Merry (belated) Christmas

Christmas was pretty great. its been a long time since I celebrated christmas with people and family. Heather's parents had 30+ people over for xmas dinner. I helped with the slicing and dicing. the whole process was warm fuzzy. since i havent really celebrated xmas in years, it had sorta become just another day. This experience just kinda brought it all back. sometimes the process and preparations really do help make it grand.

Ispoke and joked with people and ate crazy amounts of food. overstuffed myself with the deserts and was pretty much ready to pass out before the guests left from my food coma. was a very successful holiday.

lots of love to all
j.

left behind

this is what I left behind in Romania to go to the bootishously warm UAE. this is the view outside my window. pretty but a bit cold.

Subaitha Oasis

on thursday (I have pretty much lost track of time already) i went with heather's dad Gerry and the natural history group on a hike/walk to an oasis. It was pretty awesome. I had forgotten how much i enjoyed the desert landscape and kind of how beautiful it is. the oasis had an abandoned village and date palms farm. We walked basically on the edge of a cliff on the irrigation channel to pools where some swam and I just dangled the feet in.

touch down

will be posting from the UAE for the meanwhile. am here for xmas, leaving behind the cold and ice of bucharest to wonderful winter sun of uae. will be staying with friends and hopefully doing all the touristy stuff I didnt do while i lived here.

caught a direct flight from bucharest and tarom (romania's airline) tried to starve me by not giving me a veggie meal despite confirmation that yes it was veggie. finally i got some bread cheese cucumber and tomato. i made a sandwich. i was almost ready to beat up other passengers for their food. I know that I couldnt eat it and that was all that saved them. but their was this tasty-looking cake thingy. one of the flight atttendants was over me asking for food I could eat that she basically rolled her eyes and moved on. I guess even the flight attendants arent taught to smile.

today we did cool stuff. more to come as soon as i sort out my camera.

christmas market

last weekend i went to Christmas market at the museum of the Romanian Peasant ( i know they could come up with a better name) there were people there from all over Romania with their traditional handicrafts and stuff from their ethnic groups. my little avaricious heart beat a steady tattoo. there were even people there with these gigantor copper stills - you know to make that plum brandy that'll put hair on your chest. there was some music and dance and food. crazy good stuff. here some pics. my dorkiness is much in evidence as i had to take pics with people. afterwards we went to enjoy some nice hot drinks.

i wonder . . .

if cats get embarrassed.

Ziggy - she of the stardust - is not a very successful cat. i think it may be because her tail is too long. Maybe she will grow into it.

the thing is she's always trying to leap on things and be all agile and graceful. sadly, graceful she is not. she just attempted a leap from the counter to the top of the fridge, only the went splat against the side of the fridge. it was like one of those roadrunner cartoons and the coyote just hits the side of the cliff and slides off. i laughed. she didnt try it again right then.

she does this alot. this usually leads to the breaking of things. but its still funny. maybe she doesnt appreciate me laughing at her. she's still crazy cute though

so so wrong

while we were on the fieldtrip . ..

the mall is gaily decorated for the xmas season. and lo and behold he comes santa walking around the food court. we see him take a picture with someone and thought "awesome, he can take one with me too!!"

when he comes near us, one of the students called him over. Santa shakes his head no and turns back the way he came.

i was shocked. shocked to be dissed by santa. what kind of goodwill is this? i tried to call the santa's union but the number is disconnected.

it was appalling. especially since it was me who wanted to take a pic with him. we never believed in santa growing sup, so i never got to take a picture with santa. looks like it aint gonna happen soon.

field trip

this is my job. dont think anyone really cares but took the year 11's on a field trip today. it was pretty good. sometimes am amazed at how nice they can actually be. they were considerate, offering to pay for their own public transport fares when they thought i was paying for it. from my pocket

we've been studying towns and one of the purposes of the trip was to contrast different areas of the city. through data collection (am not gonna bore you with the details) and observation, explain all manner of things. one of the interesting things is how sheltered they are. they are pretty wealthy and really have no idea how the majority of people live and were a little shocked by what they saw in the part of town away from the embassies, gov't buildings, and wealthy houses.

also included was a trip to the mall to study blah blah blah . . . they seemed to enjoy that part.

25 years old

yep . . . not me but thriller. so here i commemorate one of the most important albums in my life. Michael jackson touched me as a child (get your mind out of the gutter) and therefore has a special place in my heart - or at least this album does.

"beat it" were the first words of english i learned. cant even tell you how i wore them out. singing REPEATEDLY. here's a little something on how he has touched people the world over. obviously an inspiration to many . I find the pelvic thrusts in this one particularly scary.


oh and lets not forget this one from the Philippines. if you gotta go to jail this seems like the one to go to. oh and i love how our female lead has a serious case of male patterned baldness.

a very guilty pleasure

its a sad sad thing. as always, i am on the lookout for a new procrastinating tool. i have just recently discovered project runway. gasp! it is so bad that its good. unfortunately for me, i have to get it all from my umbilical cord, the internet. and thank goodness for the invention of youtube. what makes it even better is that there are seasons - yes multiples- for me to use in my efforts to waste my life and time. perrrrrfect-a!

and to add the cherry- apparently there is project runway Canada. hosted by iman. her delivery is a bit weird but hey, how could i not love the spouse of D.bowie.

all i can say is my life is worth living and eventually, those chapters will be read and papers written.

say it aint so

is there nothing sacred left? am i to have no illusions? i was flabbergasted, weirded out, and disillusioned at this. bill nye is the science guy! he is not supposed to be bill nye, the fraudulent marriage, crazy ex-wife/girlfriend poisioning the roses (the new bunny boiling?) and possibly him, needing a restraining order guy.

what is next? hafta say that thought bill nye was crazy awesome back in the day.

