Tis The Season

  So i've ranted about Starbucks in my last post. But tonight up the hilly, bumpy dirt road to my house, I got convicted.  I call myself a Christian, bust in the 6 almost 7 years I've been here in Romania, what have I really done to show His love to my "neighbors"?  Sure I've helped my immediate next door neighbor after her house burned down, but apart from that, what I have I really done to show these people that I'm not the "American Slut" that I know they call me?

  The holidays are fast approaching, and I know that there are a lot of old people and orphans going without this holiday season.  So what I want to know is this:  if you are willing to donate some money towards food to feed those in desperate need in the old Eastern Bloc, please let me know.  I would like to have something to back me up when I go to local businesses, hotels, restaurants, etc. with my plan.

  I've said in my last post and on Facebook posts that Christ could care less whether or not a  coffee shot celebrates his "birthday"; that we should be focusing on what Jesus commanded us believers to do..... and if what is going on in Syria with Russia is any indication, then we should be prepared, we shouldn't be focusing on trivial matters like Red Cups for coffee containment, but rather the container that holds a persons soul.

  So who's with me?  I kind of need to know what kind of support I have before starting a "go fund me page".  I know that if this is something He has placed within me, that the money will come.  But of course I'm gonna be mu human self....God knows me, He knows I'm gonna be obstinate!


  C;mon people let's show the world HIS love!

Why Lord?

As I mentioned a while back we bought a house with land.

Well I was planning on moving this week but God has decided otherwise.

our house is not easy to get to under normal weather conditions, its up on a hill

where thw one lane roads are just dirt and rocks. well it finally. decided to start snowing and raining This week. couldn't snow for Christmas or new year. Nope, had to wait till I need to move. Grrrrrrrrrrr :-Q

♪♫Waiting For The Man♪♫

....well that's how David Bowie put it anyway.  Albeit 'The Man' in Bowie's classic is NOT the same 'Man' I've been waiting on.  No - no smack for me, thank you very much.

..No, the man I've been waiting on, well several anyway, is an arm of the Romanian government. Yes, I do love it here, but there are situations where my love and adoration is caught in a 'Catch-22'..... *sigh*

Okay, so Marius came home 2 weeks ago  for his vacation.  We went to the D.M.V., or the RO version anyway, to see what was needed to change our drivers licenses from U.S. to RO ones.  Marius had gone about 2 years ago, and was told we would have to take an exam, and that you could study and practice online - Marius didn't even pass the online exams - I guess they want the drivers here to be Einstein's - if you meet a RO with a RO drivers license I can guarantee they KNOW how to drive, and drive safely, even if their driving looks a bit scary.

So on this visit, we were told NO, we did NOT have to take exams, we did however have to have the following:
1.  Our original U.S. licenses
2.  Copies of our D.L.'s, and copies of ID cards (mine being issued by Immigration)
3.  Translations of our D.L.'s into ROmanian, which had to be notarized.
4.  Medical Visitis (which included a Psych eval; sorta)
5.  Taxes to be paid
6. Criminal background check (which included paying more taxes at another place)
7.  A notarized declaration stating, that our D.L.'s were real, not revoked, no outstanding warrants on them, etc.)

The criminal background check for me wasn't ready till today.  Marius was able to get all of his turned in last week - literally the day before he left.  It took us close to 2 weeks to get all of this done.  My background check took 4 days because I'm American, and mine had to be done in Bucuresti, unlike Marius' which was done locally here in Tulcea.

So anyway, I get up this morning, head on over to the Police Station to see if my Cazere (background check) was in, and it was, I then head straight over to the D.M.V., since I have everything else. I got there at around 9:15.  There was already a HUGE line ahead of me.  So I waited around for a few minutes, then I notice that the first hour (9-10) was for the people taking exams.  So I decide to walk next door to talk to my sister in law, who works at a pet store there.  We drank a coffee, and then I hiked back across Piata Ciuvica, and across the street to get to the Romtelecom offices to pay my home phone, cable, and internet bill, then walk back over to the D.M.V.  It is now 10 a.m. and the same people are still in line.  I thought about leaving and just coming back at 2 p.m.  Cause the offices close at 1 for lunch, and re-open at 2.  Glad I didn't.  After waiting for nearly 2 hours, the guy (actually the dept. boss) looks at everything and notices MY declaration is incomplete.  It was exactly the same at Marius'!!  Well according to law, because I'm not a RO citizen my declaration needed to cite a few laws and say a few more things.  GRRRRRR...... WHY DIDN'T THEY TELL US THAT WHEN MARIUS WAS HOME?!?!?

  So off I go to the Notary, and bring them the wording, and law citations and attempt to explain that MY declaration needs to say such and such.  They say it will take half an hour.  It's 12:40 - I explain I need to get home, my kids are there waiting on me, and that I would come back at 2.  PERFECT! the lady says!

