Lunch: They, the mayor and his wife, asked where my lunch was and I said since I was stuck in Galati I didn't have time to make one, but I'd bring one tomorrow.
The wife whips out a table cloth, female coworkers clear off a desk in front of a computer, mayor's wife dishes out 3 pieces of grilled chicken onto a porcelain plate that came out from somewhere, Leno cuts me fresh bread, Nina from another office comes out with a plate of salt, the mayor's wife washes and cuts radishes, a fork and a knife is set before me with a folded napkin and a moistened hand towel, there is another knife for cutting more bread off the loaf, and the mayor's wife gives me 4 finger deserts that she just got as a gift from a bakery. It was great team work right there and it took maybe 6 minutes to put together, and inside I was giggling cause it was a little ridiculous, in the kindest way possible.
I felt like a pampered princess...I am not a princess, I understand I am a guest, but are all guest treated like this?
BATHROOM:
Here I experience those stereotype Peace Corps moments you see in pictures, and you can all imagine:
I wanted to use the restroom at the Primaria for the first time, I knew it was a hole in the ground type, but I had to go. I asked someone where it was, and I was handed a roll of paper and escorted around the building to the outhouse.
A group of kids ...I guess were I don't know why they were there, but the were just outside the mayor's office and they saw us and they surrounded me and asked me questions.
I needed to use the restroom and there's 3 stalls facing the open, and no small corner wall or curtains.
There were about 20 kids that were just surrounding me....so I told my escort: her name is Mihaela and she works at the librarian at the Primaria, that I didn't want to go anymore.
It was cute, but yeah...I just had to hold it in until I got home.
Showing posts with label princess. Show all posts
Showing posts with label princess. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Too: fun/semicrazy/potential scary adventure, not to share
So, I know I just slapped on a whole bunch of stuff on this blog over the weekend, due to the fact that I have internet and I can sit in front of the computer for longer periods of time.
But I had an adventure this weekend, and really I can't not blog it. There are lots of things I want to blog about, like culture differences and odd things I see and then how I react to them, like the fact that my physician in Mastacani I saw walking around in a fuzzy white bathrobe in front of the Mayor's office on Friday.
I wasn't that weirded out, I think I'm desensitized from ...college? but I do remember thinking *she is such a valued professional in this little village, like the mayor, who wears a leather jacket and jeans and tennis shoes all the time, she can wander around in a bathrobe and it's okay.*
People get casual in the US too, I mean, a few years back, kids all wore pjs to school, and some still do.
I later remembered that I was told Lots of doctors do that here, or at least it's actually part of the doctor dress code here!!
And while at first, it's odd and kinda creepy, it does make sense later because hospitals here aren't the perfect temp all the time like the US, and these places do get very very cold, so doctors have got to stay warm.
Another thing I find "different" is that the first questions people will straight out ask you/me are: how old are you? how much do you make? do you have a husband? boyfriend? no, not one in the states, one in Romania? why not?
It's just slightly different because these aren't usual things strangers ask in the US, not in CA at least.
Okay: Now STORY
Saturday was normal: I woke, cooked, ate, and cleaned a lot. Oh, I was invited to Luciana's house for lunch. Her whole family from all over, even from Italy were back and they invited me to eat with them. It was fun, there were happy kids, and there were lots of smiles and they were very welcoming. I left about 2 because I told them I had things to do.
The mayor's wife just asked me to keep this place clean, so I wanted to make time to do it all. Dusted, vacuumed, glass, wood, rug, etc...I wanted Sunday free too.
My plans for Sunday: wake up, go to the piata, go to Galati and just chat with Emily and Nils and maybe an older PVC Marie (who's in Group 21 and leaving in less than 2 months, she's also in CED and she lives in Galati), and then go home, use the internet and go to bed.
