February 26, 2009
· Filed under Trivialities
No, I’m not visiting the zoo – I’m the attraction! Or so it would seem. My landlord called the first day we were here. He wanted me to pass on a message to ‘a man’ (presumably my husband) that the water pressure on our hot water heater needs to be adjusted. I think he was just calling to talk to the foreign chick. Guess what — I passed his test.
So, the next step was, he came to the apartment the next morning with his pal – to check the pressure on the water heater himself. As we chatted it came out that the primary reason his friend came along was to see the crazy American who moved to Moldova and actually speaks Romanian. “Really? You understand? But, how? And, why?” I suppose maybe it’s not so strange for a foreigner to be able to say hello and thank you, but for someone who’s only been in country for a couple days to be able to have a conversation about water heaters, pressure settings, water leaks, and why on earth that back room gets so darn cold – I’m no more than an attraction at the zoo.
I shouldn’t be surprised. As a friend put it once, we foreigners are just ‘bait’ – we draw people to us by our very being. The oddity of it, the strangeness, the craziness of someone from the West coming… well, here. So there it is. I’m bait.
February 25, 2009
· Filed under Language mishaps, Trivialities
It’s been fun being here in Moldova again. I haven’t spoken Russian in 5 years now, but I’m struggling through.
I went to the store yesterday to buy cereal for Bruiser. Infant cereal. Seems easy enough, right? Well, the store I happened to go to had its entire aisle of baby stuff in Russian only. That’s a little strange here. I’m used to seeing things in Russian and Romanian, and my Romanian skills are much more manageable than my Russian. Anyhow, I stood there in the baby aisle ‘reading’ Russian, looking for oatmeal or rice cereal. 3 different brands to choose from, tons of varieties. I was encouraged – a little frustrated that my Russian wasn’t better, but encouraged at the variety. So I carefully ‘read’ the boxes until I found exactly what I wanted – Oatmeal cereal for babies.
I got home with it, proudly showed it off to hubbs. Look! I bought oatmeal cereal! I even managed to read the Russian and find what I needed! Hubbs starts to giggle. My pride begins to falter. Finally he says it, “How did you mistake vegetable fish soup for oatmeal cereal?”
Hm. In case you were wondering, my 10-month old baby happens to like vegetable fish soup, even though I can’t stand the smell of it…
February 14, 2009
· Filed under Uncategorized
Sometimes when you read the news you wonder what’s wrong with people. Sometimes it seems like everyone’s messed up. You look at the headlines and wonder what this world is coming to.
But sometimes things go right. Hubbs took me out to breakfast this morning for Valentine’s Day. When we came home we went about our (very hectic) business – packing to move overseas in 3 days. And then this evening I couldn’t find my purse, but no worries. I figured it must be hiding under a box or stack of something or other – after all, with no furniture left in the house there are stacks and piles of ’stuff’ everywhere. We got a call around 9PM from Starbucks, where we had breakfast. They’d found my purse and wanted to return it, and they’d tried all day to find a way to contact me. When we went to get it do you know what I found? Everything. $80 cash in the wallet. My Ipod. My daughter’s toddler bling necklace. My credit cards. Another $20 in a pocket. People are good.
Over the past week my friends have come alongside me to help me pack. They’ve packed for me. They’ve moved furniture. They’ve hauled away my Goodwill donations. People are good.
Friends have loaned us pack-n-plays, shopped second-hand stores for suitcases and snow boots, brought us food, fed us in their homes. Strangers have helped us settle my in-laws in their new digs. People are so good.
This experience of moving across the world has been so good. We’ve seen people come together and shower us with kindness. It’s heart-warming. Thank you to all the people who have come alongside us and helped smooth the transition. It’s been a blessing.
