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Bebsi
Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 958
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Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 9:04 am Post subject: You know you're Romanian if..... |
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You know you've been too long in Romania if....
You hate air conditioning because you think it's going to cause the most awful diseases;
You drive around in summer with the left arm extended as far as possible out the window, preferably with a cigarette between your fingers, and you keep flicking the ash;
You let your mother do everything for you such as washing your clothes, cleaning your house, and generally running your life;
You don't call people on your mobile, but instead send a missed call for them to ring you, in order to cut down on the phone bill;
You actually wonder why they don't call you back, and get annoyed;
You use circular lace thingies on which to put things like vases, table lamps etc
On the said circular lace thingies, you also place porcelain ornaments in the form of hunter with dog, leaping fish and girl carrying bucket;
You still use antimacassars on the back of your armchair;
You eat a dinner of Ciorba de Perisoare (topped with smantana), 1/2 Kilo of pork, a portion of Cartofi Taranesti, a load of pilaf, maybe a few sarmale, topped off by a plate of Papanasi with LOTS of smantana and a few beers, followed two hours later by 8 mici and a plate of greasy chips, with more beer, and then wonder why you are putting on weight;
You smoke 60 a day;
You think everyone in the west has a 400 sq. metre villa, six luxury cars, a yacht and a collection of diamonds just for the wife, and doesn't actually work as there's no need;
You don't mind queueing for an hour in the supermarket because the person in front with the four trolleys piled with bottles of soft drinks and washing powder has realised he doesn't have enough cash on him to pay, and he starts an argument with the checkout girl (like, it's her fault he miscalculated the price);
You expect as a matter of course to wait in shops in malls while the assistants clip their nails, fix their hair and call Mariela on the mobile for a chat;
You go to a "house & home" exhibition and a bevy of girls in micro-micro-minis (great legs, granted) swarm around you to persuade you to buy a transverse-position hydraulic-action hi-speed-compression water pump, or at a book fair, the girl with the large outstanding qualities in front and very tight top tells you that the latest book in Swahili by Okandu Mobango is a very good read and you must have it;
You've just bought a top-of-the-range washing machine in Flanco, but still insist on washing by hand to save on electricity;
You swerve wildly, even if there's an artic coming straight at you, to avoid even the most miniscule pothole;
You don't use a seat-belt because you heard a story once about a guy who was trapped in a burning car at the bottom of a 400 metre cliff and burned to death;
You drive at 180 kph on even tiny roads, but when someone flashes to say there are cops in the neighbourhood, you slow down to 50 in a 100 zone;
When you hear someone say "We live in Romania and that takes up all our free time", you nod and smile knowingly;
You relate fully to this and find it amusing!!
Last edited by Bebsi on Sun Jan 13, 2008 3:34 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Mike_2007
Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 349 Location: Bucharest, Romania
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Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 5:16 pm Post subject: |
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Good stuff!
Be careful or soon you'll be spitting every 20m, walking around with your t-shirt pulled up to expose your belly and drinking beer at 8am! |
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naturegirl321
Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home
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Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 6:31 pm Post subject: |
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Bebsi and Mike are you Romanian or married to a Romanian? |
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Mike_2007
Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 349 Location: Bucharest, Romania
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Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 6:50 pm Post subject: |
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Neither. Got a couple of mates who are married to locals. Well, ex-mates; they aren't allowed out to play anymore.
Visa question I suppose? |
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naturegirl321
Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home
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Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 7:12 pm Post subject: |
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Nope just thinking that maybe if you were married to one, you'd adapt more. |
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Bebsi
Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 958
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Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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NG, what do you mean
? Putting up with the above and actually finding it funny on an everyday basis, IS adapting. Do you expect me to actually DO those things? Even my wife, who is Romanian, finds it all so absurd....and some of them most annoying
Glad you like it, Mike. It's all I have to do these balmy evenings while sitting on my balcony sipping a rum & coke!! More hopefully to follow.
BTW, Mike, did you get the PM I sent you recently? |
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Mike_2007
Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 349 Location: Bucharest, Romania
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Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 8:34 pm Post subject: |
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Sometimes you need to laugh at it otherwise you'd end up going crazy. I think being married to a local actually makes these things harder rather than easier (I was married to a Turk when I lived in Turkey, and I imagine it's pretty much the same everywhere). When you spend more of your time immersed in the culture with in-laws and working in local companies you have less chance to vent or laugh it off than you do if you are going around in a mainly expat community.
I know a few years back when I was hanging out regularly with a group of other Brits (before they got married off or left for greener pastures) I was less bothered by these things.
I didn't get the PM Bebsi. Maybe you sent it to Mike_2003, my old profile which somehow went defunct when I tried updating the mailing address? |
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Bebsi
Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 958
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Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 9:16 pm Post subject: |
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That's actually what happened.
I will send it again tomorrow, too tired now, drove around for 2 hours earlier after a massive deluge. Tram lines out, roads flooded, pedestrians stranded, taxis acting like it was Xmas, frustrated drivers trying to get home without driving into that metre deep ditch that looks like a harmless pothole, etc etc.
I mean, they try to avoid the tiniest bump...imagine the terror of negotiating a flooded road? |
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lyndalorient
Joined: 10 May 2007 Posts: 58 Location: Dublin
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Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 10:13 am Post subject: |
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Quote: |
You don't call people on your mobile, but instead send a missed call for them to ring you, in order to cut down on the phone bill; |
Actually its called beeping (when they only ring twice and hang up). I am in Ireland and my friend is in Romania. They have this sytem of giving your phone 2 rings just to let u know they are thinking of you. It drives me crazy as I used to get 20 Beeps a day from her and she would expect me to beep back at every time.
