When The Lights Go Out

Monday began with me waking up at about 8:30 AM. I ate half the Sarmale I had from the night before, had a shower, then went back to sleep. I was a little hungover from the night before and all I wanted to do was sleep. It was about 10 degrees celsius today, and the day before was 8 degrees. Miss C told me that Romanians were worried that it was because of global warming that they were having spring temperatures in winter. I thought to myself when she said that, "This is spring?" I took a photo of the view from my apartment and went back to sleep for awhile.

I woke up at about 12:00 PM and decided to write the story about the night before. I drafted it in Microsoft word as I had no internet connection. Miss C said she would arrive sometime after 12:00 PM so as I listened for a knock on the door.

I finished the draft of the story and Miss C still hadn't arrived. It was maybe 2:30 PM by this time. I wasn't worried, she knows the city better than me, I assumed she was still doing things. I was lying in the bed and felt like falling asleep again and thinking I need to stay awake in case I don't hear the knock on the door.

About 30 minutes later, there is a knock on the door. I look through the peephole in the door to make sure it is Miss C, then try to open the door. For some reason it wouldn't open. No matter how I turned the key, it was still locked. I struggled with it for maybe 2 minutes and I could hear Miss C getting impatient I could hear her saying "Up", from the other side of the door and with one pull with the key pointed up, the door finally opened.

Miss C says, "What the fuck?, I was starting to worry. I thought you had a girl in here and you were trying to hide her". I said "I couldn't get the door open, I tried everything". She started talking to me as if I was stupid, and I guess I am. ""It's not that hard", she said and showed me how it worked. "Where am I supposed to hide a girl in here" I said. We sat down and she gave me the SIM card she bought me and some cigarettes, as well as a USB stick for internet. I say "Thank you, you are too good to me". She asks me how it was without 'What's App' (the phone application we were using to stay in touch) and I said "I missed you". She says she was worried because I wasn't able to contact her if I needed anything. I thought that may have been the reason she looked worried when she left the night before. 

We put the SIM in the card and she does some stuff to set it up and add the credit as the voice on the phone is Romanian. We check the internet is working too. Miss C tells me that she had to stand outside the building for half an hour waiting for someone to answer their intercom to let her in. My apartment doesn't have an intercom and she had no other way to contact me. I think it's strange that not every apartment has an intercom. Miss C reads what I wrote for the blog and helps me spell the names of some places and explains about a few pieces of information I got wrong.

Then we relax on the lounge/bed and watched a British horror movie called 'When The Lights Go Out'. The movie was good, it's about a family that just moved into a house and it's haunted by a poltergeist. The movie wasn't bad but maybe a little predictable. If you've seen one poltergeist movie, you've seen them all. What gets me about these movies is that, even after everybody in the house wants to leave, there is always one idiot who wants to stay there. Miss C hears my stomach rumble and decides that I need to eat. I tell her that I will eat a bit later. My stomach rumbles again and Miss C decides she will make some food. She goes to the fridge and gets some of the meatballs, potato bites and chicken strips and begins to heat them on the gas cooktop. It's then we decide that we need to go and get more wine and supplies.

There is a little store in the complex where my building is and we walk there together. We got what we needed and on the way back we talked about how she didn't really like to speak English around here as there are many elderly people in these buildings and they wouldn't understand why I am not Romanian. I already knew that, and had been trying to keep a low profile. I told her "I understand". She told me that we are supposed to say hello to everybody we pass and that I didn't know what to say. I said "I can say buna (this means hello in Romanian)." Miss C laughs and then tells me that "buna" is disrepectful to old people. Buna is only used when you speak to someone close to your own age. She tells me the correct greeting, but I didn't quite understand because she speaks so fast in Romanian. I just decide a smile and a nod will do if need be.

We head back up to the apartment and finish watching the movie and eat some food. We talk a little and soon enough it is after 6:00 PM and Miss C has to go home. She leaves, reminds me not to open the door to anyone but her, to which I respond "I know". I open a beer and try to connect the internet on my phone from the laptop. It doesn't work. I try some things, but for some reason it won't work. I have done this before and don't understand why it won't work. After about 30 minutes I give up. I decide to update the blog with the drafted story instead and attach the photos. It was after 3:00 AM when I finally finished it and I went to sleep.