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.