Time to amuse you once more with the little things that make me go ummmmm.

So to begin let me talk about my VISA. Yes. I now have been hit hard by the kindergarten lessons in life, READ THE FINE PRINT you foolish little boy.

Before I left Manila, obviously I got my VISA that would allow me to go to the country where dogs are a thriving minority and according to BBC, the country ranked among the top three in the WORLD, with citizens who are most depressed.

ROMANIA.

I got my visa from the Romanian ambassador in the Philippines. Had a little chit chat with the guy about his country and it got me excited. “you have a 6 MONTH visa my Filipino friend”

Sounds good to me. I take a look at my visa and indeed, its says VALID UNTIL MARCH 26, 2006.

Four weeks ago I find out from Turkey boy that his visa has EXPIRED, yes he had the same visa as I did, 6 MOTNHS VALID. Little did we know that the fine print below the MARCH expiration stated: DURATION OF STAY: 90 DAYS!

I was illegal in this wonderful country for 47days! Ok time to receive some spanking!

Dracula has cursed me once more. Whyyyyyy!?!?! Anak ka nga talaga naman ng nanay mo oh. Hoy aswang tantanan mo na ako!

Let me list the things I had to get for my visa application:

1. 50 million lei bank statement under my name in a Romanian bank (100,000PHP)

2. medical clearance

3. insurance

4. contracts stating my purpose here

Let me explain how I managed:

1. had a bit of money and have already gained friends that trust me here so they offered to lend me the cash.

2. was able to meet a doctor through (outside my profession, I would rather use street skills than business contacts in times like these!) contacts that I have gained over the past couple of months. The guy gave it to me free of charge (the piece of paper would have cost me 4000PHP)

3. thank god I had one already to begin with

4. had to come down banging and knocking on some lazy asses’ doors.

And just like the wonderful system in my country, it is impossible to apply in just one day. Staying in queue for more than five hours is not enough. Went to the Authority for Foreigners to have my visa application processed. Yes, this country is so advanced that in the AUTHORITY FOR FOREIGNERS they expect foreigners to be highly fluent with their language, Romanian. (anak ka ba ng diyos!?!?! Authority for FOREIGNERS nga diba!?! FOR FOREIGNERS! What do you think of me Romania? Thinking of you!? Utak lang, kahit konti lang pwede!?!? My god! E kung banatan kita ng salita ko!? Alam mo ba ang ibig sabihin ng saksak?)

The nice thing about this country is that the citizens are willing to help. (just make sure they’re did not grow up in pretentious city Bucharest)

My friend Gioni went with me (pero sympre mas astig ako kasi ako si diony boy)

It was a Thursday, I took the day off at work thinking I could finish everything in one day. Got to the Authority by 10 am and started waiting in line. You know the worst thing you could experience in a queue is to have the worst person ever imaginable in line next to you. I would love to put the nationality of the person next to me but since I have learned not to discriminate, let’s just call this person Colgate. I stood in line for almost 5 hours. It felt like I was just back home. There was a line but people would find a way to get ahead of the line. People would also make one person stand in line for them and by the time that person was close to the counter, anak ng pooooo^@, ayan na ang pamilya! Isa dalawa tatlong pugok na mga pandak na puti na napaka ingay and mag-aaply pa sa kinalang visa.

Eto naman si Colgate! napagod na siguro dahil walang kausap at inamag na ang kanyang laway, hay sus maria (insert sign of the cross here) Colgate has the worst bad breath I have ever encountered! I can not even describe the intensity of the scent! Pooocha lang talaga. Hilong hilo na nga ako ditto sa kakatayo. Sik-sik pa kayo ng sik-sik! Tapos hihinga ka pa ng amoy amag!?!? Pare naman sige na maawa ka sa akin. Colgate would blow (like a long sigh) yun tipong pagod na ako, wala akong kausap. Sighhhhhhhhh (insert the worst bad breath you could think of here) sympre he did not do this just once! He had to repeat his sighs! Oh god, I just hope that in this life of mine I will never encounter this type of karma the second time around.

Eto pa, dahil nandito na rin ako sa usapang amoy. Well obviously the cold weather has its effect. So in Romania they like wearing hairy hats! Literal, poocha buhok talaga! Alam mo yun mga hat na mukang pang komunista!? Ganyan! Tapos imagine mo na yun tela ng kanilang ‘hat’ ay buhok! Buhok ng lola ng lolo mo! Meron maiksi, meron mahaba, meron mga ‘hat’ na sobrang luma na, may ‘split ends’ na! Kaya yun mga ‘hat’ na mahaba ang buhok, timi-tikwas na mula sa ‘gule’. Their hats look like extended wigs and the worst part is to see the ‘tikwas’ hat. Im just lucky that I was not that close to them that the ‘tikwas’ would brush against my face! And the moment it does, I will just cry, yun tipong trauma na iyak. Basata kadirii tong mga tandang komunista na ‘to!

Meron rin mga ‘hat’ na mukang tela ng aso! Since I am in a country where dogs are a thriving community, siguro, dahil sa dami ng aso sa kalye, ayan pingkakatay na lang nila para sa kanilang mga winter hats! Ayus! Galing mo Romania!

So back to the anghit! Sympre malamig, pero dahil yun ‘hat’ na iyon ay pang-pa-init, naturally you would expect na papawisan ang ulo ng mga g@g*. dagdagan mo ng pa konti konting bilad sa araw, wag mong labhan ng isang taon. Ayan. May natural scent na ang winter hat mo! Pooootaragis naman pare! Anak ka ng araw nga naman oh! Tinalo mo pa yun mga batang naglalaro ng tumbang-preso ng isang linggo ng walang ligo! Mahiya ka nga sa kulay mo Romania! Ang baho ng winter hat mo! Sunsilk pwede?!?!?!

