So not much has been going on the past few weeks here in Romania. My friends are now all enroute back to the States or already there and its basically been a lot of working and just casually going out.

This past weekend we had a movie night with much anticipation of smoking my new Hookah. Which was quite amusing telling people, at one point I was talking to a colleague and friend here that was coming over around one of the girls that was to come over and I was explaining how you prepare the hookah and pack the tobacco in and fill it with water. Well, her face you could see was kind contorted in this what the hell are they talking about look. I asked her and she was just like "who else is coming to this party" and having experience this before I was quick to explain HookAH not HookER. Seems everyone here thinks when I first talk about it that I'm talking about hookers.

Nonetheless, the movie night was good, but while trying to prepare the hookah it took a suicidal leap to the tile floor and shattered :'(. Maybe I'll get another one next month.

Anyhow, just an update on nothing...this weekend is a festival in Sigishora and Tg Mures hopefully that will produce something to write ...

Back in Atlanta I used to drive a fairly nice car and when it didn't have mechanical problems of some sort I loved to drive it around. Its one thing that I had begun to mis about Atlanta. I started to rent cars on the weekend here and just drive around and go places. This is ok, except that it costs 75 euro a day (there a lot of good deals in Cluj and Romania, but rental cars aren't one of em). So in the end, it seemed logical to me to buy a car.

I searched for about 2 weeks trying to desperately find the car I wanted, which was a used 91-93 5 Series BMW (E34 Ronin Style) because I'm in love with that design. We found several and at long last found one that seemed in decent shape and that would hold up to my driving.

So, after a bit of haggling and lot of convincing the guy that if we wire money he'll actually receive the money I was able to actually take possession of the car a week after telling the guy I wanted to buy it.

Now, at this time my friends C and MJ were coming back from dropping their son in Rome and we decided that wouldn't it be fun if over the weekend we went to go see the Castle Bran (Dracula's Castle) and Sigishora (birthplace of Vlad the Impalor who is actually Dracula), about 350km away.

The next day we got up around noon stumbled out and got some coffee, gas, and after urging everyone that we would never make it to Bran if we didn’t get on the road. Soooo we hit the road cruising along at a cozy 120 on the road (which surprisingly is very nicely paved). Then the trouble sets in, all of the sudden my temperature gauge in the car pegs the red line and the oil light flashes on, so I cut the engine and coasted to a point where hopefully two trucks wouldn’t nail us trying to pass each other. So I hop out, pop the hood and it was quite steamy and smokey and it was obvious that something was awry.

Well it boiled down to we obviously needed oil and coolant so we had MJ stand on the side of the road with me and thumb a ride back to Sigishora. After 5 minutes somebody pulled over, asked him where he was going and if he would give David and I a ride to the petrol station in town. Very nicely he said no problem, it happens. Now the thing is, everything in Romania is just 50 km or 100km away. But the reality is 50 km means nothing. Because you never know whether your going to go 50km at 120km/hr or 20km/hr based on what I think to be 4 major factors: Truck Traffic, Curvy Roads (Deadly to pass on, I've seen the results of someone trying on a mountain ride and it was scary), General Road Conditions (some highways are simply very bad roads or pot hole slalom courses), and Weather. Now the guy driving the car was very nice and friendly but had no problem at all keeping his Opel Vectra going as fast as he could. We got back to town in about 15 minutes which is quite good seeing as it took us probably close to 30 to get where we were. But all in all for my first time hitch hiking it was a really pleasant and easy experience.

So we got to the petrol station and bought a bunch of oil and coolant and water. Hopped back out on the road and stuck our thumbs out. We were pretty luck b/c we got picked up in about 5 minutes by two guys who spoke no English and barely understood my Romanian so we just road with them and didn’t say anything to them and both parties just talked to themselves until we saw the car and said aiche!

Got out of the car w/o saying anything but thank you and they peeled off and left. Put some oil in put some coolant/water in and started up the car. Did ok, except for the copious amounts of water coming out of the bottom of the radiator. So, I called Radu my friend in Cluj and contacts man extraordinaire!

Now Radu is great, he always seem to know someone that to call or know someone to call who knows someone to call. So 15 minutes later he calls back and tells me he called his friend who gave him the number to a guy in Turgu Mures (halfway between Sigishora and Cluj) that has a towing company. So he called that guy and after much debate of exactly we were the guy said he would come down and get us. So when were on our way we saw an old restaurant by the road which happened to have been uphill on the way , but down hill to go back. So we topped off the fluids turned on the car turned it around gave it one good gas push and cut the engine and coasted in to a comparative heaven.

