I woke up at 5 o'clock in the morning. Alex, Bibi, her mother and Andi have been already awake and dressed while I was still was hanging around in my pyjamas. They were sitting around the table eating breakfast in the kitchen, the smell of fresh bread and omlett was everywhere in the air. But I wasn't hungry, because I just had an early morning snack at 2 am... So I confined myself to a cup of coffee and talked with Alex & Bibi.

I broke my personal record in getting dressed quickly this day, brushed my teeth, grabbed my stuff together and was ready to go. We thanked the Baracs for their incredible hospitality and said good bye. We ordered a taxi to the train station where Andi bought the train tickets to Brasov.

It was FREEZING COLD in the train. Just imagine: Romania, 5.45 am, -15°C and no heating at all. Poor Mike had 2 pairs of sox, 2 pairs of pants & thermal t-shirts, a big sweater, gloves, hat, big winter jacket… But nothing helped…my toes were frozen, my nose ice-cold, light headache and we still had a 3h train ride ahead. From there we had to take 2 busses before we even got close to the sports hotel where the "girls" were staying. Brasov was all covered in snow, it was very beautiful to watch.

Oana already recognized us, she was standing on her balcony and waved. We just walked into the hotel just in time to see the girls leave for their morning practise. So we waited in the lobby of Hotel Ciucas until their return. Four hours of waiting!!! At 12.30 I saw Silvia coming and some others coming in the hotel already. It took another 30 minutes until the rest arrived. Oana came directly to us and gave Andi a big hug. Oana introduced us to Octavian Belu. He couldn't understand that Andi was Oana's sister coz she was so tall and skinny.

Oana didn't stay long…she went straight to her room which she shares with Oana A. Petrovschi and a little bit later all the "girls" assembled in the lobby to have lunch together. All the girls were giggling when they passed us. Apparently they knew who we were, because Oana had told them. So there we sat …again waiting, waiting and waiting.

Finally they finished eating and Oana came to hug and sit with us. Sabi, Mona, Larissa & Oana Petrovschi also came to say hello.
This day they had the rest of the day off, so they could do whatever they wanted. Bitang did tell Oana that she shouldn't eat too much candy on her free day. The rest of the girls were going to the METRO, a very big store where you can buy anything. But Oana didn't want to go with them; she wanted to spend the day with us. She likes to draw and she showed me her notebook with her drawings and they were good and funny. There was a drawing of her standing on the podium (1st place of course). We left our bags on her room and went out for a walk.

Poiana Brasov is a ski town and there were some ski slopes behind the hotel as well. At the end of the slope there was some music playing through the speakers and some stands where you could buy something to eat or drink. We bought a bag of salty chips and Oana and me ate it (I hadn't eaten all day)…neither did Oana. She told me they only got a little bit of food at lunch (little bit of tomatoes, little bit of salad...).

We went up the hill and bought something really tasty. It's called Tulnic Cu Nuca, was some kind of pastry that was made while you waited and it had some sugar glazing on it. I didn't try, but Oana loved it. She had been trying for two years to buy such thing to eat, but every time her coach didn't let her. But now there were no coaches around. Looks like those gymnasts really don't get much food there. Guess we visited every candy store in Brasov that day (only for watching the sweets of course )

Oana also bought some colorful scrunchys to put in her hair and some make up. When it got dark, we headed back to the hotel. We sat in her room and "listened" to the TV a bit (well, the TV was broken, only sound nothing else :). Oana is a really funny girl and a wonderful mate to hang out with. I could get along with her very well. She was telling blond jokes all the time, tried out some outfits and acted a little crazy. That day was Oanas day.

In the meanwhile we heard lots of guttering in the hallway…the other "girls" returned from the "METRO". Oana Petrovschi came in the room and presented us all the things she bought (A Polaroid camera, a pair of fluffy bunny slippers, …). The whole team got a white body warmer from the coaching staff as a new year present.

A little bit later all the had to prepare themselves for going out somewhere in the evening. You could hear the sound of hairdryers in every room and you saw girls borrowing things from each other. One by one they came into Oana's room and Andi took some pics of them. They didn't mind at all. More and more it became some kind of team meeting, almost all the girls were in Oana's room now. Lore, Sabi, Mona, Oana B, Oana Petrovschi, Silvia, Ulmi, Florica. Mona took revenge and shot a picture of me for her own album.

All the girls looked fabulous now. Lore and Sabi did most of the talking. Although their English is quite good, they did most of the talking in Romanian. Sabi found I was "dulce" and "simpatic". He, he… Around 8 pm they had to gather in the hallway. And we had to leave too. We said a very long goodbye to the girls and especially to Oana.

This time the train back to Cluj was very warm, the heating worked - what a luxury!. At 4 am we arrived in Cluj where Andi's father waited to pick us up. That was very nice of him, especially when knowing that he had to go to work at 7 am.

On new year we gave Oana a call and she told us that Monica Sabou had to pack all her bags and go home when they were back in Deva.