Well, I didn’t make it to brunch today after all… nor did I make it to a party in my building, thrown by a friend of mine to watch the World Cup finals. Instead, I spent the afternoon in East Bumblefuck. The Romanians wanted to go to the mall, and so I agreed to drive them to Wolfchase.
To catch everyone up on the Romanian situation: The blonde from last year is back. The brunette is not, which doesn’t surprise me since she didn’t like Memphis much. There are three new Romanians, two blondes and one who is about halfway between brunette and redhead.
So we drove out there and they wanted to stay for four hours. I quickly realized I did not want to spend four hours shopping for women’s clothes with four girls speaking a language I didn’t understand, so we agreed upon a meeting place and I went off and did my own thing. I found some really nice casual shirts at JCPenney of all places. They look hip and funky enough to wear them to a bar or club, yet dressy enough where I can get away with wearing them to work as well. I like shirts like that. And they were marked down from $40 to $24. One was marked down to $4.99.
After making a complete loop of the mall to see which customers were wearing tube tops, I decided I was hungry, so I went to the food court and bought a slice of stuffed pizza with sausage and ham. When I got done, I looked at my watch and it was only 2:00. “I don’t want to spend two more hours in this mall,” I thought. Then I remembered that I happened to be right down the street from the Flying Saucer – the new East Bumblefuck Flying Saucer that opened six months ago. So I got in the car and headed in that direction.
And I got lost. Strip mall after strip mall after strip mall… there were so many of them and they all looked alike. After turning around a couple of times, I finally found it. It’s a very nice bar (although I think the downtown one is better) and I actually knew people there. So I sat and watched the two overtimes in the World Cup game, but I had to leave before the penalty kicks decided it.
So I got back at 4:00 and the girls were sitting outside and showing each other their new clothes and talking in Romanian. I understood “da” (yes) and “no” (no) and I think I heard one of them say “chocolat” one time and I assume I know what that means. The rest was all gibberish. Nevertheless, I will attempt a translation:
“Who is this guy who drove us out here? He is hot.”
“Oh, that is Paul. Yes, he is hot.”
“Do you think he likes Romanians? He is very cute.”
That’s my best attempt at interpreting what they were saying. Anyway, they loaded their bags into the back of my car and I drove them home. Now I’m heading out to the Saucer – the real Saucer, the downtown one – and I’m walking. Good to be home.