Ulo lang yan, e pano kung sabihin ko na may sari sari pang version ng buhok winter hat??? Friends, they also have jacket versions of this wonderful ‘tela’.

Kaya pwede, DO NOT ENTER THE SUBWAY pag dating ng rush hour! I would rather jam myself during rush hour in the MRT in Manila and be next to my karpintero putok friends. Now I have realized na ang pinoy ay MABANGO! I would rather walk for 30mins in sub zero temperature than heat myself and rub sweat with hair-y people na ang amoy ay pingahalong sunog na buhok, (oo yun amoy ng buhok mong sunog dahil lasing ka and you accidentally burnt your eyebrow hair pagsindi mo ng yosi, lang hiya kasi yun kaibigan mong adok pinaglaruan yun lyter mo! Hahahaha!), buhok na na-arawan ng isang linggo at nagging kulay orange juice Tang na dahil sa bilad sa araw(yes the boatman’s natural hair dye, bilad araw buong taon), buhok na pinawisan ng galon galon sa kakalaro ng tumbang-preso. Oo buhok na napakaanghit!

Kaya!!! On any given day I would rather smell my karpintero brothers than my buhok winter attired friends over here.

So I guess this is what people call, cultural difference on preference. I love culture! I am more CULTURED once more!!!

Anyway I was able to get my visa the next day. apparently, just like back home, it is impossible to get things fixed in one day. hah. Go figure.

So how did I manage to fix things all by myself in such an alien place? Going through the system and being able to get all the requirements without external intervention???

BECAUSE I CAN… AND I WILL……        

As I have been constantly learning things during this adventure in life, it has come to my attention once more how things are different from my country and yours. I have just learned that after paying 3million lei (6,000Php) [this amount was divided already among me and my flat mates, so this is my individual pay for utilities, which is just heating and water] no electricity and the list of bills to pay goes on. So if you do the Math. Oo maawa ka kasi most of my money goes to bills to pay! Sh*t! saya!

Anyway so apparently, to pay for the heating (gas) and water bill, what the building head does (this happens to most Romanian communist block buildings) after getting the ONE monthly charge to the building he will divide that amount according to the declared amount of people living per apartment. For example the building gets charged 10pesos (lets make it a small amount since there are people reading here who did not study in Ateneo and are just not good with Math. But are good with language, that is why I always get this beating on my grammar after every journal entry I write! Oo na! poocha nag aral ako sa Ateneo, MATH ang utak ko hindi LANGUAGE.) anyway so the building gets charged 10 pesos. Apartment A declared 5 people, apartment B declared 3 people and apartment C declared 2 people. So apartment A pays 50 per cent (5 pesos so in apartment A each person will pay 1 pesos) [mga taga la salle do you understand the MATH now!?!?!] hindi pa rin?? Naku. So 10 – 5 = 5. 50 per cent has not been paid, apartment B gets charged 30 per cent because they declared 3 (10pesos* 30% = 3 pesos and since they are three in the apartment 3/3 = 1pisos each) and finally to further make people of non-existent-in-my-vocabulary schools understand the whole thing, eto na 10(building charge)-5(apartment A)-3(aparment B)= 2. Apartment C has to pay 2 pesos and so 10-5(apartment A)-3(aparment B)-2(apartment C) = 0 ayan bayad na lahat!

And now to add another VARIABLE to the equation (Assumption pwede wag mo na lang basahin itong part na ‘toh! My Assumptionista MOTHER! I LOVE YOU! And my Assumptionista aunts too! I love you guys! Mwwwah) anyway the added VARIABLE to the equation is that the consumption is not monitored! What if the consumption of apartment B > apartment A? sweetheart Assumtionistas ( > ) means more than. its not an arrow pointing right or a bullet point used while you take down notes with your colored milk ink pens(uso pa ba ito? Pens which you use 90 per cent [oh shit number, sige lets just say, you use most of the time] to write to your ATENEAN bfs). So wouldn’t it be unfair for apartment A to shoulder 50 per cent even if consumption in apartment B > apartment A? haaaaay the things I learn. Once more… drum roll please…. Ladies not only am I an expert in MATH and good with LANUAGE (after all you did understand my complicated MATH explanation) but I am also now MORE CULTURED by observing things like this. Grabe. I’m so CULTURED! Galing mo carlo, please lang, pat yourself in the back.

*It is time once more to pay my share of the bills for heating my ass last month. For the month of February our bill is 12 million lei. Divide by four, yes I have to pay 6,000php again. Above this there is still electricity, cable and internet. Great, more reason to celebrate the beauty of life.

And now back to the program: My first ski trip.

A place called Sinaia

http://cdionisio.multiply.com/photos/album/28 (this is the photo album)

February 18 – 19, 2006

Its four in the morning. I wake up to my alcohol breath, fresh from Friday night drinking. I’m skiing for the first time ever in my life. From the sandy beaches to the slopes 1000+ meters above sea level, ako ay isang taong bundok na. Ice, high-altitude thin air. I feel like just floating out. I was a natural as expected. Started on a blue run and flipped out on the red run. I now know how it would be possible to die and break bones when skiing on the soft looking slopes. and I have to admit that I would rather go hit the slopes than seek waves for surfing. Tried each one, once surfing in Siargao (so you cant say the waves sucked) and then skiing once. My vote goes to skiing. Next stop, snow boarding. Crash and burn! ang problema lang nga is all the damn equipment. Unlike surfing, na board shorts and board lang ang aatupagin, dito may jacket at kung ano ano pa. hassol!

Stayed in a casare (house). Was just walking around and this doood approached us and led us to a house of a romania. It was nice because it felt like home. Better than staying at a hotel or bed and breakfast. It was a family of three. Husband wife and daughter. The wife prepared traditional food for dinner, and we paid a small amount for such great cooking. Yum. After dinner had some Romanian drinks with the family. Then we all went to bed. The next day the daughter was kind enough to take us around. Local knowledge! It was a good deal.

