Friday, August 1, 2014

La Revedere

Howdy,

This is a short blog with a few updates and goodbyes in it. So to lighten the mood, let's show a picture of Mircea being a dork:

Mircea in Haegen's cowboy boots


The past couple weeks have been very busy, and continue to be. We all finished our projects, gave our presentations, and have had our exit interviews at work. All of our presentations went well, from my perspective. All 4 of us have gained a lot of knowledge and experience this summer working for Tenaris in Romania.

Now, we are about to embark on our journey through Europe. It is bitter sweet. We have made some lifelong friends here in Romania. I can’t really express how much they mean to us in a blog post, and even the hugs and goodbyes we have traded and will trade in the next 12 hours, they won’t feel like enough when we leave. For 2 months we have become close friends, but I will miss them beyond another 2 months. This experience was amazing on many accounts. The experience would have been nothing without our friends. All the adventures we had, whether in a different city, in the office, or around Zalau: they were all worthwhile. Playing pool, going to the town’s only credible pub, eating bad fast food, laughing in the canteen, going to Kaufland, learning to drive a manual, playing tennis and basketball, watching movies, going out for a beer, discovering Budapest, Tibi’s Cabin, Brasov, Sibiu, Sinaia, Cluj, BBQs, Saladina, Giorgios. All of their worth was because of the people we shared those times with, our friends. When I think of Romania, it’s not the food or scenery that comes to mind. Romania to me is Mircea Stef Irina Nana Alex Alin Alexandra Lucian Zoli Mihai Vlad Gaby Sorin Morent Tibi Victor Florin Cristina Gabriela Liviu Georgiana Dana Lucia Danny Florin Daniel Maria and more. I will miss them all in different ways, and have said or will be saying my goodbyes accordingly to each. The others would have the same definition as me, just maybe a few interchanged names here and there. Regardless, we will miss you all.

Okay, because I need to pack so I can say some proper goodbyes later tonight, I will make the rest of this post brief. A few things that have happened in the past week, and a couple pictures so our families back home know we are still alive.

1. We got new interns! Romania’s summer vacation for college (university) begins much later than ours, so they just got here. We all hit it off pretty fast and became friends. I wish they would have been here longer so we could have become closer, but we are still glad to have met them at all:

A few of us at lunch


2. Leon, Haegen, and Aly went skydiving! Yes, they are okay (physically at least). They have videos and pictures, but I will have to upload those at a later time.

3. We went to Tibi and Gabriela’s cabin about an hour away from Zalau. It was an incredibly relaxing weekend. Tibi, Gabi, and Pati (their daughter of 23 whom just interned in the US) hosted us as well as Tibi’s brother Sorin, his wife Luminata, and their kids, Razvan (20) and Gabi (younger). It was a great weekend filled with food, beer, football, a brief hike/drive to a damned lake, and Mel Gibson (we watched Braveheart):

Howdy Y'all (Tibi)

Hike (Haegen, Valerie, Leon, Pati, Aly)

Razvan catching some rays

Val, Pati, Haegen, Aly, myself, Leon, Razvan

Damned Lake

Leon, Haegen, and Aly.... so artsy


4. Leon and I went to play basketball with Razvan (also Stef and Mircea came). We lost the first pickup game, but then we picked up our game and won a few in a row. It was nice time, and we made some new friends:

Pass to Leon, we got mad chemistry in this country


5. We are embarking for Europe tomorrow. It’s a little intimidating. I figured us Americans would get along from the first couple times we met, but now we have gotten to know each other and understand one another. We have become good friends as well, and, always have a good time when we are together. That being said, Europe is going to be a blast.

To close:


I will not blog again soon, because I will be enjoying my time in Europe and soaking in as much as possible. Once back in the states, I will put everything together and share it. But, that will be sometime in September. Oh, and one more thing to mention. Though, not a part of “Romania”, this guy whom we have met here, we will also miss beyond words or expressions. He has been with us from the start, and though he considers himself a grandpa sometimes, he is all too young in spirit. I consider him a brother, and we will miss him like one, this goober:

Aly


La revedere Romania.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Billiards & Cinemas

Howdy,

This blog will be a brief one. In the blog: our weekday excursions (still in Zalau), our weekend trip to Cluj-Napoca, an exert by Valerie, and some random facts.

