Ce faci?

Hi All,

Ce faci? (meaning 'how are you?') and its pronounced "Che fach" before any of you start making your own versions of it!

Hope you had another lovely Bank Holiday in Britain. Yes, I was working because it was not a holiday here. One of the things Romania must do when it joins the EU is increase its Public Holidays. They have gorgeous hot summers here so what do they do - have a holiday on May 1st (Workers Day) and then not have another until Dec 1st (National Day). Not one official holiday during the summer! In fact they only get 6 public holidays a year: New Years Day, Easter Monday, May 1st, Dec 1st and 25/26 December for Christmas. That is going to have to change!

We have had an office full of UK experts for the past 3 weeks (and what a pleasure it has been hosting them here - I have to say that some of them are on this group e-mail!). But they all left by Friday and then Lavinia was away at a friends wedding in Cluj from Friday until yesterday, Tuesday. So things have been really quiet with just Diana and me here.

In the week we had a farewell meal for the experts. Lavi and Diana said they wanted to cook a traditional Romanian meal for everyone. So they all came around to my apartment on Wednesday last week and we had a great time. Unfortunately it was the hottest day of the year so far (37c - over 100F) so you can imagine what the kitchen was like, especially since Lavi insisted that all the meal should be cooked in the oven. I suggested hanging the food out of the window for 10 minutes and that should cook it nicely, but they just ignored me. We had a garlic dip with bread that Lavi prepared there and then to keep us going while the meal was being prepared. Actually the words garlic dip don't do justice to it. Lavi made it with most of the garlic output of France and Spain for the past decade. It was delicious but made your eyes water and honestly, you could still taste it two days later. (Needless to say everyone can still smell it a week later!). We then had polenta with Romanian salty cheese (a bit like Greek Feta) and sour cream. Then there was cabbage parcels filled with mince pork, herbs and more garlic (these parcels were made by Diana's mum). Then there was chicken with potatoes and a beetroot and horseradish salad (the salad was made by Lavinia's mum). Now trust me, the beetroot and horseradish salad is delicious. I have had it a few times in restaurants, although Lavi's mum's is the best of course! Then for dessert we had apple cake (again made there and then by Lavi and Diana with some help from Anne and Gwyneth, two of the UK experts) with strawberries and cream. All this was washed down with Diana's dad's home made red wine. Then we all passed out due to overeating and heat exhaustion! It was a great evening.

The weekend was sunny but a bit cooler thankfully. I went to the Carrefour supermarket in the Ordiheea area of the city (right across the other side of the city from where I am unfortunately). In the information the EU delegation gives you when you arrive in the country it says that Romania is an impoverished country. I think they should go to Ordiheea. It is an enormous commercial area with not just the Carrefour but also about 50 other shops - including another Marks and Spencers. The Carrefour supermarket is huge with 56 checkouts and everything you could want, somethings you might not want and a few things you would never need in a million years!

Of course I have to admit that Bucharest is not all of Romania and when you travel around the countryside you do see villages that haven't changed in 50 or 60 years - horse drawn ploughs, run down houses etc. And within Bucharest there are very poor people. But if you have the money (and by UK standards not a lot of money either) the capital does not lack anything. So after shopping there I tried to get into my taxi with 18 bags of groceries, 15 pairs of shoes, 12 pairs of jeans, a set of garden furniture, a new mattress, a tumble drier, CD player, giant plasma screen TV and a tin of Heinz Baked Beans - all for under the equivalent of 3 pounds and 27 pence. (OK so I might be prone to a little exaggeration). But I resisted going into M&S!

With no experts coming out for a couple of weeks I am taking the opportunity for a break - so I'm off to the house in Spain this Friday (2nd June) for a week. I will meet Tony out there but he is staying for two weeks in total. I'm flying Bucharest to Barcelona, then Barcelona to Alicante. The return is via Madrid. So I'm afarid there will be no exciting installment of Andrew in Romania next week - how will you all cope?!

Keep dry and warm and I'll be in touch again soon.

Love

Andrew
I went to the British Embassy yesterday to pick up any mail etc. (Now I am attached to the Embassy I have my own pigeon hole there where they leave mail, notices, information etc for me, so I go along about once a week to check. It is about 5 minutes from my apartment so I can do it to or on the way back from work.) This was the first time I had gone with my staff ID badge which means you can by pass everyone waiting outside and go straight in without any security checks.

So I go past the Romanian guards at the control point and they just look at me. The Embassy did say the first couple of times they wont recognise you so they may pay you more attention than later on when you are familiar to them. So I showed them my ID and they looked suitably unimpressed. Up I marched to the main gate and waited for it to buzz open - and nothing. The guards are looking at me. So I wave my ID at them again and one of them walks up to me and says "Embassy?". So again I flash my ID and say yes. He points to a notice on the gate that says in recognition of the Queens Birthday the Embassy is closed today. I smile and saunter away feeling a total idiot and certain that they will remember me in future!