Plumber's Exam, Here We Come!

This past week has had its fair share of excitement and events. Last weekend, we met with previous Fulbright director, Barbara, for a wonderful dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in town. It was a long overdue get-together, which we had all been trying to plan for some time, and we had a lot of fun. Saturday morning was not unlike many other weekend mornings; we had brunch at our neighborhood cafe and headed home before the rain started. Since it was too yucky outside to go for a long walk, as we usually do, we stayed in and had a board game marathon of sorts. After I beat B at several rounds of Uno, we moved on to a long game of Monopoly, which carried into the next day. We also made popcorn on the stove for the first time, which turned out pretty good and tasted better even than any microwave popcorn we've had. Sunday started out bright and sunny and we made plans to go for a walk and maybe see a movie. That is until I got in the shower and our pump backed up again! 5 hours later- everything was cleaned and "fixed". After so many hours of horrible, difficult and stinky work, with no food since pancakes at breakfast, we were both ready for a good and relaxing dinner. So, we decided to try out the Hard Rock Cafe here in Bucharest, which had opened since B's last visit here. The restaurant is located inside one of the largest parks in the city and has a terrace overlooking a lake. It was a great experience with not only American style food and drink, but also service! Is it a bad sign that when our waitress asked us if everything is OK, we both initially thought she was scolding us? B had some great barbecue after months and months and I had some fantastic nachos! Needless to say, we will be returning there again.

After such an eventful weekend, we got started on our regular weekly routine. On Monday, after B finished at the archives, he accompanied me to the grocery store (the 5th store I had been to that day) to help me carry things back. The person in front of us in the checkout lane was buying a loaf of bread and toothbrush. He chose to pay using a credit card and since the card reader in our lane was not working, the cashier had to use the reader in the next one over. While the cashier was waiting for the transaction to go through, which it did not, the customer left the store! So, his tab was not paid and much nuttiness ensued. After 3 people came to investigate the unpayed tab, we were finally able to pay for our items and get home! Luckily, I had bought all the things needed for a wonderful eggplant parmesan and we were able to have a really nice dinner, finished off with some fantastic eclairs from our favorite bakery.

On Tuesday, we joined several folks for drinks to celebrate a grant that one of our friends had been awarded for next year. As we shared some wine, B told us all about his very frustrating experience at the archives that day. Apparently, the previous day B had requested 7 folders from 3 different collections to review. When he began looking through them, he was able to find some relevant stuff in the first 2 folders and the next several contained NOTHING at all remotely related to his topic. Upon further investigation, he realized that the archivist had simply pulled 7 folders all from the same collection. When he approached the archivist about the error, she (in true Romanian archivist style) began blaming him by insisting he must have completed the request form incorrectly. Of course, once they review the form what they find is a clearly written request showing that in fact, everything was as B had intended and the mistake was not his. Instead of apologizing at this point, the archivist blamed B's handwriting, which was not the problem. At this point, B finally got really angry and gave the archivist a peace of his mind and brought to her attention the fact that HER mistake had in fact wasted his time and that he expected all of the correct documents to be waiting by the next day. Wow, how I would have payed to see this! Needless to say, when the next day they were not able to locate the requested folders, the same archivist was very apologetic about the mix-up and the correct folders did finally become available.