  Okay, before your panties twisted in a knot, it's acceptable and normal here to leave your kids alone in the house for a few hours.  That and they are old enough to stay alone.

  So I grab them some snacks they begged me for and head home.  I get home just before 1.  I've also got to go to the P.O., cause I have a package from the U.S. there.  I can only pick up pkgs from outside the E.U. at a certain P.O. on certain days, Mondays & Thrusdays, and then only between 1-3 in the afternoon.  So I hang up the laundry I washed, grab all my stuff and head back out the door at 1:40.  Arrive at P.O. at 1:45, get package, which was from a friend I haven't heard from in ages. She made my girls some very pretty hair bows.  So now back to the notary.  I arrive there at 2:03, and notice the notary headed out as I'm headed in. *grrrrrr*.  They give me the declaration, along with the paper the dude at the DMV gave me, make sure everything is correct, and give it back to them.  Now I have to wait an HOUR for the notary to come back - why didn't she tell me the notary would be leaving at 2 - I could've come back at 1:30.

  So 3 o'clock rolls around, and here comes the notary.  They take care of me first (thank God), and I pay for their services and head on over to the DMV.  Now the guy told me to come back in the morning with the new declaration, but I said, "Nah, let me just go ahead and get this over with now".  So I go in, hand it to him, everything is good!  I take my picture, sign what I have to sign, and he then tells me it will be mailed to me within about 15 days.  I ask him for the temp. license; a piece of paper that I show (if stopped) to the po-po proving that I have permission to drive, just waiting on the actual license.  He doesn't have any, and that I have to come again in the morning around 10 or 10:30, so his co-worker can fill it out!  So now I understand why he said to come back in the morning.

  *****SSSSSSSIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGHHHHHHH*****

  So about the medical visit, which included seeing a shrink.  We get to the medical place at around 9, give our info, pay the fees, and  are told to go across the hall.  Another doctor comes out grabs us, hurries up and takes our info.  signs off where he has to sign off - that he examined us, and we're cool.  Then tells us to hurry up and go over to the shrink - who is in the mental hospital, which is right next door to our apartment building coincidentally, but to hurry, she will be closing her office at 10, it's 9:30.  So off we run, park the car at 9:40, run around, and finally find this woman's office, we walk in at 10 min. to 10.  I say hello, and give her my ID, Marius explains we're there for the fisa for prescimbare permis de conducre.  She takes my ID, and looks at it, and asks "what is this" to herself. Marius says "Ea este Americanca".  It was hysterical.  She immediately puts the card down, and hurries up and fills out our fisa, and signs it.  We then go to the eye doctor, who was late coming in.  I get in there, and I have to read the very last line.  Now, in Romanian they don't have names for the letters - they just say the ABC's by their sound.  So there I am BUTCHERING the letters, and I guess the doctor and the nurse kinda looked at each other and at Marius a little funny, cause he again explains "She's American, and still learning the language".  "AH!  Bine.  She's okay!"  I'm done.

Now if this would have been Marius on his own doing all this, he would have gotten nothing but ATTITUDE from everyone at every Dr.'s office, ever place to pay taxes, EVERYWHERE, but because his wife, the AMERICANCA was with him, well they were just a sweet as sugar, sweeter maybe, if that's possible.  This is that catch-22 I was talking about.  You have to run around like a chicken with its head cut-off to get anything done here, but because I'm AMERICAN, it goes easier for me and Marius, for the most part anyway.  Oh that and you can get things done faster with bribery.  Yesh, I know that goes on everywhere, but it seems to be more open and blatant here, which again is a good thing and a bad thing.

I asked Marius, why the DMV didn't just do it like they do back home, you know put the little eye checker's there, and pay everything there.  And WHY all the medical sign-offs?  I was like it would make things much easier for everyone.  He looked at me and said, cause if they did that, they couldn't get your money, and he's right.  It cost us right around $500 for the two of us to get our licenses.

Romania I LOVE YOU, but at the same time, you make me crazy!

What I ♥ about Romania

  I've been here in the old Eastern Bloc for nearly 3 years now.  Yes there are things about back home that miss, mainly my family, the rest of it...meh.  But here's what & why I love living in Romania.

1.  Romania is peaceful.
      Romania has a long history, with it's share of violence, but none that she herself started.  Since it's inception, WAYYY back in the day.  Romania had 1 thing on her mind:  how to live a good and peaceful life.  She never sought world domination.  Instead she was attacked and plundered by the Ottoman's - who she eventually overthrew (the only country I know of that did that during that time) thanks to Vlad Tepes, a.k.a. Vlad the Impaler, or for you 'Twilight' freaks - Dracula.  Then came the Romans, who were in this country only a short time - the shortest of all their occupations.  Then later came the Soviets and the only way that they really kept Moscow out of their business was to be even harsher in their policies than the Russians themselves.  And now - the E.U.....but I'll save that for another post.
     Romanians have a mentality of "let those fools take care of themselves, we've got ourselves to think of".  And in that I think they are right.  They don't want to get involved in physical or cultural wars.  They just want to live a good life, one that doesn't involve scraping by, or constantly fighting.  For this they have an enormous amount of my respect.  But this has also made them weak in the sense that it allows countries and politicians that are perceived as more wealthy or powerful to prey up on this intrinsically rich country.

