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!

two more days!

So about five seconds after I posted my last blog, the chair that I’m sitting on began to shake and Steve and I looked at each other with a what-is-going-on-is-this-an-EARTHQUAKE?! look… and it was. It only lasted for about 10 or 15 seconds but during that time I’m thinking: will this get worse how long will this last should I get up and go and stand in a door frame, all the while wondering just how shoddy the concrete box I’m living in is. Not all of our friends felt it (the epicenter of the 5.3 quake was in the Vrancea region, 300-400kms northwest of here) but between those who did there were mixed reactions of FREAK-OUT! (the Italian guy – Italians are dramatic anyways), so-so (us) and MEH! It’s nothing! (California girl Sherisa: “It happens all the time.”). An aside about earthquakes (and me): almost every time there’s an earth-shake I think of The Land Before Time and all of those cute little talking dinosaurs… and of the word earth-shake. It’s actually way too cute for what it’s used to describe. Anyways…

Okay! Important news first: the guys won on Sunday! YAY! So they are going into game three of the finals (tomorrow, 5:00 in Bucharest) in the most ideal of situations: up two games to none. It was a bit of a thriller: five sets and charged. Dinamo actually isn’t that bad of a team, but their attitude stinks. One of the characteristics that I admire most in people is accountability, and one that I hate the most is arrogance, and many of these guys lacked the first and emanated the second – puke. Also… they are nutbars! Whenever they scored a big point, the libero would do a mini victory lap, yelling and running around like a heathen savage who'd just ripped someone’s head off. And the rest were no better. I mean, it got them fired up but when something didn’t go their way – they’d literally almost jump on the down ref, playing the poor misjudged victim card. (Speaking of cards, at one point they actually got a yellow card, but so did Steve - for quite literally (with his hand) pointing out their unsportsmanlike, idiotic, inappropriate, and dumb and stupid behaviour towards the second referee.) Anyways, in the end Tomis played better and Dinamo just made too many mistakes – and we won! Awesome. Tomorrow’s game will be crazy –it’s a small gym and the fans, from both sides, will be fanaticals. Should be good though, I hope they win!

And it’s my last day in Constanta! EEEEeeeeee! I leave tomorrow morning for Bucharest, and will catch the game and then head to my hotel near the airport. Only two days until I can try my wedding dress on again! Yaaaay! If I could somehow post a link to it without Steve seeing I would… but I can’t. Does this make me sound like an obsessed-with-the-dress bride? Hmmm, maybe. Oh well! I love it and maybe I am but so there so what. Like I said in my last post, I just can’t believe that the time has come to leave again… it doesn’t feel like so long ago that I was doing this from Russia. We’ve been fitting in some “last” things: last pizza at our favourite pizza place, last papanash (Romanian donut dessert goodness) at Scoica, and today is the last yoga class and last gym workout. It will probably also be the last grocery shop, the last apartment clean and the last recycling run – fine by me! I just dropped Steve off for his last road trip of the season… and I guess I should get off this computer and do some dishes. I know there will be more of those, but MUHAHAHA! not for long!

last weekend in romania! eek!!

I can't believe it's already almost time to go! I've been looking forward to going home for a while, but now that it's here - it's almost come too quickly. I mean, I don't have much to stay here for really... the guys will have finished playing in a week (or less) and then it's go-home time for everyone. I guess I'm just feeling a little nostalgic for the time that has just disappeared - going, going and then, before you know it, gone. Anyways, I AM looking forward to going home - to family, friends, sushi, libraries, dryers and DISHWASHERS! Ooh... and my dress! I fly to Toronto next Thursday to spend a few days with Steve's family, then head to Winnipeg for a few more days before I jet out west for ten days or so. It will be busy and it will be a whirlwind - and another time vortex - but I'm excited. PLUS... there are only 70 days to go until we wed! Ak! Anyways... more importantly (for now at least) the guys won tonight! In the first game of the best-of-five finals series they stomped Dinamo Bucharest 3-0. Okay, it wasn't a total stomp-thumping but they won in straight sets, hopefully setting the tone for the rest of the series. Tammy's team lost 3-1, but played really well - they should have taken at least one more set off of Galati - and actually could have won. They're playing the heavily favoured top-ranked team (also last year's champion) and are not expected to win... but they can! Hopefully tomorrow's games go well for both the men and the women; I think they're being broadcast live on TV Neptun again - the men play at 5pm, and the women at 6. That's all I've got for now... I have to go and organize and pack! EEK!!