What REALLY happened:
I woke up late, went to the piata (I saw LOTS of horse drawn carts, there's patches of trees, and there's the piata on Sundays) and talked to random people and introduced myself, but the piata was closing and I was brave enough to go there by myself, but it would have been better to have a friend with me the first time and to introduce me to people, I bought bananas, and on my way back to my apartment I stopped by Luciana's house to ask her for logistics about Galati: which maxi taxi to take, how much does it cost, how to get around town, etc, etc..
She then invited me to lunch, and her dad, and it's fried fish with lemon and pepper...so I had to stay =) and one of her brother's family was still there too, so I got to share the whole thing with them: why I'm here, how I got in, where I'm from, is hollywood there, etc... That was cool.
Luciana, my self appointed bodyguard, was actually heading to Galati too, and while I wanted to be independent, I saw wisdom with going with her the first time. After talking over lunch, we decided to meet at 2:30 to leave for Galati by maxi taxi (so I could see how it was done). When I get home, my neighbor sees me and her daughters (about 14 and 16) and they are BBQing chicken and they want me to try some soup, cheese, chicken with this sauce, and mamaliga, so....I was in their kitchen, but I told them I had to meet Luciana and I wasn't hungry, they gave it all to me in plates, and they helped carry it to my apt so I could eat it later.
At 2:30 Luciana is by my door and we go to Galati by car (oh well), and then I get dropped off where Marie and Emily and Nils tell me go to.
Marie is having a luncheon with people from their church (disclaimer: all this stuff is my own personal experience/opinions and not reflection of peace corps and such) (When you're in Peace Corps you can't have kids during service and you cannot preach your religion...or convert other volunteers. It's actually really nice to know that PC is protecting you, because some people can be pushy about that kind of stuff), anyway, they had a ...Hawaiian poured salad? (rice, with milk and butter sauce, pineapples, green onion, flaked coconut, and chicken), a giant salad and Mormon taramisu (the same but without the rum and the coffee, because Mormons are discouraged from eating those kind of things).
Me, sister Bryson, Elder Bryson, Emily, Nils, Brent, Marie
Basically I had 3 lunches that day.
Anyway, after that lunch, which was fun and I had a great time talking to Sister and Elder Bryson and Brent, and EmilyNils, and Marie, Marie took Emily and Nils to the right maxitaxi to get home, and then she took me to get a hair dryer in the city, and we went to get me a maxi taxi. .....
For some reason...taxis end early on Sundays, we're not actually sure there were any going out to the villages on Sunday.
After standing there for over 45 mins, until 7:30pm, we gave up and this decision was made:
I would stay overnight at Marie's, even though she had no mattress (which I really don't care about), and I would try to take a taxi home Monday morning before I had work at 8am.
I could have called my bodyguard and I'm sure either she or my counterpart of someone would have come and gotten me...but on a scale of 1-10 (10 being worried or scared) I was 2.
I don't know, I trusted Marie (even thought I only really met her that day) but she's a PCV, and if I was late for work people would understand that there's no schedule What-so-ever for maxi taxi's here (maxi taxis are large vans that drive back and forth between locations, kind of like the vans at Poly that took you directly home), and I joined Peace Corps....what else should I have expected.
After we gave up on the maxi taxi deal, we were planning on how to get me to work the next morning, and I remembered that Brent (the guy I met during lunch) said that he'd driven by my yellow bloc before, and that he drove past my place at the same time I usually started walking to work. Perfect!!!! So Marie got Brent's number, and called him up, and asked for a favor, and we got me a ride for the next day. ALL solved!
After all the logistics were done, we chill-laxed and Marie showed me all of Galati basically, we met up with 3 of here friends later and we were introduced to the Danube River.
1 of those friends was someone from the US and as much of a tourist as I was: as seen by the pictures below. There's me, the tourist, and Marie =D
I look like Spider Girl. *you hear theme song for spider man*
Who needs alcohol do to silly and dumb things?
There were mosquitoes at Marie's place, but I donned a pair of rented pants, washed my face, covered myself with mosquito repellent, and went to bed (oddly, there's no mosquitoes in my apt, but 5 I saw at here place!!!) I do have netting over my windows.
