on the plane...

RON!!


I’m writing this somewhere over the Atlantic, somewhere in between – in between one home and another. I’ve probably said this already, but it was strange leaving, as it always is. I’m happy to be coming home – but not entirely happy to leave, because Romania – wait, the specifics matter here: Constanta and the Uniri neighborhood – has been my home for the past seven months. So yes, I’m going home but leaving another one to get there. My last full day in Romania was actually pretty typical of my experience there; there was some happy, some sad, some frustrating and some horrible… some questionable some… I could go on. I left the seemingly empty apartment around 9:30 (I guess all of the apartment debris belonged to me) in a full and heavy Matiz, with my two lunker bags in the back. I said a quick goodbye to Ron the apartment dog who is SUCH a sweetie, and headed for the Flora to meet Val (coach Stelio’s wife); the plan was to drive to Bucharest in time for the game, and then catch a lift (or a taxi) to my hotel next to the airport. Before the Flora I stopped to feed some leftover chicken to another sweetie (dog) who I’d fed throughout the year, but sadly he was nowhere to be found! Mrrrr… I walked not 50 yards to the beach, and found three hungry, mangy, skinny dogs who scarfed down the chicken and then looked at me with neglected eyes for more. The whole situation with the dogs and animals is so sad… but don’t get me started. On to the Flora I drove, where I said goodbye to the mini Matiz – no tears lost there. We had no problems in the full-sized Honda, and even arrived in Bucharest early enough to drop my bags at the hotel… but ooooooh wow – I didn’t think it was possible for the ring road to get any worse but it has. And why, you ask, was it so bad? Ruts, uneven (uneven is an understatement) gravel and asphalt and concrete and dirt surfaces, crater-potholes and, of course, out-of-control selfish, maniac drivers. Oh, and the lack of signs, speed limits, paint/lines on the road, lights, directions, warning for re-routing or three-lanes-merge-to-one doesn’t help things either. By the time that we got to my hotel I was stressed… and time was running out for us to get to the gym in time for what we’d hoped would be the last game of the finals. Anyways, we picked up a map and Val talked to Mircea, an assistant coach, and we actually drove through Bucharest without getting terribly lost and found our way to the small (tucked between a grocery store and a church) gym. And since it was 3:00 and we were hungry (and early for the game), we had a picnic in the car and it was the best thing ever! From the Billa grocery store we bought sandwiches, chips, wine and these Romanian corn snacks that people buy by the Costco-sized bag that I’ve been curious about for yes, the past seven months. It was delicious and the best idea ever. After making short order of all of the food and drink, we met the guys off of the bus and found seats in the tiny gym – we were the first fans there… woot woot! And well there’s not too much to say about the game really, except that they lost and it was ugly. They play again tonight – actually they might be playing right now – and they’d better win – I guess a few of the guys have booked flights for Saturday, leaving no chance of playing game five on Sunday. I was at least able to hang out with Steve for a few hours before I had to get to the Rin Confort way across town at the airport. And there you go. I was up at 4:00am this morning and with three more hours left in the flight… I think it’s time for some shut-eye…

you see people buying massive bags of these things - they were okay...

PICNIC!! yum!