Earth Day!

Today, April 22nd, is Earth Day, and according to Wikipedia, it’s a day “designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment.” There is also a UN Earth Day in March, but the more days the merrier, no? Today’s Earth Day has been observed since the early 70s, and has had a boatload of different emphases: overpopulation and “zero population growth,” global cooling, global warming, recycling, clean energy, wilderness conservation (“Who speaks for the trees?”) and much more. There are Earth Day and Earth Week events going on all over the globe, but sadly… I can’t find much going on in Romania. Earth Day Network has a small page lamenting the problems facing the country, and I’ve found a few other sites that talk about the same problems. Things are best summed up (I think) on a branch of earthdaybags.com, on a page that displays some artwork from an elementary school in Mioveni, Arges, a town in central Romania:

In Romania the battle against garbage it's only at the beginning, but like always the beginning is the most part hard part. A polluted environment walks hand in hand with humanity's thirst for a prosperous life. Basically the concept of pollution has become an everyday issue due to people's lack of consideration for nature, sheer ignorance, mass absence of knowledge for nature's pitiful existence, the need to defy every moral law that we hold dear, just for short term amusement, not to mention the materialistic selfish and petty schemes of the great industrialists.


artwork that accompanied the above blurb about Romania and the environment...

It doesn’t paint a pretty picture of Romania, or the habits of Romanian people, but I have to agree. Almost every day I see people littering, tossing garbage out of the car window and/or while walking down the street; there’s an attitude that there are people – the lowly garbage sweepers – to clean up after others, and this somehow exempts the garbage tossers of any responsibility or culpability. I hate it. But the issues are obviously much bigger. The government provides no example, opportunity or incentive to care about the environment, and in a country struggling to catch up with modernity and European living standards, the Environment and the Earth fall at the bottom of the list of its worries.

Anyways, Wikihow has a page with 15 suggestions on how to celebrate Earth Day, and here they are:

1. Plant trees. Strike one: I can’t plant any trees today.
2. Make nature crafts at school or at home. Hmm… I suppose I could make some nature crafts, but I would (or Steve will) throw them out – strike two.
3. Learn more about the environment. I can definitely do this.
4. Reduce, reuse and recycle all day long. Done.
5. Get children to recycle their old toys and games. Strike three.
6. Rid litter. I can definitely do that… there is litter everywhere.
7. Sing or listen to Earth songs. Can do this too – I just discovered the great playlists in iTunes Essentials…. there’s even an Earth playlist – will have to check it out.
8. Hold an Earth Day fair. Nope.
9. Teach others about the environment. Maybe.
10. Wear green and/or brown. How about blue?
11. Engage others in conversation about your environmental concerns. Sure!
12. Cook a special Earth Day meal. Club sandwiches?
13. Consider buying a carbon offset to make up for the greenhouse gas emissions you create on the other 364 days of the year. I will consider it, but most likely not act on those considerations.
14. Ride your bike. I would love to ride my bike! But I don’t have one.
15. Remember, every day is Earth Day! Okay!

The last thing that I have to say that has nothing to do with Earth Day is that I’m leaving in a week! Yay!!

Easter Weekend Two

Well... we had another amazing weekend: there was a LOT of food, there was drink (okay maybe a lot of that too), and there was dancing - and on more than one occasion. Last night at Jim's Steve and Arvis were cutting it up to The Twist... it was goooood stuff. So anyways, yes, Easter Number Two was a good one. I wasn't expecting such a low-key city - there were rumours that thousands of people were flocking to the coast for the big holiday, but the streets were as empty as the grocery stores were full (last week). I guess most people stayed home with their families all weekend - ooh, except for the club-goers that stocked the place full on Saturday night. Anyways, Friday night we made a HUGE spread of sushi, and almost ate it ALL. It was unbelievably delicious... really - we are getting good. I still really miss the raw stuff though - the sashimi and ooh, of course the tempura. Yum. As usual, going for sushi is at the top of my when-I-get-home to-do (to-eat) list. (Is food all I think about? I have other lists... I swear.)

