Some good, some bad...

The bad news: Despite a handshake and a promise, the president didn't show up last night to meet with me. While I'm aware that it was a bit naive of me to think that he actually would come... I'm still annoyed! Tammy and I called him to see what the deal was, and he told us to call him today at 2pm. Okay. Two o'clock rolled around and did anyone answer when I called? Nope. When I called around four he did answer, but only to tell me to call again later tonight. Is there something lost in translation here or is this just the proverbial European run-around? Harumph. It's frustrating because I would totally love to play on this team, but I can't do it without being paid (even if it's just a little bit) and the situation (dishonest zero-integrity president, negative management and an already full team roster) isn't really remotely optimistic. All I can really do is persevere and try and get an answer from this guy... and then go from there.

The good news: we have heat! Our apartment is warm and toasty-cozy. And we're going out to dinner - to the Irish Pub where we'll eat yummy calamari and who knows what else. I also just had a great workout. So, there you go - three pieces of good news to one BIG president-piece of bad news - I'll focus on the good! (I'm thinking of the calamari!!)

Dacias line the sidewalk - note the no horse and cart sign on the pole...

This part of the road is in pretty good condition, minus the large hole that takes up an entire lane!

As you can see from these pics, the roads aren't exactly in fabulous condition over here - they're splotched with small holes, big holes and potholes, and uneven and/or protruding cement. The cars that drive on them, for the most part, aren't that nice either. I did see a Lamborghini the other day, and Range Rovers, BMWs and Mercedes are pretty common BUT the lunker Dacia and the klunker Matiz are definitely the common breed. There is also a horse and cart in our neighborhood, but I've never seen it when I've had my camera on me - this mode of transportation is restricted to specific streets, and there's signage letting all know where their horse and cart is welcome. Or not. Also, parking your car on the sidewalk is perfectly acceptable, if not the preferred location (as opposed to the street). Not that the sidewalks are that great to begin with either, but at least they exist - better than nothing!

So the garbage situation here - there are a few big garbage bins behind our apartment that get emptied every day or two, and a few times a week a garbage truck backs down our narrow street to pick up trash from smaller bins in front of our building. There's no recycling which I hate... because at least half of our garbage could be recycled. We have to buy all of our water, so every day we're going through at least a bottle or two - and in the trash. Meh. Littering is also pretty common, and so is the more substantial littering of pitching-whatever-you-want-off-your-balcony into the bushes. This includes construction waste and garbage of any sort. There's none of this around our building but at Jim's place - there's a medium sized pile of garbage on one side (or two or three) of his building.

Last thing - some friends of ours (one of Steve's teammates from the National Team), Mike Munday and his wife Penny, are in Dubai for the year, where he's playing volleyball. She sent me some pics of their team getting ready to play the other night, and get this: the team plays OUTSIDE. And, on Saturday, it just so happened to rain torrentially just before the match was set to start. No problem! They had some minions squeegee and mop and towel off the court so the game could go on - wow. If this doesn't give you a sense of appreciation for gymnasiums, I don't know what will!