Cherries, EC, and Cluj

Howdy,

What a weekend in Romania! We spent the majority of it in Cluj. But, before that, we had a nice surprise during the week.

The 4 of us got scheduled for a safety meeting at 4:00 PM in the main safety building at TenarisSilcotub with the head safety guy at the mill. His name is Tibi. We didn't even find out about the meeting until 1:30 or so. On top of that, Leon and Haegen had been stopped  by Tibi at lunch and were coarsely told that the 4 of us Americans had not finalized our training and had to meet with him later that day. So, we thought it had to be trouble for sure. Tibi, though, was all smiles and jokes once we got to his office at 4. He briefly checked up on our safety training and then hastily invited us to his garden later that evening to pick cherries from his trees (one in particular). Everyone just says cherries here, but we are talking about black cherries, and they are good. He told us he would pick us up at 7, so we went out there. He treated us to unlimited cherries and a couple beers each. We each got to pick as many as we could. (We all joked he was using us as free labor to get the cherries off his tree. Even Tibi made the joke though.) We each took a good sized bag back to the hotel with us that night.

Tibi is married to Gabriela, who works in the lab downstairs from me and taught me all about the Spectrometer machine last week. The two of them have been married since right out of high school. They have a daughter, Patricia, who is interning with Cisco in California right now and a teenage son, who “had more important things to do”, according to Tibi. Oh and of course their favorite child, Charlie, accompanied us the entire evening. Charlie tends to pee in the garden a lot but that comes with the perks of being Tibi’s favorite child. Here are the pictures from Tibi and Gabriela’s garden:

Tibi and Haegen.... and Tibi's police scanner

Valerie and Tibi

Better vantage point for the picking of cherries

Leon doing work

Also good for taking pictures

Tibi, Gabriela, and Haegen

Then the weekend came. Friday was simple. Simple consisted of Valerie and Leon making cherry butter (runnier jam, but very sweet) out of the cherries we had, a cheap, cheap bottle of white wine, and card games between the 5 of us (Valerie, Leon, Haegen, Aly, and myself). The next morning, we woke up and made our way to Cluj to check into our hostel/hotel. From there we would go to Electric Castle!

The hotel was quaint, and the manager was an absolute hoot. He, more so than any Europeans I have met, have no boundaries with personal space. Also, he was a great humor to us because he was the first comment of the weekend we would hear about Leon being of Asian descent. Leon has dropped more jaws than the Red Wedding in GOT. It is a pleasure to watch. But, this man only got excited, which was nice. He told us within 2 minutes of us being there that he had a Vietnamese family there not but 2 months ago! (Gesturing to Leon as he spoke.) We tried not to laugh. He was a very talkative man, and it was even a little hard to tell him to get out of our room so we could settle in before we left for the concert. Oh, and instead of the 4 single beds we thought we has purchased, it turned out to be 2 singles and a double. He told us that Valerie and “the” boy could sleep in that one, not knowing which of us was dating her. So, naturally, we split up the rooms the only way we knew to be fair: by skin color. Valerie and Leon took the single beds, and the two whiter boys shared the double. (Kidding of course, but Haegen and I did not care so we shared the double.) Then, we made our way to the buses which would take us to Electric Castle.

Electric Castle (EC) is a music festival outside of Cluj by about a 30 minute bus ride. This is only EC’s second year to operate, and the entire operation is put on by a small bar in Cluj?!?! (Of course now they have sponsors like Coca-Cola and Burn and have been building momentum by throwing large parties the last few years, but nonetheless the growth rate is impressive.) The bar is called Booha (Buha in Romanian means owl, but to attract more tourist and give it a more American pronunciation the bar changed it to Booha). EC was a blast. We saw some our co-workers there and hooked up with them for the rest of the day. Gaby, Florin, Alin, Alexandra, Mihai, and from Bucharest our good friend Lucian. (Sorry if I left someone out y’all). Aly was with us of course, but for now on let’s just assume he always is on the weekends. This is terrible to say since I live in Texas where there are a multitude of music festivals to go to, but this was my first one. People were playing Frisbee, weird variations of hacky-sack, hanging out in hammocks, bean bags, and some were still sleeping off the night before. That was during the day of course. Even BMX (I believe) had a contest there. The second the sun dropped, the main stage was beaming lights everywhere. The main stage was right us against the old castle located there (hence, Electric Castle). Really they just mixed a lot of music and gave it some sick electric instrumentals. I enjoyed the sound though, and more than that the environment. I spent the majority of time at EC with Lucian, partly because I more than likely won’t see him again, but mostly just because I enjoy his company. (We met Lucian back at Florin’s BBQ a couple weeks ago.) Lucian was the one that actually suggested we go to EC. He is also the most fluent English speaker in Romania I have met. He explained a lot to me about the concert and about pretty much anything we came across. We ate schnitzel and fries and beer and coffee lattes. Food is always good, but especially when you have been walking around all day.