Saturday we didn't do too much during the day - except hunt for Easter eggs!! I came home after my morning gym workout (in anticipation of the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs) to a kitchen full of chocolate goodness... yum! There were eggs galore, and even a colossal hazelnut Milka bar... danger. After sampling the goods, Steve left for training and Tammy and I had coffee outside and planned the rest of our weekend. Thinking that restaurants would be crazy busy, we made reservations at Baf, a cute place that has Argentinian beef on the menu. (Apparently the beef here is bleh, so the guys were looking forward to some quality meat.) Unfortunately, the place ended up not having any South American meat (not surprising really), so most of us ordered the standard go-to food... PIZZA! The pizza was great and so was the wine. Our waitress was clearly extremely unimpressed with the fact that she had to work - she was super super grumpy, which, I suppose, is also fairly normal. After dinner we came back to our place and had a few drinks before the people dispersed; some went home, some went out and some... stayed home. Tammy and I, along with two of Steve's teammates, went out a'dancing while Steve stayed home with his headache... boo. We had a good time - stayed out too late and slept in on Sunday. It was a gorgeous day here though, and Steve and Jim spent some quality time on the patio drinking beer and listening to classic rock. Jim cooked up a ridiculous amount of wings, and we just hung out outside until it was too dark and too cold to keep Jim up any longer. And that's pretty much the extent of our weekend, except that we're having people over tonight for the Easter dinner that was supposed to happen last night. So, I should probably get started on that... here are some pics - all from the Tam Cam - of our awesome weekend!

The Twist - can ya tell?

Lunch a few days ago with Jennifer - at a Lebanese place... soooo good!

At Jim's - patio time!

Me and Tammy... yay!

countdowns...

The countdown is ON! Wait, the countdowns are on: two weeks until I’m OUTTA here (sadly, I’m leaving alone – Steve can’t jump ship until May 5th), three weeks until I’m in Vancouver (YESSSS!!) and 79 days until we wed! I’m so excited! I’m not itching to get out of Romania really - I mean, I like it here as long as all of the Canadians are around (and I’m not being run over by a jackass Romanian driver), but HOME! YES! And wedding… YAY! People keep asking us how planning is going and honestly I’m not sure how to answer. Perhaps the fact that our response is, “It’s going well… um, we’re not really doing much…” should motivate/force us to get moving on the planning front. We’re making progress in the music department, as we’re making our own playlists, which is SO fun… we’ve got such good music and OOOOooh I can’t wait. I’m also just so excited about my dress – I can’t wait to show my friends and family and WEAR IT! Yay. And of course marry Steve. (DUH... that’s a given.)

It has been absolute MADNESS in the grocery stores; EATster, I mean Easter (paaah-ha), means food and family time, and it seems as though everyone accompanies Mom and Dad to the store for the load-the-cart shop. We went this morning to Real, a big superstore grocery mart, and, okay, it wasn’t as bad as it will be tomorrow but MAN oh man, you could film a movie in there! Cart Wars. If you don’t watch out you’ll be run over or rammed (no thank you) by a large metal basket, and people clearly have no problem/feel no remorse for doing so. There is no such thing (really) as waiting your turn in line, as you, the individual, makes the rules, and those rules only apply to YOU. All year long I’ve resisted buying this type of dessert-ish bread called Cozonac, and today at Carrefour I decided to give in and get some. Well… the shelves had been emptied of the popular bread-treat, and there was a giant amoeba-mob of people actively waiting for the next batch. I assume that it’s an Easter thing (even though it’s been around all year long), because I have never seen such a huge (or aggresive) blob of people in the bakery section. (Yum, the bakery section.) We’re planning on making sushi tomorrow night, and doing an Easter dinner (roast chickens, yams, veggies, salad and dessert – not Cozonac) on Saturday or Sunday. Apparently it’s a weekend to PARTY, so we’ll see. Both Tammy’s team and Steve’s team have Sunday and Monday off, so I’m sure we’ll get up to something.