Though to be fair her heart is in the right place |
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dracotei
Joined: 22 Aug 2004 Posts: 48
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Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 9:38 pm Post subject: |
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Bebsi,
I am glad to see you learned what it means to be Romanian. Funny stuff! And you are so right!
Mike - are you still in Romania?...
C. |
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Mike_2007
Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 349 Location: Bucharest, Romania
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 12:13 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, I am. |
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Bebsi
Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 958
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Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 3:19 pm Post subject: |
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You also know you're Romanian if:
-You cheer and applaud when you hear a news report on TV about how much the government was defrauded in unpaid taxes last year, and a few minutes later wonder aloud why the government is not spending more money on health, education etc
-You cannot understand the point of paying insurance, but believe there should be some way of getting your money back if your car is damaged in an accident
-You moan about how poor you are as a young Romanian, while you get ready to take your Audi A6 to the garage for a service, before going to meet some friends at a trendy bar near Piata Unirii or Pta Romana, stopping along the way at the travel agent's to pay for the Greek holiday you plan to take
(Ouch!!)
-You refuse to pay 50 RON (15 euro) at a private clinic to see a doctor, as a matter of principle, and instead queue for 3 hours at a govt hospital to see a free doctor, for whom you feel you must bring 30 euro worth of "presents" to be sure of "getting cared for properly"
-You spend 6 hours driving up an overcrowded Prahova Valley "to get away from it all" at the weekend, along with everyone else in Bucharest
-You studiously try to avoid every minute little bump in the road, but happily drive 15cm up over an elevated tram line to save 20 metres' driving
-You drive on the tramline to get ahead, and wonder why everyone else is doing it too
-You complain about the slowness when you take the tram instead of driving because of said delays!!
-You disconnect one headlamp, believing the measure to cut down on battery consumption
-You're caught in total gridlock, and honk at the guy stuck in front to get a move on (gee, why doesn't everyone else think of doing that?) |
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El
Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Posts: 27
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Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 2:51 am Post subject: |
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Quote: |
You also know you're Romanian if: |
You find love in a place where you never thought you would find it.
You spend your last days thinking of Romania.
You go to sleep looking at the picture of the woman that made your dreams come true.
You find yourself at Fornetti's day after day just so you could spend one minute talking to the woman of your dreams and getting a good lunch treat at the same time.
You get a free hug, and wish for them when you are no longer there.
You find your the guy queued in line at La Fourmia with 10 huge bottles of water, 15 cans of orange soda, and 14 bags of Supa Alfabet and two jars of Arabiatta Spaghetti sauce, and 4 cartons of Angel hair pasta. Seeing the line behind you, and the counter filled to the brim with your things, you quickly sack your goods before Bebsi comes in and gives you a hard stare.
You end up taking care of the Babushka on the street corner where you live, despite being told she is part of the beggars mafia. You just know the pain she has had in life and in having to spend her last days begging for money to just get by, and at the same time pay the politia a piece of the action so she can get by another day.
You have the air condition on day and night, finally realizing why your eyes are so dry, because you had it on dry instead of cool.
Washing your clothes in the bathtub and hanging the clothes to dry all over the apartment while they spread water all over the wooden floor. Then finding out later that there is a wash lady who takes care of that but you never thought to ask, especially when the washer didn't work even though it was hooked up in the bathroom.
Not having any toilet paper on arrival to your apartment from a long plane ride, and needing desperately to use the bathroom.
Having to hail a Taxi at midnight to find toilet paper and a store, and not being able to communicate that you need to go to the store, and being hauled off and thrown out of the taxi after vomiting profusely in his cab only to take the toilet paper from the Hilton because you couldn't afford to pay 800 Euros a night for its use.
Finding yourself on a street corner having a deja vu moment and knowing that you were once born in Romania, and that after all the years you have been alive in this life, you have now finally arrived home.
Supa Alfabet day after day because it's all you can really afford....
Walking 3 miles in 114 degree heat to get Arabiatta sauce for the nights meal of pasta...
Losing 20 pounds in 8 weeks because you are finally seeing how bad the food is for you in the USA, and just how good it is in Romania.
Finding true all encompassing love in life only to have leave her the minute you profess it to her.
Seeing Romania as it is. A culture of strength and determination to get ahead in life, with a huge amount of real love for it's people.
Flowers which don't look like flowers anywhere else in the world.
Almost getting run over crossing the street, and moments before the car misses you, knowing that you could have waited just three more seconds and you would have been dead.
La Fourmia every 3 days..Carrefour anyone? It's too far, just go to La Fourmia...
Quiet nights....
Being alone when you wish not to be alone...
Taxis. I said it was 25 lei minimum charge. No you didn't. Politia???? Ok here is the 25....
Doro and his midget sidekick coming by every week to collect the rent. 1100 Lei...
Feeling things crawling in your hair only to go and whack it all off and find nothing there at all. It's Romanian kit to have almost no hair..
OTP, smells like sewage upon getting off the plane at night. In the day, the airport is filled with crying and weeping like no other place on earth. It was painful to leave, very painful...
Dreaming of going back and willing to work for food just to get there.
Women....Oh the women...My god they are so beautiful...No where else on earth have I seen such beauty..
God, help me to get home, please help me to get home.....
El |
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Bebsi
Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 958
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Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 3:16 pm Post subject: |
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Supa Alfabet day after day because it's all you can really afford.... |
And being so desperate your (sic) prepared to work for International House or it's (sic) kin????
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Bebsi
Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 958
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Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 3:45 pm Post subject: |
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Seeing the line behind you, and the counter filled to the brim with your things, you quickly sack your goods before Bebsi comes in and gives you a hard stare. |
Bloody 'ell, have we met in Carrefour?
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