2.  Romania is old fashioned.
      Travel through a little village (Satu) here in Romania, and you will still see horse drawn carts, horses and mules being used to plow fields.  The old ladies cutting funny looking plants to boil into a tea to cure an ailment.  The ways of the past live on here.  Yes technology is here as well, otherwise, well I wouldn't be blogging now would I.  But it doesn't permeate every facet of life here, and for this I'm grateful.  I don't have to rely soley on whatever crack-pot calls themselves a doctor here (at least in Tulcea anyway), I can talk to the old ladies in my neighborhood and they will tell me exactly what I need to do in order to cure a cold, or kidney stones, or liver or kidney problems - and they work!  LOVE THEM OLD LADIES!!!!

3.  Romania is Beautiful
     Romania has some truly gorgeous landscapes.  Granted the sovietic style architecture detracts from the beauty to be found along the coast of the black sea, and in the cities.  But out in the country, there are mountains, hillsides, everything.  It's untouched.  Now there is a MAJOR problem with littering here.  For some reason or other the people here have no qualms about leaving trash on the streets or sidewalks.  I don't understand that.  It makes the country look poor and ugly, and it's really not.  Another thing that would help, especially in the cities, is if they learned what landscaping is.  Yes, the blocs of apartments are old and ugly, but some fresh paint on the buildings and fences, put in some grass, bushes and flowers, and you could really make it pretty.  Everyone in the building could chip in to renovate the outside to look as good as what they've renovated inside their own apartments.

4.  Romania is "Centrally" located.....
     ......well at least to all the places in Europe I have always wanted to visit.  Italy is only a 2 hour flight away.  Germany, about the same.  Odessa, Ukraine is only a few hundred kilometers by boat or car. I want to see the city with my name, mainly so I can steal the sign that says "Welcome To Odessa", even if it is in Cyrillic! ;p  Turkey, specifically Istanbul is just across the black sea, or a 1 day trip by bus.  France isn't too far either.  Ireland - I think I will save the home of my ancestors for last, cause I really want to take my time there, and enjoy it.  No I won't be having a pint of Guinness - that stuff is just awful, but I can pour you a perfect pint!


There is more to this list, but this will have to do for now.  I've stayed away from the C.T.'s cause I think most people, well Americans anyway think I'm nuts when I start sharing those!  ;p  Speaking of Americans.  I will soon follow up with a "How To Behave When In Europe" .... my last trip to Italy, made me embarrassed to be carrying a U.S. Passport, thanks to some College girls from the states.  Oy to the vey!

Learning Curve

  While I used to think of myself as somewhat intelligent, I now question that assumption.  I mean they say people who learn other languages quickly are smart, really smart!  So what's wrong with me???

  I've been in this country for 2 years now, and can only understand and communicate verbally on a small scale.  However I can read and write it dang near perfectly!!!  What's up with that, it's normally the other way around.  Most people learn to speak it first, and later they master the written part!!

  I always knew I was a little different, but c'mon!  Okay, enough squawking from me.  One thing I have noticed of myself though is that it depends on who you are conversing with when trying to understand and speak a second language.  For example, my mother in law, who I thought would be the very LAST person I would be able to communicate with, has been the first.

  Let me paint you a mental picture of my mother in law.  She's 58 years old, at least 6 feet tall, or just under it.  Set in her ways.  Never been outside this country.  She grew up under communistic rule.  She's got have things her way.  When she speaks with Marius or his siblings, etc.  It's not "harsh", but it's not "sweet" either, it is just matter of fact.  When asking why they did such and such, it's not in the the tone of "well, baby, why did you do that?"  It's more like "WHY?  Why did you do that?"  (conveying tone of voice is not easy).  I hope you know what I mean.....

...so you can see why I was thinking I would never be able to communicate with her.  I was scared, but it does make a person nervous.  However, with my mother in law, she is patient with me (something I wasn't expecting, as she is NOT the most patient of persons).  Another example, the woman who owns the little store in front of our bloc - I don't speak grammatically correct, and I mis-pronounce the words, but she is patient with me, helps me when I need help in saying a word.  She talks to me as if I understand her, and believe it or not, most of the time I understand about half of what she is saying.

