Buddies

Howdy,

Monday, June 9, was the last day to our long weekend. The Orthodox church gave us a Monday holiday, whoop. So, our buddies (quite the fun bunch) took us to a water park 2 hours away from Zalau. The name of the park is Felix.

So, I got to drive the whole way there, which was very fun. Alin and Alexandra rode with me and Haegen. The roads wind very much, but it wasn't too bad from the driver's seat. The best comparison I can relate it to is driving through the Appalachian Mountains in the US. Mircea, Irina, Valerie, and Leon all took a taxi (courtesy of Tenaris). Alin is the class clown of everyone. He likes to joke a lot, but he's pretty funny so we allow him. He likes impressions of cartoons. Also, he is a bug fan of the movie Snatch, which we quoted to each other immediately after making this connection. Another of one of Alin's favorite phrases in a 2 hour car ride is: "Are we there yet?" He tends to repeat multiple times in single breaths. Alexandra and him are very close, in fact, we have a hard time distinguishing if they are dating or just sibling like towards each other (they claim not to be dating, we will see). For those of you just reading this post, Mircea and Irina (in the other car) are definitely dating. Along this car ride we stopped at a half way point to stretch, drink coffee, and smoke for those of us that do (don't worry mom, not me). In fact, below are some pictures of our friends we may have taken on the way there and the way back:

 Left to Right: Josiah, Leon, Irina, Mircea, Alexandra, Alin, Valerie, Haegan.

 Alexandra enjoying taking a photo of Mircea and Irina.

Alin just doing him.

Now, the water park itself was fun. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures, because I did not want to get my camera wet. The water in the park is hot because it comes from aquifers underground (I believe). "Thermal water" is the term I hear all of the time. At the park, people shower BEFORE getting into the pool instead of after. It is so the pool will stay clean. Every pool has a little bit of shallow water in front of the ladder as well. This is so people will rinse their feet off before jumping into the pool. Actually not a bad idea for keeping a pool clean. Additionally, some women don't find it necessary to wear a top. It's a little strange, but I only saw 2 women do this in a packed park. Lastly, speed-os are definitely "in" in Europe. People could tell I was an American just by how baggy my bathing suit was. Below are more pictures, but of the sights I saw on the way back: (and a quick snipit of me getting Mircea to smile, because often he is just mean mugging, but that is more common in Romania than you would think):

Haegen

Leon

Some building.

Smile?

Smile??

Romania

Anyways, the first day of work was fun. But, I will have to talk about that next time as I am tired. Premium connections are something very interesting. Okay, well, last thing. We went to eat at the Italian restaurant this time, and had cow belly soup. It was very good. Also, Mircea taught me how to say a bad word in Romanian, and we threw frisbee at the water park for a while. Also, at the water park, met a really hairy German guy who was super friendly and loved that we are from Texas (as most foreigners do, excluding the vast majority of Romanians that don't work for Tenaris), Okay, until next time. Noapte Buna. (Next time I will include things from my fellow Aggies they would like to include on the blog.)