Moldavia Continued

With or without olives

We went out for food last night and to watch the champions league game. Football is such a shit sport, but the other boys like it so I tagged along once they mentioned they serve a litre of beer for only two euros. The football was shit, but we ordered some food and drank some beer. Vlad ordered me a pizza, stating twice "Without olives". I hate the salty little drupes with a vengeance, so was a little surprised and disgruntled when the guy brought my pizza over with them on it. Alex alerted the waiter to the mistake, and his reaction was hilarious. He looked at me, then back to the pizza, shrugged his shoulders and said, "She's new and young. (Referring to the chef)" and walked off without a care in the world. Imagine if that happened in Britain?! It would cause a shit storm. I ate the olives and pretended to be happy, but I'll make sure we don't go back to that place in a hurry.

We streamed our show for the first time last night, and it was absolutely amazing fun. We peaked at 52 viewers, with 30 of them clicking the follow button to be notified when we stream again. Considering we did nothing really in terms of advertising, we were both really happy with the result and we're busy planning how to increase the numbers and make the stream even more wild!

This morning Vlad and Alex invited me to go to the gym with them. I asked how much it would cost, but Vlad said he was good friends with the owner and flashed a cheeky smile at Alex. The gym turned out to be the remains of a play park 200m from their house, with alot of metal bars at various heights to do different exercises on. I asked what had happened to the park, and why doesn't somebody fix it? Turns out this was one of the better play area's, since the table tennis table (A slab of concrete with no net) was still in one piece.

The days been generally lazy - even though it was 25 degree's outside, we've mainly been inside trying to plan new ideas for the stream. Its just too exciting and fun!

Tomorrow I think we're going to rent some bikes and ride around the city. Hopefully my arms will still function after doing ten push-ups at a time. (You do it Mikey! I know you do it!)

Moldova

Malderavie

Finally got to Moldova after quite a hectic twenty hours, with all three planes being delayed. This place is fantastic - It's like someone took Edinburgh zoo and let all the animals go, then broke some of the enclosures and graffiti'ed others, then put all the animals back. All the buildings are tall, square blocks of similar looking flats, and we've yet to come across a park which has play equipment that's still functional.

I've been here for two or three days, and already we've done so much. The wine and food is cheap as chips here, and is really tasty. Walking about the city is awesome - There's homeless people everywhere drinking on benches, starring you out as you walk by - Yet the roads are full of rich people driving ferrari's and porsche's. Water is scarce here - nah its not really, but you have to run the hot tap for twenty minutes until you get any sort of heat, which makes showering and washing the dishes a bit of fun. Vlad tells me that since we're at the top of the building, that's why it takes so long, and we're actually helping everyone else in the building to get their h2o flowing. Sure enough a few trips down the stairs saw a few cleaner than usual oldies coming out their flat and greeting us with a spasebas (Thanks in Russian) and a smile.

Vladimir's pad consists of one bed room and a living room. His flat mate (Ogre) sleeps in the bed room, meaning we get a couch each in the living room.

The bottom of each tree is painted white, to reflect the car's headlights in the dark. (When they asked me why I thought this was, I queried it was some rebellious young Moldovan street gang trying to make a statement.)

The roads are madness. If you cross anywhere other than a zebra crossing or traffics lights showing green, you will die. However if your on a zebra crossing, cars will stop faster than MC Hammer.

The language is tough as hell - I've been trying to pick up words when other people speak, but progress is slow. They speak so fast, and everyone seems to shout angrily at each other.

One of the main reasons for coming out here was to stream a bit of chess online with Vladimir. We've decided on the name ChessBS for our stream, and today we're going to buy a webcam and an orange squeezer. (Vladimir is adament we cant stream without freshly squeezed orange juice.)

After proofreading this post (Yeah I proofread...) I realized I make Moldova sound shite. It's actually really great - All the little quirks like the hot water and painted tree's just make this place so real - You really enjoy a shower when you have to wait twenty minutes for it, and after a few wines walking home your extremely grateful to the tree-painter.

Ogre has a car, so the plan is in a few days to go to Transnistria, a country that isn't really a country and if you go to jail your own country cant help you get out. We're also planing a trip to Romania.

**Edit: Added some pictures of the fun we had at the market place. And our successful trip to the second hand shop.

Brno, Czech - Day 3 and 4

Day 3 - Tummy aches and openings mistakes.

The day started out well - We were all cheery, all three of us battering moves into our laptops trying to find holes in our opponents preparation. My opponent was a Fide Master and has played 134 games this year, so I went into serious mode and found some moves that looked a lot of fun and would lead to an advantage if he didn't play the position correctly. We headed to the playing hall and the battling begun. My game was really interesting, it got really complicated really early, and at one point I remember sitting back chillin' like a villian, thinking my position was totally awesome. Turns out it wasn't, and after a bit of a fight he eventually won. Peter C won and Andrew lost. 

We got back and tried to get some sleep - I was feeling a little bit off, but got to sleep fine. I woke up about half four feeling sick and pooey. I was too tired to go to the toilet and be sick, so I curled up into the fetal position, remembered how good the fetal position feels, then finally got back to sleep a few hours later.

Day 4 - Feeling alot better, but still made a few trips to the Gentsch.

