10 years

Well, ten years have gone by. Ten years in which I finished a university and hopefully will finish a PhD (next month). Others have gotten married and have two (TWO!!!! OMFG!!!!) kids. Or have turned from class idiot to airline pilot (remind me NOT to fly that airline). Like ever. Most of them, especially the guys, have gotten fat. The fattest of them all (in highschool) lost weight. I know I haven't changed much because I overheard the lit teacher tell the math teacher while i was skipping the highschool stairs - "You're right, she's unchanged". I also have ensured a backup plan for when I cannot find a job - I can go teach programming at my highschool.

My math teacher told me he had a crush on me in highschool. His exact words were "You are the only student I EVER had a crush on." Fucking freaky, but to give him credit, he NEVER showed it.

My lit teacher is AMAZING and I am so sad that I did not get to know her as well during highschool. She let us read the books we had to read and tell what WE thought about them. She was smart and funny back then but I could not appreciate it then. Now, we stood around her and listened to her tell stories. It was fenomenal - I needed the laugh indeed, but I could not stop myself.

And now, here we go, with the pics.

Me and my desk mate. Girly and spoilt as usual.


My crush with a girl he was friends with. Oh how I wished I was in her shoes. In highschool he was about 1.8 m and about 65 kg. I am so glad we never got together.


The math teacher and the lit teacher.


All of us around the lit teacher.


Me with the lit teacher. Notice my short hair. Product of romanian communist hairdressers. Pfft! I cannot tie it.

A few places where I thought I'd never willingly go

Today is the 10-year (OMFG am I that old?! shit!!) of my highschool graduation so I am meeting up with my former colleagues (more of that in a later post). The only one I've kept in touch with was my desk-mate. She has always been girly and delicate, and spoilt and aaaargh (she's the one I went to cambodia with - the one with the heels -must find link) whereas I have only been spoilt and aaargh :) Anyway, she has been dancing tango for the past year or so, and on thursday night she took me to her class to see her dance!

It was super fucking amazing and I enjoyed seeing her dance - she's quite good actually, especially her footwork (of course, as a true climber i am the one that notices footwork) - considering the fact that all of them were wearing 10 cm heels (at least) i think it is a great achievement even to be able to walk in them, let alone dance!


Secondly, I took my future step-mother climbing! This is another milestone because had you asked me years ago I would have sworn i would never EVER take her anywhere. But, my good nature (ha!) and the fact that i insist to take everybody climbing, and the fact that she's quite ok, despite being one year younger than me and a home-wrecker turned wife (good nature, my ass!). I enjoyed climbing, and i was brave enough to teach her how to belay me and! let her belay me on a very nice, very tall, inclined 6b+ yay. She was quite good, probably the best of all the noobs I took climbing so far. Too bad I will be leaving bucharest tomorrow and i won't have time to take her again. The pics are up on facebook and i am too lazy to post them anywhere else.

Durian Transportation

On how to transport durians, I am not sure if the internet is full of info. Perhaps because people have not tried it that much, maybe because the thing really REALLY stinks. I do not have pictures because Marian lost them (from now on, he can spare me any discussion about the iphone and he can shove it up his-you-know-what). But here is the story. The plan was for me to try to transport one (or two) such that we get prior beta in case somebody else would want to (ever) bring me durians. The sad verdict is that it's not possible.

- I bought one of those durians that is in a box, so not the thorny fruit because it would have been very big.

- I wrapped it in cling wrap for about 10 times around. I had a picture of this but Marian lost it. Fuck the iphone.

- Then I wrapped it in aluminum foil.

- After which i wrapped it again in cling wrap. By now the parcel was pretty big.

- then we put it in a plastic bag (a ziploc bag with some coffee beans would have been better)

- and then we wrapped it in a T-shirt and put the whole thing in the bag. In Marian's bag of course.

The bad part about this was that the clothes around the parcel should have been packed in plastic bags because they were stinking when we got home.

We took the thing out of the bag and left it out (not in the fridge for two hours or so). The entire trip took: 12 hours to frankfurt; 6 hours in transit; 3:30 hours to bucharest. By the time Marian's friends tried it, the durian was a bit spoilt (not much) but on its way. It stank its normal self and his friends hated it. No big news there, but I do not think it is really transportable. Ah well ... this only means that my trips to singapore will be much MUCH more frequent.

Back at home

I have been back for a day and a half and I have not stopped eating since.

Zillions types of cheese!


Tomatoes that actually taste of something else other than plastic!!


Cherries!


Peaches! Apricots!


Sour cherries!!! To think that Doris actually didn't know that there are such things as sour cherries!