Oh and we pillow talked (that's what girls, and cool boys do) and I called my mom to wish her "Happy Mother's day," using Marie's stuff! That generous Marie!
We both, not morning people, woke up at 6:15am! and I got my ride to Mastacani.
Yay for Brent!!!
Yay for Marie!! She said repeatedly that she felt bad about me not getting a ride back, she feels responsible because she's the older and wiser Volunteer and she let me down, NOT SO!
I didn't ask people what time the taxi's started and ended, so it was my responsibility to ask those things.
Anyway, it was actually really fun. I am tired, but my day was great on the whole! On top of feeding me, giving me stuff for sleeping with, gave me a tooth brush!, and letting me use her laptop and Mess credits to call my family! Marie gave me like 9 books too!!! What a Gal! Iubiesc reading!! ( I love reading!)
I got make up on, and the right shoes, and my nice trench coat on before work. I ate ice cream, and cookies, and .....I am treated like a princess.
Look who else I saw in Galati o_O
I had to take pictures for proof:
I am not a spy! (I am just a talented stalker with a point-shoot canon camera).
But I had an adventure this weekend, and really I can't not blog it. There are lots of things I want to blog about, like culture differences and odd things I see and then how I react to them, like the fact that my physician in Mastacani I saw walking around in a fuzzy white bathrobe in front of the Mayor's office on Friday.
I wasn't that weirded out, I think I'm desensitized from ...college? but I do remember thinking *she is such a valued professional in this little village, like the mayor, who wears a leather jacket and jeans and tennis shoes all the time, she can wander around in a bathrobe and it's okay.*
People get casual in the US too, I mean, a few years back, kids all wore pjs to school, and some still do.
I later remembered that I was told Lots of doctors do that here, or at least it's actually part of the doctor dress code here!!
And while at first, it's odd and kinda creepy, it does make sense later because hospitals here aren't the perfect temp all the time like the US, and these places do get very very cold, so doctors have got to stay warm.
Another thing I find "different" is that the first questions people will straight out ask you/me are: how old are you? how much do you make? do you have a husband? boyfriend? no, not one in the states, one in Romania? why not?
It's just slightly different because these aren't usual things strangers ask in the US, not in CA at least.
Okay: Now STORY
Saturday was normal: I woke, cooked, ate, and cleaned a lot. Oh, I was invited to Luciana's house for lunch. Her whole family from all over, even from Italy were back and they invited me to eat with them. It was fun, there were happy kids, and there were lots of smiles and they were very welcoming. I left about 2 because I told them I had things to do.
The mayor's wife just asked me to keep this place clean, so I wanted to make time to do it all. Dusted, vacuumed, glass, wood, rug, etc...I wanted Sunday free too.
My plans for Sunday: wake up, go to the piata, go to Galati and just chat with Emily and Nils and maybe an older PVC Marie (who's in Group 21 and leaving in less than 2 months, she's also in CED and she lives in Galati), and then go home, use the internet and go to bed.
What REALLY happened:
I woke up late, went to the piata (I saw LOTS of horse drawn carts, there's patches of trees, and there's the piata on Sundays) and talked to random people and introduced myself, but the piata was closing and I was brave enough to go there by myself, but it would have been better to have a friend with me the first time and to introduce me to people, I bought bananas, and on my way back to my apartment I stopped by Luciana's house to ask her for logistics about Galati: which maxi taxi to take, how much does it cost, how to get around town, etc, etc..
She then invited me to lunch, and her dad, and it's fried fish with lemon and pepper...so I had to stay =) and one of her brother's family was still there too, so I got to share the whole thing with them: why I'm here, how I got in, where I'm from, is hollywood there, etc... That was cool.
