Just Another Boring Saturday

7.00 AM : woke up because of my hyper-active grandmother. She can't sleep. I hated her. At least she got out of the room and went to do God knows what in the kitchen. Slept until 9.00

9.00 AM : now really woken up, I have things to do today. Showered, brushed my teeth... looking for the flyer with my PIN for the credit card. I just got my paycheck yesterday. Looking... looking... looking... flashback... Friday evening, coming from work... tearing a piece of paper into little pieces and trowing it in the garbage. I thought it was the flyer with the salary from last month, I didn't need it anymore... Started yeeling at my grandmother for moving my stuff around when she dusted a day ago... Started yelling at my brother... CRISIS. BIG ONE. What the hell to do now? Oh, I know, just go to the bank, see if they could tell me my PIN...

10.00 AM : out of the house. There are only 2 work stations of this bank in Bucharest (ABNAmro). One at World Trade Center Bucharest. Thinking... it should be open on Saturday, it is the WTC, the Shopping Center there, the Sofitel Hotel... Took the tram, got there around 10.30 . 32 degrees outside. I know it because there's this cute clock in front of WTC, that also shows the temperature. What a hot day will it be! Of course, no luck. Monday to Friday, 9 am to 16.00.

10.30 AM : ok, I'll just try the other one. Piata Unirii, center of Bucharest, what the hell, they SHOULD be working today. Walked to Aviatorilor for about 15 minutes through the Herastrau Park, very nice, but I wasn't in the mood for admiring the trees. Marilyn Manson screaming from my mp3. Got to Aviatorilor, took the metro 4 stations to Unirea. Again, the same thing. Closed. I was thinking, ok, I'll be back on Monday morning. Luckily I start work at 11.30 on Monday. I'll loose my Portuguese class in the morning, but this is more important. I was only affraid I'll have to have another credit card made and this sucks... another 2 weeks of waiting... always going to the bank if I wanted to get some money from my card...

11.00 AM : back to the metro. I had big plans for today, looking for my plane ticket to Rio. 2 stations to Piata Romana. went into Marshall Turism. It's a big one, just in Romana. Inside... full. It's Saturday, it's summer, everybody wants to leave on vacation. Waited for about 1 hour until the ONLY person in charge of ticketing got available. This old woman upset for being left alone on such a busy day... Told her, "Rio de Janeiro, 10th of December, return on the 6th of January". She sais to me... "why are you coming this EARLY??? I'm busy with customers who are leaving now". Responded, "yeah, but if I came later, there would be no free places, plus they'll be a lot more expensive". The woman "made me the favour" of looking... "sorry, no free places, not with AirFrance, nor Lufthansa, AllItalia, Iberia... leave me your name and I'll put you on the waiting list, maybe you'll get lucky, but I don't think you will. You should have come in March to get your ticket". Wait, didn't she say I came too EARLY???

12.30 PM : left Marshall. Went to J'Info Tours. Inside... full. They were closing at 1.00, there was no way I could get to speak to someone until then. Got inside 3 more turism agencies. No luck, they all said there was no way I could get a ticket to Rio in December. Nor to São Paulo. One woman found me one in November, for a little more that 1300 euros. I was starting to think I would have to change my vacation date...

01.something PM : almost in Piata Universitatii. I was going to cross the street. It was GREEN. Some guy on a bycicle came with a lot of speed, bumped exactly into me. Nona in the middle of the street, bleeding... this couldn't have been a worst day... I'm not hurt that bad. Just a few scratches, it could have been worst. My right hand hurts like hell, as I fell exactly on it, it's not broken, but of course it is full of scratches. Luckily I had some alcohol tissues in my purse. Took the guy's name and address, told him I'm a lawyer and I'll see him in court, at least he got scared, of course I'm not going to waste my time with this.

01.30 PM : I was going towards the metro at Universitate, when I passed by another agency. It was open until 14.00, so I decided to go in. One couple looking for plane tickets to Rome. This really nice girl there, she looked up for me every single possibility for a plane ticket to Rio. Of course, none whatsoever for the dates I wanted. I asked her to look for tickets to São Paulo, I didn't care, as Ric was going to pick me up there. No luck. Then she sais, "I found something, there would be this one posibility, leaving Romania on the 10th, then taking the plane to Rio on the 11th from Madrid". Iberia. Spain, my love.... I would have to spend a night in Madrid. I told her that would not be a problem, as I know Madrid and I know a lot of nice hostels there. The other thing was... the only available return date was on the 8th of January from Rio, arriving in Bucharest on the 9th. My vacations are over the 7th, on the 8th I would have to be at work. But it was the only way. Those 2 days... I'll see what I can do, I'm sure I can talk to my teamleaders and find a solution. It's 1270 euros, a bit expensive... but I can pay it whenever I want, as Iberia doesn't put you a time limit to paying your plane ticket, as AirFrance. Plus, AirFrance loses luggage, I heard it from 3 or 4 people. Now I need to talk to my father to loan me some money, as I can only pay 700 euros, maybe 800. But I did the reservation, as I didn't want to lose this too.

01

.50 PM : back to the metro, went home, my grandmother had her train back to Piatra at 15.00. Walked her to the trainstation, back home. Remembered I didn't eat for the day... Well, at least I got something, right? Checked my mail... thinking, what the hell, there's no way I'm so stupid to throw my PIN flyer. Started looking, looking, looking... FINALLY!!! after 30 minutes going crazy I found the envelope!!!! Incredible, I couldn't believe it! I knew I wasn't that stupid! Called my brother and my grandmother to tell them the good news. Ate icecream.

05.00 PM - 08.00 PM : played Sims2, ate some more icecream, watched a few episodes from Ally McBeal, washed some clothes. Now it's 09.28 PM and I'm waiting for the game to start. Germany - Portugal. No preferences today... well, maybe Germany. Waiting for Ric to go online to tell him I made the reservation.

And this was my boring Saturday. Have a nice weekend you all! Have fun!

P.S. The picture is from the Herastrau Park... The one I didn't have time to admire today...

PICTURE FROM GOOGLE