. . . been somewhere too long when . . .

today i went to ikea (like my favorite place on earth) on my way back had a not very nice accident. tripped, fell into a puddle on my brand new picture frame, broke it, felt like i broke my knee. its been raining and the temps have been hovering around freezing. a nice lady came along and helped me up. so i continued my walk home with my freezing wet self.

so i decided i needed some comfort warming up food. coupled with having not gone to the grocery store today cause was all being studious and stuff, my choices were a bit limited. so i decided on garlic soup. YAY!!!! i had some tortellini in the freezer, garlic, veggie broth. so am on my way. but alas, no peppers, and coriander leaves. what's a girl to do. well. . .

today i realized that i had been in romania too long. not only did i have cabbage in my fridge but i realized that maybe it can go with anything. so now i have garlic cabbage soup.

pofta buna (bon appetite in romanian.)

one down . . .

just spent my entire freaking day at school. tonite we had a parents evening. most of the parents are very nice and as always you see the parents of the kids you dont need to. parents of the spawns of satan stay home.

i once had one woman tell me that her husband didnt want to come because he knew all the bad stuff he was gonna hear about their kid.

but i had set my watch this morning and dont you know i did it wrong. i thought it was an hour earlier so i stayed an extra half hour talking to people. then i thought that this seemed very long and i went and asked someone the time. most of the other teachers had already gone.

geez

language profilin'

okay not for real but sorta kinda. i ride public transport here and as far as i can tell, its pretty good. except for the constant changing of routes due to construction. but hey, this will all be worth it.

i also get stopped by the controllers alot. these european countries like to have public transport work on something like the honor system. for the most part to get on and you have to validate a ticket. or you could not. the conductor has nothing to do with it.

every so often someone comes on the bus/tram and randomly checks whether people have tickets. but its really not so random (as it feels to me) these dudes are always picking on me. they get on the bus all secretive like - you know wearing plain clothes like this is some bond film.

this weekend, i was riding the tram on my way to meet a friend. phone rings, i start speaking. immediately i get tap, shown the official ID, and i have to dig around my bag ( very scary place) then work the stupid monthly card out of my wallet. after all that work, he doesnt even check to see if its valid. after me, i dont see him asking to see other peoples.

i got caught once last year and didnt have my card. the dude showed me some papers. talked at me some and then asked for money. am pretty sure, and my romanian friends said it was likely, that he just pocketed the money. see i think the english = pay dirt.

winters on

winter's finally here. not that am celebrating. its been int the 30s and 40s which sounds all warm cause their big numbers but not really.

they finally turned the heat on and thats been great. i did a jig of happiness when i realized it was on.

warm radiators. Bliss!!!!

addendum to lab story

forgot to add

they made me spend some time with hands past wrist in hot water, i guess to bring blood to the surface.

they didnt put bandaids on the other holes. i guess i wouldnt have been good advertising for their skill. and the red stuff kept on oozing.

that scary-a** lab

went back to the doctor today. i wonder why they didnt draw all the blood from my body when i was last there cause i had to give more today. after all they could have done these tests at the same time. so then i have to go to the lab for another fun blood experience

again, at the reception desk was that tray of scariness. last time i stayed kinda close to protect my bodily stuff from the eyes of others. this time i tried to keep away, but damn peripheral vision. lots of scariness include poo and numerous vials of varying shades of scary yellow. alls i gots to say is that many people are dehydrated.

then it came my turn to give up my precious blood. and let me tell you my body wasnt having it. this and every time i've come i let them know that its very difficult to get blood out of the my arm and that it may be better to get it from stuff close to the surface like my wrist. as always, they dont believe me and proceed with the torture. they spent 40 minutes trying to get a vial out of me. in the process they stuck a needle in and jiggled it around 3 times. each time they thought they got a nice fat vein. but my body likes to fool them and cause me pain cause the go in hiding as soon as the needle goes in. last time they had so much fun that i have a keloid scar - one of those nice shiny raised ones that never go away. thanks!

ah . . . the joyousness of Radiohead

radiohead recently released a new album. anyone who knows me knows the serious love i have for the band. one of the great things about this release is that they did it all online allowing users to pay what they want to download the album. oh and they only gave 10 days notice before the release. of course i was there!!!

am also writing a paper at the moment about nation formation .. . . blah blah . . . for a political geography course am taking and it makes for great listening. since the 10th of this month i have listened to little else. and its beautiful. definitely my favorite album since okay computer which came out in '97. its really beautiful - no whining annoying singing, lots of melody and other beautishousness.

its like they made something awesome just for me birthday.

muse! muse! Muse!

just got back from the Muse concert and i hafta say that it was pretty damn great. especially since tickets were about 15 bucks. they had this really great stage show and lights and ahhh. . . . during my favorite songs, i closed my eyes and got a spanky light show behind the lids. the music and voices were great. its amazing how much sound 3 dudes can produce especially when they sometimes stop the guitar and give some piano action.

a couple of things sucked - sadly, no pics as my camera is woefully out of date and i need to replace it. i would have liked to have a couple extra inches in height so i could get a super clear view over all those gigantor headed people (its amazing the number of people out there with this deformity and they were all standing in front of me). maybe i will receive that as a b-day present this year. and dear lord general admin sucks. pretty much waited, that is standing up on my poor feet, for almost 4 hours before the band actually played. but the hurtin' disappeared once the music started flowing.