Luciana, my self appointed bodyguard, was actually heading to Galati too, and while I wanted to be independent, I saw wisdom with going with her the first time. After talking over lunch, we decided to meet at 2:30 to leave for Galati by maxi taxi (so I could see how it was done). When I get home, my neighbor sees me and her daughters (about 14 and 16) and they are BBQing chicken and they want me to try some soup, cheese, chicken with this sauce, and mamaliga, so....I was in their kitchen, but I told them I had to meet Luciana and I wasn't hungry, they gave it all to me in plates, and they helped carry it to my apt so I could eat it later.
At 2:30 Luciana is by my door and we go to Galati by car (oh well), and then I get dropped off where Marie and Emily and Nils tell me go to.
Marie is having a luncheon with people from their church (disclaimer: all this stuff is my own personal experience/opinions and not reflection of peace corps and such) (When you're in Peace Corps you can't have kids during service and you cannot preach your religion...or convert other volunteers. It's actually really nice to know that PC is protecting you, because some people can be pushy about that kind of stuff), anyway, they had a ...Hawaiian poured salad? (rice, with milk and butter sauce, pineapples, green onion, flaked coconut, and chicken), a giant salad and Mormon taramisu (the same but without the rum and the coffee, because Mormons are discouraged from eating those kind of things).
Me, sister Bryson, Elder Bryson, Emily, Nils, Brent, Marie
Anyway, after that lunch, which was fun and I had a great time talking to Sister and Elder Bryson and Brent, and EmilyNils, and Marie, Marie took Emily and Nils to the right maxitaxi to get home, and then she took me to get a hair dryer in the city, and we went to get me a maxi taxi. .....
For some reason...taxis end early on Sundays, we're not actually sure there were any going out to the villages on Sunday.
After standing there for over 45 mins, until 7:30pm, we gave up and this decision was made:
I would stay overnight at Marie's, even though she had no mattress (which I really don't care about), and I would try to take a taxi home Monday morning before I had work at 8am.
I could have called my bodyguard and I'm sure either she or my counterpart of someone would have come and gotten me...but on a scale of 1-10 (10 being worried or scared) I was 2.
I don't know, I trusted Marie (even thought I only really met her that day) but she's a PCV, and if I was late for work people would understand that there's no schedule What-so-ever for maxi taxi's here (maxi taxis are large vans that drive back and forth between locations, kind of like the vans at Poly that took you directly home), and I joined Peace Corps....what else should I have expected.
After we gave up on the maxi taxi deal, we were planning on how to get me to work the next morning, and I remembered that Brent (the guy I met during lunch) said that he'd driven by my yellow bloc before, and that he drove past my place at the same time I usually started walking to work. Perfect!!!! So Marie got Brent's number, and called him up, and asked for a favor, and we got me a ride for the next day. ALL solved!
After all the logistics were done, we chill-laxed and Marie showed me all of Galati basically, we met up with 3 of here friends later and we were introduced to the Danube River.
1 of those friends was someone from the US and as much of a tourist as I was: as seen by the pictures below. There's me, the tourist, and Marie =D
I look like Spider Girl. *you hear theme song for spider man*
Who needs alcohol do to silly and dumb things?
There were mosquitoes at Marie's place, but I donned a pair of rented pants, washed my face, covered myself with mosquito repellent, and went to bed (oddly, there's no mosquitoes in my apt, but 5 I saw at here place!!!) I do have netting over my windows.
Oh and we pillow talked (that's what girls, and cool boys do) and I called my mom to wish her "Happy Mother's day," using Marie's stuff! That generous Marie!
We both, not morning people, woke up at 6:15am! and I got my ride to Mastacani.
Yay for Brent!!!
Yay for Marie!! She said repeatedly that she felt bad about me not getting a ride back, she feels responsible because she's the older and wiser Volunteer and she let me down, NOT SO!
I didn't ask people what time the taxi's started and ended, so it was my responsibility to ask those things.
Anyway, it was actually really fun. I am tired, but my day was great on the whole! On top of feeding me, giving me stuff for sleeping with, gave me a tooth brush!, and letting me use her laptop and Mess credits to call my family! Marie gave me like 9 books too!!! What a Gal! Iubiesc reading!! ( I love reading!)