We stopped by Jen and Rowan’s yesterday, and someone – Stelio I believe – asked all of us what our favourite movie was. Steve and I share the same top-spot-clincher: A River Runs Through It. I just thought I’d share. Rounding out my top three are Traffic and Lost in Translation. I think. After the movie conversation we decided that we should watch more movies and cut down on the Friends… but, actually, I don’t want to. Soon we’ll be in countdown mode for that too (season 10 here we come), so while we’re at it we may as well keep going. The clock is ticking!!

Easter Weekend One

Steve, Stelio and Rowan on BBQ duty

Steve, me, Jen and Rowan

Rowan with some of the team...

Easter Weekend One was awesome! We didn’t celebrate Easter, but did celebrate Coach Stelio’s birthday. Instead of lamb there were burgers, instead of chocolate there was cake, and instead of a midnight mass there was a midnight dance party… it was GREAT, especially because we get to do the real Easter thing this Friday, Saturday, Sunday when Easter Weekend Two rolls around. Jennifer and Rowan, the Australian-Canadian/NZ couple, hosted the party, and I headed over to their place in the morning to help prepare the fixings. Because the ground beef here is a bit sketchy (it comes with whatever meat was in the grinder thing beforehand – pork, chicken, turkey, whatever), Jen bought a huge slab of MEAT to grind at home. AND… of all people I did the job; I cut small hunks of meat off of one giant hunk of meat and fed it into the mulchifier machine. Yes, it was gross but I somehow feel better about eating the meat hunks/burger patties after having participated in the icky cut and dice and slice prep. Anyways, we got most of the food ready in the morning, and there were a few people already into the wine as soon as the clock struck noon…. and nooo, it wasn’t me. After an afternoon of at-home lounging, Steve and I headed back to the house around four for the big BBQ-fete. Surprisingly enough, most of the team showed up, and the patio was packed with beer drinkers, wine drinkers and, well, just drinkers. There was food galore: wings, devilled eggs, pate, cold cuts, veggies and dip and chips, and then burgers and lamb for dinner (I forgot – there was lamb!). After cookies and cake for dessert came the coffee and then the after dinner drinks, which really paved the way for dancing AND the HAKA! Most of the guests had trickled out by midnight, and around 1:00 the real show began. Rowan is a huge New Zealand All-Blacks fan, and somehow Steve convinced him to show us the Haka…



... and it was AWESOME. We were all killing ourselves laughing (including Steve, which made his serious intimidation Haka show a bit less, well, intimidating), and then… well I’m not really sure how the dance party started but it suuuure did. All of us danced danced danced and didn’t end up leaving until 3:30, almost 12 hours after having arrived at the par-tay. So, Sunday was a write-off; we stayed in bed and watched Friends all day until it was GAME time… and they WON! Tammy’s team won the first two sets easily (25-13, 25-18 I think) and then somehow lost sets three and four but just CRUSHED them (stupid Dinamo Bucharest) in the fifth. So YAY! Both teams are in the finals which don’t start until the 25th. YaPOW! So awesome.

I came across three really cool websites the other day that I haven’t totally checked out yet but here they are. The first is Academic Earth, which has a pretty decent collection of lectures; I’m in the middle of Russia: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – so far so good. TED: Ideas Worth Spreading seems like a really cool site, and I’ve read a couple of good reviews on Bonnie Bassler’s “How Bacteria communicate” talk - more food for the brain. The third site is The Do Lectures: “Let the Doers of the World Inspire the Rest of Us.” I’m feeling as though all of those hours I spent this weekend watching Friends could have been put to better use. These three sites are full of a LOT of material that just might provide more inspiration and substance than Joey and Phoebe… but whatever! I love Friends… only have five more seasons to go!

Easter!