The federation from club C.A. Rosetti (place I live) prepares for its biggest house party to date. Turkey and Philippines celebrate age. We started by painting the walls of the house. The smell of paint and thinner, combined with beer, void of ventilation due to the cold weather outside, a language barrier among painters. Yes I felt like Picasso. Kaya pala lagging naka-smile yun pintor naming si Alvin. Gets ko na siya. Masaya nga magpintura, lalo na kung drawing lang sa wall ang aatupagin mo.

February 25, 2006

2200 hours and only 4 guests. 22:30hrs 10 guests. 2300hrs  50 freaks 2400hrs lost and trying to look for space. Had fun. I love my country! The pinoys I invited came with pancit that could feed 30 dracs. I was overwhelmed with the warm gesture. Mabuti naman ng gustuhan ng mga hunghang yun pancit. great great party. We have friends! Yay! people love us. Yay! this helps my low self esteem. Yay!

February 28, 2006

At dahil pinoy ako hinid natapos ang handaan kaya hala, nung araw ng aking kaarawan. Ayan inimbita ko yun mga united nationality friends ko. There

was Brasil, Canada, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Turkey at ang

aking mahal na mahal na bansang USA. Great intimate night with the people I am most close to in this country.

Celebration pictures available at:

http://cdionisio.multiply.com/photos/album/30

And then I realize, after a YM conversation with my cousin KEVIN GAERLAN, (ayan na ang special mention mo Kebot! Mag reply ka na ah!), times have changed, and the little fact that I am older has struck me again.

Beeper.

High school life oh my high school life. Ngayon you do not have to go around looking for a bottle to deposit in the school cafeteria in exchange for 2 pesos, which in turn will allow you to make a call. 141….. easy call. Beep beep. “Hi just wanted to drop a line

And greet you. Do not forget to eat your lunch. Take care and have a nice day” I also remember saying: “good night, sleep tight, sleep well *and then, one time the operator just had a sudden mental telepathy mood saying: ‘sleep well and don’t let the bed bugs bite. Take care. Anything else you want me to type sir?’ ­ ummm. No that would be it, thank you for you accurate prediction.”

Ngayon all you have to do is text! Piso lang ang katapat mo!

Dati cassette tape! Leche! And tanda ko na nga!

Dati cassette tape ang binibigay ko para mag pa cute sa chikx. Pa compile compile ng sweet songs via CD to tape. Ngayon all they have to do is burn!

Pero dati vinyl at harana. Asssstig!

Courtship is getting cheaper.

I wonder how it was back in the days of my parents? I wonder how expensive courtship was. Has courtship become shallow or less creative through out the years? But lets not get all serious here. Besides the reader profile of this blog is not competent to begin with.

Just like me. Remember, ‘birds of the same feather, flock.’

This entry has long been due and my birthday has passed. And since it will never be too late, SEND me my birthday gift! Monetary greetings are highly appreciated. Money will be put into good investment as I credit it to my savings, which will in turn allow me to travel and give me reason to write more stories.

No money = no travel = no stories to tell.

So send your monetary greetings asap.

Multumesc mult

chhhhharlowwwww

Hello 2006!

How are you? I am excited to see what you have for me this coming year.

2005 was good to me. Bohol, Siquijor, Dumaguete, Batangas, Tagaytay, Mindoro, Cagayan de Oro, Siargao, Boracay and the great Rhhhhhhomania.

Bravo!

I count my blessings and thank you for the year which has passed. Finally after being here for three months now, I have been able to go to the house of my god. A catholic church and all this time it was just a 5minute walk from my apartment. It’s funny how we seem to ‘unknowingly’ forget about the Person behind us. We just go on days, weeks, months and we do not stop and think and just give a simple measly minute with the Man. Hah! Ok I better stop this now. No one is going to believe me saying this anyway. Hahahah! Imma preacher! Praise the lord brothas…. for HE, I say HE… HE! Praise praise! Hehehe. ONE LOVE, IMMA BELIEVE-AHHHHHH!!!! Hahahaha. Oh oh, for the first time in my life, naranasan ko yun kasabihan na “matunaw ka” aba being in this country surrounded with Orthodox churches, NAKAKATAKOT. I have only entered twice into an orthodox church and OH MY GOD talaga. Nakakatakot! Feeling ko talaga natutunaw ako! I find it too much! I do not even want to talk about it, it gives me the shivers. Orthodox, ‘ooooooh’ (goosebumps) ooooooooh orthodox…. MATUNAW KA! Feeling ko I understand Dracula when he sees the sun. seems like you just want to curl up like a ball with your cape. Ahhhhh im melting! Orthodox!

