DAY FOUR

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

My greatest difficulty to this point is my allergies. Practically everyone here is a smoker. Remember back in the day when smoking was allowed in public places. Well that is how it is here but with 2 million cigarettes lit at the same time. Enough about second hand smoke.

Emi and Denisza are really special people. They are very good to me. They are younger than I am so they sometimes have to wait for me to catch up when we are walking. I am actually twice their age. Now I really am starting to feel old.

Emi has started his own company named Branient. He has a good team of developers. They are very good at what they do. He is very knowledgeable especially when it comes to the latest technology. He is very good to Denisza (his girlfriend). He is a true gentleman.
We get along great - just like a brother and sister.

Denisza is such a cutie puhtootie. I love her accent. I can't wait until we get to go shopping. She is very intelligent. We are always comparing American with Romanian ways.

I shot some video with my new video camera that Rudy bought me the day before I left. I can't wait to have you see how the ride to work is. It rained a bit so hope it is clear enough for you to see when the Taxi driver almost bumped into the side of the car because he wanted to get thru to a cross street (we had the right of way). Emi says they are the worst drivers and think they own the roads. Maybe I will take a taxi somewhere. Hmmmm, maybe not. They are pretty crazy.

The traffic here is just crazy - words cannot give you a true picture of how it is. One thing I found very strange is the parking. They park everywhere they possibly can. On sidewalks There is only 2 freeways here. One leads to, along the side of the road, even double parked right on the streets. Some of the people here take advantage of the parking spots and they will put a red milk crate in the way and if you pull up they will move the crate but expect you to pay them for letting you park in their spot. We paid the man about $1.50 USD so we could eat lunch and get back to the office. The structure of the streets is very confusing to me. (Click on Map to enlarge.) Not at all like California. There is only 2 freeways one to the oceanside and the other to the countryside. No overpasses.

We went to eat at one of the Malls. The advertisements here are very neat. There was a large floor mat on the floor, about 6ft x 5ft and there was an ad that was displayed on the mat, but here comes the cool part - when you step on it it made a ripple effect like water. There was young children having a blast stepping on it. I fit right in with them! I could have played around there for an hour. I wanted to post a picture of it, but cameras are not allowed in the Malls here.

I hope you can enjoy these photos of the Lei (Romanian Money) I had some exchanged while I was at the Mall. As of J Romania has dropped four zeros from its national currency. Yesterday's 28,000
Romanian lei (ROL) per U.S. dollar
now equal 2.80 (new) lei (RON) to one dollar - two lei (lay) and 80 bani (bah-nee).

Both old and new coins and banknotes will be in circulation until December 31, 2006 when the old currency will be withdrawn.

I have to get back to work, but I hope to get my blog up to date also.