  Then there are people who when I try to talk look at me like I'm a retarded alien from the planet Xenon!  So what I've learned to do is when I go to the market, or a banc, or somewhere new, where the people don't know me (like the people at the store by my bloc), I start off with saying "Scuze, nu vorbesti Romaneste foarte bine....." then go on to say what I want/need.  That usually softens them up and they know that I dont' speak well.  And they try to help.  Most of them do, I still get some cranky women from time to time who think the sun and earth revolve around them, and they start chastizing me for NOT speaking the language fluently!  Grrrrr.....I would like to rip them up out of their comfort zone and drop them in middle of Kansas where there isn't anyone around who speaks Romanian, and tell them, "OKAY!!  Your Turn.  You have 1 year to be fluent in English, now, let's see you do it!  And oh yeah, here are 3 small kids to deal with on top of it all!"

  Yeah, I know, wrong attitude, but I'm human, and well, that's just me.  But for all of you out there who run into emigrants, who don't fully speak the native language fluently, or even partially.  Be patient with them, especially if you see them trying.  For myself, when people look at me funny, cause they don't get what I'm trying to say, it makes me want to shut up and not even bother.  But when I see them trying to understand me through my butchery of their language, and then try to help me, it gives me a little more confidence, like, "Hey!  I can do this!"

  And I can, I mean I look at my husband, he speaks 5 languages, well 4 now really, as he hasn't used one of them in so long, it's kinda touchy with that one.

  So next time you run into a Mexican, German, French-man/woman, etc., and you see them trying to speak English, don't look at them like "YOU SHOULD BE FLUENT", don't give them attitude, help them out!  Encourage them.  And a lot of them probably know more English than they think they do, but are so self-conscious about their pronunciation and bad grammar that they are embarrassed to try to speak!  Encourage them!

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

....No I didn't go to Vegas and win a big hand at Black-Jack.

I actually suck  money butt at card playing, even when it's just for toothpicks - God help me if I ever have loads of food stuck between my teeth and the only option to getting a tooth pick depends upon my winning at Texas Hold 'Em or Black Jack!  I'll have a teeth full of food - gross!!!

No, day before yesterday, I came home with the kids from school, and stayed outside with them for a little while, so they could run off some of that pent up energy.

While I'm sitting there watching the kids, and the expression on the faces of the neighbor's kids when they hear me talk - cause I'm an alien, who speaks in funny sounding language!

...seriously, that is how they look at me.  However I'm pretty sure I'm the best looking alien they've ever seen, I mean my skin isn't green or anything.  I'm a non-mutie type o' gal!  They even laugh when I talk, and ask my kids "Ce zic?" (what'd she say?)

So anyway, as I'm sitting there minding my own business (actually trying to mind other people's too, but language barrier sucks), one of the neighbors in the adjoining building starts talking to me.

He's an older guy, wearing a funny wanna-be cowboy type hat, tinted glasses (sort of a rosy/red tint) that happen to blend perfectly with that 'I've got a drinking problem complexion'.  PLUS he's missing teeth.

...don't I feel oh so special?

So he's talking to me, I can't understand him, not just cause of language barrier, but the lack of teeth, compounded with massive quantities of either wine or beer.  Isabel can't understand what he's saying either, and she's fluent in RO!

He keeps invading my personal space (which is one of my pet peeves), and then he asks me how old I am, was shocked to find out I'm over 30, he thought I was like 24 (he did score brownie points there).  He then compliments my blue eyes, and proceeds to tell me his wife is gone, and his kids are in England.

After he's said all this, as well as other stuff, of which I have no clue.  Out comes a couple who just got married Saturday, I believe he was trying to tell me they were leaving for their honeymoon, as he made the international body language sign for 'bedroom wrestling'.

Thankfully my 3 year old son LOVES his mommy, about a minute after this "sign language" took place, Paul runs over to me, wraps himself around my leg looks up at the old man and pointedly tells him:

"Mommy mea! My Mommy!"

I got out of there as quick as possible.  I wasn't scared and didn't feel threatened or anything like that, I actually found it humorous, but as I could smell some sort of alcoholic beverage on his breath, I decided that it would be better if I got the heck out of dodge as quickly as possible lest he start thinking I was enjoying his advances.

So lucky me, I won the "chicken dinner": being hit on by old man with no teeth, stinky breath, in a foreign language!

Now, aren't ya jealous???

Romanian Craftsmanship

So every year on August 15th there is a HUGE celebration here for sailor's or people named Maria, Mary, Marius, etc. - in honor of the virgin Mary.

Well for a week prior to the 15th, tradespeople come in from all over the surrounding area, artistsans of every type have a booth set up where they sell their goods.  Here are some of my shots. 

Please bear in mind I'm an amateur whose still trying to learn all the "tricks".

**NOTE:  if you click on the pictures you see the picture in the original size (or you should be able to)!