Map of the world...

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Before the first week of camp!

Ok. So let's see where we can start.
After I said Good-bye to my family in Cluj, I took the "air conditioned?" bus back to Sibiu. I got to sit behind the driver this time so the ride was not too bad, except for the fact that my driver and the driver (not driving - second shift) were watching TV on a little tv that was placed on the dashboard. I couldn't believe they were watching TV and driving a group of people on very dangerous roads (we only almost got hit once).
So I got to Sibiu about 9:30ish PM and I took a taxi to my cousin's house. The taxi driver was so talkative and I was so not in the mood, but listened nonetheless.
He was telling me how he was from Sibiu and he works a lot,and this morning when to Baia Mare (2 hours further south then I was this morning) and had come back and went right back to work. He was then telling me about a country town he stopped in to get vegetables and fruit and the lady was real nice and told him he can go pick his own from the garden. He was hesitant but he also gave her something he got real good vegetables.
Me to myself "that sounds familiar" to the taxi driver "What town were you in?"
Taxi Driver: I think it was Chisinau or something like that
Me: Oh, I have a grandmother who lives in one of those towns and I thought maybe it was the same one but it's not. Any ways
Taxi Driver: (going on and on about his stop) He also talked to the lady across the street because she saw his Sibiu license plate and she was also from Sibiu (Valia Aurie - where we were heading) and just moved there with her husband.
Me to myself "that sounds real familar"
Me: tell me the town again
Taxi Driver: Chisinau
Me: are you sure it was not Catcau?
Taxi Driver: could be, I just asked someone a few towns later but did not look myself what it was. Why?
Me: well I have a aunt from Valia Aurie where we are going right now and she recently moved there with her husband and it just sound it the same.
Taxi Driver: Do they have a little girl there?
Me: yes, my cousin's daughter and my grandmother is there also
Taxi Driver: wow, it's them. What a small world? It was meant to be that you take this taxi.
Me: yeah
taxi driver: where are you from ?
me: Cluj, just visiting Sibiu
taxi driver: can I ask how old you are? (brave of him)
me: (with a little hesitation) 30
taxi driver: I'm 31 and single ... blah... blah... are you married?
me: no
taxi driver: why not?
me: (wanted to ask him "why aren't' you?") because I'm just not
taxi driver: (getting real close to my cousins' house) well you should call me if you need a taxi while you are here. What are you doing tomorrow? my name is ...
me: getting ready to head to a camp in the mountains to work with kids
...:
(remember we were speaking Romanian this whole time but had to translate for those of you who don't know Romanaian) so what are you doing after the camp?
me: going to America to visit my parents
...: I hand a feeling you were from there. Here is my phone number to call if you need a taxi or your family does.
me: thanks got to go. have a good night!

Almost had myself a husband. Oh, well he was short and talked way too much anyways.

So I got to my cousin's home and they were ready to go to a concert in the center, so I decided I didn't have anything so why not I don't have anything tomorrow.
I'll post a video so you can decide for yourselves what you think of the guy.



The Plaza was full of people. I've never seen so many people. I'll have to post the video I took later. For now just check out the one I have above just to see what kind of music he sings. Sometimes he just sits there with his drink (probably Vodka) and make hand signals and his band sings, but he is the famous one. It was an interesting night to say the least.

At the last minute at night my cousin and his wife decided that they will be going to visit my grandmother. So the next day they left early in the morning and I was home all alone. I slept a lot. Did some last minute things for the camp. Visited with friends in town and on the internet. I talked with one team member who arrived in country. It was a good relaxing day.

The next morning I was picked up by the same driver who picked me up from the airport and we headed down to Bucharest to pick up the rest of the team. It was another long trip to Bucharest but at least it was not as hot. Before reaching the airport we had a meal at McDonald's. I got a Happy Meal just for the toy.

We got to the airport and we quickly found R. She arrived early and had been waiting for about 30 minutes. F. should be arriving soon so we checked the board and it said his plane landed. The other three should be at the airport soon, since they have been in Bucharest since last night.We arrived at the airport about 1:00 pm. We wait and wait and we don't see F. come out and the other three have not arrived yet. About 2:15 pm F. arrived safe and sound. Then soon we saw C., he arrived by taxi but S. and J. were in the taxi stuck at the entrance. After figuring out where everyone was it was 3:00 pm and it was time to go. We still had to stop at a store to get some food. The grocery store was big almost like a mall. We got what we needed and off we went to camp. Still 6 hours to go.

More on arriving at camp and the first week of camp.

4 comments:

Swell said...

Short and talks too much? Sounds like my dad! :)

Wish we could've visited Sibiu this year, but I just wasn't in the mood to travel anymore. It sounds like it would've been quite busy. But fun :)

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.

Matt and Crina said...

Is that music Hamala? Gypsy music? What is it? The video is funny. Can't wait to hear more too!

Crina

Unknown said...

You still out there? Don't leave us uninformed. Did you make it to camp? Were the kids good? How were the team members? Any lasting memories?

Make sure the next time you talk to Nicole you ask her about Moses.

Unknown said...

Booo on you!

You must have a life or something.

I don't.

Write something!