Was the moon a waning crescent or a waxing crescent?

- A waning crescent takes place on the left in the southern and western hemisphere and a waxing takes place when it's closer to the sun and in the Eastern hemisphere.

The last couple of nights before New Moon. Or to put it another way, the last few days of the lunar month.

The moon appears as a waning crescent during the last quarter of its cycle of phases ... during the 7 or 8 days before New Moon. During that time, it rises in the east during the last few hours...

Yes a waxing crescent is visible unless it is cloudy at your location. The hardest moon to see is the one day old moon.

First Quarter, then waxing gibbous.