Even though we have to wait another week for the event, Happy Easter! I never remember why Easter is on a different date in some countries, so this explanation is as much for myself as for any interested blog readers. Both the Western Christian Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrate this movable holiday on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox; sounds easy enough? Umm... no. First of all, Western churches use the Gregorian calendar (in use since the late 1500s) and Eastern churches still use the Julian calendar (introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BC) to determine the date. Things are further complicated by the fact that you need to factor in ecclesiastical moons and paschal full moons (whatever those are), the astronomical equinox, and the fixed equinox and ayaayayaya… all the while operating under two different calendars that, by they way, don’t follow the same definition of the vernal equinox. Okay, enough. To simplify, it’s a calendar thing; Eastern churches follow the old calendar – the one that would have been followed in the time of Jesus – and Western churches follow the new calendar.

wall of Easter chocolate - yum...

So, we’re a week away from Easter here, and the stores are still full of chocolate, goodies and cakes; apparently an Easter Bunny lives here too. It sounds like the Easter tradition here, to generalize, is a bit like it was in Greece. People go to church on Saturday around midnight for a quick candlelight service, and then head back home for a break-the-fast wee-hours meal. However, in Greece there was lots of talk – and action – of people “fasting” (not eating meat) during Lent; here, I’ve neither seen nor heard anything about the no-meat thing. Anyways, lamb is the meat/meal of choice, and cakes and pastries and chocolates – eating in general – is the order of the day for Sunday. There are traditions galore that were (and might still be) followed, but who knows what still goes. The tradition of decorating eggs is still on, though the practice of spending hours intricately painting the oeuf are but followed in monasteries and very traditional households; most people use food colouring to dye eggs one solid colour, usually red. I’m guessing that the tradition of “the wetting” is no longer a popular one. It doesn’t sound good… and it isn’t, if you’re a girl. This is how it goes: on Monday morning, boys take a bucket of water to the house(s) of unmarried girls, and if they find them sleeping, the boys throw water on them. Sounds fun for the boys and not so fun for the girls. And… what’s the point? Apparently being drenched with a bucket of water in bed means that the girl will marry soon; in return for this fabulous news, the boy is rewarded with cake, eggs and/or treats. Hopefully Steve doesn’t’ get any ideas… there is no reward for bucketing me with water on Easter, or any other day of the year.

A few more things about Easter here: The Holy Week definitely becomes a great opportunity for shopping and house work, and this is one of the main reasons why people neglect going to the church. And: Some of the people celebrate Easter only out of inertia. I googled “Easter in Romania” and came up with those two fabulous tidbits about the holiday here. The inertia thing doesn’t surprise me at all, though in this coastal resort city, people are being shoved/forced/pulled out of their year-long idle immobility to prepare for the tourist season, which starts this weekend. It’s really quite amazing how much work is getting done, especially because we’ve seen no evidence of work all year long. The roads are finally being attended to (some roads), sidewalks are being repaired (some sidewalks), garbage is being cleaned up (some garbage), flowers are being planted and grassy meridians are being trimmed and gardened (some meridians). (We’re actually surprised that no one’s stolen the flowers yet – I suppose it’s just a matter of time.) Anyways, so there is (some) bustle and work, but only because of the upcoming influx of tourists. We heard that some hotels are offering packages for this weekend for only 120 Lei, to promote for the summer. That’s not even $50! Crazy. If we were in any other city, we probably would have come to Constanta/Mamaia for the weekend; because the finals don’t start until the 25th (UGH!) the guys have four days off. We’re not going to go anywhere though – I have yoga, there’s a birthday party for the coach tonight, and Tammy’s team plays tomorrow in the do-or-die fifth match of the semi-final. Their game will be on Netzone again, and we’ll all be there cheering… fingers crossed! They HAVE to win!! And I have to go make burgers for tonight. Happy Easter!!

mostly good news...

YAY! Both teams won today! Steve’s team is in the finals after beating Zalau 3-0 in Zalau, and Tammy’s team has one more to go; they’re up 2-1 in the five-game series. I had every intention of going to the gym this afternoon/evening, but watched Tammy’s game with a deliciously chilled bottle of beer instead. Meh! I went to the gym this morning anyways. I was talking to a friend on skype this afternoon and her beautiful daughter was showing me her little toy horse; I tried to tell her that I saw two of those on the roads with the cars this morning. I didn’t have my camera on me, but I did have it with me the other day; how great is this picture?

new wealth and old ways - at an intersection on one of Constanta's main roads (Mamaia Blvd)

I got lost in cyberspace this afternoon, and found a few neat articles. I love this art/marketing project on display in London; the British Frozen Food Federation erected a very artistic display of frozen foodstuffs in an effort to encourage people to buy more frozen food (and to promote their new website) - very artistic. While I’d still rather buy fresh than frozen, it seems as though I don’t have a choice here; after two days of looking for a fresh broccoli (without success), I gave up and bought a frozen wok mix.

walls of frozen food...