i danced, and possibly annoyed the people who were nearby - they were standing too close anyway - i personally think that much of Muse's music is great to dance to. the heavens threatened to provide us with moisture but it held off and it was a gorgeous nite for a show. we were outside and the temp was just right to make it okay to be packed so close with people

funny how times change. on one of the ballads people took out lighters and cellphones to give light.

afterwards, starving, i made my way to a 24 hour McDonald's. i had forgotten to eat and i practically inhaled my fries and cherry pie (they have cherry here!!!) i swear to god, at midnight, the McD's workers think its a club - dance music blasting.

all in all a good nite - even if they didnt play my favorite favorite song.

free hugs

i know. its been ages.

today i went to meet saskia for a little hanging out and lunch. we went to a cool outdoor restaurant and had traditional romanian food - okay pizza. while we were there shooting the breeze we saw some college kids walking around with signs that said free hugs. when i inquired after the signs i got bill ole hugs from 3 people. apparently they were trying to encourage affection in the city.

gotta love bucharest!!! but hey i totally felt loved.

tosca

wow! its been a month since my last post. that is total craziness. school has started and the first couple of weeks were crazy-tough. my body was just not used to working and gettin up at a set time and all that jazz. but its been good seeing the kids again. though am again reminded at how much work it is to teach. i am physically wrung out sometimes. time is getting on and i have decided to set about enjoying y tiem in romania.

yesterday, i went to see Tosca, an opera by puccini. it was pretty awesome. the acting was good, the singing great and te music was excellent. plus, one of the great things about here is that this stuff is crazy cheap. the concert hall was nice without being gaudy. and of course the opera was a tragedy - cause it aint good if everyone doesnt die at the end. synopsis: love triangle, prison breaks, murder, execution, and suicide. what more can you want. with that saidm, i guess some kung fu, wire work, and explosions would be okay too.

one of the funniest things aobut it ( i know its not supposed to be funny but am a total pleb) is one of the lead male. hes a painter and in love our heroine (Tosca). his lastname in real life is Cassanova but he looked anything but. he's a very short and portly (very) man and Florina Tosca is very tall. so when they were hugging and kissing and pledging their undying love, i had to giggle cause . . . . you get the pic

plum brandy and other scariness

my neighbor and landlord asked me to chec the water meters and report the info.
what followed was a night of plum bandy, marriage proposals, politics, dinner, and other assorted huh?'s that i have to sort thru

at this point in time, am a little drunk and cant remmber it all but it was all kinda fun and eye opening. will write more when am more sober.

1st day of school

today was the first day of school. now this school does things a bit different. on the first day, all we do is have an opening ceremony and kids sit with their homeroom teachers and chat i guess.
kinda not the most fruitful day but i did get alot of work done since i stayed there for the whole day. it was great seeing the kids back and how they (especially the boys) can change over 2 months. new teachers were introduced and all that good stuff. but it started raining and that cut it short a bit - which was nice.

we also said goodbye to one of our students. over the summer one of the students in year 9 died. it was one of those totally ridiculous and senseless things. apparently he was changing a light bulb with wet hands and got electrocuted. now this is crap! and i guess faulty wiring from buildings put up with lax safety standards. some of his friends said a few words for him. they had been together since year 1 and it was really hard.

at the end of the day, i found myself thinking about how funny emotions can be. i found out about Ahmet over the summer and was shocked. I got a little choked up when the kids were talking about him (others in the audience were also crying). i later went to go and say a few words to him mom (she school presented her with a picture/plaque thingy for remembrance). she was all broken up and crying. when i went to her, she hugged and kissed me and told me that Ahmet said that i was his favorite teacher and how he would spend loads of time on the computer doing work for my classes. I told her how great he was (he really was a lovely kid) and i would miss him - i just kinda have a mental picture of his seat being empty. i taught him two subjects and he sat in the same place for each class. Now, if you'd asked me my reaction before hand, i would have said ehh, nothing much. i left the woman and i was bawling. somehow, her comment, the situation just cracked my hard outer shell.

language lessons

so i finally managed to get off my duff and resume romanian language lessons. the best thing i learned today (other good stuff too) was the correct pronunciation of lemon. its kinda like the diff between roof and roof (if pronounced more southern style as ruhf) except that lemon with the OO means oral sex. looking back, i really really like to order ice tea with lemon. sometimes they have had me repeat my order.

which brings me to when romanians learn english. it makes me wonder who their english teachers are and to damn those half-assed translators of movies.

when i first moved into this apt, the landlord (who lives next door) invited me over for a drink. its kinda like the offer you cant refuse. we had wine spritzers (very popular here) and got to talking. he informed that he was still a communist and that life was better under the regime. i tried to talk to him but realized that i'd better hold my tongue. a movie came on - something about sex and race relations on college campuses - its about 15 years old. about the time when ice cube started flexing his acting chops. he then turned the conversation to race relations in the u.s. (its amazing how people - not just this country - feel the need to discuss american race relations but ignore racism in their own countries)

now the language issue is the romanian translation of black into english. somewhere along the line they were taught that negru (black) = nigger. every time he used the word, i flinched (for obvious reasons). feeling massively uncomfortable, i attempted to explain that this is not a word used in english unless one was trying really hard to offend the person speaking to. the funny thing is that he seemed to have this mental block. i had to ask like 4 times. finally i said if it would be nice if i referred to his wife as 'bitch' whenever i spoke of her 9i felt bad syaing this because she is a nice old lady). he then paused and finally asked if it was offensive. and this was after i told him this repeatedly.

