It's that time of the year when I have to cram everything in 24 hours. Not exactly an easy task. Things got a little bit out of hand when I found out that I have to be back in Bucharest on the 18th in order to sit the final exam and hopefully graduate. I was planning (booked ticket, scheduled my meetings and my coffees) to go back around the 20th, so imagine my surprise at hearing the news. Maybe I should've called the Uni earlier to figure these things out, but I've been so utterly busy being depressed and then pulling myself out of my misery, that it just slipped my mind. All the technical and administrative details are way beyond my comprehension, so I have my Dad to thank for having managed to survive in the University, putting my files together and registering me for the exams. Also, I have my Dad to thank for having decided to come pick me up from Poland - it's quite typical in our family: my last days in any given city (be it for a school thing, a work thing or just a trip with my friends) are with no exception more complicated than my entire stay in that place. And also with a very low budget, running out of time and paranoid. So I can hardly handle it, hence I make a phone call, freak out and push the accelerator. Somehow, I always manage to get a lot of people involved in my problems and the first candidates are, of course, ze parents. This time I hit the jackpot - I also involved an entire University and some of my local acquaintances, not to mention that I screwed up the work chart and the shifts in the tent.
Speaking of the tent, I recently discovered I still can't get along with children and I have very little tolerance of those small creatures running around, screaming and eating ice-cream while their parents have a beer or two. The afternoon shift may sometimes resemble a trip to the kindergarten and I become neurotic.
On the other hand, I have Ciechel to thank for a wonderful suggestion: using the verb bartenting instead of bartending. Bartenting, not yet to be found in dictionaries, is the art of bartending practiced in the tent, with its very own standards and code of behaviour. It's what we do best, and it's what I'll miss most after leaving Kato.
Yes, I'm quite nostalgic and even though this past week has been very, very rough (I'm quite pleased with myself, no nervous breakdown yet) I've had the tent to keep me going, and everybody's been extra nice. Szabot suggested I should stop wasting my nights studying and writing, take a break and get drunk for three days in a row. I considered it, but I was afraid it would only complicate things even more, so I'll have to pass the idea, at least for now. Three days is too much, one night was quite ok :)
Once this mess will be sorted out, I'll have time to write something more elaborate about these people and what a wonderful gift they were for me, all of them (all of the regular customers, that is).
For now, I have to focus on my paper - which, of course, is not yet complete.
Being under this much pressure, I've come up with an idea for the following few years, which involves fellowships, a PhD, translations and another blog (thank you Bilus for the hint, I didn't think I'd make it, yet somehow things worked out, later than expected but nevertheless they did) - it's such a gorgeous plan, now I know how the goose that laid the golden eggs must have felt.
Oh and one more thing: as to get my BA, I have to take an exam in Polish, which makes perfect sense. But that's not all. On the 23rd of June, I also have to take an exam in English. I did that a few years ago and I do have a BA in English Philology, but no one seems to care. So yes, I'll have to translate something to / from English and rephrase, fill in the gaps and prove I am capable of building a flawless "if-clause".
Update: There's something wrong with the car. Something very wrong, so it's highly possible Dad won't be showing up in Poland after all. I have three days and no money to get to Bucharest. The money part is easier - I'll do what I always do in such situations, even though the older I get, the more embarrassing it is, ask my parents for cash. Now time, that's a real problem. But the number of people involved in my complicated life keeps getting bigger and bigger - mechanics, cousins, aunts and uncles, friends of the mechanics, ex-husbands of distant relatives I have never met and the list is still open. Maybe I'll start a club: People who never want to deal with Rux again. And then I'll run for president of this club.
Speaking of the tent, I recently discovered I still can't get along with children and I have very little tolerance of those small creatures running around, screaming and eating ice-cream while their parents have a beer or two. The afternoon shift may sometimes resemble a trip to the kindergarten and I become neurotic.
On the other hand, I have Ciechel to thank for a wonderful suggestion: using the verb bartenting instead of bartending. Bartenting, not yet to be found in dictionaries, is the art of bartending practiced in the tent, with its very own standards and code of behaviour. It's what we do best, and it's what I'll miss most after leaving Kato.
Yes, I'm quite nostalgic and even though this past week has been very, very rough (I'm quite pleased with myself, no nervous breakdown yet) I've had the tent to keep me going, and everybody's been extra nice. Szabot suggested I should stop wasting my nights studying and writing, take a break and get drunk for three days in a row. I considered it, but I was afraid it would only complicate things even more, so I'll have to pass the idea, at least for now. Three days is too much, one night was quite ok :)
Once this mess will be sorted out, I'll have time to write something more elaborate about these people and what a wonderful gift they were for me, all of them (all of the regular customers, that is).
For now, I have to focus on my paper - which, of course, is not yet complete.
Being under this much pressure, I've come up with an idea for the following few years, which involves fellowships, a PhD, translations and another blog (thank you Bilus for the hint, I didn't think I'd make it, yet somehow things worked out, later than expected but nevertheless they did) - it's such a gorgeous plan, now I know how the goose that laid the golden eggs must have felt.
Oh and one more thing: as to get my BA, I have to take an exam in Polish, which makes perfect sense. But that's not all. On the 23rd of June, I also have to take an exam in English. I did that a few years ago and I do have a BA in English Philology, but no one seems to care. So yes, I'll have to translate something to / from English and rephrase, fill in the gaps and prove I am capable of building a flawless "if-clause".
Update: There's something wrong with the car. Something very wrong, so it's highly possible Dad won't be showing up in Poland after all. I have three days and no money to get to Bucharest. The money part is easier - I'll do what I always do in such situations, even though the older I get, the more embarrassing it is, ask my parents for cash. Now time, that's a real problem. But the number of people involved in my complicated life keeps getting bigger and bigger - mechanics, cousins, aunts and uncles, friends of the mechanics, ex-husbands of distant relatives I have never met and the list is still open. Maybe I'll start a club: People who never want to deal with Rux again. And then I'll run for president of this club.
6 comments:
Sounds like the wonderful chaos of a change-point! Sit back and enjoy the ride, cos it'll ALL be okay!!! :-)
Oh, it's bliss. I'm convinced that once this whole mess is over, my life will seem peaceful, shallow and meaningless...Hopefully everything will be ok, not ready yet for another depression until, let's say, September :)
There is always a beautiful weather after the storm:P And there will be a good party in the "klubokawiarnia orąglak" (tent) when You return. And... f...ck September, it's in over two months :D
Check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHPOzQzk9Qo
Yaaaay, party!! Can't wait! And I'll finally be able to fully enjoy it, as I'll have no obowiazki when I return. Will there be a bottle or two of jabola involved? :D
If you want cheap wine, You'll have it :-) Say a word when and where (ok, we know where). We'll be there as we always do, with a cheap wines and mayby a little bottle of bourbon :P
I say we leave the bourbon out, it's safer (what if The Bourbon Kid finds tracks us down?) and somehow, the cheap wine & the beer in Okro seem to work just perfect every time :)
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