the trip: the post: the arrival

holy guacamole - day one started at oh-dark-thirty in the morning with a drive to sea-tac. we got a late start due to teddy's refusing to poop and some forgotten boots. so we didn't get to stop for breakfast as planned. mcdonalds had to suffice, and i have never been less impressed with a mickey d's than the one in tacoma. blech service, blech for messing up orders and blech for lack of cleanliness or organization... overall not such a nice time. also, my beverage came sans sugar, which i did not realize until we had driven away. so i got to the airport only vaguely gruntled. then we met up with jackie and began the epic journey - nine hours to amsterdam, getting jackie to her plane, then meeting up with colleen, then getting to our plane and meeting the "rest" of the gang (dan/andrea/jen/randy) from san jose. then the 3 and some change hour plane ride to bucharest. i made barf bag puppets, but the small child sitting next to me was not at all entertained. oh well. i was pleasantly surprised at the caliber (and quantity) of food klm provided us along the way. during the layover in amsterdam, i met a guy named ronald (you may have heard of him - he represents a very large worldwide fast food chain). there were several representations of ron around the airport, and we met several times, most of them amicably. at one point ron got a bit fresh and i had to have a serious talk with him afterwards (photos to follow).
so, we made it to bucharest and met back up with jackie, who had connected with cristina, lonnie, taryn, and new jersey (maria, danielle, and laura). we passed around a bunch of beleagured hellos and pleasdameetchas - i didn't know this yet, but that whole group was comprised of awesome people! team romania, take one: lights, camera, action!
we got local funds from atms (currency in romania is composed of lei and bani, and yes, there were all kinds of fun references made throughout the trip regarding how many lei people had gotten from whom in romania.) then we met our driver, aurash, and clambered onto the bus. then we discovered that aurash likes techno music. loud techno music. very loud, nonstop, swerving madly about on romanian highways at night techno music. eventually we made it to our hotel, the casa cu tei, where we checked in, plopped our bags down in our rooms, and meandered downstairs for dinner. that part perked people up a bit. cristina, our romanian liason, had arranged with hotel staff for the booze to flow freely, including tsuica - basically romanian moonshine, sweetened with honey and flavored with walnuts. in addition to large quantities of alcohol, we were plied with large quantities of meat, potatoes, rice, potatoes, mushrooms, cabbage, probably some more potatoes... once the staff became aware that there were four vegetarians in our group, they added cheeses and more mushrooms. everything was wonderfully warm and filling and rich and om nom nom nom. i pretty much ate myself to sleep.
the next morning started early (hooray for time differences!). mine at about 3:30. colleen was already up watching movies, and we found some apples and cookies to munch on. at about 4:30 randy joined the party too. after a couple of movies and some channel surfing, we all went and got ready for our day. after a filling eggs/cheese/meats if you want 'em and toast with homemade jams breakfast, most of the group went on a walk or two during the morning - exploring the general vicinity of our hotel. we stayed in a small resort village whose claim to fame was a mineral spring and some roman ruins. so we tried the mineral water (ick!). and looked at the ruin. and then looked at an orthodox ministerial school (absolutely gorgeous grounds, with stone carvings and fall leaves...). then i was documented trying to break into what turned out to be a mausoleum (hey, i don't read romanian). thank goodness the door was locked. the grounds, again, were just gorgeous. also, there were cows on the side of the road, and several stray dogs including a one-eyed beagle and a polydactyl shepherd mix who begged for food, then begged for petting, then followed us along the road. the beagle followed some of the team all the way back to the hotel. enter filip, the resident st. bernard who basically owns the hotel and sleeps on the lobby couch. turns out he's not a fan of one-eyed beagles in his territory, especially when they try to defend random black-and-white dogs he tries to attack first. yeah, that little beagle stood up to the bernard, and even started their brief skirmish. thank goodness there were several practiced animal handlers and vets around. they got filip away and treated "el presidente"s bite wound, then sent him on his way. mid-day was spent with our "dear leader" and the mayor trying to decide where to hold our actual clinics, as the previously planned location had fallen through at the last minute.
after all that was settled, aurash took us into the city of buzau for some exploration/shopping. we got some postcards and i got my first taste of cappy juice (cappy became a recurring theme during my visit - super yummy juice in a variety of flavors...). we noted that the majority of shopping in buzau concerned boots and jeans, although there was also a street vendor selling chainsaws. that was pretty awesome. (side note: it was generally agreed that over the course of the trip, we devalued the word "awesome" to the point that someone saying "that's awesome" became the equivalent of saying "oh" or "huh".)
on the bus ride back from buzau, aurash treated us to traditional romanian accordian-style music, instead of techno. we were grateful, for about eighteen seconds. the ride home lasted much longer than that, and as we bounced around crazily, someone commented that, had we been shown fast-forwarded, or had we all been cartoon villains bouncing along, the music would have been appropriate. after we got back to the hotel, we were supplied with much more awesome food in the hotel restaurant.
the hotel's main floor consisted of a restaurant with country-style decor. the upper floors (with wooden, adventurously-placed stairs) were bedrooms. the rooms were well-heated, but since we couldn't figure out how to change that, most people slept with our windows open. the hotel itself was obviously old, with creaking wooden floors, quirky nooks, and the varying-sized stairs. it was pretty darn clean and well-kept for all of that, and the staff were very accomodating - even letting us use their computer to check emails once in a while!
and that, ladies'n'gents, brings me to the first morning of surgeries, which i'll attempt later.