did he actually learn anything? who knows but thats me - cultural ambassador and damn me if i'm not diplomatic.

been on my mind

a friend of mine in the Romanian army was deployed to Iraq a few days ago. since he's in the army, he has to go where they tell him to. and i was just thinking how kinda shite it is that he is going to be there for the next 6 months. lots of people in the States are now against the war, but the U.S. is committed and pretty much has to stay, until the situation over there is somewhat stable, given that it was the driving force behind the whole invasion. What gets me about Daniel's situation is that no one really supports it but apparently 5 years ago the Romanian government said they would send people - probably to curry favor with the US. its seems even more senseless that he is being taken away from his family and his life put in danger.

a few months ago at Daniels birthday party, i was talking to his friends - obviously many of his friends are in the military and talk shop. These guys are career military, are officers, (Romania did away with the one years mandatory military service this year) and had served their tour in Iraq. they were talking about the situation and stuff. one of the things that struck me then that i can remember (due to my massively faulty memory which i blame on my thyroid problem), one commented on how poorly some of the American soldiers were doing. he said that he felt so bad for some of them because they were really young people and they're thrown into this situation completely outside of their experience that they are totally unprepared for. they joined the army to pay for college and they wound up in the desert psychologically unprepared.

funnily enough, though i had thought about it and sorta gotten involved (in the UAE, i have my yr 9s run a charity and one class decided to send materials to a school in Iraq and we had an Iraqi speaker come and explain everyday peoples livesat this time) plus crazy inflation in the UAE since many Iraqi refugees came (but only the ones with money/connections to get out). it really struck me this time. He's leaving behind a pregnant wife and will miss the birth of his first child and i still wonder for what?

off the soap box - next post will be travel stuff.

Bucharest, Romania (pt 2)

ah. . . more of bucharest. before wwII and all the bombing, bucharest used to be known as little paris (i really hate when cities get named after other cities as if they dont have their own identity) because of the nod to classical architecture and stuff. have to admit that it did look nice from the photos i've seen.

which brings us to blvd Unirii and piata Unirii (you can pretty much find one in EVERY romanian town. i wonder whether they were named during communism or after the revolution). Ceausescu really really wanted bucharest to be on par with the other great european cities to do this he and his crazy wife went on many building projects (see previous post prt 1). one of which was blvd unirii. so they tore down what was there and built up some new stuff. due to his megalomania (to be fair he did seem really proud of what romania had to offer) he wanted to be BETTER than paris so the made unirii blvd longer and wider than

Champs-Elysee and it has lots of fountains.

during this summer some nutter artist from austria convinced the mayor of bucharest to let him add dye to the fountains. on an exceedingly warm summer day there was an magazine shoot taking place. enjoy the documentation of the day.

Bucharest, Romania (pt 1)

Bucharest is a bit surprising for a european capital city (i know i should have written about it sometime in the past year). When i got here i was all like "um. . . where's the capital part?" there are no skyscrapers and very very very few modern steel and glass buildings. but hey romania has pretty much been on the edge of every empire it was part of. there are loads and loads of small churches and communist block apts. Bucharest didnt fare so well in WWII and then there were earthquakes, and then there was crazy crazy Ceausescu so much of the previous grandeur was lost. much of it is very ugly but there are pockets of loveliness. so we went around and saw some stuff.

Here is the parliament of the people. Ceausescu destroyed 18% of the city at the time to build the second largest building in the world (after the pentagon). Romania has a slightly smaller population (22 mil) than the u.s. so i guess i can see why he needed something so big. actually he was executed before the building was completed so they dont know what he actually intended to do with it. since the end of communism the gov't been working to fix it but apparently it takes much longer to build monuments without the blatant theft and labor that communism allowed. but you have this amazing view of Unirii (unity) blvd. we took a tour and after over one hour, we were told we had seen 2% of the building. Inside was all marble and carvings and pretty awesome craftsmanship. and all the materials are native to romania. we saw a chandelier that weighs 5 tons and had 3 million (!!!) light bulbs. i think it may suck to be a maintenance man there. today its used for conferences and stuff (my school had our international day there).

we went to this balcony near the top facing a plaza and i had dreams of dictatorships and addressing an adoring crowd (or forced to be adoring due to the threat of being shot down). apparently both michael jackson (understandable cause hes crazy) and bill clinton visited bucharest, stood on my balcony, and addressed the crowds as budapest. again bucharest is like the red-headed stepchild of europe.

endings and beginnings

this is a totally dorky post so bear with me!

have been remiss in posting as the holiday ended a while ago. but its been difficult dealing with the 100+ degree heat with no a.c. it seemed like even blinking made me sweat.

kelly left a few days ago and it was awesome having her visit so youre welcome should you feel a yen for bucharest. we had a great time traveling. i saw things in bucharest that i hadnt gotten around to visiting and i totally loved moldova. i recommend it if you happen to be in this neck of the woods and looking for a non touristy place with beautiful scenery and lovely people.

one of the last things that kelly and i did was get me a kitty. YAY!!! been meaning to do it but never did plus the new apt is way more conducive to pet owning. her name is Ziggy (Stardust). i know, i kinda feel bad about it but what can you do? the name just stuck. her hobbies/likes include: napping (gotta admit i join her in those), purring, eating (she purrs and kneads as she eats), kneading my hair (she totally seems to dig the 'fro), head diving my face in the early hours of the morning so i can pet her, scolding me to pet her or if am away for any time.

here's a pic - she looks a little mean but it could be cause she's a cat. she's all marshmallow though.