December 31, 2005. ta-cheng-cheng! Great I am stuck here in Bucharest my flight to Slovakia last December 30 has been cancelled, due to heavy snow fall the airport was closed! Anak ka nga naman ng Romania oh, what on earth is you problem!? “Mr. Dracula, oh Mr. Dracula… are you cursing me? Even before I got here you already made me miss my connecting flight. Then you made me stand in the rain with all my baggage with out a clue on where to go, after the cab driver cursed at me in your language because I did not have enough money to pay him, no clue where my apartment was just had to wait for my god to rescue me. And then now this!? A snow storm in Bratislava!? You are not superman Mr. Dracula, you are not, but your tight brotha.” 23:00 hours- And then as a string of pearls go sailing by on ocean deep, the natural blessing of nature (redududundant?) provide! I want to spread my wings but I just cant fly, ocean deep I’m so afraid to show my feelings. 23:15- hey hey what is this!? Excitement!? ‘in the jungle the mighty jungle the lion speaks to us, ahhh-whhheeemm-ba-wat  ahhh-whhheeemm-ba-wat’ gathered in an international circle of random people, mostly Romanians, dancing to this tune, we holler for the Nigerian in the house to dance a traditional dance! Eto na si bakulaw! Nigerian afro man kingsley black tower standing 6 feet 9 inches tall weighing 300++ pounds happily goes in the middle of the circle does a folk dance. Laugh trip si halimaw men! Great great guy! Next comes turkey boy with his turkey dance. Oh yeahh and then the rest follow having a solo. 23:30 hours – 23:45 non-existent, I say what happened here. Oooooh. Secret namin ni best friend drac lang. 23:50 countdown. Go to the apartment balcony, fireworks start to light up the city landscape, this is one absolutely surreal moment for me. I look outside, I see the building blocks of which looks not a single bit close to the landscape I have seen for the past 23 years of my life, I see east European post communism landscape, with a cold chill breeze buzzing along my ears. Beng beng beng! Happy new year! My fwaking sh******t! I am all the way here in nowhere land and celebrating new years! Bravo! Forate bine Rumania! Bravo! I like! I felt like I experienced something universal. Going back to the circle of folk dancing. It was amazing to see that, dancing can be universal communication for fun, some of the Romanian guests did not speak English and even if we did speak a common language which was English, the universal understanding of dance was more immanent. Nothing had to be said nor expressed verbally, we just all had fun through the motion of dance. (teka lang ah, this is starting to sound deep, sound lang, I am not saying it is deep, nakokosensya na ako kasi sabi ng aking conscience: “carlo magpakatotoo ka”) but anyway eh inspired ako ngayon eh. Alam mo yun, yung feeling ba na INSSSSPIRED! Waaaaaah! I feel like, I feel like, like dancing on a grassland filled with daffodils! Wahahaahaha! INSPRIED! So anyway someone told me “English is just a tool for us to communicate, I can never express to you what I really feel!” zabagy there is a point in that, bakit alam mo bay un ibig sabihin ng: NA LANG (the definition is not anyway people anyways is even worse, dumb*ss and you should know why its worse, if not, mag-paka anywayS ka NA LANG! how about INSTEAD? Maybe close but it does not hit it, ok foine for the sake of argument and you smart @$$es who are better than me, oo na you can say na lang means anyway or instead, leche bahala ka na nga) o eto sayo, how about gigil? Sige nga. Or even when you say ‘mahal kita’! Doesn’t it sound more genuine than saying the Hallmark card ‘I love you’  magpasalamat tayo na we have a defining culture in language. If you still think that every pinoy word has an English equivalent, well Pu3@ng!n@ mo! Hahahaha! Speaking of which you know that very bad bad word we say that when someone sees our lips saying it but on mute he might think we’re saying “put a little more” yes that favorite word people (not me) like to say when they are drunk or when they find out na they do not look like their youth idhol pala. Doing it the lolong way, for cultural understanding, I am currently conducting a study. Whenever I meet someone from a new country, I ask them what is the worst thing you could say to someone? So far so good. Turkey, Nigeria, Taiwan and Romania have confirmed that “put a little more” is the worst thing you could say to someone! Hahahahaha! If you have other friends from other countries. Ask them and tell me. Let us all see if even this is UNIVERSAL!

These days have been mundane but without work I was able to clear my mind and think of what has just transpired and where I really am. Ever since I got here, I only had 3 days max of no work. Its been two weeks now of no work. My mind is somewhat clear but I guess it was empty to begin with. Haha. Romania as they say really does cast some odd spell of charm. It is slowly luring me in and making me fall in love with it even more. (hala my mom will not like this) Oh Romania where are you from? What are you doing to me!?!?

2006 will be great! I already know it will! It is my year! The year of the DAWG! Watch yo back playah! I’m gonna bite ya!

Peace out!

caloloy

Craciun fericit!

Merry Christmas

So going back to my schedule I guess we were lucky that we were able to go to suceava. December 24. turkey, taiwan and I try our luck at the train station. We know there was a train we could catch at 14:00hours. Get there and a police comes up at me, first I was afraid because I thought he wanted me to kill my cigarette. With a few waves and Romanian words I could understand he was there to help. VIP treatment for the pinoy coming up! So told him we wanted to go to suceava, somehow someway he understood. “one moment please, aici (here)” stay here, he meant goes to the ticket goes back an says no more tickets. He speaks with other paraks and we have an opening. “haide, haide, (come here come here)” we go to the no queue section in the ‘casa bileta’ (house of tickets) got our tickets after 5minutes. Sorry ladies and gentlemen. Ang pinoy na sanay sa daya at mahilig magover take ay lumiligid-ligid sa bansa niyo. Yes yes thank you bloodline for making me look so charming.

Great tickets! Ready to go to suceava. http://cdionisio.multiply.com/photos/album/23 pics pics pics!

