Wow! What a week! It is hard for me to believe that I have only been gone a little over a week; it seems more like a month. I have to concentrate to think back on my weekly routine before quitting Handango, and then leaving for the Peace Corps. It mainly consisted of getting up, going to work, watching TV, spending time with friends and going to sleep. To say the least it was comfortable and easy. I now find myself in an environment where simple conversation is a chore. That is not to say that things are not good though. I am being stretched daily, and in a lot of ways it is like High School again. school all day, sack lunches, a pretty set schedule and parents (gazdas: “host family”) that treat me like a son.A good friend told me before I left to remember that above all “It’s not bad. It’s not good. It’s just different.” That and a few other simple quotes run through my mind daily.
There are many differences as well though. The friendly smile, nod or wave and a “Howdy” is gone. It is replaced by Buna Dimeata (Good Morning), and a blank stare back. People here keep to themselves, and spend a lot of time looking at their shoes. Perhaps it is a big city thing, but Sebastian (my host Father) has let me know, “You just don’t do that” as I kepy waving hello. Some other adjustments to daily life are things like: no dryers or dishwashers, toilets that look a bit different than what we are used to with the tank mounted high on the wall, non degradable toilet paper and a small trash can for your used TP, showers that you sit in a tub to take because most people don’t have shower curtains and a wand to wet yourself down with. In my case it is accompanied by an enormous lack of water pressure and very little hot water. My favorite daily 20 min hot shower is a thing of the past. So once again…“Its not bad, Its not good, Its just different.”
Overall things are really good though. My host family is becoming just that, a family. They are a couple with one older son who lives next door in a second house with his Grandmother. They also take care of their 2nd cousin as he goes to High School here in town. In fact I am pretty sure I have displaced him from the room I am staying in for these next 10 weeks. The fact they have a house is quite an accomplishment as most families live in blocs – that marvelous feat of lasting construction that we have all heard about from the communist era. Having been in at least one and seen too many already from the outside I can tell you they are every bit as ugly/depressing as you have heard. On the inside though they really aren’t that bad, not the four seasons by any means, but very livable. I am also amazed at how much people seem to provide for themselves. The family I am staying with has a garden with tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, radishes, a couple cherry trees and I can not imagine what else. The best part though has to be the food! It is so GOOD, and so fresh! Every meal I have had, while different has been delicious! There has only been one or two things that I have had so far that don’t taste all that good. No matter how much I try to “integrate” fish egg pâté is staying off my diet.