This other article is at the opposite end of the spectrum; no one can buy anything, fresh or frozen, with a Zimbabwean dollar (or a trillion). Earlier this year the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe issued 50 trillion, 20 trillion and 10 trillion notes for the "convenience of the public”; with the world’s highest inflation rate of 231 million percent (as of last July - !?!), 300 trillion dollars won’t even get you a loaf of bread. This is horribly ridiculous given the extreme wealth (and destructiveness) of the government, namely Mugabe. Anyways, back to the point. Along with everyone else in the country, The Zimbabwean Newspaper has come under, hmmm…. intense scrutiny? for voicing opinions deemed in opposition to government policies and actions; the government has placed (“slapped”) a “luxury” tax on the paper of over 55%, making any and all sales within Zimbabwe literally impossible. SO, they came back with this ad campaign to increase readership outside the country. It’s pretty clever, and infinitely sad.

"the world's first trillion-dollar ad"


Here are a few other pics from the past couple of days (and weeks); thankfully warmer weather is rolling in... I love Spring... and Summer!!

soooo cute - doggy curled up in a carton

no horse and cart! at least not down this particular street...

signs of Spring

Jim, the team's athletic therapist, and his son Bobby (we went bowling last week), and us...

Tae Bo?

So I was a bit of a grump last night because I didn’t get to talk to my Dad on his birthday, but was pleasantly surprised to see him on skype this afternoon (his early morning). He took me outside with the laptop and I was able to see the early morning sun breaking on the beautiful coast of beautiful British Columbia… it was so cool. We woke my mom up and the three of us chatted for a bit, but we all had our own mini-commitments: they had breakfast and coffee to enjoy, and I had a Tae Bo Abs class to get to. I told them I was going to the class and the news got garbled over the connection; Dad said, “Tae Bo Ass!?” Huh? Okay, so we all laughed about it and then said goodbye and off we all went. Well… it turns out that either the schedule is wrong, or the instructor gets to decide what class she’s doing, because Tae Bo Abs was pretty much Tae Bo Ass minus the Tae Bo. We did this workout with thick theraband elastics around our shins and then around our ankles and MAN was it an, ahem, ass workout. After a painful hour of stepping and kicking and elasticizing I feel like I deserve a big bowl of ice cream. Oh, wait… I had a big bowl of ice cream last night! Sushi will taste much better anyways; Tammy and I are getting together for, as my mom would say, sushification… totally (tots) YUM.

So the weekend was more or less a SUCCESS! Saturday’s games were awesome – both teams won 3-0 and everyone left happy. Sunday, however, was a different story. The girls lost in four to one of the snottiest, sack-of-snatch teams ever, and it was a frustrating game to watch; everyone (well, almost everyone) lacked energy and the group lacked cohesion, two very important ingredients of team sport success. The guys’ game also went to four, but they won; both teams play game three of the five-game series on Wednesday – Steve’s team left for Zalau this morning at 9:00 (and are just rolling in – 13 hours later, blegh), and Tammy’s team leaves tomorrow for Bucharest. The games – I’m hoping – will be on Netzone again… times are yet to be determined but I’ll post them when I find out. We must think gooooood volleyball thoughts – both teams have to make it to their respective finals, or else there will be trouble. Okay, time for suuuushiiiiii….ficaaation....

happy birthday!!

Happy Birthday Dad! I love you!! xox

three months away...