Get there 23:00 hours. Radu, a friend of mine, the local guy of suceava took us to a Romanian Christmas eve celebration. In Romania tradition is people go around houses of friends to carol. It is the entrance fee to get sick. So once in carolers are treated to an assortment of food and drinks. Food like pig, pork, swine, baboy. Ayan ganyan ang pagkain nila. Mga prutas at mga chocolate. Alak naman, ayan na, may planica (pears, peaches basta fruity 40-45% alcohol) tuica (pears, peaches basta fruity  50-60% alcohol) affinata (blue berry 25-30% alcohol) at kung ano ano pa. nandiyan ang mga sari saring vodka, si jack at Johnny rin. So dsing then drink eat and be merry non stop for one hour, then go to the nest house and repeat! Ayus ba!?! Kaya ayan the next day all over the radio may survey how many people have been hospitalized due to over feeding. Galling! Hahahahaha! One month before Christmas people fast. But when the season starts none stop eating na. that’s why they get sick. Bravo! Taas kamay ako diyan kid! And yes their alcohol is amazing! It is really good! Tuica though it maybe strong is the only drink that strong I have tried which I can take and not have to shot. Sip sip lang kaya. Imagine sipping tequila. Ewww. Pero tuica and palica masarap siya! Beng beng rin tama mo! Hahahaha! I enjoy having this opportunity to taste all the alcohol from different parts here in Europe. The last conference I went to was like that. Austrian one by far was the strongest. 80 whopping per cent alcohol! Hula hula! Waaaahooo. Absinthe! Yiheeeeee! Getting there, soon I will see you! Yuck ah ‘wine tasting’ hellow masanay kayo sa pinoy, laklak! ‘wine tasting’ ka diyan. Alcohol tasting na lang pwede bay un i-career?? Hahahaha. Bwahahahaha! So anyway back to the Romanian house for Christmas eve. Four Romanian friends visiting friend and dad was joining in, now with pinoy turk and taiwan. Talking and eating. Pero sympre champion si daddy Romanian. Aba cool na cool Queen ang sounds! Pero eto champion. Proud siya sa music player niya! Cassette tape! Bwaahahahahahaha! Are you crazy!?!?! Cassette tape! Hello saan ka man mapunta sa pinas aba lahat kami naka cd playah! Chong jeepney naming may lcd and dvd player (yes I saw one already) nako Dracula kakainin ka lang ng mga pinoy sa almusal. My gosh cassette tape!?!?! Wahahahaha! Funny guy! I swear. Pero ok lang kasi 80s music naman siya mahilig so bagay nga 80s = cassette tape. Tapos hahahahahaha he was like “wait here this song” sabay *zzzzzzzzz* rewind! Hahahahaha. Tunog ng rewind! Sympre hindi sakto pa yun start ng song kasi rewind so tancha lang. hahahaha! Ano may betamax ka ba diyan!?!?! Wahahaha! But ser-yos (in Romanian serious is said as ser-yos. Hahaha, I find it hard not to laugh when I here people say this ser-yos na nga yun tao pinagtatawanan mo pa) so yeah seriously, they were so accommodating and kind. They wanted to make sure that their three foreign guests had a nice Christmas eve. Shame on you.

Christmas day!

Get out of the pension house by 3pm. Went around town sight seeing. Picture picture! Had a nice time walking in the forest. Snow darkness crows in the middle of nowhere during Christmas day. bravo. Only open resto was mc do how convenient. And then I hear this song again “last Christmas I gave you my heart but the very next day you gave it away this year to save me from tears I give to someone special, speeecial – george Michael) oh yeah! Here we go again. And so I ask: “Radu what is with this song I hear it every day at work. Is this Romanian?” he said: “every year my friend, they play it.” And Taiwan goes: “in our country too they play it” hahaha. Something new again! To me this song reminds me of my yayas when I would go to their room and chat with them while they make iron my clothes. Yes in the cassette ready radio. BACK IN THE 80s I heard this. But never in 2005! Wow! Culture is great! it’s the little things that can take me by surprise. Bravo! “last Christmas I gave you my heart….” Oh yeah… rock rock on! And since I’m in the eat bulaga songs Mecca of the word they have this song in different reeee-mix! Oh yeah disco, trance version! Hahahaha reeee-mix Thursdays! Oh Romania I am falling in love with you. So charming!

Went back to the pension house (http://www.giardino.ro/) drank and went to bed by 12mn. Still was a good Christmas for me because its something new. Adventure trips ba.

Next day! tour with gigi (http://www.gigiturism.ro/) bucovina monasteries! Gigi. Hmmm when I think of the name I think of this average height guy. A bit skinny. Yan yan si gigi sa utak ko. Pero when I met him, naku Hagrid! Laking mama! Laki ilong mustache beret hat. Looking big and classy. Gigi ish dat you? Start the day early. Oh wow! Jaw dropping day! napaiyak ako sa ganda ng monastries. 500 + years olds men. Painted using plants and mineral rocks. Outdoor painting. Napaka! Galing! I can not say anything more. I am speechless! http://cdionisio.multiply.com/photos/album/24 just check these pictures and you know what I’m talking about. I suggest look at them one by one and click on each to enlarge.

Next day. wake up get ready to check out the museum. But wait. There is a parade festival. From neighboring counties/towns, traditional dances and costumes. Stayed to watch. Then went to the fortress of the great Stefan cel mare. (guy who built monasteries/churches every time he won a battle, he built 42 or 43 of these) played snowball fights and some of the kids joined us so that was fun.

Went home great great grrrrrreat trip! Aliw! That was the shinitz! Oh yeah!

Next stop slovakia!

Until the next episode friends

Craciun ferecit!

To those who emailed texted and gave me presents! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! Dracula says thank you too. Remember it is never too late.

Itaas mo!

One love

caloy

So as I have attached somewhere here the new hit I have been hearing here in Romania. The next song I believe will hit the charts after numa numa. I amazes me how people here love to sing the song from “four non blondes - what’s going on” watching them drunk singing to the song all so happy believing that they will be part of the EU come 2007. hahahaha. Best part, their taxi drivers love listening to the disco version of this song. They like it like that here. Sorry mom pero usong uso ditto mga Eat Bulaga songs mo! Wahahaha! (That’s why get this song and let them play it over at the show so you guys can be the first.) music here has been trapped in time. Always number one. From hearing “don’t want to close my eyes – aerosmith” in a posh members only club with drinks that cost 600Php a pop to clubs playing “sex bomb – tom jones” in the usually club. Imagine this, for those who go to embashy, imagine them play “bon jovi – bed of roses” tapos yun mga fashionista na sobrang hot ma-iyakyak na kasi they love the song until now and for them cool na cool pa rin! Bwahahahaha! Walang jologs ditto kasi lahat sila jologs! Hahahaha! Bed of roses… you’re joking me. However do not get me wrong. I love the fact that these people enjoy music so much that for them it becomes timeless, always number one. Its nice to observe everyone enjoying music that the term jologs is non existent for them. There seems to be not much social separation at bars and everyone no matter the status get along and enjoy and dance the night away. Its amazing how music has brought these people together. Teka this sounds deep na, I already smell rubber burning above me.