Targoviste, Romania

This is the former princely court where such greats like Vlad Tepes (Dracula) ruled. its basically a ruin now and we were the only ones there when we went.

we took a maxi-taxi to get there (cross b/t bus and taxi) and had no idea where we were when arrived. i started talking to a girl on the bus asking for directions. she was really sweet (recently completed here university degree) and offered us a ride. we walked to where she was meeting her father and off we were!! sadly Kelly broke their car. it was working fine for an old communist car from the 80s (there was also a lot of bread in the back) but it stopped in the road. the dad tried to get it started but no dice. so we wound up helping to push it across a few lanes of traffic to a side street. the heart was in the right place and i feel really sorry for them that kelly's mojo did not agree with that of their car.

we had some pastries then walked on - now that we knew where things were. we saw an old monastery that htey were making repairs to and went in but no one spoke to us. i think in may have been because we were wearing no sleeved shirts.

mid travel update

currently sitting in an internet cafe in Moldova. we spent a ew days traveling around and visiting postcard perfect places in romania and then endured a ginourmously long bus journey to moldova - it was supposed to be shorter but am thinking the drivers took the scenic route. some of the roads were like driveways. the countryside of both romania and moldova is incredibly rural. people still have outhouses and such but its full of both cultivated and uncultivated gentle rolling hills. you look out the window and see the yellow heads of sunflower seeds dotting the landscape or the grape vines. i saw one of the most beautiful sunrises ever as i watched the sun rise over the hills, diffused through the clouds. it looked like the the clouds were touching the hills with the sun, in all its glory, rising and burning through it. as anti-mush as i am, my heart sung - its indescribable

today i went on a wine tour. gotta say it was the first time in my life i was drunk before noon (well having not begun the night before). had some kick-ass wine though.

holiday

for the next couple of weeks, i will be traveling around romania and moldova with a friend, kelly.
this week we've been hanging out in bucharest and i've been showing her many many famous buildings. okay some are famous only because i said so, but really whose to know?

come and visit and i will make up many somewhat believable stories especially for you. so i have back log of pics from this week - got an excuse as i only got internet last night. will try to post as i travel and finish when i get back. hopefully.

it may be a while so . . . la revedere

3rd times the charm

this time my absence was not due to massive laziness but cause i was moving for the 3rd time in a year. i absolutely hate moving but i seem to do it alot. this time i have moved to what i think is one of the nicest parts of bucharest. its a nice leafy neighborhood - for bucharest - sandwiched between two parks. the apt is bigger and cleaner. thats the totally horrible thing of living as i do. as i try to remain light on the furniture (but am totally into accumulating other rubish), i have to move into furnished apts and sometimes those are scary!

plus in this apt, the landlord is really nice and super helpful. he lives next door and am a little scared that he and his wife will want to adopt me. i have privacy issues but its one of those weird cultural things that is really really hard to explain. i relate it to a cultural thing but its really a me weirdness.

so on my floor are 3 other apts. my landlord and his wife and the other apts have little old ladies in them. as soon as i was moving in, they came checking me out. the landlord told me they knew everything that was going on and were better than guard dogs. dont know whether to be really afraid or feel safe.

the other day i met one in the elevator and we had a 'talk' which consists of me stumbling through the romanian i know and trying really hard to decode the mile a minute talk. the conversation included her trying to figure out which languages i speak, exchange of names, etc. she also said something about visiting. i couldnt figure out if i was being invited to her house or if she was gonna be dropping by to party. but she ended the conversation with a smile, something unintelligible, and a pinch of my nose. am okay with this if it means she will be stopping by with cakes or something but not if its a hookup with her grandson. i seriously need to learn more romanian.

at the tram stop

yesterday, at the tram stop, i met another cute little old lady. am convinced that romania has some of the cutest old ladies ever. she weighed, like, 90 pounds was all kinda shrunken. she had this bright red colored hair. old romanian ladies (in bucharest anyway) seem to really like dying their hair totally improbable colors. i have seen little old women with blue and purple hair. i am totally convinced that my theory, which is totally unsubstantiated and nothing to back it up, is correct. at least i just like to believe it cause its probably cooler than the actual reason. i think that many of these ladies are discovering and deciding to be punk rock in their old age. they would be in mosh pits it they didnt have to worry about osteoporosis, fragile bones, and hip replacement surgery.

anyway. am all kinda proud of myself cause the conversation was all in romanian. i stumbled through it (okay falling and not being able to get up) but managed to understand and convey meaning. it centered on where i was from, why did i come to work in romania instead of staying in the u.s. (a favorite of people around the world), how much money i made (also a favorite around the world) and my hair.

she liked it and told me so repeatedly - maybe she saw a kindred spirit with the crazy hair thing. mind you, am not sure how much she would have liked it if it was all fro-ed out. whenever i have the courage to venture out with the fro in evidence, i get so many looks its disconcerting.

a little old man joined the convo to but have decided they are not as cool/cute as the old ladies.

samples - seriously TMI

yep. its about that time of the year. now that school is all done, i can take time out of giving to others and give a little time to me (um. . . i say this in all seriousness, i think but am a bit shaky on the meaning of the word). so i go to the doctor for the yearly check up. alls good - i go to a very modern center and the drs are very nice.

so i have to do lab work. sounds okay, right/ they send me home with cups and tubes with little spoons and am supposed to return the samples the next day. um. . . okay

next day. things are double bagged and then carried in a yet another bag. now i have to take public transport for about 30 minutes to get to the hospital. cant even tell you how paranoid i was. i kept on wondering: can people smell this? why do they keep looking at me? do they know what am carrying?

