Monday/Tuesday May 30/31

Written by Jack van Ommen on May 31st, 2011

Monday evening:  After 4 days without the any precipitation the late afternoon thunderstorms are back. At first it looked like I needed to pack my things back into the boat around 4 p.m. But they were hitting to the east and the west but did not open up on me till 5 p.m.  I managed to get my end of the day epoxy layer on the bare spots. On the way out, on the newly asphalted road, the steam was rising from the cool showers hitting the sun baked surface.

My hosts here, Aura and Marian, asked me for a drink  of home made wine, after I took my shower. Marian was butchering a calf. They invited
me for a dinner here tomorrow evening where he is going to grill the veal. They also had a fresh caught bass like fish, from the Danube, it is at least 24 inches and must weigh 20 plus pounds.

Yesterday, Sunday, evening I was offered to share dinner with the Chinese group of about 8 who stay at the hotel where I was earlier this month. They work at the Bio Fuel plant which a Chinese company installed for Inter Agra, here in Zimnicea. There is a smaller group of Koreans who have a contract with Zim Tub, where I work on my boat, and which is also owned by Inter Agra.
The hotel lets both groups cook their traditional food in the hotel kitchen. I have been dying to eat food like they do. Even though I do like what I can
order at the hotel restaurant. Particularly their salads, my favorite is a white cabbage salad. But last night the Chinese had made steamed dough
dumplings, with chopped fresh vegetables and beef inside, dipped in a soya/garlick sauce.  And they had a superb fish soup. Hau Tschuh!! They are from Northern China and speak Mandarin and some English.

Today, a sailboat came down the Danube. An about 27 foot catamaran, with the mast up. They flew the Romanian courtesy flag but not a national ensign, they might have been local Danube country travelers. This is the first yacht I have seen since I started working on the boat.

The Bosch orbital sander, quit on me, yesterday. I took it apart, and “with a little help from my friends”, it’s as good as new.

Tuesday morning:  It has been steadily raining since dawn. No sense trying to work on the boat. It will be a mud puddle but the good thing is that it will have washed the sanding dust away. I have no good access to a hose. I’ll do my internet chores this morning, instead of my evening routine with having dinner in town. Since I’ll be having the barbecue dinner with the camp overseers anyway.

Romanian Television: One of the weirdest shows are the weather forecasts. The presenter wear the oddest outfits. The heavy set man, comes on in all red or all white, with the strangest ornaments. For the rest it seems to be a steady routine of car accidents in all their macabre closeups, heavy set older bald politicians with dark sunglasses, soccer stars showing off their new trophy girlfriend where little is hidden except the eyes with the same dark sunglasses.

 

 

Comments are closed.