Well I finally met the Filipino community here two weeks ago at the ambassadors house. There was a pinoy get together. The community here is small around 50-100 total in Romania. Naturally I made friends right away. I had my first basketball game just this week with a pinoy and a bunch of American military men, who as expected, can’t jump. Im happy to know that I have established contact already with my kababayans and they already invited me over to the mountains for new-year’s.

I do not want to burn any more rubber and go deep about realizations. I am just not in the mood for that right now. So I making this just a light read.

Hahaha last week I went to a “let’s wreck Romania rampage.” I guess I was pretty drunk already by this time. It started when this bouncer would not let us in a club, with highly patriotic am boy, nonchalant turkey ‘mon and cool dude pinoy, all in sports shoes. Bawal daw. But right in front of us the egg-head allowed a bunch of Romanians in rubber shoes in. So naturally with alcohol talking we got made and started on a rampage shouting and cursing the communist robot. So we finally went to another bar. It all started when turkey boy announced he was pissed drunk, and for the first time hit the dance floor dancing like a skipping pirated dvd music video. Pause play pause play no smooth flow. Hahaha. So turkey boy and I left eventually since am boy was hitting on a drac. Going around trying to look for a good place. We were just talking to people on the streets asking where to go and it was nice cause these Romanians are very friendly, pero since were drunk arrogant foreigners we were on a rampage. We went to about 7 bars in total because they all had an entrance fee. But since I was drunk with the turk we did not want to pay. We would curse and shout at the bouncer trying to pick a fight to let us in and would say “hey don’t you know were foreigners!?! Let us in for free!” hahahaha. There was this one bar I don’t know what hit me when I just punched and broke the mirror for fun. Hahahaha. The other night this week am boy joined the club. Running in the streets and chasing cars trying to jump off the bumpers. He managed to smash the side mirror of an incoming taxi driver. Hahaha! Of course the cab driver took a u-turn a sped back our way. He just ended up cursing us. So far this has been the chapters on the drunken dorks.

I will end here first before I get spanked.

Noroc!

One love

caloy

Listening to Romanian radio playing “nothing’s gonna change my love for you.. na na na na. You ought know by know how much I love you, one thing you can be sure of I’ll never ask for more than your love. . .” and now as the song changes to careless whisper and I have completed two articles for this week and while waiting for an email for my wheels weekly column. I laugh and tell myself, “oh the 80s, considered one of the worst fashion mistakes of the previous century, how I wish I could wind the clock back to 15 years ago when this disaster was considered hip.” I miss my long socks. I miss going home from gymnastics, the sport I joined because I had a huge crush on bea lucero and had hopes of meeting her in class, going home in the herst (spell check pls)  looking benz and listening to Jefferson Starship’s ‘nothing’s gonna stop us now’ somehow all of a sudden I have this tremendous love for the 80s that whenever I think about it, I feel all giddy and happy like the sensation I get from eating my Œkulangot¹ behind the curtains where no one can catch me. The list goes on, from swing out sister to tears for fears. From madonna to jon secada. From the carebears to baywatch. From gartered MAONG pants to maui and sons! You all know what I am talking about, I know most of you are closet 80s freaks and firkin love dancing to billy idol’s mony mony, kylie and her locomotion and wish for time to be wound back! Back waaaay back. I am an 80s generation child and I long for the good old times where edsa driving on any given day was fast. Where the air seemed cleaner and fresher. Where my ‘puruntung’ shorts and long shocks with reebok pumps were cool! Now I am as I zone out from my technologically amusing iMac and realize I am here in Romania killing time at work stealing email and writing it in the same document as my Interview With article. I remember, ‘leche’ I forgot to write a whole paragraph and some other stuff  about something I thought would be amusing to write in my last entry.

The title included, 40 minute walks. I just wanted to say that I have never been used to walking this much on a daily basis! It takes me 45mins to walk to work plus another 45mins to head back home. There is no point in taking the metro because somehow its just the same time and sometimes even its faster to walk. It would have been always faster and more efficient (my buddy Amboy paul can do it in 25-30mins at his pace) to walk than take the metro, but of course pilipino ako, I take my friggin precious time walking with out a care in the world. Feeling ko kasi its one big mega mall walk kaya siguro nasanay na akong na pa walking walking lang then kung may digi cam, pa pichoor pichoor na lang. Speaking of which today I while walking to work I literally felt hypnosis from the ever dropping cold weather. It was amazing I felt like I was walking on clouds and just felt like sleeping as the frozen wind made my face numb. Amusing, I think I will learn to love this emotionally void type of weather. I wanted also the ladies to know that I have again increased my market value! I now consider myself, CULTURED! ahahahaha. Last Sunday I went to my first museum. To the national arts gallery. A gallery of three floors with stuff as old as BC to as modern as the 1900s. 4.30pm and entering the gallery I said: “An hour and a half is more than enough.” In the first floor they showed paintings of more or less from Romanians in the 1900s some were good but mostly and looking at others looking at the painting from a far then closely (of course I did that too, sympre I had to look sophisticated and CULTURED) mostly I did not find or see what the hell the others were. I never really liked art much and did not the magical thing that people see when they go to galleries, like I don¹t friggin get how one can be so passionate on this. Im like dude penge naman niyan. Sarap ng hit mo ah. I want to see and feel that also. Mukang astig eh, CULTURED ba. Feeling ko cool maging CULTURED. I want I want. I look at my watch 4.45pm damn time is so long. But then, what caught my attention on that floor were the bronze sculptures of about a foot or two in size. Those somewhat were, what I thought deserved my attention. Up the second floor, like taking a strip to make things colorful, all of a sudden I found myself more and more into this gallery. On this floor there were firkin damn colorful paintings of religious people, scenes and sometimes events on wood from Persia. This caught my attention! I was amazed and wanted to look and take my time on each one comparing some to others cos some would be significantly the same yet would be in different color or shape and design, but then I was told to hurry up if I wanted to see the whole museum because they were closing in less than an hour. I had an entire floor to see above me and really wanted more time on this. And just like they say that when bird dropping fall on you from the sky, to my luck, I found the pieces getting more amusing since it started to show relics from BC and oriental ones! I was able to realize the great dissimilarity between cultures in 3D, like borcay with is multi-layered colorful sunset compared to brownish colors of the start of fall here in Bucharest. Wow! And then it hit me! Chicks dig CULTURE! Hahahahah! Girls I am now CULTURED, market value up a notch once more. . . Hahahaha!

