Police

Just how everyone likes to be woken up: by the police.

I was cooking myself breakfast when the doorbell rang. I ignored it.
Ring ring ring ring ring.

Finally it stopped.

I was in the bathroom when it started again. "Persistent little guy" I thought to myself.

I went to the intercom:
"Da?"
"Incomprensible Romanian"
"Nu vorbest Romanest"
"Incomprehensible Romanian"
"I don't speak Romanian"
"Police"

So I opened the foor, fully prepared to see an imposted.

No, it really was the police! He asked me if I owned the apartment. With bad Fromanian (French-Romanian) and even worse body language, I conveyed that I was renting the apartment from my boss' wife's mother. He showed me a piece of paper with a name. I didn't know who it was. I told him the name the apartment should be registered under. He told me he was going to check elsewhere in the building.

I've lived in Timisoara since August and I've only seen police a handful of times. Today was a bonus. I've started talking the tram everywhere and have never seen a ticket controller. Although the tickets are quite cheap, I was debating whether it was worth it to purchase the tickets, or should just hop on like the rest of the residents?

I bought tickets today and just my luck, the ticket controllers came. Seems everyone else had tram cards. I guess I was lucky this time.