a visitor!!

We have a visitor! Our friend Nik made the trek from Kavasila to Athens to Bucharest to Constanta to visit us for nine days! As his (and our – wait, more specifically my) luck would have it, getting to Constanta was made a little bit more complicated by the fact that the night before he arrived, a huge storm hit Constanta and Bucharest, and the road between the two cities was closed. So, my plan to pick him up with a borrowed mid-sized vehicle was, er, compromised? We were told that the storm was to get worse, and that the Code Yellow (weather alert? not sure…) would be upgraded to a Code Red in the morning. I was advised by the team manager that, as a woman, I should not attempt to drive to Bucharest. Steve stood up for me: “But she’s a strong woman!” And Buly (manager) said, slowly, “Yes, but no speak language, maybe strange men.” Uh, yup. Especially with strange men thrown into the equation, I’d really rather not attempt Code Red weather by myself. Of course we weren’t sure what this really meant – which is standard here in Romania: did Code Red mean a foot of snow and a closed road? There were accidents and backups all over the country on Friday night (including a 10 car pileup on the Constanta-Bucharest highway)… so we weren’t sure. Opting for safety first I decided to take the train, which would have been unbearably slow: the fast train takes four and a half hours; driving takes around three. Long story short, I ended up taking a bus and then – I’m proud of myself! – public transit, in Bucharest, to get to the airport. I picked him up no problem and we made it back to Constanta – again, all on the bus – in time for Steve’s four o’clock game. Nik’s catch phrase is “No problem!” and, it was just that: no problem. (I have to add this: On Friday night we met Buly (to get the keys to the car I was going to drive) in a dentist’s office next door to his house and he smoked the entire time we were there. In a dentist’s office… )

Saturday night’s game was kind of a breeze, and the guys won 3-0 - no problem! Several of the starters (including Steve) didn’t dress, and got a break from their as-of-late grueling schedule. Even though things aren’t going to let up for a while (until the end of the season), at least they’re at home for 10 straight days… yay! We don’t have too much planned for our visitor – I can’t say that Constanta is bursting with tourist attractions or things to do, but hopefully we’ll be able to explore the coast a little bit, and see some new things. Yoga has been going really well for me, but numbers are still really up and down. Friday’s class only had six people… but it was great. And not too much else is going on! I am finally reading a book that I’m enjoying – Pilgrim by Timothy Findley. It’s pretty rare that I start a book that I can’t (or don't want to) finish, and prior to this one there were three in a row that were only good for putting me to sleep! Even with a cup of coffee… snore. I'm going to cut this short - this internet signal is starting to fade (the computer is perched on a windowsill; we are still, basically, sans internet), and the guys are watching the Greek Basketball Cup final on TV and it sounds exciting… so I’m outta here!

Us girls and our half-litre beers (Tammy, Agustina and me)

The guys with their man-beers: Steve, Nik and Sebastian