Last Thursday:

A few of our friends were heading to Argentina the next morning for a month, so Thursday night would be the last night we would see them.....maybe ever in Alexandra's case. (Just giving her a hard time.) Before we went to Diesel (the pub where we would meet everyone), we went to a pool hall behind some buildings with Alex (Haegen's unofficial buddy). He is pretty good at pool, and taught those of us novice players a thing or two about the game (all of us):

Alex the Teacher

He taught us pool. I've played before, but I seriously got 5 times better that night just by a little instruction by Alex. After that we went to Diesel and hung out with the majority of our friends before 4 of them headed out to Argentina the next morning. They made it safely by the way. Our 4 friends interning in Argentina for Tenaris met them at some point on the other side. We told our American friends to give the Romanians a hard time, so I hope they live up to it.

Later that night, Leon got pulled over. Leon had nothing to drink, as he had just come to pick us up. (Leon was on Skype his parents while we stayed at Diesel.) He got breathalyzed and everything. The cops were pulling everyone over since it was almost 2:00 AM in a small town next to the only pub in town. But, after Leon failed to even use the breathalyzer correctly for a successful 5 minutes, the language barrier allowed us to slide by the cops and return to our hotel.

Weekend:

Over the weekend, we went to Cluj! Not as glamorous of a weekend, but we did go to the mall. We saw two movies. 7 of us went: Aly, Leon, Haegen, Valerie, Stef, myself, and Mircea (who met us in Cluj). We saw the movie 22 Jump Street all together. (Romanian subtitles) Then we all split up into smaller groups for other movies. Anyways, here are some pictures from the mall excursion. A couple fun things happen before that. My car (Aly, myself, Mircea, and Stef) arrived first and we ate McDonald's like it was our last meal on earth. We also found a photo booth for couples. Naturally, all 4 of us piled in it. The other group (Haegen, Valerie, and Leon) had to make some minor "adjustments" to the rental car:

Car "Adjustments"

Mircea being lazy before the movie

Photo Boot for 4


The next day (Sunday) Aly and I went out for breakfast in the town square. Mircea and Stef had slept at Mircea's brother's house, who lives in Cluj. They met us for breakfast a little while later. Then, we met with the others at a botanical garden. It was pretty. At one point, there were some Japanese looking structures, and we let Leon lead the group in a single file line while all of our hands were behind our backs and heads held high. It looked very official. Or not. We didn't really care. There was a large tower (5 stories maybe) and we climbed it to get a better view of the garden. The, we all went out to eat at a sushi place. It was good, real good, expensive too. Pictures:

Our best attempt at a prom pose (Stef & Leon, Josiah & Haegen)

Aly and I for breakfast in the square

Valerie, Aly, Stef, and Haegen in the garden

Leon and Valerie at the sushi place

Since the weekend, we have been vigorously planning our trip to most of Europe. We have also been pushing forward toward the end of our projects at work, since we only have 2 weeks left now. A fun surprise was seeing Amalia! Amalia is from the Galleria branch of Tenaris in Houston, Texas. She is originally from Romania and sat with us in Houston before we left. We sent her with a gift back for our HR reps in Houston, Ashley and Laura. The contents will remain anonymous.

Now, an exert from Valerie:
=========

    The day after we arrived from Budapest I went over to Iulia and Ema’s again. I suggested we make bizcochos (aka Mexican wedding cookies) and watch a movie. At Kaufland we tried to find anise (essential ingredient in biszcochos), but apparently its really expensive and impossible to find here. When it was clear we weren’t going to find it I decided to make chocolate chip cookies instead because they are usually so simple and classically American. The process didn’t turn out much better.

  1.       Packed brown sugar and vanilla extract aren’t things here. For brown sugar we substituted the huge granulated kind for coffee, and for vanilla extract we subbed vanilla “essence”. It doesn’t really smell like vanilla at all and its clear.
  2.       We had to convert the recipe from imperial units to metric units, then English to Romanian.
  3.       There was a little bit of confusion with baking soda and baking powder. They use them interchangeably so even though the recipe called for baking soda, I’m not sure which was actually added in the end.
  4.       They don’t have measuring cups. Instead, they pulled out a recipe book where scrawled in the back it had how many spoonfuls equal a certain number of grams.
  5.       When it came to adding vanilla, we had a 25mL bottle and supposedly needed 15 mL (a HUGE amount for the size batch we were making) for the recipe. Iulia’s mom eyeballed it and added half the bottle.
  6.       I asked if we could set the oven to 175 degrees Celcius. It turns out their oven doesn’t have temperature control, it is basically an enclosed stove top burner. We set it on medium.