Raspberries - Lovingly delivered by my father at 7 am (because i am still jet-lagged AND the heat in bucharest is horrible, I have been running at 6 - SIX - am) and finished (i think it was half a kg) fifteen minutes later!!!


And lastly, something to sober one up!

Climbing brings out the best in us

A few memorable quotes from Monday's climb - the routes were not bad. We were tired. I had forgotten my shoes and was climbing with a pair that had holes in front of both big toes (still, not an excuse)

Me (while crawling on the mattress after peeling off the wall): Sometimes, I think I am Chris Sharma, but it turns out I am just Claudia.
Sandra: Wow, you and Chris Sharma have the same initials!
Me (suddenly perky): Yeah, man, how cool is that?!?!


Me (shouting to a guy doing my route - ending tile hangs off the ceiling like a stalagmite): Grab the penis, grab the penis!
Sandra (the person falls because his grip is wrong): Oh no, why you hold it like that?
Me: Well, you can't go against a lifetime of habit!

Doris (to herself, doing a very spanned route): Wow, I really am THAT short.

Wedding!

I am going to ask a million dollar question: What comes after a bachelorette party?
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Well ... a hangover you would say, and you would be entitled to. No hangover after Friday's party, at least not for me, but what followed on Sunday was the wedding.

Now, I hate weddings. I hate the fact that they are commercial, that they end up getting 300 people in one room (and how I hate 300 people in one room), and the fact that the bride is the center of attention. I hate the last part because if I were the bride and be the center of attention, I. WOULD. CRINGE. Brr! Oh. And I hate the fact that they last at least for the entire night -I have been to a wedding that lasted 3 days.

That being said, from this point of view I love singaporean weddings. They are totally devoid of ritual and meaning, that is true, but at least you go in, you sign the deal, in come the rings, vows, etc, after that the food and then we are done. Everybody can go home, yay! and get on with their lives. Signed, sealed, and delivered. I liked sunday's wedding very much in this respect.

And true, what contributed to me liking it was the fact that I had as much Palak Paneer (spinach with cottage cheese) as I wanted - and I served myself 5 times out of it muhahahaha. Of course, I have to pollute every discussion about meaning, rituals, etc. with intestine considerations.

This being said, I am also a sucker for cheezy stuff. Maybe because I am highly empathic and all that, but when the bride started to cry while reading her vows* I was crying there with her. And when the groom started to sing, I am still crying, but because I was laughing my head off this time.

*because of being tired and all that, not because of being emotional, or so she says. (AHem, BULLSHIT!)

PINK

On Friday night I had to go to a hen's party. The hen requested that we wear pink. I hate pink. Good thing I didn't try too much though, because in the end nobody was really wearing pink, the girls going with fashion over the utter mindlessness and crazyness that a hen's party should be. Sadly, the most fun I had was when Sandra and Doris were helping me choose my hanging rope. Other than that, we played truth or dare. It didn't help that I was sober because at one point i was so bored i was watching silent soccer on one of the tvs in the bar. Sheesh!

I had to choose between this one:


and this one (yes, this is how I glare :)) ):


The reason why the pictures are blurred is because Sandra was struggling to keep a straight face and help me choose!

In the end I chose the second one, because the first one had about 5 m in length and was double the price. Good thing I didn't bother, considering the utter bore of the party. I tried wearing it to dinner but the two of them started walking way in front of me and ignoring everything I said. I took the hint and took it off, but I still had to wear it later, waaay until 1 am when I managed to complete my swift escape. Vowing, NEVER again :)

My only problem is that now I have a pink rat's tail that I do not know where to use. What are the possible uses of pink skinny boas?

Recession is coming

Just bought tickets for Nepal in November. Annapurna Circuit, HERE WE COME!!! Starting to save. NOW. No more shopping. No more clothes. No more shoes. No more nothing. Sadly, I think no more W90 as well. Will use the money for us in Kathmandu.

NEPAL BABY!!

The benefits of long term relationships

I won't talk about companionship, support, care, love, breakfast in bed on request, and having somebody that is always on your side BY DEFAULT, but rather about monetary issues.

The best benefit of being in a long term relationship is that you can raid the piggy bank of your partner, count the moolah and then ponder what the both of you (ha!) are going to do with the money he has so painfully saved for as long as you can remember. (And that you have sekretly been raiding from time to time to take bus and coffee money, ahem)


So, what will it be?

A much needed Pentax W90?


The iPad?


The new iPhone?


My personal favorite is the W90, but i have a hard time guessing what marian would want out of the last two.