There were many smaller areas you could go at EC, one being Booha College (an American themed party). They got it down pretty well. Anyways, there was an upstairs, in which Lucian and I people watched for a good hour. The contents of the discussion were grand, but will of course remain off page. Leon got a lot of looks, but it was fun, at least for us. I’m pretty sure Leon just doesn't care anymore. One guy even looked at Leon in passing, smiled, shouted “Asian!” at him, and gave requested a high five. He was granted one high five. The evening was eventful until the very end. As I was making my farewell bathroom visit (public festival restrooms: no privacy, don’t care though, you gotta go you gotta go), I met some new friends! My belt was giving me a hard time, so I look over and the other guy is having a hard time getting his on as well for some reason. We laugh and start taking, pants still around our thighs. His name is Jonas, and he is from Paris. His friend Johnny, who lives in Paris but is from Cluj, I met shortly after when I was walking away. Johnny shouted “Texas!” to get my attention. So, I gave Johnny my email and hopefully we will meet up in Paris when I pass through around mid-August.  There was a lot going on, but I will show you the pictures and hopefully that helps better describe our time at EC:

Lucian and Alexandra

Alin and Alexandra.... uh oh.....

Sitting for a bit on some Coca-Cola containers

Mihai gives zero cares

Lucian sees things....

Just a walkway

Valerie, Alexandra, and Mihai

Aly and Haegen

Lucian... a man of leisure

EC has drones filming the whole time

Lucian is a vampire... and Leon has sweet blood

Elevated surfaces

Gaby the red horned fiend

Electric Castle, main stage

We didn't get back to the hotel until 2:45 AM maybe? This was early compared to how late our friends stayed there. Oh! The bus ride back, almost forgot. Aly and I sat next to each other and Haegen was in across from us. This guy and his girlfriend had to split up and the girl sat next to Haegen. It was really funny, Haegen was being nice and started a conversation. After both of them stated they were dating someone, they talked the whole way. Aly and I were trying to make fun of him the whole time, but Haegen was just learning new Hungarian (the girl was either Hungarian or fluent in it) phrases to tell us to “buzz off” (filtered version). We laughed pretty hard and loudly the whole ride, but as Americans we are already expected to be the loudest in the crowd, so why disappoint? Add an Egyptian to the mix, nothing changes. Still loud, just 5 instead of 4.

The next morning we went to eat at a Chinese restaurant. We were met by Mircea and Irina, who stayed in Clulj for the weekend. Also, Aly and Alexandra met us there. (Aly stayed in a different hotel and Alexandra stayed with a friend in Cluj.) I know, a Chinese restaurant in Cluj, Romania. But, it was pretty good. And the portions were just the right size. I spent about 10 USD for a good meal and a lot of it. That includes a coffee and a water J. Surprisingly, Leon got less looks at the Chinese restaurant than anywhere we have been thus far. From the restaurant, we went on to a “museum” that displays traditional Roman culture. I say “museum” because it was outdoors and like an old, re-furbished village. I don’t like museums, but I liked this because it was outdoors:

Tower of some sorts

Haegs

House

Oh, is that a camera, I'll just stand here in the wind

Irina, ear to ear

Mircea takes more pictures than me

Authentic Romanian grounds.... almost

Mircea and I

Mircea likes this one for some reason....weirdo

Alexandra and Valerie

Haegs, Aly, and Leon

Afterwards, we went to a large cathedral in the city. It probably has an important name, but I forgot. We saw the city square and pigeons and statues and restaurants. Typical city except the building are much different. And not just different than America, but each building is different from the one before it. Architectural diversity, it was cool. The only recognizable eating places for an American would be KFC, McDonald's, and Starbucks. Maybe more, but that’s all I remember hearing as familiar. We went to a different place, called Marty’s. Stef and Nana joined us at Marty's since they were in Cluj already. Always a joy to see them. Marty's has THE BEST LEMONADE IN THE WORLD!!! These are the words of Mircea Bumbu and it shall be written as such on his tombstone. It was good lemonade, even though I indulged in a banana shake and an omelet instead. I thought I drank a lot a fluids by the way, yeah, well now I have a friend from Cairo and that boy likes to be hydrated. Aly initially ordered a liter of lemonade compared to everyone else’s initial half liter. The events that followed involved a sigh of relief and a urinal.

Leon and a cathedral

Outside shot from town square

Aly want you! (also, an amazingly photogenic 4 year old) 

Far off shot

These 2 were a joy to watch playfully fighting

Oh, and she knows Kung-Fu

Cute pigeons... right?

Serious Men

Apparently bunny ears are back in style

Soon after we headed home (back to Zalau that is). Haegen rode with Aly, and Leon, Valerie and I took our car back. We were greeted comfortably by our beds. I was little sad the weekend was over, because it was very fun, but also enjoyed getting to lie back in bed and read a little.

Random Facts:

1. Haegen found another tag on Leon’s clothing this week. This is the second one we have spotted since departure from Houston 2.5 weeks ago. Somebody went shopping before the tripJ.

2. Everyone at the Chinese restaurant asked for chopsticks….except Leon.

3. Driving, though still adjusting a little to, I feel pretty comfortable with. Thanks to my grandpa for making me drive through the Appalachians to DC and back when I was just 14 as my intro to driving. Also thanks to my dad for making sure I know where all my blind-spots are when driving. There might be a couple gypsies not here today if I wasn’t ready for them to plunge out from behind a wagon or pole.

4. Florin (in Quality) showed me how to make life much easier in Microsoft Excel today. I told him later I could kiss him I was so happy. This expression apparently isn’t common here. In a hesitant and surprised manner, his exact response: “Don’t do it, why?...”

Sunt obosit. Noapte buna y'all.