The next day I woke after 9:00 AM and sent Miss C a message saying "Neata (Good Morning in Romanian), Are you still speaking to me" and started to pack I was relieved when Miss C responded saying she was still talking to me. I had sent some clothes off to be dry cleaned and I went downstairs to see if they had been returned. I spoke to the women working at reception and they told me they would not be returned until 2:00 PM the following day. I said, "Well I am supposed to check out today and I need them back before 12:00 PM". They told me they can get an express service but it would cost a little extra. What i didn't realise was that they thought I meant I wanted to send some to be cleaned, not was waiting for them to be returned.about 40 mins passed and I received a phone call saying that the dry cleaner was here and to come down. Once I got downstairs, we realised the misunderstanding and they found my clothes in the office with the stuff that was just returned. Miss C had told me that they couldn't come to get me until 1:00 PM, but check out from the hotel was 12:00 PM. So I also asked if I could stay the additional hour. I didn't really want to walk around Bucharest with my big pack. They told me it was fine.
I was hungry so I decided to get a kebab from Dristor around the corner, then went upstairs, ate, finished packing and waited for Miss C to call me. I went downstairs and decided to check out because I had to pay for the mini bar items. I payed the bill, then waited in the lobby for Miss C to call. After about 3 or 4 mins the receptionist told me that Miss C called and they are waiting outside. I walk out to the car and put my luggage in the back. I get in the car and we drive to a restaurant on the opposite side of the city. I can't recall the name of the restaurant but it was nice. It was a little dark but it was very open and spacious with lots of wood features throughout. Wood seems to be a real feature in traditional Romanian restaurants. Both the restaurants I have been to had many wooden features throughout the interior. Miss C and Mr M order me a soup. I forgot what the name is but it is made with white beans and bacon. It comes served in a bowl with bread baked onto the bowl itself. It was salty because of the bacon, but it was very delicious. It came with some red onions drizzled in a light vinegar of some kind. They were delicious too. My cold was very bad today and the soup really helped make me feel better.
After the meal, we drove around looking for an ING bank in order to use the ATM. My Australia Post Cash Passport card was not working and I wanted to try it in an ING ATM as the website said it would definitely work in there. All my money was on this card and without it, I was screwed. We find the ATM and as I expected it didn't work. Fucking great.... "Now what do I do?", I wondered. After finding out that I was potentially stuck in Romania with no access to money, we stopped to buy beer, cigarettes, wine and went to the new hotel. Miss C and Mr M came upt to the room and stayed awhile. We smoked, we drank, we talked and watched some Jeff Dunham videos on youtube. Funny stuff. After a few hours Mr M had to go home to his wife and daughter. Miss C said she would stay awhile.
After Mr M left we talked about the fight the night before. We talked some more about other things and Miss C went home. I tried to find out what was wrong with my card but couldn't seem to call any of the numbers I was given to speak to someone. I went online and found some information from the website. I emailed the process to activate the card to my mum (as the number had to be called from Australia) and the necessary details to complete the process. I finished off my beer, the bottle of wine and went to bed soon after.
The next day I woke up with a huge hang over and slept most of the day. I spoke to my mum on Skype about the card and she told me to try it now as it may not have been activated. There were no ATM's nearby so I would wait until I could try it later. I watched a movie on the laptop called 'The Men Who Stare At Goats'. A very funny movie. If you haven't seen it, watch it. My Uncle read the book a few years ago and told me I should read it. I never got around to it, but then they made the movie. From experience the book is always better, so I will definitely read it at some point. There's a memorable scene involving Ewen McGregor and a conversation about Jedi's. I don't know if it would have worked had any other actor played that role. After the movie I slept some more.
About 5:30 in the afternoon, I got hungry and decided to head down to the restaurant at the hotel and get some food. I ordered Spaghetti Bolognese and some Cabernet Sauvignon. The waiter told me he could only sell me the whole bottle. It was only 21 lei ($6.00-$7.00 AUD) for the bottle, so i said "that's fine". It was a Romanian red wine and it wasn't bad. The waiter told me it wasn't the premium but it was still drinkable. While I waited for my food to come, Miss C messaged me to inform me she was coming over. The Spaghetti was nice but nothing special. I charged the meal to my room, it was about 40 lei ($10.00-$12.00 AUD)
After an hour, Miss C hadn't arrived and i started to worry that something had happened to her. I sent her a message. About 5 - 10 minutes later, there is a knock on the door. I open the door and my eyes just about jump out of my head. I have seen her often now but her beauty still takes my breath away. I begin to tell her I was worried at the exact moment she receives my message as she didn't have WiFi for awhile. We just hang out in the hotel room and drink wine and talk. We downloaded 'A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas' but didn't end up watching it. Miss C is very intelligent and we have plenty of things in common, this means we can discuss everything and it's amazing to be with her. This is one of the many reasons that I am attracted to this woman.
One particular topic we discussed was what life in Romania was like prior to the 1989 Revolution which brought about the downfall of Communism. Miss C was 2 years old when the revolution occurred and I really didn't think she would remember what life was like back then. She told me her earliest memories were of people having to line up for rations of food and milk after the revolution, and that you could only have one bottle of milk a week. She said, "That during communism, the quality of the food and the milk and other produce was so much better than it is now". I said it was probably because it didn't necessarily matter how much it cost to produce it, because nobody cared about profit margins. She agreed with this statement. Anybody who knows me, knows I have always leaned to the left side of the political spectrum. I never really considered Communism to be successful due to the oppressive nature of the regimes. To me it seemed the politicians were rich and everybody else was poor. Using Romania as an example, I guess it seems that there is more corruption now then there was before, the only difference being that life is harder for the majority of people now.
Miss C goes on to tell me that, under the communist ruler, newly wed couples were given a home by the government and that life was a little bit easier. I had spoken to people from other former Communist countries in Eastern Europe and they told me that they thought it was better under Communism too. I don't want this story to seem like a platform for political propaganda, but to see a beautiful young woman who can intelligently and honestly talk about topics like this, is very refreshing. And to hear the point of view from somebody that had experienced both sides was eye opening.
After a few hours, it was about 2:00 AM at this point, Mr M arrived. We needed a lift to go to an ATM and get some money to give the agent for the apartment. In Romania, the rental process is very different. If you want a place, you usually have to pay the bond which is 1 months rent plus another months rent in advance and the agent wants half a months rent. so it is effectively 2 and a half months rent straight up. There is no application processing, or time to think about it. Basically, you look at a place, if you want it, you pay the cash on the spot, you get the keys and you move in. If you don't pay immediately, the chances are that the agent will give the place to somebody who will pay on the spot. You can negotiate with the landlord on terms and price but this is the process.
We arrive at the ATM and I attempt to use my card. The machine tells me there are insufficient funds. "What the fuck?" I mutter. I knew there was money in the account. I go back to the car and I was very pissed off. I wanted to break something. I was tired of not being able to get fucking money. I had drank a fair bit of wine tonight and I wasn't thinking clearly. We stop at a kebab shop because Miss C was hungry. She gets a kebab and asks me if I want something, I reply "I am too angry to eat". She tries to calm me down and it does soothe the rage a little. We get back in the car and she suggests that we try another ATM as it may have just been that there was not enough actual cash in the ATM, not that there wasn't enough money in my account. I tell her "Maybe you're right, but I don't think so". We stop at another ATM, I try to take out half the required amount, 1000 lei (about 250 Euro). It works, I laugh almost out of embarassment at being so fucking stupid. Then try for the other half. It works again. I run back to the car and we head back to the hotel.
Mr M then takes Miss C home and we text until we fall asleep.
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