Who needs creativity...

...when you have the Elvis Villa Hostel in Bucharest?

I could write a book of true stories, which few people might actually believe are true because they are so outlandish, and make tons of money.

If only I had a mini voice recorder...

Let's say that I've met a CRAZY French guy (yes, the one who came in stinking drunk the other night) who has been to Senegal, Ethiopia, and many other strange places. He's chased Ethiopians down the street after they tried to mug him. He reportedly also organizes circuses. Words cannot describe him in a simple paragraph. All I can do is say we all laughed and shook our heads so much and bent over laughing, it was like a new dance move.

Let's also say that a slightly older (40s?) man, who is reportedly 'looking for a European woman to take back' to the US, eats apples and hard-boiled eggs constantly. I've heard that people have seen him take his jacket off, and apples fall out. Oh, and the police were at the hostel this morning. Several of them. Apparently looking for him. He says he didn't do anything...

Let's say there is a Swedish guy, also a little older. He started telling stories about other hostels, though he began by telling a horror story of three Moldavian guys who snored loud enough to wake up the world. And yes, he was wearing earplugs. This story was corroborated by the American man listed previously. One story was of a very muscular black man, who fell out of his top bunk (this happened in SF), stood up, and then just whipped it out and peed on the hardwood floor of the hostel room. Or the story, which really is scary if you think about it, of an Arabic guy in a German hostel, who spent three hours early one morning, talking non-stop. The only words that were recognizable were Allah, Fundamentalism and Terrorist. This was also within a year of 9-11. The Arabic guy was asked to leave the hostel the following morning, as so many people were spooked.

Let's say another guy (I can't tell if he's British or French -- he speaks English with a working class accent, but also perfect French) told me a story about a From the Monarchy British girl that was at the hostel a few days before I arrived. She had a luxury suite in some hotel, but stayed at the hostel for a few days, because she "wanted to see poverty". Folks, this is not going to Romania to see the poverty in Romania. She wanted to witness poverty by spending time IN A HOSTEL. He's also spent time in Kossovo, Croatia...drinking at a bar with the police force. The police force which still had their semi-automatic weapons slung over their shoulders...

Let's say there is a guy from Texas, who looks a lot like Owen Wilson (he's the blonde one, right?). He speaks both Portugese and Spanish, and said he'd pegged me for a hi-tech refugee, when we first met and talked for a bit. He told a story about how it's possible he was very close to getting thrown off the Chain Bridge in Budapest, and into the Danube river. I haven't yet got any other really good stories from him yet. He did spend part of yesterday at the orphanage, playing football with the kids. He's a pretty cool guy.

Let's say, that in talking to these guys for about an hour last night, I laughed more than I have in weeks, and given that I've been very upset about something personal, it was a very welcome change for me and I was nearly crying from laughing so hard.

When they ask me to join them for a drink tonight, I'm going.

And hopefully I'll find my little notebook, and then I'll be writing down bits of these stories all night long.

Or until I'm so drunk I can't write anymore.

It's worth saying that while I enjoy Bucharest, I'm probably going to stay here until Sunday, just to be around these guys (I've only met one other girl staying at the hostel...) more.

And to think I was only going to spend one full day, and two nights here...

Varna can wait!