch her off guard. I held on tightly to my garlic, and asked her in a voice that was only slightly wobbly whether she'd drunk any good blood lately. Cris looked extremely surprised, and suddenly I realized I was being rude.
I said quickly that I was sorry, but that I'd been reading about vampires and all the books said that vampires came from Romania. Cris laughed, and said that the books about Dracula were all fiction. The authors might have gotten the idea, though, from a prince known as Vlad the Impaler. He lived five centuries ago, and treated people very cruelly.
So vampires are fiction! Whew! Now I could relax and meet my new (and very non-fiction) friends. Cris lives with her mom and dad, five brothers, two sisters, and all sorts of stuffed animals on the outskirts of Bucharest. The stuffed animals all came to the post office to meet me. Here we are, hanging out together in the back seat of the car.
On the way home, we stopped by the office where Cris' dad works. He specializes in flooring and interior design, and showed me some of his plans and sketches. 
We also stopped off at the supermarket for groceries. Cris and I looked for food from some of the countries I'd visited, and found tangerines from Argentina; we bought them for breakfast.
Cris and her family have peach trees growing behind their house. There were still some peaches on the tree, so I climbed up to pick one. All sorts of wasps were buzzing around the fruit, and they started buzzing around me, too. I remembered that if you don't bother wasps, they won't bother you, so I didn't swat at them. Instead, I stayed still, while Cris helped me choose a peach to snack on. Then she took me inside to meet the family and unpack.
Unpacking was not a pleasant experience.... I've lost all sorts of socks and underwear by now. I'd also left a bunny slipper under Fernanda's bed, and then left my nightgown under the pillow at the hermitage. I thought that I'd have to sleep in my clothes, but Cris came to my rescue. She made me the most beautiful nightgown, with matching bunny slippers.
We also stopped off at the supermarket for groceries. Cris and I looked for food from some of the countries I'd visited, and found tangerines from Argentina; we bought them for breakfast.Cris and her family have peach trees growing behind their house. There were still some peaches on the tree, so I climbed up to pick one. All sorts of wasps were buzzing around the fruit, and they started buzzing around me, too. I remembered that if you don't bother wasps, they won't bother you, so I didn't swat at them. Instead, I stayed still, while Cris helped me choose a peach to snack on. Then she took me inside to meet the family and unpack.
Unpacking was not a pleasant experience.... I've lost all sorts of socks and underwear by now. I'd also left a bunny slipper under Fernanda's bed, and then left my nightgown under the pillow at the hermitage. I thought that I'd have to sleep in my clothes, but Cris came to my rescue. She made me the most beautiful nightgown, with matching bunny slippers.
When I wore it that night, I felt as if I were sleeping on a cloud! At least, for a while - then a giant thunderstorm rolled over us, so fierce that I could see the lightning flashes right through the envelope. The thunder got so scary that I crawled out of my sleeping bag, out of the envelope, and into bed with all the stuffed toys. Even after the thunder moved on, there was a strange, rattling, whirring noise from down the hall that went on and on. Were there vampires here after all? I burrowed deeper under the toys, and that's where Cris found me next morning when she came in to wake me up.
For breakfast, we had tiny, perfect pancakes that we made from a mix. There is no maple syrup in Romania; here they sprinkle their pancakes with icing sugar. I enjoyed them just the same! We had the tangerines on the side with banana slices. Yummy!
Remember the rattling, whirring noise that went on all night? This afternoon I found out that it was not a vampire. Cris' brother has a new hamster named Kate, who is nocturnal. She likes to spend nights running on her wheel. This made the whole family rather grumpy, so he has promised to take it off at night from now on. Kate will just have to get her exercise during the day.
Kate hoped that I'd brought apples or carrots, which she especially enjoys. If you cut up a carrot into pieces, she can stuff the entire carrot into her cheek pouches. She also likes to shred paper and use it to decorate her nest, so I had to stay well back in case she ate my clothes!
Cris attends school in downtown Bucharest, so tomorrow she'll take me to school with her. Vampires in Bucharest? I'm not a bit worried anymore. I've even taken that garlic clove out of my pocket; I planted it in the rose bed.
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