*** Wednesday, 05 Mar 2003 ***
Lunch with Robi at a new place, Quattro Stagione. Getting the bill took forever so I left Robi some money to pay the bill and hoofed it back to the office and nearly missed an important meeting. Everyone was getting into cars as I came down the street. I had to shout to make them wait for me.

At the meeting my stomach growled longer and louder than I have ever heard it do before. No one admitted noticing but I caught Earl's eye and he noticed while pretending not to. Had it been noticed, I decided to say, "The gas is bubbling in my insides but its not going anywhere else."

Later, after working hours at the office, I could feel the gas working its way out so I rushed from my office into the hall to spare Robi and let go of a megafart, the loudest I can ever remember -- I could hear echoes. I was grateful that the hall was empty and I swiveled around to be sure and after a 330 degree turn I saw Raluca staring at me with eyes as big as saucers. There were no words for the situation so I went back into my office and told Robi what had happened. He said he appreciated my consideration of him and we both laughed like hell.

Went to Cafeneaua Actorilor after work. I took the only available table and as I settled in to read some documents. Diana came over to me and asked to join me. She seemed interested in improving her English. I said yes.

I first met Diana when Marius and I visited Laptea Ernache and she came in with a group of three (she, a girl and a boy). We joined them for a while. She presented herself as a hard-working Romanian who didn't have much money. Very apologetic for bothering me which I said she didn't.

She told me she would like to have a beer so I ordered one for her. She talked as if she wanted to learn to speak English better but in the end it came around to me financing her trip to go to Atomic Cafe in Boruceanu Park (where is that?) and "loaning" her 100,000 lei. She asked for my telephone number but I refused to give it saying that it was only for work.

Her persistence became obnoxious. She insisted in saying that I should go to the Atomic Club and I said that I had work to do. She asked if I could go tomorrow, No, then on the weekend.

She insisted I should go, but I declined citing work but she persisted. She insisted that I would have a good time there and why did I want not to go.

Ultimately she started the beggars opera: so little money, great needs, blah, blah, blah, and became obnoxious with her persistence and finally asked for a direct loan of 100K which I gave her to get rid of her.

*** Friday, 07 Mar 2003 ***
After the two hours of discussion/training we all headed out to wherever we were headed next but Marius seemed over-active about where he/we were going. There then ensued that confusion that seems to afflict Romanians as they decide where to go next. Ideas are advanced and accepted and then -- unaccountably -- abandoned in swift order.

Finally Marius asked me if I wanted to go to Cafeneaua Actorilor and I said yes. He then presented Bianca to me and said she wanted to go too. Bianca turned out to be a very nice and extremely pretty 20 year-old who, like many Romanians, was deeply disappointed about her country. Our conversation was limited by her weak English. But at least she was no Diana.

Well, it was an interesting evening -- in odd ways.

*** Saturday, 08 Mar 2002 ***
Lunch at La Mama. The bar is oddly high and so are the tables. I got a table but "only for two hours" which is not a statements about service inefficiency so much as the relaxed dining atmosphere in Romania. The mici (pronounced meech) here are quite good and I often have them.

*** Sunday, 09 Mar 2003 ***
Trip to Timisoara
I made sure I got a metered cab who could give me a receipt to take me to Otopeni. The meter showed 120k so I gave him 150k. I thought it odd to be leaving from the International airport (Baneasa is the usual airport for in-country flights). But what I learned was that there is a gate there that handles some internal flights.

Before I found this out I was standing in line and I realized that I had forgotten to bring my passport. The guy in front of me said I could go first and asked where I was headed and I said I thought I was headed for trouble. "In that case, I'll go first," he volunteered. He asked my problem, I pointed at passport control and said that I doubt they would stamp my photocopy of my passport. He reassured me. "I'll back up up if you need it," he said. He turned out to be Mike Mait, the American Information Officer in Cluj returning from a week in England, hiking in Cornwall.

