Ruxy & Kiti
I’ve been hanging out with Ruxy & Kiti in the last few days, and they’ve been showing me different parts of Bucharest. Our first night out, they took me to a Chocolateir called “Chocolat” and I tried the Chilli Hot Chocolate. It was pretty fancy and good, but I think I would’ve preferred it to be even spicier. So .. Chili sauce in your hot chocolate, with chili powder on top. Try it!
A snapshot of București
1. Infantry Monument (I think)
2. Statue of a dude named Omar that got Oedipus graffiti in his eyes.
3. Museum of the Romanian Peasant
4. The music selection in Real
Bad weather, good dog
Most strays in Bucharest are spayed/neutered and you can tell from the yellow tags on their ears, according to a news report I watched last night. Today I scoped around the local park and lake, and met some furry natives. Snow (the white one) followed me around for a good hour. At first, I gave her some popcorn, which she played with but didn’t eat. I gave her a good ear rub and went on my way. I walked in the park toward some other dogs, as soon as Snow realized she bolted toward me and barked at the other dogs. I laughed and gave her another ear rub. Then she decided to become my personal bodyguard for the rest of my trip in the park. At this point I decided to name her, and I picked Snow, but in Romanian, which is something like Zăpăduța. I’m not sure if this makes sense for a dog name in Romanian but it sounded right to me. She generally kept a distance, and a few times she was nowhere to be seen, but she’d always come back, rub against me, and get an ear rub. She was extremely playful and if she saw that I was going to pet her, she just sat there as long as I would, and if I’d stop, shed rub her face on my hand. She didn’t seem to know any commands, but she responded somewhat to “Cutsu” and “Hai la mama.”
I recorded lots of encounters with her. (You can tell in the beginning I wasn’t really sure of gender, so I referred to her as a he. I’m still not really sure but I settled on she for now.)
Also here’s a video of her and another stray (I named this one Wallace)
She followed me onto one of the islands (connected by a thin strip of land/mud) on Titan Lake and when I came back out to the regular bank so I would walk home, she just kinda looked at me sadly. I figured she would stay on the little island. As soon as she saw another dog walk around my area, she bolted off the island and towards me. When I walked out of the park, she stopped following. I’m sure she knows that outside of the park are cars and cars are ouchy.
If you’re wondering, yes the weather was kind of dreadful today, but I wanted to see the lake anyway. I’m sure when it gets nicer I’ll be able to go there and read. Looks like the rest of the weekend will be a bit dreary here, but after that it’s gonna get sunny. So my plans are to get a metro card/account/thingy, and tomorrow I’ll just scope out sector 3, figure out where the banks are, and see of there’s any thing small and interesting nearby that a guidebook or map would miss.
Have something to say about this post? Contact me.America may run on Dunkin … But Romania runs on revolt.
In Romania, Dunkin Donuts was overthrown by a frustrated populace and became Donuts Republic.
Popcorn in Bucuresti
So far, really love where I’m staying. There’s a huge piata (market) nearby and lots of interesting stuff, including a park and lake I plan on visiting soon. I’ve been unpacking and washing clothes. I took my first bath. I feel really really relaxed and really good. I realized today I have ALOT of blog posts I need to write up and publish. So many stories and trips un-blogged! I will get to it. I promise.
Have something to say about this post? Contact me.Un lup tăiat in jumate
mă mir,
când profesorul mă introduce:
asta este Noemi
jumate Americancă
jumate Româncă
și ma mir,
cum pot oameni să mă separe,
în jumate
să îmi taie inima,
jumi-juma,
și sa mi-o presară
printre națiuni.
Aud șoaptele
părinților mei
și părinților lor.
Sângele de lup,
accelerează prin vene
ca un adolescent
cu o mașină nouă.
ma gândesc,
dacă într-o zi
va fii un profesor
să mă introducă
asta este Noemi
și este o persoană completa.
I may be a stranger but I’m not a stranger stranger.
To put emphasis on something in Romanian you say a word twice, similar to English. You’d say something like, “Yeah you’re smart, but she’s smart smart.” I feel like it’s used more in Romanian, and you don’t even need to emphasize the first word. I even use it to describe color, like “Rosu rosu” is really red, or very strident red. “Curat curat” is very clean. I could go on forever.
When I was asking if it would be a problem with renting that I didn’t have a bulletin (Romanian National ID), and that I was a strain (foreigner), she assured me it would be fine, because she knew some străini străini, and they had no issues, so I, just being a străin, should be fine.
Have something to say about this post? Contact me.Name your price, Romania
Bartering is second nature to Romanians. I’m not quite in the groove to ask for discounts on everything yet. However, when I booked my hotel for Ploiesti, I got the temptation to ask for half the price. And I got it!
I was really only calling to compare prices, since I’ve noticed that online prices and real life prices are completely different here. As the receptionist lady at the police station told me, “Nothing on the internet is true.” (Referring to Romanian government websites). I was at the police station to try to get a passport. But that’s a story for another day.
My intention was never to barter. As Americans, we would rather “shop around” for the best price. We call several places and see which one is the best deal. Not so here. I called, they told me the price was 290 RON a night. I noticed that their website said 69 Euro. So the price was correct on the site. I made a “eh” sound, and said I’d call back later. But no! Instantly, she said 200 RON. “I’m dropping it to 200 RON. What’s your budget? We can do anything to fit your budget.” I said I would prefer 150 RON. She said perfect. I can do that but without the complimentary breakfast. Great, I thought. I wasn’t planning on eating a hotel breakfast anyway. She dropped the price in half so quickly, I was scared maybe I didn’t ask low enough. But 150 RON it is for a four star hotel with free internet and a bath. It’s located near a main road so I can have easy access to visiting apartments and studios, and not too far from the train station either so I can check in with my luggage soon and get rid of it.
Hopefully I figure out my apartment thing in a few days – I already have several agencies that are helping me look around. (One of them is Re Max Romania) Cool, eh? I feel much safer doing it through an agency. I kind of want a place in central (or as Romanians like to say, ULTRACENTRAL! I love saying that word) Ploiești, so I have access to the Mall (WinMarkt), Trader Market (Halele), cultural buildings/interests, major roads, and the train station.
I leave for Ploiești tomorrow morning. Plans Changed. Bucharest on Monday.
Nichita Stănescu Gând 2 / Thought 2
My (rough) translation:
I want to say something with the risk
of repeating myself. I don’t really believe that
poets exist. I believe that poems exist.
Original:
Have something to say about this post? Contact me.Vreau să vă spun un lucru, cu riscul
de a mă repeta: eu nu prea cred că
există poeţi, cred că există poezie.
Nichita Stănescu Gând 12 / Thought 12
A poet cannot be better than another poet. A
poet can only be better than himself or worse
than himself.
Translated (roughly) by me.
Original:
Have something to say about this post? Contact me.Un poet nu poate fi mai bun decât alt poet. Un
poet poate fi mai bun decât sine însuşi sau mai slab
decât sine însuşi.Nichita Stănescu