I got make up on, and the right shoes, and my nice trench coat on before work. I ate ice cream, and cookies, and .....I am treated like a princess.
Look who else I saw in Galati o_O
I had to take pictures for proof:
I am not a spy! (I am just a talented stalker with a point-shoot canon camera).Saturday, May 10, 2008
Not going hungry
So....people have been very welcoming here.
I have eaten at Luciana's many meals now. I think they are reimbursed by the mayor, or something because I've stayed there 3 nights and had many meals there.
This is fried crap, one of my favorites, with garlic sauce. It's strong. *That's right I said crap, it's a type of fish*
Chorba with an egg.
Mamaliga - which to me taste like corn mush. Like cornbread without the sugar, and not bread.
People have been giving me fresh veggies and eggs from their yard. Most people have their own vineyard, their own lettuce, green onions, and ...this other plant which I think is parsley.
I went shopping for food because there's no supermarket in this village, so we had to drive to the city to get me food, and....I am not going to be hungry ever.
What's not eaten every night, gets fed to the dogs and cats. I think that mentality is still in the Romanians in the city, because dogs and cats seem to co-exist fine in Ploiesti, and people are always feeding them their left overs.
There's not a mouse or squirrel in sight in Ploiesti.
For my first evening cooking in my apartment (my second night sleeping here) I ate well, and I have been eating well since. My gazda mom's food in Ploiesti was heavy in fats and oils and salt! and it's bland! Here it's not the same at all.
For my first night, I made myself plain rice, stir fried veggies (fresh from the ground), and steak!
I got my steak at the supermarket, it looked very fresh (actually I went shopping with 2 people: the mayor's wife and the librarian and the librarian drove and carried everything and picked out the meat for me).
The thing about being a princess...or just really well cared for; it's nice to get all the attention, and the smiles, and the politeness, and the free food, BUT it's going to be hard to get credibility at the work place, to be taken seriously when it comes to serious matters, and to be able to do things on my own.
This last matter is something I'm thinking about every day. I'm not sure how to handle it. Be myself? What to change, what to work on, what to say, who to talk to....how to dress? *sigh*
I have eaten at Luciana's many meals now. I think they are reimbursed by the mayor, or something because I've stayed there 3 nights and had many meals there.
This is fried crap, one of my favorites, with garlic sauce. It's strong. *That's right I said crap, it's a type of fish*
Chorba with an egg.
Mamaliga - which to me taste like corn mush. Like cornbread without the sugar, and not bread.
People have been giving me fresh veggies and eggs from their yard. Most people have their own vineyard, their own lettuce, green onions, and ...this other plant which I think is parsley.
I went shopping for food because there's no supermarket in this village, so we had to drive to the city to get me food, and....I am not going to be hungry ever.
What's not eaten every night, gets fed to the dogs and cats. I think that mentality is still in the Romanians in the city, because dogs and cats seem to co-exist fine in Ploiesti, and people are always feeding them their left overs.
There's not a mouse or squirrel in sight in Ploiesti.
For my first evening cooking in my apartment (my second night sleeping here) I ate well, and I have been eating well since. My gazda mom's food in Ploiesti was heavy in fats and oils and salt! and it's bland! Here it's not the same at all.
For my first night, I made myself plain rice, stir fried veggies (fresh from the ground), and steak!
I got my steak at the supermarket, it looked very fresh (actually I went shopping with 2 people: the mayor's wife and the librarian and the librarian drove and carried everything and picked out the meat for me).
The thing about being a princess...or just really well cared for; it's nice to get all the attention, and the smiles, and the politeness, and the free food, BUT it's going to be hard to get credibility at the work place, to be taken seriously when it comes to serious matters, and to be able to do things on my own.
This last matter is something I'm thinking about every day. I'm not sure how to handle it. Be myself? What to change, what to work on, what to say, who to talk to....how to dress? *sigh*
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