Last Full Day in Romania

I had my first experience getting totally lost in a foreign country by myself since I walked around searching for my hostel with luggage in London about five years ago. I left the mall with plenty of time, walked back to our meeting place near downtown with ten minutes to spare, and figured that I might as well explore a bit more because I would look silly just standing at that particular place. So I walked a few blocks with the obvious intention of turning around and walking right back to where i started. Well, that didn't happen. After i walked those two blocks, i came upon one of the main plazas, where i've been a few times before. I figured i'd walk once around that, then walk back. The problem was that there must be at least ten or more streets that lead to that plaza, and i had no idea which one i took. I also had no way of communicating with Cameron, who was going to be waiting for me on a very busy intersection, for who knows how long. I didn't panic, but i did walk very fast. I didn't know the name of any street, but i recognized a number of landmarks. Remembering their locations relative to each other was the trick. Eventually, after race-walking for who knows how many miles, i successfully retraced my original steps, and found the spot. Sure enough, he was still waiting for me. And that was supposed to be my day to relax! At least it wasn't too hot.

That night we had a few beers at his favorite bar, he talked up his favorite server, and we had some good, long, insightful conversations about politics, world events and economies, friends and, of course, women. This might sound terribly corny, but when i started to talk about my wife, how much we love and trust each other, i almost started tearing up. (And by almost, i mean that i did:-) I'm not nearly as homesick right now as i thought i would be when i was in NY. Heck, i was terribly homesick in NY. But taking in so much information and culture, and knowing that if i fail to keep my wits about me for even a moment, i could be in trouble.

Today we are meeting a friend of his (one of the many we already ran into by chance) to print out some important information about Greece, and to chat, then head to the mall again because it is near his place. I'm treating Cameron to The Hulk (the prospect of a free show being one of the only things to get him in that superfluous monstrosity, and i couldn't get home by myself).

Speaking of the mall, i think i'll report my findings from my first official consumer sociological experience. As i've said before, if one doesn't look too closely, one could believe one to be in any large mall in the world. Almost everything is available, from CDs, DVDs, flat screen TVs, computers, stereo systems, and video games. I thought it was interesting how some items, like computers and TVs, were about the same price in America. The PS3 and XBox were about 25% more expensive, while the Wii was more than twice as much. Air conditioners were at least 400% more expensive for some reason. At least 75% of all stores were related to cloths, most of them very nice. Blue jeans were 100 to 300% more expensive, but i don't know about any other apparel (i mean, who cares about cloths? Romanians do, that's for sure). One big difference was that there were many, many more places to sit down and order drinks, and alcohol was always an option. Unfortunately, the biggest difference between one of our malls and this one is that shopping at a mall in America would be a realistic option to at least 80% of the population, whereas the the reverse would be true in Timisoara, with less than 20% . And Timisoara is one of the richest cities in all of Romania. Less then 10% of Romanians, in general, would have any responsible possibility to shop in a place like that. In many ways, i'm getting as realistic view of Romania as someone would of the US by only seeing Manhattan. But Cameron has talked to many, many people who know the country well, and is, in turn, doing a great job of educating me about its history and current state. I've heard so many great stories, i can't even begin to recount them.