Until the next Dracula strikes blood on my neck!

Cheers!

Buna!

Carloloy!

3 weeks, 2 working weeks, 6 articles, 41oz to freedom 40minute walks and a piece of sh*t

Saturday

October 15, 2005

2.44pm

Today I got up all groggy with a bit of a hangover. Went straight to the bathroom, cold cold toilet seat. The incandescent bulb above me shown brighter than usual and I had a “ting!” sheeeeeet! Na-TAE ako sa idea ko! “Aba, tignan mo ba naman etong si Dracula napaka talino! Isipin mo ba naman, wala siyang problema sa ‘tang’ na klaseng pag TATAE!” TAE TAE! Hahaha! All of a sudden I realize my fear called the ‘tang effect kind of shit’ will not happen here in the toilets of Romania! (ok. To the not hip people, the ‘tang’ type of  taking a dump, is when you have heavy poo and when it drops on the water, it creates a ‘tang effect’ you now the Tang commercial, where a drop of water falls on the Tang and then there is a bounce up effect, or like when rain drops on a lake and water bounces up. Yun! That is the ‘tang effect’ when you take a shit and your poo is so heavy that the water from the toilet bowl bounces up back to your ass! I hate that!) Anyway these draculas have created a toilet bowl that won’t give you any problems from the “tang effect” their bowls have a slope to catch it then it gracefully slides down the ‘lake’. I was just amazed that I won’t be having any ‘tang effects’ anytime soon. What a way to start the day right!

I am about to turn three weeks old on this country come Tuesday. And have been having so much realizations and things are starting to become mundanely surreal. Back then I was in a great daze seeing and being in a different country. Now, everything is starting to fall into place. I have started work. I’m getting used to the city. The language barrier becomes music to my ears. Currency, the government and law, food, having cold sandwiches for lunch, .50cent lei bread loaf, finding and discovering canned Romanian corned beef, and still looking for a super market, beer staples and staplers, getting along and making friends. It has all become a part of the life I have now adapted to. It has kicked in, life is now back to normal, a tad bit less surreal. It seems so hard to explain, but I guess to best put it into perspective, the things I did back at home are the same things I do here. Work is the same, work and pay. Then use money to live. Have a drink, people enjoy beer. People eat. The mundane things people do in life’s daily routine would be the same thing here. That is why I feel that it’s becoming mundanely surreal. Surreal because looking on the inside of the ordinary, I realize I am a world apart from my culture. I have always thought that in my entire duration here, I would be flabbergasted and not understand what I’m doing here. It’s just the realization that the world and its inhabitants are the same. I always thought that it would be the opposite of what I know.

However don’t get me wrong, things here are great and the ball is starting to roll. I am starting to make friends and slowly coming out from my security blanket. This experience is already worth it!

I started work two weeks ago. On my first week, I had 3 articles on the paper. One of them was front page! Hahahaha! I have no idea how that happened. I’m just happy that my Irish boss, who firkin’ is the epitome of PUTOK! I mean shet mapapa putok and mata mo at ilong mo sa singaw ng kanyang kilikili! Anyway I’m happy that this Irish owner of the company believes in me, even if we all know I never had professional experience in journalism. The job despite the low pay (yes people, Christmas is just around the corner, envelopes with bills would be nice!) is promising. I will have the chance to meet all these people from different industries and job titles and learn so much from them. All I wish is when I get back, this whole traineeship will do my CV good. And I think it will.

Its funny how I get to meet other people through aiesec and the way people introduce themselves would be something like “hi nice to meet you, I’m haimen, germany.” Hi pleasure to meet you I’m carlo, Philippines, you can call me bhoy, short for dhionybhoy” hahahaha. Its amazing at the same time because its very international united colors of mixed backgrounds and countries. From Estonia, Greece, Slovakia, Poland, Nigeria, US, Turkey, Finland, etc. . . seems like the world has been brought into one smokey gathering.

I really do not have much substance to say in this entry.

So I will shut my mouth now.

Its starting to get cold and I miss the coconut weather and siestas so much already.

Mabuhay!

Buna!

caloloy

On Romania, clubs, staples and surviving

Its Sunday, October 09, 2005, 1740hrs.

