We're Here

We'll we have made it safe and sound and now that we are more rested we are figuring out our surroundings more. The flights to Amsterdam and Bucharest were uneventful. The "mechanical issue" on our first flight was a clogged toilet. Very glad it was the toilet and not the engine. In Bucharest, we were warned against the local taxi drivers so we decided to explore the public transportation. We caught a bus into the city were a very nice Romanian women helped us know when we were at our stop. Luckily we had the station written down on a piece of paper because no one speaks English. From there we took the subway to the train station. All about multiple modes of transportation. We had a long wait at the train station were we stayed in a room that looks like it was built pre-iron curtain. There was a 4 year old tormenting a homeless guy and security came and took them away. At least it was something to watch even though we couldn't follow the dialog. The train ride was 5 hours. So long. And it was the "rapid" train. "Rapid". We did get to lay down and even got a little sleep. At one point during Portia's nap ther was a strange mentally ill gypsy staring at us. He compared his shoe size to mine, talked to us in Romanian and called Portia beautiful. He did not speak English so when we asked him to go away he ignored it. Luckily, I have learned if you yell for help, even in English, people come. Lots of them. One seemed to appoint himself our body guard and made sure that the mentally ill person stayed away. I appreciate him, and wish I could say thank you in Romanian.

Then we made it to Constanta, didn't see much of the town last night. Our taxi driver tried to rip us off by driving around in circles forever. There was someone at the clinic who worked it out, once again couldn't follow the dialog. We are staying at the clinic which seems to be convenient. We have a large room with two beds, a kitchen table, microwave, fridge, bathroom, TV and various dressors. There are mostly Romanian channels but we watched animal planet in English today and Portia watched Dexter's Laboratory in Romanian. People at the clinic seem very excitted to help despite the language barrier. The took us to a local grocery store as soon as we woke this morning. Then, decided to let us sleep the morning away since we had so little the prior 36 or so hours. We have found the kitchen in the clinic, Portia learned how to use a gas stove (quite entertaining for me to watch), found a computer we can use during the day and are told there is a laundry machine in the building. Tomorrow we get the offical clinic tour and start work. What ever that will be. This afternoon we are going to learn to local bus system, try to get a phone, buy more groceries, etc...