Woke up still feeling a bit off. Tried to work out what the problem was, couldn't, so just tried to wait it out. My opponent was Peter Gentsch, who has zero games in the database, so no preparation was possible, so I just drank plenty water and slept a bit more. Peter C kept offering me Tea with honey in. I rejected the offers, because only bears like honey, and I'm not a bear. The game was interesting, I fought it out for a bit, though it was eventually dead drawn. Peter C drew and Andrew won. Its a double round tomorrow, so we're going to head to bed early after a bit of preparation. I feel 100% healthy again, but I've made a pact with myself to actually wash my hands after going to the toilet, instead of just wiping them on a random's jacket.

Slovakia - Stara Lubovna Day 1, 2 and 3

Day 1 - How much is too much?

Arrived in Stara Lubovna after spending a few days in Krakow, Poland with Richy. Krakow is amazing fun, but since it wasn't technically a chess trip I cant write about it here. (I could, but the filth and debauchery would break my mum's heart and half the subscriber count.) So I got to the hotel in the evening, checked in and went and met Eric Peterson, a friend I made in the Czech Republic and who informed me of this tournaments happening. He sorted me out with access to the VIP area (Yea you heard right.) and we headed for the small room containing the tournament director, the arbiters, a few player's and some of the hotel staff. We played some friendly speed chess and drank the free beer. And the free triple distilled vodka. and the free plum vodka, and the pear vodka, and the radish vodka. A good time was had by all, and by the early hours I was speaking fluent Slovak. (I wasn't really the language is ridiculously hard, I just kept saying "Pivo" over and over again, which means beer.) Around three o'clock people are considering bed, so we walk outside still chatting and being merry. until one of the players of the tournament just falls over. We giggle a bit, gave him a wee shake, but he's properly unconscious. Someone filled a glass with water and tried to rouse him with it, but he was so drunk he threw it all over the guy next to him! In the end someone had to call an ambulance and the guy was taken away in a stretcher! Cracking night!

Day 2 - Chess Rock

I woke for my game the next day feeling a bit off. I managed to win it quite quickly which was nice, allowed me to go back to sleep for a few hours. Then Eric and I headed out to a Bowling restaurant, and we bowled and had some food with Mikhail and Lisa (Her name isn't Lisa, but I cant remember the Slovak Lisa word). Was actually quite good fun, managed to get two strikes! Me and Eric headed back to the hotel, hoping to get a quiet night, only to be told its one of the organisers birthdays, so everyone trooped back to the VIP room and got ridiculously drunk and ate chocolate cake. One of the stronger players of the tournament (Tomas, 2300 Elo) magicked a guitar, and began playing and singing various english classics and some Slovak specialities. He was incredible - It turns out he finished in 7th Place on Slovak's got talent, out of 16,000 people that entered! Another cracking night was had singing songs, drinking everything, and playing terrible blitz chess. 

Day 3 - Burnout

Was playing against Eric today. He's an FM, and he plays good, logical chess, and he's sitting next to me and understands English. The game was interesting - I pursed a silly idea, but managed to hold it together until a few silly moves at the end. I'm going to try and dodge the VIP room tonight. Nah who am I kidding? Pivo!

Competition Day 4

I've Thorgotten how to play chess.

FML

1. (Internet slang, vulgar) Fuck my life (expressing despairing annoyance).

Woke up around twelve after not being able to sleep last night, and made some breakfast. Jumped in the shower about half one, came out in my undies to find a new Room 32 lodger. Australian Beth (I guessed she was from Canada, seemed a little insulted) and I sat for the day exchanging travellers tales, jesting about how gay chess is, and arguing wether toads did or did not exist in Australia (They do). Headed off to the chess at half past 4 feeling confident and cheery. I hadn't realised that today, the gods had decided to fuck me.

Outside it was pouring rain with gale force winds. I think i swam / got blown further than i actually walked. Made it to the tournament hall and sat down to play my game. Got confused when my opponent moved one of her pieces in an "L" motion, then remembered this wasn't a Checkers tournament. I lost the game. Lost. No point, do not pass go, do not collect $200.

So after concluding that I'm shit at chess, i start the venture home. The rain is still lashing down, and the wind is... being windy, I stop at a grocery store thinking I'll buy some beer, alcohol always makes everything better. I go in to find some "Light" beer, its like 2.25%. My urine contains more alcohol than that. I ask the store assistant if they have any stronger beer, only to be told I need to buy it from a liquor store. "Okay, wheres the nearest store?" "They are all closed now, they close at 7 pm". I decided 2.25% beer was better than no beer, or urine, so I bought a 6 pack. Although I didn't, because after waiting in a wee queue, with one forming behind, the woman scanned the booze, and asked for 758 Kroner. I reached into my empty pocket. My wallet had fallen out at the Hostel when i was changing my jeans. I apologised and practically ran out the shop.

I continue down the road with the oncoming traffic looking ever more appeasing. I actually forced myself not to look left or right before crossing, hoping some crazy viking O.A.P would knock me down. Turns out they've bastardized the green cross code so that people have right of way when crossing, unless at traffic lights. 

A cigarette to calm the nerves. A gust of wind blew it from my hand into a puddle.

I was waiting for my phone to ring to tell me my parents had spontaneously combusted. Or that my cat had died. (I dont own a cat.)

I got back to the room and started going through my game. I heard a key in the front door, did a little fist pump, and turned around, only to find an older man walk in. "Oh Hi, which bed is free?". 

F. M. L.