was a harrowing experience . . .

then when i get to the lab, they put my samples on the receptionists counter with labels so all who come in can have a view. Yikes!!! totally embarrassing so i avoided looking in that direction assiduously.

new but sad addiction

been playing a lot of text twist recently. you know cause i gotta find something to do in between games of jawbreaker.

have realized that am on a somewhat rapid decline. will be drooling and pooping on myself real soon. i went through a bout of playing it alot about 18 months ago. sad to say this time around am way way dumber at the game. have yet to reach my previous high score. if am really hardcore, i get about 2/3 of the way before going caput. its very sad and am a bit ashamed that i cant think of words like 'ret' and stuff. is that even a real word?

to be fair (really just whining and trying to make myself seem less stupid) i would do much better if the game accepted bad words, words in other languages, place names and slang. its not too much to ask for is it?

the good old days

apologies - have been dealing with the whole 'find an apt and moving' thing which will finally happen this weekend. oh yeah , and with the energy sucking of totally having nothing to do.

but the good thing is that i've spent loads of time listening to music. have been listening to bloc party, menomena, the gossip, and of course bjork - loads and loads. some of this stuff, esp. menomena, is so freaking good, i could lick it. its been a while since i have just viscerally liked a band and wanted to listen to their music over and over again. there are the old standbys of radiohead and r.e.m. and pink floyd etc., but a new band is bliss. . . sigh . . . theres something totally beautiful of just nothing but music and it got me thinking about the good old days of music listening. i remember when i buying a cd was a time for my roommates to hate me. i would listen to nothing else for days or weeks. i used to lay in my bed listening to the music with the insert, reading through the lyrics or sometimes just in the dark letting the music wash over me. it was kinda like communing with the music and musicians. i just dont do that anymore. its not that there is no time, but there are no cd inserts (plus the dearth of good, satisfying music) just downloaded mp3s. i miss the tactile aspect of music. it used to be a whole body experience utilizing so many senses (though not taste cause i never actually really licked anything).

its funny when i realize that am showing my age and how little things can represent generational distance.

heat wave

dear lord! its gonna be in the 90s today and will hit the 100s later this week. europe is freaking burning up and people are dropping like flies. but most importantly - i am hot! and i aint got no a.c. this is the first time in a long time that am a.c.-less and can pretty much say that it aint a good thing. the desire for a.c. drives one to do things like go to the mall, where one is repeatedly accosted by students.

the desire for cool air is so great that i would give up my first born child. okay i know that i offer up this kid alot but as soon as i get a taker for that one, will offer up the second.

veggie guy and girl

a friend of mine and her boyfriend are traveling about the countrying in a veggie oil modified car. kinda crazy, kinda cool. enjoy. http://veggieguyandgirl.blogspot.com/

my sorta new addiction

the kids at school reintroduced me to this in the last days of the school year - its like non-peer pressure. of course, i had been exposed to it previously and found it difficult then and now to disengage but still i play and play JAWBREAKER. the insidiously ingenious game with pretty colors and sounds. i remember forcing myself to stay up during most of a 14 hour flight from dubai to new york playing this. and now i have been sucked in again! luckily, this time around my strategy is way better so i've got much higher scores which only means that i must play more. its gotten so bad that i am seeing the patterns everywhere and looking to see if i can just click on them. i wake up in the morning and i play (its on the pda so it tucks in with me at nite)

jawbreaker is a cruel cruel mistress. am sure will wind up with some sort of repetitive motion injury.

ahhh, the phila-poo-poo

reading the nytimes style section (my way of pretending that i'm bettering myself while wallowing in my shallowness) i saw a mention of a new tv show coming out called the "age of love"

whenever i go to church (an almost annual occurrence) i find myself praying and asking god when will the reality show craze end!?! apparently s/he doesnt listen to my prayers much (or i really should ask for more worthwhile things, you know - like for that ginormous zit on my cheek to go away) because shows like age of love and things involving donald trump abound.

apparently the star of age of love is mark philippoussis a greek-australian tennis star - and i use the word star in the very loosest form of the word. i had forgotten about philapoopoo until this forcibly brought him to my attention since "tennis star" faded a while ago. a few years ago i saw him play in Dubai (i have to say that i freakin' luuuv the tennis. its very zen in a 'wow i just lost 3 hours watching a little green ball' sort of way) when he was closer to the top of his game. this dude is like 6'4" and from a purely female perspective he is absolutely lovely. but that joy faded with the utter and total horrendousness of his ability (luckily, being crap means a short match). he lost to some belgian dude shorter than me because he could not serve over the net!!! thereby double faulting. heck, i could have won even with my incredibly poor hand eye coordination, lack of spatial/depth perception, and inability to not stumble over my feet.

now he is trying to find the 'love' of his life on a reality show, which seems like a really really good idea. he must be more popular than this in australia, right? on the other hand, we could thank him as this could turn out to simply be an extremely long PSA - kinda like an after school special but with lots of self-aggrandizing behavior, debasement, desperation, cleavage and the possibility of spreading STDs thereby encouraging the kiddies to finish high school lest they wind up in such dire straights.

tears of joy

yay yay yay! shcools over and i have been celebrating by doing nothing. absolutely nothing. have hung about and ate pizza and took naps and stayed up all hours.

am ready to stop now but i had to celebrate my freedom to be an absolute total slob.

am terribly busy, i must now go do nothing..

enjoy your summer sukkaaaz!!!

