A Friday Afternoon in Brasov

After staring at my computer for far too many hours over the last few weeks, I took the day off on Friday & went to Brasov, about a 3 hour drive from here. I can't say that driving is ever relaxing here, but I do enjoy it once I get out of town.

Teammates & I all had lunch at McDonald's (it's the halfway point between here and Bucharest, so we frequent it often...clean bathrooms & a convenient place to stop!). Attempting to enjoy the last vestiges of summer, we ate outside and were joined by all of these little buggers. I think the birds were all well fed over the summer...but today we were the only ones there. They were quite daring, some even hopping up on the table in hopes of scoring a loose french fry. All we had to do was lift up a french fry & they would start creeping closer. If one of us threw one, a flurry of little wings would ensue until one of the birds grabbed the french fry (usually while it was still in the air) and flew off to enjoy it somewhere in privacy. I think they particularly enjoyed the fact that I never eat more than half of my french fries...as we left, I threw a handful up in the air just for the enjoyment of watching all the cheeky little things attack.


After lunch, my teammates all continued on their journeys elsewhere, and I went into downtown Brasov to try to score some decent pictures. Once again, nothing spectacular today, although I did get some decent "people pictures". I also got a few okay shots of the famous Black Church, but still not what I was looking for. Of course, I'm probably expecting a lot out of my little Canon Powershot A75 - but it's come through for me in the past. It's making some funny noises these days (one of the motivations for making the picture-taking trip...just in case it dies, I want to have a good stock of photos; replacement just isn't in the budget), but still taking decent shots. Someday, I dream of upgrading to a digital SLR camera & really learning how to take pictures. Until then, my little point-and-shoot is serving me pretty well.

Dark clouds had been hanging on the edge of town since lunch, but held off for several hours. I got my KFC for dinner (yes, I know - McDonald's & KFC in one day is just plain ridiculous...but KFC was one of the other motivations for making the trip...I was in dire need of an "American fix" of some sort, and KFC in Brasov is the closest available!). Just as my headache began to get out of control & I packed up the camera to head for my car, the sprinkles started. Good timing, God...thanks for letting me take pictures & eat yummy KFC first!

Drove three hours home & arrived just in time to watch "Ed." Gotta' love our TV schedule...you never know what might show up on the schedule. Tonight (Sunday), CSI was on one station and Law & Order: Criminal Intent on another. I used to be a big "Ed" fan, but seldom got to watch it, so I'm enjoying the Hallmark Channel's screening of it these days.

Also saw "Cars" ("Masini" in Romanian) this week; it is only the 3rd full-length animated feature to be dubbed into Romanian (after Babe in the '90s and something in the '70s, I think). I didn't understand everything (nor did my teammates who have been here much longer...cartoon cars just talk too fast!), but it was great fun! I understood most of the movie (the best part about it!) and especially loved all of the outtakes at the end with all of the "old" Disney/Pixar movies. The second best thing about it is that everyone else in the theater actually laughed when something funny was said...not ten seconds later when they read the subtitles in Romanian. I usually feel like we are laughing in slow-motion stereo; the Americans laugh, there is an awkward pause, and then the Romanians laugh.

I think I shall have to see it in English sometime soon...to pick up all of the humor that I just couldn't quite catch. The DVD comes out the first week in November (hint hint...DVDs are light and relatively cheap to mail!).