So two days here and I have a story, (with any luck I will not have any more like this one, but I suppose it was bound to happen). It is quite long, don't get used to it, but it starts simply enough. So went out with the aiesec kids to have some beers and shoot some pool. I arrived at the bar, got a beer and spent some time listening to some conversation in a language I know not a word of, and soon enough I found out that we were not going to play pool. I did, however, play a terrible game of darts and several fantastic games of foozball (I don't really care how to spell that one I like it with a z), and so the night continued. We left the bar around midnight and headed to a club (club is called Faraun, which is Romanian for pharaoh, so I pictured Mo's face on the billboard for a moment). So we arrive at the club, at this point there are only about 7 of us left, and we find out that this is the most empty club in all of Iasi. Most of the university students are on vacation between exams, so there were literally only 5 other people in the club besides us. We did some dancing and hung around for an hour or so, and then my night really began. I left the club and walked home, arriving around 1:30 and imediately falling asleep. Though that didn't last long. . . About 4:30 I hear someone pounding on my door. At first I ignored it and it went away, but a few minutes later my guest returned. I got out of bed, wearing my usual boxers only sleeping apparel, and opened the door. And who do I see in front of me? Fuck if I know. . . there is a fairly large quite drunken man at my doorstep and shortly after in my room. Now mind you the only things I know how to say in Romanian are "hello", "goodbye", "good evening" and "I don't speak Romanian", and this guy doesn't know a word of english. I think the conversation, better to call it a monologue, began with an introduction of some sort, but I honestly didn't know at the time and certainly can't recall. From there the guy talked in circles falling back several times to something to the effect of "Do you eat?" "What do you eat, pig *oink oink*, cow *moooo* or duck *quack quack*?" "Do you smoke?" "Do you drink?" "Do you go to the disco (complete with dancing pantamime)?" and of course "I am the boss. How long are you staying? Ok then you must pay me.". Now every word of this was thrown at me in a mix of Romanian, Italian, German and Russian, so that in combination with the fact that I was thrown out of sleep at 5 am and only just barely coherant, put me in a state where all I cared to do was to shake my head and give a confuzed no in answer to everything he said. This worked for a while (about 45 minutes or so) . Then he motioned to me to follow him, so I stumbled down the hallway first to the kitchen, where he tryed for a while to offer me either to eat the scraps of what remained in the skillet or to clean the kitchen, and then to what I assume was his room. He cranked up some hindi music, started dancing and then offered me a half finished beer. I said no, and he started to ramble on about something I don't care to remember, to which I responded with more confuzed head shaking. After pounding himself in the head and saying what was most likely "You are fucking retarded!" he went back into his room and closed the door. I figured that was rediculous enough so I went back to my room, locked the door and went back to bed. Ten minutes later my visitor returned once more. This time I again ignored his knocking, that is until he used one of his many keys to unlock and open my door. Hooray, more fun to be had. I once again get out of bed, only now a bit pissed off, and the monologue continued. This time things begin with him poking my arms and stomach, shaking his head in disaproval, lifting up (and eventually removing his shirt) and telling me that I was no good because I did not have a big gut. It was at this point that I noticed scars on his chest, stomach and arms that were most likely defensive knife wounds. This, along with the fact that he had what apeared to be keys to all the rooms in the hotel, allowed me to realize that physically removing him from my room was not an option. So we continue. He falls back to his previous line of questions and eventually to boxing. He keeps saying "Cassius Clay" and antagonizing me to box with him. So I have a phantom open handed box with him, and he proceeds to lecture me about boxing technique. Next he starts to go on about judo and for a moment tries to throw me, only to give up after a couple failures. Then he mentioned K-1 and there was another short boxing match. At this point I figure that he seems to be amused enough and he will leave on his own. That is until he falls back to "I am the boss. . ." (keep in mind that this started around 4:30 and it is now about 5:45). Now I have not met the owner of the hotel, and this guy has keys to all the rooms and knows how much I am supposed to pay (he said 30 euro, which is what I was told before I arrived in Romania). So I am tired of boxing with and shaking my head at this guy, not to mention the fact that I am still more than half asleep, and in my state of mind things add up to him being the owner. I get the 30 euro which I had brought for this purpose and handed it to him. He then said that it was not enough, that he needed 200 lei (Romanian currency). I said "no, that is too much", and he motioned that he would throw me out if I did not pay. So at this point I have no other choice but to pay him the 200 lei (about $175 and all of my remaining money). After this there is more of the "do you eat, drink, smoke . . ." and eventually he leaves. I lock the door and get back into bed. . . 5 minutes later more knocking. I answer the door, and he asks me if I want to eat with him when I wake up. I tell him no and got to sleep. That day I wake up around noon and go to the aiesec office. I sit down to check my mail, and Geo, one of the aiesecers in Iasi, asks how I slept. . . I explained what happened, and she called the owner of the hotel.
"He says that you did not pay anything to him last night. . . the guy you saw, was he a REALLY big guy?"
"Not that big, a bit bigger than me. . ."
"Then it was not the owner. I will call again, and go with you to figure it out."
So we headed back to the hotel to wait for the owner. Once he arrived they talked and came to the conclusion that the guy who I met was the janitor. This janitor is appearently drunk on a daily basis, has a room on the same floor as me and of course (since he is a janitor) has keys to all the rooms. The owner tried to call the janitor, but he did not answer. The owner then left to the janitor's place, and said it would be taken care of. So now I have no money, but the fantastic aiesec lc Iasi thought that it would be the thing to do to lend me some money until I get mine back. From there the story is not so exciting. I am spending as little money as I can, and I found an aiesecer called Christina to hang around with. Her good friend and next door neighbor Anca is also around, and they both keep feeding me. The three of us went out for drinks and wandered the streets for a while, then all the aiesecers who were around met up for drinks and some dancing at a club (a bit too expensive, 12 lei cover, but a good time). Most of the kids are returning this week from vacation, and the first of the other trainees is arriving tomorrow. Hopefully that means there will be more than 5 people in the club next time we go out. A few days in and already this. . . a sloid start.
