Everything's Soooooooo Green!

Hey hey hey from Romania! So a lot has already happened and I actually feel so comfortable here as if I've already been here a whole week or something. The people (the Romanians on the street and the Americans in my group) are very friendly. The flights were totally uneventful and even though I had to open my suitcase - probably because it was so densely packed they couldn't see in on their hi-tech monitors, I got through all the security checks and whatnot with no problems. When we got to the hotel I realized though that I have to leave bottles not screwed so tightly - I lost all my mouthwash, which spilled into the plastic bag and over everything else. Lucklily, i had some in the carryon bag, so I'm ok even for the 3 wks. I'll make it last, don't feel like buying more. I was the first person to meet Alina, our guide at the airport and then in the matter of a few hours, we had 14 people and were on the bus to Brasov, a cool town in Transylvania! What's cool is that we could see the mountains ahead and the road is literally pasted between two steep steep cliffs, with the teeny towns stretching across the road. We did about 6 hairpin turns at a time, too, pretty impressive. Reminded me of driving in california.

Brasov is a little touristy town but definitely helps with the whole culture shock thing. Lots of old stuff to see and people watching is really fun. I think the Romanians are a good-looking group of people and the men like jeans and those sporty jacket things. The young women like to look feminine and wear dainty scarves around their necks with their jeans - very cute. But then the old women look....really old. With scarves on their heads and hunched backs, rough faces - hard living? How can the cute young women transform into them?
[In the internet cafe, "La Tortura" is playing - memories]

Meanwhile, I had a deja vu moment this morning trying to figure out what I was going to wear to the village - the thought was that it really doesn't matter because...it's a village and we're totally going to stand out, especially me. I mean, I get looks, sometimes stares on the street so far, I find, but that's about it. I am totally used to that anyway, 'cause i get that in america too. I am trying to learn Romanian as fast as i can, because I want to be able to talk - already tired of feeling like an infant, ready to have whole conversations with people. Maybe not even that, but just being able to have a simple exchange.