FAVORITE ROMANIAN PAST TIME... STARING!

Says one Romanian to another, "Hey Cornel, I'm not doing anything and you're not doing anything so lets go to the end of the driveway and stare at people going by!"

This is a common past time here in Romania. There is people watching which I am a fan of for sure but then there is staring like the Romanians do. They will be walking down the road, stop in mid stride and stare as you pass by. Surely I don't look that different! For god sake people I'm not that freaky to look at! I would have to guess that in a day I am checked out, and I mean looked at up and down, and not in a sexual way at all, probably 35 -50 times. If not more. We passed an old woman on the road the other day. She was younger than the way she looked I'm sure but just picture a lady bent over from years of carrying her groceries back and forth everyday. Never used sunscreen a day in her life. She walks with far to much clothing on as well as a scarf around her head tied tightly under her chin so she doesn't get a chill. She believes like many Romanians that if you get the slightest breeze in your ears you will be sick for weeks. She wore her husband's jacket which made her cheeks flushed and you could see the dirt collecting in her wrinkles as her skin warmed. This woman stared at us very intensly and Gabrielle took notice. Gabrielle watched as this woman fixed her eyes on me then to the children and the stroller and then back to me. It seemed she had a piece of lemon in her mouth as her face knarled up and her lips curled under her toothless gums.
"Why did that lady look at us like that?" said Gabrielle.
"Well she probably has never seen a stroller like this and we might look a bit different to her so I guess she's just checking us out," I attempted to explain.
"I don't think so," said Gabrielle thoughtfully. "I think she fell on the road and hit her face!" she stated with innocence. I smiled and under my breath chuckled as I thought, she did kind of look like that too.


It is with happiness that I share that I have found a tutor for my "big girls." She is a lovely young, Romanian woman who teaches at one of the local schools and who did her University Education in French. Her name is Andreea and so far she is working out well. She will be teaching the girls their language, social studies and mathematics in French everyday after she finishes teaching at her day job. She sits at the dining room table and I go upstairs with Ruby while she is napping. This way I get a chance to do some computer work ie)blog and maybe clean upstairs. My parents, bless them, had sent me with about 6 boxes of teaching materials so Andreea is happily sifting through all of her possible resources everyday she is here. Here's hoping it works out. Only thing she needs to do now is learn how to crack the whip!


This past weekend we were invited to a picnic by the Deputy Mayor and his wife. She works with David. The picnic was to be at his brothers villa which is under construction but on a beautiful lot of land in the mountains surrounded by fruit trees and a small flowing creek. So we drove in tandem with David's boss and his family (who are like our family here) into the mountains about 40 mintues west. As we drove up to our destination I felt like I had gone back in time 100 years. We had the only cars in sight everyone else had horse drawn carts and cows. There were cows walking down the street with bells around there necks. This one cow I think found it very rude of us to be staring at her and smiling as she looked away and kept walking. She was probably thinking the same thing I do whenever I get stared at. Oh dear, the Romanian is wearing off on me.
We had a bit of a procarious walk up to his villa but once there the area was beautiful. We were met by the very nice Romanian speaking couple who own the land and ended up being the brother of the Deputy Mayor. We were also met by their dog who had hair growing out of his right eyeball. I'm not kidding! I lost my appetite it was such a gross and freaky mutation.
So I have learned now that Romanian dinners and BBQ means eating a lot of meat. We were a small group of adults and they grilled enough meat to feed an Army. Chicken, Beef, Lamb, Sausages and Meech which is not the proper spelling but that is how is sounds. Meech is the mystery meat. Not really sure what is is. It looks like long tubes of ground beef. Or maybe like sausage without the casing. The only starch they eat is fresh white bread. Not ideal for someone who doesn't really like much meat. Oh well, they ended up having fresh picked veggies that were delicious so I busied myself eating those while David ate more meat than he had in one week. It was a musical night!!!

I have learned many lessons so far so I will try to write them as I remember.
1) If you don't want another drink of wine, do not finish your glass. According to Romanians, if your glass is empty it is crying and therefore must be filled again. Very early lesson learned as I stumbled home with Ruby in my arms. David had to bathe her that night.

2) Don't drink water. The fish have sex in water. This is the expression here and possibly the reason there are so many drunks.

3) Do not buy veggies/fruit in bulk. Or bread for that manner. There are no preservatives or steroids or sprays used in the cultivation of such things. In other words they die quick. You will find yourself at the market at least 3 times per week.

4) Don't let your laundry pile up. Washer can't take more than 3 pairs of pants, 1 sweater and some odds and ends. One load takes 2 hours and the dryer takes 2.5 hours!

Will post more as they present themselves. Now I'm off to a Boxing lesson/ work out Britany, the bosses daughter, has nicely offered to provide. Should be interesting. She says she's not happy unless my knuckles bleed. Here's hoping I make her proud!

Alison