Stuck Inside of Sibiu with the Budapest Blues Again

Or, A Warning to All You World Travelers Out There


A man walks down the street
It's a street in a strange world
Maybe it's the Third World
Maybe it's his first time around
He doesn't speak the language
He holds no currency
He is a foreign man
He is surrounded by the sound
The sound
Cattle in the marketplace
Scatterlings and orphanages
He looks around, and around
He sees angels in the architecture
Spinning in infinity
He says Amen and Hallejulah!
                                          ----------Paul Simon
Hello again, or Salut! as we say in Romany!

If you don't understand the Bob Dylan reference blame the google blogging tool which seems intent on not allowing me to embed sound bytes. So, I went to Romania. Check. Romania is really cool. Check. Before I went I made sure my bank card and credit card would work. Check. They didn't. And the NCSECU tells me AFTER I'M WAS THERE that yes, sometimes bank cards don't work in Romania. Well thanks guys. And the point of me checking on this in advance was. . .? And USAA tells me that yes, some stores in Eastern Europe are on a "pin chip" system which the rest of the world is not. So Romania has the distinction of having a card system that is more backward than Afghanistan? How nice.

Fortunately for me, I fell in love with this country the second I crossed the border and saw those old fashioned hay ricks and those beautiful black and white birds wheeling around over the cornfields. But my first three days were spent in the hell of not having any cash, not knowing how I'd pay for my hotel, etc. Not fun. Fortunately for me the Romanian people are some of the nicest most generous people I've ever met. When I got off the train at 10PM and got lost after trying four bank tellers unsuccessfully, a young couple drove me to my hotel. Then after calling the NCSECU and going out unsuccessfully to find another teller, and getting lost again, I asked a cab driver if he would take Forints (Hungarian's currency) and he said it was too much trouble but he'd give me a free ride.

One of the members of my reading audience located a friend in Sibiu I could call upon for help, and of course that was the same day I was able to activate cash advances on my credit card and be back in the money, so to speak, but I sure did appreciate knowing that the world is small enough that I was only three degrees of separation from someone's good friend in Sibiu. Thanks Ken. Other than this adventure, those first there days don't leave much in the way of interesting blog material unless you want to hear me bitch.

Seriously, though, I've learned a hard lesson. If you travel abroad, it doesn't matter how much money you lose at an exchange house or at the bank, get some local currency the expensive way before leaving your home country. Don't get stuck in Romania lost at midnight with no cab fare. That being said, Romania is probably the best country to be stuck in with no money.

Okay, now that I got that off my chest, allow me to share some photographs of my first 24 hours in Sibiu. Stay tuned. . .

Oh, and here's the Bob Dylan, edited a bit.  :)

Oh, the ragman draws circles

Up and down the block

I'd ask him what the matter was

But I know that he don't talk

And the ladies treat me kindly

And furnish me with tape

But deep inside my heart

I know I can't escape

Oh, Mama, can this really be the end

To be stuck inside of Sibiu

With the Budapest blues again.

Well Shakespeare he's in the alley

With his pointed shoes and his bells

Speaking to some French girl

Who says she knows me well

And I would send a message

To find out if she's talked

But the post office has been stolen

And the mailbox is locked

Oh, Mama, can this really be the end

To be stuck inside of Sibiu

With the Budapest blues again.

Mona tried to tell me

To stay away from the train line

She said that all the railroad men

Just drink up your blood like wine

And I said "Oh I didn't know that

But then again there's only one I've met

And he just smoked my eyelids

And punched my cigarette"

Oh, Mama, can this really be the end

To be stuck inside of Sibiu

With the Budapest blues again.

Grandpa died last week

And now he's buried in the rocks

But everybody still talks about

How badly they were shocked

But me, I expected it to happen

I knew he'd lost control

When he built a fire on Main Street

And shot it full of holes

Oh, Mama, can this really be the end

To be stuck inside of Sibiu

With the Budapest blues again.

Now the senator came down here

Showing ev'ryone his gun

Handing out free tickets

To the wedding of his son

And me, I nearly get bursted

And wouldn't it be my luck

To get caught without a ticket

And be discovered beneath a truck

Oh, Mama, can this really be the end

To be stuck inside of Sibiu

With the Budapest blues again.

Now the preacher looked so baffled

When I asked him why he dressed

With twenty pounds of headlines

Stapled to his chest

But he cursed me when I proved it to him

Then I whispered, "Not even you can hide

You see, you're just like me

I hope you're satisfied"

Oh, Mama, can this really be the end

To be stuck inside of Sibiu

With the Budapest blues again.

Now the rainman gave me two cures

Then he said, "Jump right in"

The one was Texas medicine

The other was just railroad gin

And like a fool I mixed them

And it strangled up my mind

And now, people just get uglier

And I have no sense of time

Oh, Mama, can this really be the end

To be stuck inside of Sibiu

With the Budapest blues again.

When Ruthie says come see her

In her honky-tonk lagoon

Where I can watch her waltz for free

'Neath her Panamanian moon

And I say, "Aw come on now

You know you know about my debutante"

And she says, "Your debutante just knows what you need

But I know what you want"

Oh, Mama, can this really be the end

To be stuck inside of Sibiu

With the Budapest blues again.

Now the bricks lay on Grand Street

Where the neon madmen climb

They all fall there so perfectly

It all seems so well timed

And here I sit so patiently

Waiting to find out what price

You have to pay to get out of

Going through all these things twice

Oh, Mama, is this really the end

To be stuck inside of Sibiu

With the Budapest blues again.