running back and forth screwing things up :)

back home.

ive screwed up things with talent but now im trying to use the same talent to fix things. it has been a stressful few days. however i should get back on track and to Cuba.

coming home so fast id say was thanks to my effective work, but yet it would not have been possible without the friendly romanians, the finnish embassy, Mark and Arttu.

i arrived home last night. this morning i applied for a new passport, it'll be ready at 3pm. Cuban embassy is closed tomorrow, but on friday i should be able to get a new visitor visa straight away to match my new passport. since they promised that, i got myself a flight to Warszawa, only get to be there a few hours, but at least i can then fly to Paris with F in the evening as planned. so i will really be back on the original plan.

all the stress waa tough, and i did feel lonely at times, the uncertainty of what and when sucked, it was hard to enjoy things to the fullest, but yet i did manage to have a good time. we could not go to Transylvania as planned, and i couldnt even go to the Bucharest morgue with Mark, and thats something id been waiting for 2 yrs... at the moment i was waiting for a call from the embassy to pick up my new passport, and i knew that after the call i would have to start arranging the flight and might be in a hurry. i did the right thing, i was called while Mark was there. but ill go back some day, Romania impressed me, the friendliness and warmth of people will stay with me for a while. and Transylvania...well, when i woke up 6am in the train (Budapest-Bucharest) and saw the Carpathian mountains and dark, old woods from the windows i had cold shivers going through my body. it was just like in movies (Bram Stoker's Dracula anyone?). im not a dracula etc. fan, but the scenery was impressive and scary as hell just on its own. i need to go take a closer look.

Budapest, well we only stayed there a day. it was okay, average... pretty, yes, but... dunno. might need more time to discover the city's full potential.

Bucharest was worn out and old and but pretty. the 'Ceausescu-style' architecture, which you are not supposed to say anything good about because he was a bad guy, was impressive. they have a lot of traffic so the extra-wide streets do seem practical...

the Transylvanian Society of Dracula annual meeting started on friday but that was unfortunately one of the worst days of my life, without any exaggaration. sleep deprivation and god knows what got to me and my anxiousness reached new limits, im surpised a vein didnt pop in my head when i shivered in the chair out of tensity. i was just listening to the speeches and... dunno, just thinking about it now makes my heart beat faster. i eventually excused myself and left to the hotel and did not go back for the rest of the symposium.

on saturday we (Mark and another german girl, Kathrin, that we met at the symposium) went out in pubs and bars. during the day there was a gay parade, which we wanted to check out as romanians were told to be very intolerant towards homosexuality. never seen that many police in my life, especially SWAT, all over the city, hundreds, and dogs and policemen on horses... we were oh geez... but eventually it turned out they were PROTECTING the parade from the intolerants. there was only about 200 people parading through the main street, and they were not dressed up much, but indeed some of the crowd was hateful... the police and especially SWAT formed a protective wall on both sides of the street and moved with the parade, and there was also huge police trucks, i guess for a big time blockade...

anyway yea in the evening... we heard theres a gay club and decided to check it out because of the parade. they did not open until 11pm and we were the first customers in, literally and specifically. that was odd. an empty disco. waiting for the place to open, it was in a side street with no signs or anything, secret doorway) we went to buy alcohol and sat on the sidewalk drinking. that was interesting... how did i get here? in the middle of the night, in a dark alley, drinking cheap wine and vodka with 2 germans? anyway, by the time the gay club had like 30 people (...) we felt like moving on. i actually asked someone and it really was the biggest and 'bestest' gay bar in the city, there were 2 altogether.

my passport then. i lost it either the gay club or the strip club...or in the taxi in between. and how did i possibly manage to do that? well without going into detail i can say the stupidity was overwhelming.

the strip club, which Mark advertized as the trashiest one hes ever seen (! :D), was small and underground... and trashy as promised! 3 girls working that evening. normally women are not allowed and you have to bribe to even try get females in but that night they seemed to like our party and we were i guess treated like special guests. the pole dancing was inspiring and when the stage was empty i threw my sandals away and ...off i went. i did ask permission altho i dont remember that, but im always polite, even when drunk. i just remember having a blast, and quite honestly i am certain i have natural skill for pole dancing. Kathrin said that one of the strippers told she liked my dancing :) anyway those photos will never be published. i did not strip though, thatd be over the line at this situation in my life. eventually we were planning for me to get a lapdance, but when in the private booth my female side did not feel right about it. i know for a fact that she was personally paid well for that hour, but even then its probably not her favorite job ever and i didnt want her to give that much of herself... well maybe it was just in her head. but in the first place we agreed of photos and those i took. no face naturally, not just for her, she did not care, but the club owners. she was a nice girl. and for once im regretting i was so drunk cos i cannot remember all the things we discussed. the sparkling wine we had went straight to my head, and the club had just given me a triple amaretto on top of all.

