2006-07-20 - 12:47
The varied group I am a part of on this trip is starting to break into personalities and cliques, as it should ( every time we sit together they insist on moving half a dozen tables together) but I think the best way to explain their traveling temperament is to tell you (and be sure to read this as a sneer) that their frist meal with Raj, our fearless leader, was at California Pizza Kitchen. I think that kind of says it all. There are a few women who are unbearably loud but I don't know them well enough to shush them. Nevermind the fact that everyone is 15 or more years older than me. But when we took public transport I felt like i was herding kittens. Sweet playful kittens, who are more than happy to be led but which don't know how to make decisions or be flexible or be careful on the streets.
Don't misunderstand this as another anti-american rant. A third of our group isn't even American born. I just can't help thinking that this group of professors, more advanced in their education and years of experience, married with children and certainly more mature than me, would be eaten alive and left in a ditch at the Bucharest metro.
The hotel we're in could easily be a Comfort Inn, only lacking the ugly motel art. Yet Heather tells me the bathroom isn't clean enough, there are bugs (haven't seen any), the cafeteria smells funny, the fridge doesn't work, our sheets aren't changed daily. She's travelled a good bit, but I begin to think she's never been inconvenienced in her life. this is where the Ipod comes in handy because I can tune her out.
I know I shouldn't but I can't help comparing this group and its leader to PC group 17 and our trainers in Ploiesti. Thus far, they are not clearing the bar.
Partly because a year has passed and I'm now able to romanticize my time in Romania. Partly because when you've got two years, you don't feel so rushed. And the other part is Raj is a total flake and doesn't think about things like food and rest.
Blarg!
incidentally i'm still having a good time