visions of days to come

yeeeesssss. i had an absolutely lovely day. it was warm and lovely and beautiful and sunny and the predictor of things to come. today i spent the WHOLE day doing nothing (kay did some reading for my class in political geography on civil divisions in the U.S. - somehow not that fascinating). i met up with a friend and we had lunch in a restaurant in the park under an arbor of flowing plants and roses. then we spread a blanket watched the boaters on the lake - sadly that was interrupted by the security people so we went to another really awesome park that doesnt care about the grass (though the first one had way better bathrooms) and watched kids swim in the lake. its amazing how time flies when you are doing nothing and a half. the day came to an end when my bladder was about to stage a rebellion but my olfactory was unwilling to experience the port-a-potty.

ahhh. . . this week is the last last week of this school term. then a blissful 10 weeks of kidlessness. may every day be as lovely (but with conveniently located normal toilets)

relating to nature

one of the things that i truly like about Romania is the opportunity to be outside. mind you i have to be as i must be intimately acquainted with the public transport system to get anywhere. but the UAE is such an indoor culture and i did it for 3 years. i didnt realize til i got here how much i had been missing the whole being outdoors, going to parks, and just enjoying the sun and weather thing.

with that said, as always, i've got complaints. nature is not as beautiful in reality as in my head. the landscaping has not been thought out - there are fruit trees all over the place and they SHED fruit. this seems okay til walking the sidewalk is like a fruit squooshing exercise (kinda like the wine stomping in that "I love Lucy" episode). frankly i am worried about my shoes (you know i'm shallow so dont shake your head). i must say, am all about the useless and pretty tree school of landscaping but i may start collecting fruit and making jam (you know lemon -lemonade thing). then i walk under a tree and am pinged by cherries that just 'happen' to fall from the tree - in actuality, i think the squirrels have it out for me and arent shy about letting me know.

the slugs come out at night and leave trails all over where i walk. its like their taunting me, trying to drive me insane cause they know that i have a big phobia (yes yes , its true but aside from that, i think they are a mistake of creation). I dont think the cops would appreciate me littering the streets with shallow dishes of beer to do them in (though the drunks and people with a slug problem in their gardens may applaud my efforts).

finally, spring is supposed to be all miraculous and about life and all that slightly nauseating and mushy crap. just to show that if you really dig deep enough, you can find some tenderness in me, this one is really sad. i keep seeing dead baby birds - no not some Jungian craziness that i could write a song about and make lots of money (peter gabriel) but actual baby birds on the side walks (i look down a lot as i am desperately trying to avoid the dog doo so i wont have any more shoes camping on the balcony not being worn). i dont know if they have been pushed out of the nest by parents or siblings but they are tiny, naked, and recently hatched. eyes are closed and i wonder if i have stepped on any, not realizing it in those moments when am not looking of the ground.

the people you kinda meet

i meant to write this a while ago . . . here goes. sometimes when i can convince myself of the merits of this, i wake up early and go to the park for a morning constitutional. its lovely - i walk/run around the lake and smell the flowers and watch the sun rise and feel that all is right in my world.

now while i do this, i say greet (in romanian) the other joggers and dog walkers. well, a couple of weeks ago i said good morning to an older gentleman (me being diplomatic) strolling in the opposite direction. towards the end of my jog, i saw him again and attempted to nod. he decided that me needed to speak so he grabbed a hold of my hand and offered me some flowers he had picked. it was sooooo sweet and i was having shiny, happy - warm, fuzzy thoughts about people. but his greetings continued. he dumped more flowers on my head, then he pulled the collar of my shirt (dont worry i was wearing an ultra sexy sports bra) and dropped more flowers inside, then he gave me an uber hardy pat on the back. i had no idea what he was saying to me.
and i have no idea the purpose of this. maybe fertility well wishing, maybe we're married now, who knows. what sucks is that this dude is totally regular with his park walking habits. so now i see him ALL the time and he always has flowers. this may be the impetus for me to learn to run faster.

good times

last night i hung out with a friend and some of his friends. it was a fun and interesting experience - kinda like college but older - you know with the preparty before you party? as a lightweight, i could not participate fully but i have to say that i enjoyed watching - included in this was a bandoleer of premixed shots in small bottles (seriously like Rambo but without the bullets) , confetti as it was someones birthday, something akin to extreme yoga shots and of course dancing. i have to say that these guys have a serious and i do mean serious love of disco and funk which i find funny given their ages but hey i have serious love for the beegees - especially the one who seems to do nothing and gets paid for it.

then we went to a club i hadnt been to before where everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and dancing rather than posing and being seen.
ah . . . the people one meets in clubs. this included some dude who tried screaming politics in my ALL NIGHT LONG e.g. Romania is communist shit, America and Britain ruined Africa, etc. How does one think to have a political discussion on the dancefloor. all it does is send copious amounts of spit into my ear - totally not appreciated. then there was one dude who asked me to dance - i had to decline (song not that good among other reasons) then he attempts to persuade me with some disjointed ramblings that culminated with "my dream is to have a black girlfriend." sadly, i had to leave his dream unfulfilled (how does anyone think that will work?). I also had the pleasure of meeting another dude with shirt unbuttoned to the navel, lots of chest hair peeking, and the dance moves of a luuv-a. after i recovered from swooning at his hotness, i realized that he was just toooo potent or little ole me.

one of the guys i was with showed me how to waltz and i have to say i was totally pitiful. dancing a little vigorously led me to lose an earing and i was lopsided until a friend put another one in.
all in all, great night, great people (the ones i went with) and a nice taxi ride home around 5.

