This phrase has been repeated to me hundreds of times
throughout the past three weeks, and I agree. I am very lucky to have the
opportunity to live and work in Romania this summer! However, after being away
from the U.S. for three weeks now the struggle is still very real and the
simplest tasks are monumental and exhausting.
Laundry…I have to plan to wash my clothes days in advance
and hope for good weather so that maybe they will dry by the time I need them.
Not to mention figuring out which bottles contain bleach, detergent, and fabric
softener in a room without internet. Bring along the Romanian/English dictionary!
The store…or getting anywhere outside of the village. This
is a real doozy. There is no store in the town I live in or even the next,
which means if you need something once again plan in advance.
Step 1: Find out who is driving into town in the near
future.
Step 2: Contact said person and try to communicate with them
or find someone who can.
Step 3: See if they can pick up something for you or better
yet if they have room for you to come along! (Last time I was squished in the
back with a bicycle and groceries to get back to Viscri, while two guys I didn’t
know sat in the front, but they had been vouched for by someone I knew so that
counts for not getting in a car with strangers right?)
Step 4: Figure out what you are trying to buy. (Once again
bring along your dictionary, currency converter, and patience. You can do
this!)
Step 5: Hope you are getting the right thing because you
only have one shot!
Communicating…I moved here without knowing a single word of
Romanian, which is definitely my own fault, and is a constant source of
frustration for me as many people here do not speak very much English, if any at
all. In the village of less than 200 people there are multiple languages spoken
by its residents, and only a handful actually speak English. There is Romanian,
Romani (what the gypsies speak), and the Transylvanian Saxon families speak something
similar to German. Pretty neat right? Except that I speak none of these
languages…but I am working diligently on figuring out Romanian! If only I could
stop pronouncing the words as if I was speaking Spanish…too many foreign
languages at one time.
Conversation…This is the main problem plaguing me. I
constantly feel like a burden trying to get my point across because it takes so
long, and normally I leave the interaction confused or frustrated. Also, I have
no one to talk to. No one to talk to about anything going on around me or what
I am thinking, so I am definitely not hitting my 20, 000 words a day, I feel
lucky if I hit even 1000. I am starving from lack of conversation! And when I
get the opportunity to talk to people from back home, which is rare due to the
enormous time difference, I word vomit all over them about anything and
everything just enjoying the sensation of using my vocal chords. Not the best
way to keep friends, that’s for sure. So to all I have done this to, I am
profoundly sorry; I really am trying to be less dependent on y’all, but thank
you to everyone who has taken anytime to talk to me (or listen), I do really
appreciate it!
At the end of the day, I am still very grateful to be here
and have this opportunity to learn so much about a different way of life and
myself simultaneously. I guess I am just experiencing some growing pains.
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