Mormons at the Beerfest

Today was unbelievably fun! In the morning, I went to the apartment. The boys didn’t misbehave any more than usual and the English speaking worker was there to help out even though we thought he was going to be gone today. I rode a different tram home by myself today. This messed everyone else up so we all had to be alone, but it also split my travel time from an hour to a half hour, so…yeah…

The man who sells the tickets recognizes me. Actually he recognized me the second day I bought some. We’re pals now. I always wave at him as he glowers at me. It’s a mutual friendship. I think the only English he knows is to count to four, which he does for me in counting out the tickets when it pleases him. I find this humorous since I ask for the tickets in Romanian and clearly say '4' in Romanian. Also, he only does it half of the time.

We took the afternoon kids to a nearby field today to play outside in. I felt terrible for a little boy in a wheelchair who just had to watch the other boys running around. So naturally I grabbed him and put him on my back and ran around with him. It’s the first time I’ve seen him react to anything, and it was with a smile and laughter! But then of course we had to give all of the other boys piggyback rides (the worker got very nervous when I picked up the youngest, so I just walked him around). And then they all decided to pee in the field. I guess I would have too if I were their age and male.

All these shenanigans made Rachel and I miss our bus. Luckily one came pretty quickly, but when we tried to get on in the front, no one else was on and the driver started speaking to us very quickly in Romanian. So then we tried to go in the middle door. Then he started speaking very swiftly again and looked frustrated. We just looked really confused and told him we didn’t speak Romanian. We finally got the impression that another bus was coming and we would have to get on that. We’re still not sure why. I think he was taking a break.

We finally got on the right bus and my apartment and one of the other apartments decided to go to the beerfest for dinner. It was really just a festival that was sponsored by a beer company, so don't worry. (At least that's what we think since there actually didn't seem to be that much beer.) It was quite family friendly.

We were trying to figure out how to ask for a kebab in Romanian and were puzzling over it for quite some time. One of the girls went up to order by just pointing at a kebab. Then the worker started speaking to her in English. Nice. We drank out of our delightful, water filled bottles while all the people who were drinking beer stared at us.

We walked by a bread shop and I mentioned to the girls that one of the workers was rather cute. A bus drove by and all of the girls went to one side of the road while Rylie and I went to the other side (near the bread shop). She loudly remarked “You just want to be by the worker you thought was cute!” I was really embarrassed because enough people here speak English that—yep, he just waved, smiled, and winked at me.

Chelsea bought some cotton candy and was stuck with the stick that it came on after we finished all of the cotton candy. Then she was fortunate enough to spot a little boy holding the same stick! A sword fight must ensue! It was pretty humorous for about thirty seconds until she accidentally knocked his stick out of his hands and he looked up to see 13 American girls and his parents laughing hysterically. He wouldn’t perform again after that, though his dad tired to talk him into being a man or some such thing.

We then decided to go join the crowd watching performers rap on stage. (Romanian rappers are HIGHLY amusing). But NO ONE WAS DANCING. It was weird. We also discovered that if you get near people at concerts here, they actually move! It was spectacular. At one point, I tried to get on Chelsea’s shoulders, but she flatteringly couldn’t stand up with me on her back, so we gave up while the boys behind us died of laughter.

I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of boys trying to get into our group until two guys creeped us out enough that we decided it was time to go home. And that was the end of the Mormons at the beerfest.