good taste?

today i went a money spendin'. okay it is hellaciously hot here and my feet just cannot stand confinement in such cases (i got a doctor's note). so on the lookout for shoes i popped into the electronics store - you know, just to make sure they werent hiding some in the back. and i remembered that bjork, who i luuuuuuuuvvv recently released a new album so i went a huntin'.

since she is touring this summer, am willing to offer my first born child to anyone who can get me tickets. am gonna be truthful and 'fess up that i've tried this first born child offer before and havent any takers that i remember so really is on a first come first serve basis when i finally pop one out. have to say that am sure this kid is gonna be awesome so its a really really sweet deal compared to the price of Bjork tickets.

onward to the whole cd thing. now, i didnt find bjork (total evidence of taste lacking) but i did find lots and lots and i do mean lots of billy idol. truthfully, was the single largest artist in the 'B' section. seeing how i do love him something awful - i decided to take this as evidence of good taste. so i guess that store is taste neutral?

bummed

i wrote up an entry - pictures and everything. then it went byebye. dont have in me to try and recreate it. losing stuff you spent time on totally bums me.

beer beer beer

as you know, noble and intrepid traveler that i am, when i visit someplace i endeavor to learn about and explore the culture of a place. therefore, i boldly set forth to plumb the depths of germany's greatest cultural achievements.

so i made sure that i had some beer. i was ready to imbibe in attempts to discover all the varying flavors and textures that minute but very real differences in ratios of ingredients can confer upon the beverage. sadly i am a retard and therefore unable to connoisseur anything. also am a lightweight (cheap date) and i mostly think beer tastes like buttock.

luckily and heartily for me the germans seem quite egalitarian about this unlike some other countries i've been to though i totally took advantage of the fact that beer is cheaper than water while in the czech republic. there is a special type of beer which is used to make very very tasty drinks that include such lovely combinations as beer with coke. some might say that its a misuse of the high and holy coca cola but i say its a pretty good way of making beer not be nasty. i also had lime beer. its kinda like limeade but with beer. ever so magical.

what i learned is that germans have found a way to bring culture to everyone, even girly girls who can't really appreciate the centuries of tradition, trial, error, blood, sweat, and tears that every glass of beer contains

Mogosoara

yeah. . . well i've not been busy so no excuse. we had a four day weekend cause its labor day (i totally love national holidays) so i did pretty much nothing but relax cause i've been at work for two weeks since the last vacation and . . . well one can always use a holiday. but today i got off my buttocks and went on a wee trip outside bucharest to visit Mogosoara palace. Its not quite a palace but a venetian style house built a few centuries ago by a prince. it over looks a pond and has lovely gardens and a surrounding forest. my friend jennifer and i hung out, walked, talked, and enjoyed the pretty scenery and weather. the palace passed through the hands of the prince's family but was later given to (stolen by) the state and turned into a museum. it was a little bare inside as Ceausescu as some point decided that the stuff inside would better serve the people as his own personal possessions and he took it all. aside from the whole dying by firing squad thing, I have decided that its good to be a dictator so am looking for a country - a small one would do - of my very own. also there was a statue of lenin and a communist governor of bucharest. after the revolution they tore the statues from where they were standing and dumped them on waste ground behind the palace so its now known as 'the grave of 'lenin'' kind cool so jennifer and i enjoyed it.

on riding the tram home i was reduced to childhood again. we saw this little old lady and tried to give her our seats. she patted our cheeks and i think told us how nice girls we were. jennifer's romanian is way way way better than mine so she spoke to her but it and she was sooo cute. ah lovely day, but sadly the monstrous head of work looms over my tomorrow.

back from Germany

am back home now. its good to be home and sleep in my bed and not share space with people and have clothing be optional but it sure does suck to go back to work. am tired of working and am ready to be saved from it. i could use a longer vacation - luckily summer is just 7 weeks away.

i really enjoyed this trip. the people i worked with were pretty cool with great senses of humor. we all developed catch phrases that would send others into peals of laughter - dont think they make much sense to anyone else though. will hopefully be able to visit some of them at some point. plus i had lots of fun.

observations on germany

- very very clean
- very very law abiding (rarely did anyone cross the street against the light)
- environmentally conscious - lots of well planed bike lanes and people using them
- not the most fashionable people in the world
- the women wore very little make up (right on!)
- people were really nice - i seem to get lost alot and people always took time out to point me in the right direction sometimes even walking me the way.
- german women have ginormous feet - large sizes are pretty easy to find
- very pretty and well maintained.
- they surely do love their sausage
- good girly beer (more on this later)
- german is a very difficult language to pronounce
- nothings open on sunday - which drove me crazy.

i liked germany and i liked the workcamp experience. hopefully will be able to repeat the experience

happy easter

ok its a bit late but Happy Easter

<---- these were some friends visiting us for easter, but sadly no one has seen or heard from them in a while.

On saturday, our local partners came and cooked and had dinner with us. they made some traditional german food to eat with potatoes and eggs. there was also an easter egg and chocolate hunt.

sunday was a nice day with the weather deciding to warm up a bit and show that it is spring. i went to church and it was all in german so i understood things like und (and), mit (with), and thats about it. but it was a lovely small church.

later on the group went to the park and cavorted around, i saw some art and stuff. was pretty nice.

easter here is a massively scary experience for an american. everything is closed for friday, sunday, and monday. i mean everything - no shops, grocery stores, nothing except parks and museums. i cannot understand how you close everything like that. what happens if you run out of food? do you start eating the weakest members of the family?