I’m the kind of person who follows recipes to the letter, so by this point I was trying to conceal my heart palpitations and shallow breathing. Ruxie (15, George’s sister) blended the sugar and butter, Ema measured the flour and baking soda, and George delegated everything as he read the directions out loud.


   
   When we finished mixing everything, we had cake batter. I tried to explain to them that cake batter and cookie dough should be completely different, but they had never made cookies before so they didn’t understand what I was talking about. In the end we added more flour to thicken it up and hoped for the best. After playing telephone with the recipe I shouldn’t have been surprised when our chocolate chip “cookies” emerged from the oven as chocolate chip bread. It was like an entire batch of chocolate chip muffin tops. Fortunately, none of them had ever tried chocolate chip cookies (except for Cookie Crisps cereal) so they didn’t know how wrong our cookies were and everyone was very proud of them. Afterward we had pasta for dinner and settled in for a movie and sleep. 



    The next day I woke up bright and early so I would have time to walk to work. It didn’t seem far but a 1.5 mile walk first thing in the morning seems so much longer with a heavy backpack and  poorly ventilated work clothes in 90 degree weather. Later in the week I took Leon back to their house so we could use Iulia’s sewing machine to have our workpants hemmed.


=========

Now, some random things:

1. 
Stef and Mircea are great car buddies......
2.
Mircea is a cheeseball
3. 
Stef appears wise at lunch tables
4. 
Stef..... I see you
5. Stef has impeccable running form.

6. It stormed hard one day. It was a great day to read.

Until next time, la revedere.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Entourage

Howdy,

ENTOURAGE

Well, the ride to Budapest was great. The first leg of the trip to the border was rough., the roads I mean. The roads were rough. It wasn't bad during the day, but on the way back at night it would prove to be more difficult to stay on the winding, bumpy roads. We made it through the border (barely). The American passports are easy access, but Aly, the Egyptian with a French Schengen Visa, they took a little longer to process him. Anyways, the highway came next, and it was smooth and free of police. We went about 200 km/h for a large portion of the trip. For the Americans, that’s about 125 mph.  We were in 2 cars, and the 7 of us this weekend included the Leon, Valerie, Haegen, Aly, Irina, Mircea, and myself. There were cows at some point:

awwwwwww
Vaca
Vaca Grasa


We arrived in Budapest around nightfall and had to wait outside of the Apartment we rented for a little bit, not knowing that the guy owning it was sitting upstairs waiting for us. While we waited, Mircea whipped out his guitar. Yes, he plays guitar ladies. Get in line:

Mircea...


We seriously considered acting like we didn't know him and start dropping money in his hat and see if other people would too. We got one person to stop and listen to him! But, that was it. Anyways, the guy who owns the apartment was really cool and spoke pretty good English, which is always reassuring. We made our way out to the city to walk around a bit. It is very pretty. We made our way past a couple fountains and saw a bridge that was well lit:

One of many bridges

We made our way back to the apartment. Everyone found their way to a pillow, at some point in the night. We woke up the next morning and got ready to go caving! Scrounging for breakfast was a challenge, but Burger King never lets me down. Valerie and I ran across Burger King on the way back from our trip to the bank to withdrawal money. So, we all piled into cars after that, and made our way to the caving adventure!
Now, we weren't walking like in Carlsbad Caverns, but we also weren't lowering ourselves with ropes. This was more of a “how claustrophobic are you?” kind of cave. The cave attire was dirty, warm, and full body. We had helmets with lights attached as well. Joining us were 4 Aussies, 2 couples. Jake & Sam and Murray and Beck. I would expect no other names when I heard their Australian accents. They all were in Budapest to train for a kayaking competition. They were all super fit, as well. Jake is a plumber, Murray is an architect, and both the ladies are teachers. The things you learn about people when stuck in small caverns… It was a super ‘red ass’ tour by the way. At one point, we had to sing a song before the tour guide would let us go any further, in the dark. So, the Aussies backed out and said they couldn't sing. Naturally, the Aggies pulled together and sang the Aggie War Hymn. I suppose it counts as singing. Oh, and our tour guide’s name was Aggie:

Haegen
Cave selfie
The gang (Aussies took the pic)
Me stabbing Leon with a pointy rock we found
Aly's favorite moment of the cave, the end


There was one portion of the tour we had to keep our lights off for about 20-30 minutes. It was not to keep the peace of the cave, but to keep us calm. The spot we squeezed through in the dark was so small that most people freak out if they are looking at it. J

Next we split up. Irina, Mircea, and I went to see the Parliament building while the others went to quickly change at the apartment for a tour we were meeting up for at 3. Parliament and more:

Myself
Mircea, keep your tongue in your mouth, te rog
Walkway
Some street
Metal shoes
Parliament
Statue
Parliament
Shoes for days
Parliament
Statues


So, Irina, Mircea and I made it to the tour in time, but the others showed up just after the tour had left. Luckily, we waited back at the meeting location and joined them. So, we all went to see more of the town instead. (I preferred this option anyways.) We headed to the palace, on top of a minor hill:

Palace
Atop the palace hill
The alternate to walking
'Murica
Aly and the classy girl journaling under the statue
Budapest
Bridges
Haegen
Gang
Haegen giving the belly a rub
Husky in Hungary
Wedding!!
Haegen taught Irina how to sorority squat
Haegs
Irina and Valerie

Then we stumbled across a Catholic Chapel that was getting ready for Saturday night mass. We didn't want to pay to go in though, as it required us to. But, when the elder at the front saw we were turned away by the price of admission, he waved us in, free of charge. So, we went in and saw the chapel and the preparation for mass:

Before mass
Candles
Articulate

From there, we had a pub tour starting at 8. Aly, Mircea, Irina, and myself were very tired though. The 4 of us decided to head back to the apartment and meet up with the others later during the tour. We needed to relax a bit and wash off and change. We got back to the apartment by taxi, and then realized we had left the keys with Leon. So… Mircea and Irina went to meet the others and grab the keys, while Aly and I sat upstairs on the inner balcony by the apartment. I scouted for potential ways to get in the bathroom window on the side of the building, and Aly knocked on a neighbors door to see if anyone had a spare. We checked all the windows, but no luck. When hope had almost vanished, Aly applied pressure on the door near the lock with his hand. He increased his force gradually until the door just opened with ease. Nothing was broken or damaged. A MIRACLE!! (The lock actually required 2 full turns to be all the way locked. Instead, we had only locked it once, so partially locked.) As Mircea and Irina took close to an hour to return from their initial departure, Aly and I refreshed ourselves and lied down for a bit.

After a rest, Aly and I decided to head out to join the others. Mircea and Irina were still tired, reasonably so, so they rested a bit more. Aly and I headed to this pub that is supposed to be one of the best in the world. We entered, and it was interesting to say the least. A good interesting though. There was an upstairs with open balconies, and everywhere is was modeled like the 50’s almost, but 70’s lighting. There was an old car in which you could sit and socialize. The name of the pub was Szimpla kert. The others still had a little bit before they arrived, so after we scouted out the place, we went upstairs where many were watching the game. That night it was Costa Rica vs Netherlands. Netherlands won, just in case you were wondering. But, better than that, we sat next to a lovely couple. They were Americans! Matt and Jenny. Matt is in the Air-force, and they air stationed in Germany. We were just talking and Matt went to the restroom, and he came back with beers for us all. Did we pick the right people to sit by or what! My favorite part was that at some point Matt and I talked about American football for a solid 20 minutes. He went to Nebraska, and he doesn't like Aggies. Hopefully his opinion changed ever so slightly by the end of our talk.

After the game, or close to the end, Aly and I went down to find the others. I met another guy downstairs from Virginia. He told me there was an Asian girl in the pub from Texas!  But, I wasn't about to go ask every Asian girl in the pub if she was from Texas, so I left it alone. What we found was even better, when we found the others that is. The others were accompanied by a group they had started the pubbing tour. The group included some awesome people, all around. 2 Englishmen (Jack & Liam), 1 Singaporean (Bjorn), 1 Brazilian (Evelyn), 1 Irishman (Ian), and a German couple named Greta and Vilhelm (except, Greta is Mexican and Vilhelm is Argentinian). This group was seriously my favorite part of Budapest. Ian and I talked a while at the pub. He just got out of Electrical Engineering at his university and has a girlfriend back in Ireland. Jack and Liam were two down to earth English guys who just wanted to have a good time. I joked with Jack excessively loud in the streets between venues the rest of the night. He taught me some British words I would have otherwise never have known. Bjorn and Evelyn had actually met once before in Madrid, but just happened to see each other again in Budapest. Both were fun individuals. Greta and Vilhelm were a little older than the rest of us, but not too much. They were very cool and sweet, and left a little earlier than the rest of us. After the first pub, the group went to a club, which we stayed and danced at for a bit. Valerie even accompanied me in a dance. We two-stepped to a techno song. It was grand. Once we got everyone together, we left and tried to go to another place, but the Belgians in town were crowding the line for their celebration. We decided to go to subway instead. It was past 2:00 AM for sure, but no telling what the actual time was. We all departed after a few more laughs, and exchanged some contact information. The group is pictured as below (taken before Aly and I arrived):