Three months from today…. we’re getting married! EEEeeee!! So exciting! It will be here (and maybe over? - hopefully not...) before we know it, but in doing the wedding stuff/preparations we’re getting so excited. It‘ll be strange to be the centre of attention, as neither of us are in-the-spotlight people, but it will be so so so great to have everyone – all of our family and friends – together, and, well… to get married! After yoga yesterday I was talking with one of the girls that comes to class on a regular basis, and she asked if I was staying in Romania for the summer. I kind of let a guffaw escape and covered it with “I hear it’s the best here in the summer! But… ummm nope, we’re going home.” I added that in addition to spending time with family in our own country, I was getting married! “OOOOOH congratulations!” she said. “I hope you’re not a bridezilla!” Uh, a yoga teacher that doubles as a fire-spewing bride? Nope. No, I am not a difficult, unpleasant, perfectionist bride who will leave aggravated family, friends and bridal vendors in my wake, and nor will I disregard the feelings of family, bridesmaids and the groom in my quest for the perfect wedding. Such is the definition of a bridezilla, and if you ever watch any of those wedding shows on TLC or whatever station that is, you know that they’re out there. Is there such a thing as a Groomzilla? Probably, yes… but lucky for me (and lucky for Steve), neither of us have any “zilla” tendencies. Er, or at least I don't think we do - let’s hope not anyways…

Spring has really sprung here, and the last couple of days have been really beautiful and sunny. We met up with some friends for coffee on a patio yesterday, and got TOO MUCH SUN! Eeeeyikes! I need sunscreen. I need to get off the computer, actually; both Steve and Tammy have big games today – and I must get to the gym. Both teams play semi-finals again tomorrow afternoon, at 3:00 and 5:00, and the games are broadcast online at TV Neptun. If all goes well both teams will be in the finals, so fingers crossed!! Go team(s) gooooooo!!

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Eek! It’s April! And not that I’m in countdown mode or anything – I sincerely want to enjoy my time here while it lasts - but I leave in 28 days! Eek! I was feeling a little guilty about the fact that we sleeeeept in today (on a weekday!) and that I didn’t get out of my pyjamas until this afternoon BUT… when I go home there will be serious busy—ness, so I’ll be glad that I took full advantage of the odd-April morning/afternoon to sleep in and be lazy. I did get to the gym though and had an awesome workout… so yay. So there were no April Fools Day jokes to be had yesterday, but the guys put their fans through the ringer in the Romanian Cup Final that took place last night here in Constanta. They played Peatra Neamt, which is a pretty decent team, but Tomis has handily beat them all season long – and the game was a five-set thriller! I couldn’t watch the entire thing – I had a yoga class RIGHT in the middle of the game… argh. I finished the class early and tried my best to rush out of there, but people wanted to talk and ask questions and … anyways, I got back to the gym in time for the big celebration – to see all of the guys get their medals, to see the big balloon explode and release a whole bunch of smaller balloons and colourful confetti – woooHOO! No, it was good. But what a relief that they won – man oh man, shit would have seriously hit the fan if they hadn’t. Anyways, league semi-finals start this weekend for both Steve and Tammy; Steve’s Tomis team plays Zalau (Zalowsy) and Tammy’s team plays Dinamo Bucharest (troop of nasty mean snatches) - Saturday and Sunday will be two long days at the gym for superfanspectators such as myself.

So! Today is Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday and International Children’s Book Day. I think I blogged about this last year and I was trying to think of some books that I loved when I was little. My parents still have boxes and boxes of children’s books, and if I were blogging about this from their place, the list would be long long loooong… but I’m not, so here are a few books that come to mind, that I loved:
I loved all of Roald Dahl's books: Matilda, The Witches, James and the Giant Peach...

Sylvester!

MMmmmm.... pasta...
I loved the Narnia series! I saw one of the movies, but felt meh about it - it's better in my imagination...

To finish; over the past few days I’ve seen some very interesting things. The outfit of the week goes to the lady at the gym that was wearing a black spandex top, mottled pink leg warmers and fluorescent pink thong underwear (no, not a bathing suit – underpants) overtop of her full length shiny spandex. On my way home from the gym today I saw a woman, walking on the sidewalk, get honked at because a car wanted to park where she was walking. We also saw someone driving on the wrong side of the street last night, and an up close and personal horse and cart driving right down the middle of our residential street. I must say that I no longer find any of these things that surprising, but somehow, it all continues to amaze me…