On the Road Again…

I’ve been in Romania for nearly two weeks now and I think I’m slowly beginning to blend in with the locals. Of course I still receive a mirage of stares as I walk down the street because of my over-sized basketball shorts and pristine Nike’s, but I’m making small strides towards becoming a Bistrian (I made this name up to refer to the citizens of Bistra, Romania).

To prove my Bistrian-ness I hitch-hiked from Bistra to Cimpeni today. I held out my “please give me a ride” thumb and snagged the third car that passed. We hopped into the beat-up, barely running car and greeted the 60+ year old man.

The ride wasn’t too long, maybe 10 minutes total, but the man smoked cigarettes the entire time. A lot! As he finished one then another cigarette would instantly appear. And, oh, did I mentioned he kept all the windows rolled up for the duration of our magical ride? I’m sure you can image how great of an experience this was for a non-smoker like myself but hey, beggars can’t be choosers, right?

A few of the things I’ve done so far:

1. Drink beer. Everyday. At every meal. For no apparent reason. This is the “norm” in Romania…

2. Been chased by a stray dog while running (yes, I’m still running for “fun”)

3. Scored a goal in a soccer match against a group of locals

4. Nearly been in a car accident almost every time we drive (seriously… literally EVERY time I get in a car here I almost die).

5. Ate cow stomach soup. It was pretty good. Looks and sounds disgusting but is actually eatable.

6. Saw a horse galloping recklessly down the street with a trailer attached to him. There was NO driver. The horse was just running…with a trailer…down the street…alone…

This entry was posted on July 9. 2008 at 07:10 and is filed under travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.