by I’ve finally got internet access in my apartment, but it isn’t wireless and the cable has a habit of detaching itself. Better than nothing though. I assumed I’d get wi-fi installed but there are two things I’ve learnt about living in Romania: don’t assume anything and never trust anybody. Connecting to a wireless router in this apartment is beyond my un-techno-savvy brain for now because I haven’t got a modem; instead I’ve got a cable that comes through the wall, presumably one of dozens of cables that split off from some master modem somewhere.
It’s a good job I’m able to stay in Romania for five years (should I even trust or assume that, even though that’s what the piece of paper says?) because I might need that long to sort myself out. This apartment is comfortable, but I still have a long list of items I need, and it’s not that easy to find them. On Tuesday I tried to find a smoke alarm, somewhere, anywhere. Near the big mall there’s a large hardware store called Praktiker. I asked someone there if they had any smoke alarms. I didn’t fully understand his reply, which ended in a weird guttural sound. Hang on, are you speaking Romanian or Klingon? Could you repeat that? Yep, that’s definitely Klingon. They didn’t have any smoke alarms in stock, but they had no end of burglar alarms and movement sensors. You can see where their priorities lie.
Perhaps it wasn’t such a bad thing being stopped by the police when I put those notices up. I’ve had so many phone calls and oh so many complete time-wasters. I only have one regular student now, and I gave him a lesson on Wednesday night (at home, which was nice). He didn’t seem all that interested in the list of “false friends” I’d spent hours preparing (these are English words that look similar to Romanian ones but mean something different). In fact he didn’t want to talk much at all. I asked him what he did for Christmas but it was like getting blood out of a stone. But I can’t really complain: he showed up, and in Romania, and in this weather, that’s something.
It has been cold, even by Romanian standards. The weather has been the top story on the national news and at one point they interrupted the programme I was watching to allow the new prime minister to speak on the matter. (Yes, we have a new prime minister, and he comes from this part of the country.) Every morning this week it’s been minus 10 or colder when I’ve woken up, and it hasn’t got a whole lot warmer during the day. We had another fall of chunky snow yesterday. But my apartment stays warm, and given the choice between the freezing weather and attending pointless team meetings, I’ll take the minus 10 any day. I just have to be patient.
I’ve enjoyed playing Words with Friends with my cousin, for the chat as much as anything. I’m now leading 9-5. I definitely had the rub of the green in the last two games. In the penultimate game I scored well on just about every turn and posted easily my biggest total yet, winning 540-398. In the second half of that game, when I was really just trying to maximise my own score, I played two bingos for a combined 130-odd, but in doing so I opened up the board allowing my cousin to score 150 or so on her two subsequent turns without the aid of any bingos. I thought that was interesting; bingos aren’t as important in WWF as they are in Scrabble. In our last game I again drew well, grabbing I think eight of the eleven power tiles including both blanks, and putting down two bingos once more. If anything my cousin outplayed me as I won 430 to 385.
On Sunday I should get some more medication, but there’s no guarantee, and I’ve absolutely no idea how much it will cost me. Then later that day my tennis partner and his girlfriend will be coming over for dinner, hopefully, maybe.