we ended up in the hotel eventually, and in the morning my good mood was soon broken to pieces when i could not find my passport.

the finnish consulate told me to get a police report and THEN i could go to the embassy on monday and apply for a new passport. except because id already lost all other ID it would take extra long to identify me.

i did first try go back to the club, but it was closed etc. so off to the police station. there was a nice policeman that explained me that the law requires for the report to be done in romanian. so either you speak/write romanian, OR get an authorized translator. from the embassy for example. i was pretty stressed and felt like every hour could count... i mean getting a translator from the embassy...? who knows... so i asked what the report has to be like and promised to come back later when i have learned myself romanian. i dont think he believed me. a few hours later...me speaks romanian. i always say i am not good in languages, but u know what, i am, so fuck everyone. i can learn romanian if i want to. fast. clearly it was just a whole bunch of sentences that i learned by heart, but so? i wondered why the hotel receptionist, who was so helpful in general, seemed unwilling to help writing the 'report' down for me. the reason embarrassingly dawned on me at the police station when i got back. the young cop was surpised but i think happy to see me back, especially as i did speak romanian. he was like cool, lets do the report! but when it came to writing... it was all wrong. the receptionist could apparently not write! i mean she could, but it was like phonetic... just wrong. ...that sucked ass :)

the police had sympathy for my efforts and finally he just told me to get 'someone romanian' to write it for me. so that was breaking the law...and he did it for me, and i reaaaallly appreciate it. but so then, i was like okay...me comes back soon with "someone". i walked out the station and stood there on the street with Mark wondering what next. i decided to just try get someone local, pay them to help me. only, not many romanians speak english well, or at all. i saw a woman standing nearby, just eating her snack, and went to ask her.
"do you speak english?"
"yes"
"do you speak romanian?"
"yes"
oooookay, can you help me etc. ill pay etc. passport...etc. she said okay and so within minutes of leaving i walked back to the police and was again ready to do my report. he arranged it and the woman wrote everything down for me. we were surposed her english was so good and she seemed to be well educated and knowing the procedures well. turns out she is a legal councellor working with foreigners. so, occasionally, my bad luck turns super good. and she did not want to be paid, but i gave her my name so if she ever comes to finland...:)

on monday i could go directly to the embassy with my police report. then i got the lecture of how careless i am etc etc. yea... thanks, i loose passports on purpose cos its SO MUCH FUN! ... i mean all this...the wallet and the passport, and you are in romania and broke, i did wonder if i should kill myself now or just soon. anyway i had to get terrible (bloated, sweaty, tired and stressed version of myself) passport photos of myself and i spent a lot of time going around the city, thankfully taxis are so cheap there....

then i could just wait. the embassy asked the finnish police to send my photo for identification but it was taking time. and i could not book a flight home until i was sure i would have something to travel with. on tuesday, as Mark left for the morgue and was going to the aiport from there i felt a bit lonely, walking around the city without identification and not much money... but finally they called me and i hurried to the embassy. i got an emergency passport thats only good for going home. i then called Arttu so he could get me a flight home asap. and he did, which im forever thankful for. the other option in my mind was to just go to the airport and wait till someone lets me in... but this was better.

F flew to Warszawa yesterday. ive felt horrible for screwing up things for him too, but luckily we were supposed to stay with his friend in Warszawa, so hes in good company and happy there i think. the worst would obviously be if he had to go to Cuba alone but its looking very good now, they promised to get me the visa on friday.

so now i have a couple days at home. my VISA card has still not arrived, jesus fuck. this is a bit much i think.

but damn did this all come expensive. im now owing money to everyone. will take a while to fix things up. apparently my travellers insurance will cover this latest mess though.

i tried to call mom on monday, just to let her know whats up and that im trying to come back home and stuff. no answers. which means she is in a hospital. my grandmom confirmed this, she was taken to the ICU last weekend. i called her this morning and she was already talking so getting better i think.

the photos from this trip are in flickr...

Mark's photos from the trip are here.