Wednesday was more or less uneventful, but that was easily made up for on Thursday. All week, we had been waking up early so B could get more time in the archives, so after he left around 8:45, I was checking some emails, etc when the power went out. The internet also went out and so I decided it would be a good day to head to Starbucks to read and relax. I headed to the shower to get ready to head out. Before I got in the shower, I used the toilet and as a I flushed, I remembered that our water pump is plugged into the wall and uses electricity!!!! Aaaahhhh ... you guessed it- another HUGE mess. 3 hours later, dirty, exhausted, overwhelmed, and VERY hungry, I finished cleaning up the mess and took a few minutes to relax and read my book. During the clean up time, I had opened all of our windows to let in some light and since bugs were starting to get in, I went up to close the windows and on my way back into the apartment, I noticed that somehow, the floor was soaked again! I had been sending B text messages throughout the events of the day and at this new development, he decided to cut his day short and came home early to help me. At this point our landlady was finally up and as I was finishing cleaning up for the second time that day, she came and worked for about an hour trying to figure out how anything could flood, given that the pump was unplugged and no water source had been used in hours. The power did finally come back on, just in time as it was starting to get dark and chilly down here. At this point, we began contemplating going to a hotel for the night, but as we researched our options, we realized all the Western style options were far too expensive, especially since we would barely be there for 16 hours. Instead, we decided to have dinner at one of the hotel restaurants. After a nice shower, I took the opportunity to put on some nice clothes and even some heels and jewelery and we set off to the Corsi Cafe at the InterContinental Hotel. The menu had a slightly asian fusion aspect and given that Ben had only had breakfast and half a PBJ and I had only had the other half of the PBJ, we were both famished. We had a wonderful dinner in a pretty setting. B got some beef soup to start and a Nasi Goreng, a traditional Indonesian dish of curried beef rice topped with a fried egg and accompanied by chicken satay. I had a great green salad to start and a vegetable curry. All of our food was fantastic and the service was impeccable. Before we headed home, we walked through the hotel lobby and looked at the menu of their other restaurant, The Madrigal Cafe, which is described as a steak house on their website, but seems like it is much more, including such dishes as Coconut Curry Soup and some lamb dishes. They even have a few vegetarian options, so we may try it at some time. As soon as we got back home, we were both so tired, that we just veged for a while. Around 12:15 AM, the cable and internet froze and we took this as a sign that it was time for bed.

The next morning the cable and internet were still out and since I did not want to take any chances with loss of power, I quickly got ready after B left and headed for the Starbucks morning I had planned the day before. This was followed by a quick trip to the store and then I finally had a chance to wash the yucky towels we had used the previous day to clean up the mess, as well as the new towels we had bought. Time for us to have some new shower towels that had never been used for cleaning bathroom floors! Soon after the towels were drying around the apartment, it was time to meet some friends for dinner. Our friend Alyssa, who has been coming to Romania for more than ten years and is very familiar with Bucharest, suggested a great Lebanese place she knows. She couldn't remember the name, but knew where it was and hoped it was still there. Since we were all up for the adventure, we started walking and found ourselves in an area with some nice old houses, smaller boutique hotels with some very nice terrace restaurants on tree-lined streets; after a bit we came upon the place she had suggested, Beirut Cafe. Unfortunately, the interior was rather stuffy and several in our party had become attracted to the terrace restaurants we had passed, so we took a vote and decided to try terrace dining at a place called Piccolo Mondo. Piccolo Mondo also happens to be a Lebanese restaurant, located within a boutique hotel. We were lucky to be seated on the upstairs terrace and ordered several items to be shared across the table. One of the specialities of the house were these huge, freshly made Lebanese-style breads, which were wonderful. The boys in the group each ordered a different kind of kebab and then shared them--a true kebab feast! In fact, everything we ordered was great and the conversation even better. We had a great time and were happy and well fed and ready for bed when we returned.

Today, we got a slow start and had a leisurely breakfast and took our time getting ready. Eventually, we were ready for the day and decided to take a walk down a street we had only seen part of. A friend mentioned that a speciality Portuguese grocery had recently opened there and was worth checking out. The street was certainly not the most interesting in Bucharest, but worth exploring nonetheless. The Portuguese store was small, but nice with specialty cheeses, meats, wines, teas, and other gourmet items. B bought some loose leaf tea and we continued walking down the street. At this point, we were pretty hungry and decided to try a place called Torego, which we thought was a Mexican place. We were incorrect and it was simply an average Romanian restaurant. We chose to sit inside and got to see a wedding reception in progress and hear some live Romanian folk music. The food was pretty good and the quantity was large. So, we left feeling very full and continued our walk. We eventually headed home and have had a nice time relaxing.

We want to wish all the moms out there a Happy Mother's Day and hope its a great time. -S