I just had the best meal at home since I got here. Going to non-stop market to get some food for the week consisting of deli salami, freshly baked bread and canned goods. In a little corner I find cooked food and the Filipino(never thought that ill be missing rice cos I never really had affection for it back home) in me rejoices to the sight of seeing rice! Its like finding your favorite toy car when you were a kid. I swear my heart skipped a beat. Just like a happy song from the 60s. And best part is that its already cooked, risotto style. My uberly uplifting meal consisted of risotto, canned Vienna sausage and two slices of bread and I never felt this happy to have this simple kind of meal! And it was capped off with my chocolate covered polvoron. I do not intend to give any of these anymore as passalubong. Mine mine mine! Hahaha! Its hidden from these united-colored-flatmates of mine. Hahahaha. Shawarma by far has been soul food for those drunken ass-cold walks on the way home. Shoarma Romanian style fast food staple is quiet heavy. I say twice the size of the typical pinoy sevring, well then again I guess every serving somewhere else is bigger compared to the malnourished food deprived pinoys. (now stop and think, maybe because we are served less and have pollution over the entire country, we have evolved into being small compare to those supersize me guzzling countries?) just a thought, no offense meant to anyone. Anyway Shoarma here has fries, pickles, catsup, their own white sauce and chicken usually, I think beef is really hard to come by here. Nonetheless food here is good and the spices they use are similar to the Philippines naman. Sad to say the hardest part bout food here is that their friendly nu-understanding-ingles next door market is usually small and lacks food. Its mostly deli sausages and salami. But I will survive and find a way to find food for my Filipino appetite. And I think I already have adapted to living and cooking on my own and handling things dandy. Im slowly settling in and trying to make this my new world for now. Put up curtains for my room, cleaned the floor, can’t wait to sleep in a somewhat clean looking room.

Currency here is having major changes, the old lei is now new lei. They have omitted four zeros from their money. For example10,000 old lei is now 1 new lei. They did this to make it look stronger. Which I think is quite smart, I always thought bout that being done in the pinas. So for now they are trying to get rid of the old currency, there are two kinds of prices and bills going around. 1 new lei costs around 20pesos. So for example when you’re buying a blanket that will keep you warm and you’re trying to cut on costs and have to get the moon and stars design since it is the best you’ve seen compared to dogs, lions, horses or even zebra prints, you see it tagged as 320,000 lei then beside it 32 RON, you pay for it and give 100,000 old lei + 20 new lei + 1,000 old lei + 1 new lei and say “hey at least moons and starts and nice compared to cats and cotton balls.”

Clubs here in Romania are more for the techno freako nothing but trance all over the place, and will never fail to make your eyes tear cos its usually in the underground and people here hella smoke like industrial factories so two hours after the bar opens your eyes tear the same way when chopping a kilo worth of onions. But then you get used to it after awhile. Last Friday we went to an abandoned house party consisting of three floors with a different theme in each room. There the main hall with a dj spinning trance and some hiphop. Then there the reggae room then theres the chill room and what have you. Walls were filled with graffiti and the place looked ghetto party house style. Was pretty amusing. Bigfish event clubs here are a daily routine. I guess this is how draculas like to party. Trance music, lazer lights, smoky smoke, girls on tables and bars, fresh euro aroma from dancing! Yehaw never thought Dracula partied this hard! Tonight I plan to go to a beer festival. There’s supposed to be a lot going around the city the entire weekend and this is usually every weekend, on no occasion.

I am learning a lot from different cultures and customs from my flatmates and the people I meet. And for viewer discretion I will not go into detail on that. I am getting along with the united colors in this flat and each one has a distinct personality which I think will all surface in due time. One thing we get along with is beer and shoarma!

This is me signing off. . .

Misadventures and getting by…

Finally left from manila to go to Bucharest last September 26, 2005. So things started to blur really did not know what I was doing or wasn’t even sure if I was making the right decision. Just really felt like it was a must and a chance of a lifetime. So I took it, packed my bags and fly fly fly.

So I get to the Frankfurt airport. Yay! My flight jitters were finally settled back at land. So I just stroll around the airport and go to my gate 30mins before boarding time. Its 1030am. Boarding time, no one seems to be boarding on gate 31. oh well just enjoy the view of the airport and wait to be called for boarding is what I thought I should do. I did not bother to even check the main screen and find out if the flight was delayed. Pfffft. 1040am. “hey plane is supposed to leave now, why the hell am I still looking lonely here!!?! Check with Luftansa… “oh you got the wrong gate number on your ticket, I suggest you run to gate 51.” So I run, had to go through security again, got to the gate, and since I have a big balat and all the luck in the world, I MISS MY FLIGHT! Yay! The place is filled with strong scented ALEMANS, I feel like im gonna faint now. What will I do!?! I don’t talk german (thank god I don’t smell like them), I missed my flight. My globe roaming has run out of credits. Good luck chong! Umiyak ka na lang. But then money makes the world go round, find a way to buy a phone card fix your flight and ask what to do then phone home. Find Filipinos by saying PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSST or looking for flat nosed, fat belly beer pinoys. Then chat with them since you have 8hours to spare since you missed your flight! Hahahaha. Filipinos after all are the citizens of the world. Somehow someway I find a balikbayan box or someone carrying more bags than the hands will allow.

So it was fun, all part of traveling. I finally got to Bucharest safe and sound after being en route for more than 24hours.

I thought that was the end of getting lost. . .

Just this Sunday I finally get to move to the flat im supposed to stay in. its was raining and cold. My red neck buddy from Kansas told my cab driver to take me roseti st and just follow his cab (since we had luggages, we had one cab each) malamang malas ako na malaking balat. So I got lost! Yay! My cab driver wasn’t able to keep up with Kansas boy’s cab. Then cab driver tell me, “which roseti? Cher roseti or maria roseti?” and I say “ I don’t know, im Filipino, how should I know, do I look like I have all the answers in the world?” I don’t have any Romanian money just 10lei left cos I just came from Dracula and my phone ran out of credits again. So find a way again. Cab driver offers his phone so I call my contact and told cab driver man to talk to him. Got there, KULANG bayad ko. So he gets made and swears over my sorry little misfortune and drops me at the corner and tells me that my contact told him to tell me to wait and the corner. Luckily it was raining hard and my bag got wet and I got wet and it was cold.

But you just have to believe in faith! Just had to pray and after ONE MINUTE, my mobile rings and from then on I was finally safe and sound again.

So until the next adventure. Never have I felt what people say when they talk about language barrier. Now it has hit me more than anything else in this entire experience of being away that comfort zone.

So at the end of the day, the lesson is ang hindi marunong tumingin sa pinang-galingan ay bulag.