They had some excellent mittite (traditional Romanian meat, spelling is wrong) and ciorba de burta (tripe soup). So we sat there for about 2.5 hours as we waited drinking beer and eating mittite until finally our tow truck arrived. Now immediately two guys with their own car problems tried to buy their way in front of us, but respectfully enough the guy said no to them. The problem was, only two seats in the cab of the truck so after some negotiation it was agreed that C, MJ, and I would ride with him to Cluj.

Then the two guys got to him finally and he agreed to tow their truck on the back behind my car. It was very nerve wracking while they loaded it up but overall big props to the guy as he did an excellent job hooking it all in.

So they got on their way and David and I stick out our thumbs. Now whats classic here, is that the two guys with the truck were thumbin too, but we got picked up first! Thankfully too, 2 minutes after we got in the car with this guy it started to pour down rain. So the guy drops us off in the centru part of Sigishora and we’re trying to decide whether or not to thumb or take a train. Because of the rain we decide the train would be easier so we went to the station.

At the station it went ok, because I can speak enough to purchase train tickets and what not, so we get the tickets which I thought were 1st Class b/c the guy had asked and I said first but he gave us 2nd.. (actually it was an upgraded 2nd but not quite 1st). Now, thinking we had 1st class tickets the train comes (which by the way it stopped raining as soon as we stepped on to the platform, but the tickets were only 10bucks). And we hop on board and head straight to our cabin. So there after the conductor lady comes and asks for our tickets which we gladly hand over and she starts yelling at us. I simply say “neu unseleg” meaning I don’t understand whats wrong. And she barks back (all in Romanian) no no understand. Basically she proceeds to tell us we’re not allowed in 1st class. Thing is, we thought we honestly were and she was just hustling us. Sooo we go back and forth and it got kind of to a violent yelling except then she walked away and yelling at us and going to get the other conductor. It was at this time I looked at my ticket closely and realized we were in Vagon 1 and CL II not Vagon 1 and CL I. Oops. So we get up and proceed to class 2, which was basically identical. Got back to Cluj and there a couple issues of payment to the guy b/c I didn’t realize he didn’t own the shop where the car was going so he logically wanted to get paid and Radu helped out with that since I was on the train when he got to Cluj…but all in all it got resolved and actually not too terrible a deal either, about 240 to tow it 300km plus his coming 150km. (Considering outrageous gas prices here, 1euro /liter).

Yesterday I got a used radiator for 90bucks and for 12 bucks to put it in ... not bad ...

This weekend the car gets a second chance as we go to Budapest in it ...

Misc Images from this trip and a trip to a cabin with my office a few weeks ago:

Our Cabin

View from the Dam

Sigishora

My Car Getting Towed :(

-Josh

I've been living in Cluj for almost a month and half now and I decided that it was finally time to actually write something in my blog. I'm going to try and be a tad better about it from now on and actually write something maybe once a week to give an update on whats going on here and new places I get to visit. Please forgive my writing as it isn't perfect; I'm a businessman and software guy, not a writer.

Anyhow, some quick background info on why I'm here. At the beginning of April my company in Atlanta, Slate Technologies, received a large project that will last 6-9 months. My Partners and I, as well as the client, decided that maybe it would be best for me to move out to our Romanian office (started 1yr ago) and act as an advisor on the project to the team here as well as track progress and advise Atlanta on adjustments we need to make...So in May I packed my stuff (up to the last minute) and said La Revedere to my friends and family and came over to Romania (much thanks to those who were at my going away party)... So I'm here ...

I thought about writing a backlog of the past month's activities, but I think it would take too much time, so I'm not going too. If anyone is ever really interested let me know and I'll post it but in short up until last weekend what's happened is this:

I moved here
Went on a trip to Greece
Came back got settled, went out several times to clubs and stuff
Saw the Rosii Montana Gold Mines
Went to a cool music festival
Went to Budapest picked up my friends the Rs
Went to Budapest picked up my friend David (partied in Budapest)
(Budapest is basically the best place to fly into to get here, in my opinion, its about 5-8 hours away and most major airlines go there. Cluj does have an international airport but none of the majors really serve it)
Took the office to a cabin for July 4th

Now your update to date and ready for last weekend which will be my next post!