L to R: Evelyn, Haegen, Liam, Leon, Bjorn, Jack, Ian, ??, Valerie, Greta, Vilhelm

Sleep was nice. The next morning, we all awoke and got ready. We headed to this farmers market that was difficult to find. We were standing next to the pub from the night before, which is right next to where Google maps said it was, but still no market. Until we went in the pub… They had transformed it from just a few hours before. The magnificent pub from the night before, was now filled with locals selling jams, cheeses, meats, breakfast bagels, breads, fruits, a variety of things. We gathered each of our own breakfasts and stumbled upstairs to avoid the rush of the market. It was a lovely breakfast:

Valerie in a bathtub
Texas in a bathtub
Haegen and his bagel
Aly and I
Texans


After breakfast we split into the groups from yesterday. Leon, Aly, Valerie, and Haegen went to some thermal baths in the middle of the park and Mircea, Irina, and I went to go see some more of the city. It turned out great, because everyone got to do what they wanted, and enjoyed it. My group went to the highest hill in Budapest, which has a statue of a lady holding a feather (I don’t know why). It overlooks the entire city. When we were atop the hill, I met a Korean girl who was there by herself. Very sweet, but our conversation was short lived because my colleagues wanted to continue on down the hill. It was a pretty walk both up, and down the hill:

Me and Irina and Budapest
Small stream near base of hill
Local Art
Top of the hill


We walked, a lot. All the way to the central park, which was down the hill, across the bridge, and a few more kilometers to central park. But, the city was worth walking through. We even went to the main train station in town. Mostly, it was made of glass:

Side Street
Mircea refreshing
Train station


Now, to tell of the adventures the others had at the pool, Haegen has written an insert:

=====
The baths

                As Josiah and the rest of the try-hard crew began the six hour tour of Budapest, the smart interns decided to immerse themselves in one of Hungary’s oldest traditions; the Szchenyi  thermal baths. After two days of long hikes, long nights, and no sleep, the crew of Aly, Valerie, Leon and myself decided it was time to treat ourselves to a little luxury and what better than these naturally heated thermal baths. To start, the bath house itself is absolutely gorgeous. With its old world architecture and modern amenities, even from outside the anticipation was mounting .  Once inside the first step was to get in the hot tubs to soaks our aching joints and broken bodies; the only problem was deciding on which tub to soak in. Tub hopping commenced and was only broken up by the occasional sauna/steam room pit stop. That was until we discovered the ice baths. I’m still not sure if it was meant to jumpstart the heart or stop it completely but what I do know is I felt much more alive afterwards. After the fun of pool hopping subsided, Pharaoh Shash…err… Aly opted to get a massage in the palace room (it’s actually just the upstairs VIP room but palace is a better description). Food and an hour nap followed in the warm sun until we awoke to a meet a very tired Josiah and friends. I think I speak for all of the crew when I say that was one of the best decisions we have made on our trip and I would do it again in a heartbeat.




=====

After we rejoined, we went out to dinner in the city. All you can eat buffet! Glorious. Then, we got in the cars, and headed back to the border, and then back to Zalau. We got home at 2:00 AM.

Random Facts/Comments:

1. Everyone here in Romania expected the Americans to be fat. They were surprised all of us were in shape. “At least one of you was going to be fat, c'mon..”

2. Our British friend Jack, his last name is Appleyard…. Yup, Appleyard.

3. I Skype’d a couple of my good friends this week. Payden who is in Florida right now and Bob who is in Spain. Good conversations on both ends. Payden described something in yards instead of meters, and it legitimately through me off for a second. Bob and I related all the new European things we now know.

4. Work is picking up, but I’m learning a ton. We only have 3.5 weeks left. Scary.

5. I Skype’d my parents at their breakfast table today. Mircea joined me halfway and met them. He’s a goober who couldn't stop smiling.

6. I received a picture from my good friend Carly Rose King on Sunday evening showing me her and her boyfriend Kaleb just got engaged. Whoop!

7. I (lastly) Skype’d Tiffany Doan this week, who was with Shannon Gaden and Leon Coe and in the car in front of them was the Jack Harper. As I was talking to them, Shannon ran the phone to the car ahead of them (at a red light of course) and showed me jack for about 10 seconds. Good seeing you bro.

8. We will stop at 7.

Before it's over, check this guy out.


Until next time. Ciao.