Mad Props

Palace of Parliament

This morning was another beautiful weather day and I didn’t really need my coat unless I was in the shade with the wind blowing. Lately I have been doing better with the cold, I’m not sure if it’s because it’s getting warmer, I’m getting used to it, or because I am now fat. In the past I never really understood how people let themselves get fat but now I do. From day to day the differences are so small that you don’t even notice them, until you remember preciously how you used to look and look at yourself and realize that you can barely see your toes peeking out beyond your belly. The realization that I am getting fat hasn’t hindered my eating or inspired me to start exercising. I have decided to push all that into the three weeks that I will be in Saint Louis, before I head to the West Coast for Xmas and New Years.

I headed to the Palace of the Parliament which I had heard was beautiful and holds several Guinness World Records. I was able to use my student card to get in for free but it costs 30 LEI to take pictures. I paid the 30 LEI before realizing that it is more than $10 USD. For that I could have used some stock photos from the internet and saved the money to spend on something else. So please be sure to check out my pictures at the end of the post, I know they aren’t very good but I paid $10 so that I could have them. Currently there are presidential campaigns going on in Romania and so some of the parts that are usually shown on the tour were closed off for a debate tonight. This wasn’t mentioned before I paid my money to take pictures, similarly to places that are under construction and don’t tell you or give any kind of discount.

My hostel has a sign in the entryway that instructs all guests to remove their shoes and wear any of the provided sandals to help keep the hostel clean. There is also a large bottle of hand sanitizer that says “please use me”. If the hostel owner were smart he would be like the hostel the Aussies visited in Rome, that moved around the sick people to spread the germs and force people to stay in the hostel longer. The shower in the hostel is amazing, it is one of those with a normal shower head, an over the head shower head and faucets on the wall that shoot at your body. Not only is it the best shower I have ever used at a hostel it is the best shower I have ever used anywhere.

My hostel is pretty much empty, there is a couple or two in private rooms on a different floor from me but in my room it’s only me and one other guy. The guy in my room is the loudest snorer quite possibly ever. My room is on the 1st floor (second floor) and I was in the kitchen on the ground floor (1st floor) and I could hear him all the way down there. I also think he might be schizophrenic because he shouts in his sleep and has conversations with himself. One of the characters speaks English and I think the other guy speaks Russian. I sat up in bed the other night because I thought someone else was in the room but it was just the one guy having an argument with himself complete with f-bombs. Every morning when I woke up, I said a little prayer, thankful that the angry personality didn’t strangle me to death.

I got pizza for dinner at a shop around the corner and while I was waiting for the pizza to be made the cashier was chatting with me. He commented that my Romanian was really good and I laughed and told him I’m sorry that I don’t know anything. He replied quite seriously that my Romanian was good. I have no idea what he was talking about unless he meant the words “pizza” and “salami”.

I also want to give a shout out (I am so gangsta) to all of the guys in Romania who wash their hands in the bathroom. In America maybe 20% of guys actually wash their hands with soap, something I always do. In Romania however I have not seen a single guy who has left the bathroom without washing his hands and I have seen quite a few who have made special trips to the bathroom simply to wash their hands and not even use the toilet.

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11_20_09 Bucharest small