When I exited the airport building in Timisoara a cabby wanted 10 dollars to take me to the city. I said, "Too much" and turned around as if I had a place to find an alternative. "Quanto?" he asked. (German and Italian are the major secondary languages in Timisoara). So I said, "Five dollars". He implored me for six. Since there were only about three cabs there I decided not to overplay my hand. Later I found out that six dollars is a standard fare to the city.

The main pedestrian street in downtown Timisoara.

I stayed at the Hotel Central (pronounced "chentral"). It is a pleasant hotel very much like the Imperatul Romanilor in Sibiu. The rooms tend to be small but functional. The one unique thing was the motion sensors on the hall light and the bath room lights. The bathroom was OK but the hall light turned on every time I moved in the room and went off about 15 seconds later only to come on 30 sec later.

*** Monday, 10 Mar 2003 ***
Restaurant oddities:
Grill boneless chicken joints
Hen boiled meat with vegetables
Chicken paprika stew with balls

Hotel security in the provinces: There are always guys standing guard in lobby (which was completely empty of furniture, BTW) who smile and would be helpful if there was anything that needed helping -- which on the whole, there isn't. I think they are there to see that none of the customers bring anybody home.

*** Saturday, 15 Mar 2002 ***
The weather is milder but not mild. Winter's tentacles clutch tightly, slipping only slowly.
I decided to go to Il Caccio (sp?) for lunch. I was one of the first customers there but they flooded in after me and when I left less than an hour later the place was full.
I had the bacon and sausage pizza which is very nice but the sausage is not Italian, which I miss very much.In Bucharest water seems to hang in the air. It forms blank, gray, formless sheets across the sky. It doesn't have the art, industry or character to form itself into clouds.

*** Monday, 17 Mar 2003 ***
St Patty's Day.
White Horse tavern after work with Allen. And Robi came so I told my stories. Robi really liked the one about the engineering students who couldn't understand how I knew the answers to homework I had assigned ("Witchcraft!" they muttered.)

*** Tuesday, 18 Mar 2002 ***
Today was the first time that I went out during the middle of the day and didn't wear my overcoat. Not quite balmy but a real improvement.

*** Thursday, 20 Mar 2003 ***
Today was the fourth day in a row that there was some blue in the sky. A record since November. The temperature was also the first that I could call nearly-Spring-like.

*** Friday, 21 Mar 2003 ***
It snowed this morning. I awoke to see the roof of the church across from my windows covered in a thin white coat. I knew it wouldn't last but I still found it depressing. Just when it seemed as if the weather was finally going to improve - at last.

Enough of this friggin' winter!

Still, it was a light snow, destined to disappear in a few hours. Rather like a white, snarling dog who starts running away the moment you stare it in the eye. It wanted to scare you but was obsessed by a fear of its own death. The winter has been fearsome and relentless but it is old now and now has overstayed its time.

*** Saturday, 22 Mar 2002 ***
Regression to the mean, the mean winter.

We had 3 days in a row of blue skies with puffy clouds - a record since my arrival on November 23 - and with steadily decreasing cold. Spring was about to arrive. Then yesterday's snow in the morning and again in the evening.

*** Tuesday, 24 Mar 2002 ***
The first day of Spring! The temperature finally reached 20 C (68 F) with sunny skies.

Went to Actorilor to drink some Efes and read some back issues of the New Yorker. Did both and as I finished I noticed a table of Romanians who seemed to have noticed me. Several of them were staring at me at the same time and when I glanced their way they seemed to respond to my looking at them. I noticed Florin3 was with them and went over over to the table and the squeezed me in as the 9th person at a 6 person seating. I got one cheek on the bench and supported myself with an extended leg. The conversation was fun.

*** Thursday, 27 Mar 2003 ***
Lunch at Quattro Stagioni in Herastrou park. I had Tortellini al Forno and it was quite good.
Monday was sunny and cold but each day since has been less and less cold until today when I am sitting outdoors in the sun and feeling just right in my suit coat. Not yet balmy but so close to it its presence is palpable.

But the Romanians are wrapped up in long leather coats and heavy wool coats even while they sit in the sun. They seem to know something I don't.