I left for the Metro Station and tried to memorize the look of the apartment block where I'm staying. There's a bright light in the corner. You walk through a little grassy area out front. There aren't clear markings on the street. I'd only left to go to the grocery store down the street and then walked back with Cami so I wasn't really sure at all where I was. I turn out onto Iancului, I thought the metro station was right in front of the apartment, don't really know where I'm going but I think I'm heading in the right direction. I walk for a long time in the dark toward Mihai Bravu the intersection with Mihai Bravu. People are out and about. It's 9 o'clock in the evening, but I'm completely out of space and time and haven't slept for 36 hours. I feel a little scared, a little lost. A young guy with headphones on walks towards me. "Imi spuneti, va rog, unde este statie de metrou?" He replies "......drept inainte...." Asks me if it's the Iancului station I'm looking for. "Da." I'm so jetlagged and flustered that I've lost basically all ability to comprehend spoken Romanian. But I see the way he's pointing. I keep walking. I reach a flower shop at the intersection. I stop. How will I ever cross this interesection? It's really big. I don't see any crosswalks. I can't recognize a metro station. Flustered to the old lady: Imi spuneti va rog unde este statie de metrou." She replies, I barely understand but I see where she's pointing. I walk through an army of taxis. Find the crosswalk. It's from here to China across Mihai Bravu. Cross one. Cross another. I'm at the glass house that is the Piata Iancului metro station. Don't see anyone. I smoke because I feel more comfortable to be smoking than just standing around. I feel a lot like an outsider, or that everyone knows I'm foreign? I wait for 10 minutes. There's a nice young guy there. He approaches me, starts speaking in Romanian. No comprehension. Where is it. "Vorbiti ingleza?" He does. He tells me that there was a girl here looking for me but she left to go to the other metro station. Generous, helpful. Romanian angel #2. Thank you. I start heading that way. And then I meet Delia (not Groza, but the OTHER Delia.)
She's so kind. She takes me down to the station. Shows me where to buy a ticket. "You should buy it because you need to be independent." I do. She gets a map for me. We are going to the Universitate station to get some Romanian food. While we're waiting, we try to talk some in Romanian. I'm so tired, and it's just not there. The train comes. It's lovely, clean, open, Disney World monorail.
We arrive at the Universitate metro stop and there is a photography exhibition. We're both pleased.
When we leave the Universitate stop, it has started to rain. "Bucuresti is so ugly when it rains." I think it's beautiful. I think the old buildings are perfect. It's Friday night. Downtown Bucuresti.
We walk some ways to an amazing restaurant with high ceilings, stained glass, beautiful wooden floors. It's like a cathedral restaurant. We are seated on a balcony overlooking the bar. We talk for a long time, about a lot of great things. She tells me about the state of human rights in Romania. Education is where it needs to start. We talk about the corruption of the government. There's a program she works with, I think it's through AIESIC, she's a member. She focuses on bringing young people overseas, not to leave, but to learn, come back, and help improve the state of things in Romania. She's hopeful and funny. Romanian angel #3. She's places a call to Ramona in Chicago's brother in Bucuresti, but he can't meet us tonight.
We talk about rights for gays in Romania. She says that protestors throw tomatoes at the Pride parade. "How can people claim to be religious when they would treat another human being that way?" I tell her that I'm gay. Everyone just assumes that I'm straight when I say I learned Romanian from "o prietena romanca." I ask her if she has any gay friends. I guess many are just hiding. Who knows. The word for girl friend and girlfriend are interchangeable in certain contexts. The assumptions are heteronormative. I order correctly from the waiter in Romanian. I feel a little bit better about my Romanian. I eat meatball soup and pork with fried potatoes and cheese and papansi. Donuts filled with sweet cheese and fruit jam. They're yummy. They bring us two on two plates. She's fasting (a tradition from Eastern Orthodox church that she teaches me about, eating only vegan before Christmas and Easter). I eat both plates of desert.
She lets me talk a long time about my Delia and how I met Melissa and Andras and became apart of Theatre Y and why I'm here in Romania and how I met Ramona and how I learned Romanian. "Provestea mea este lunga." "Nu, dar vorbesti mult rar." I KNOW I KNOW. Slowly, very slowly. :) "How long have you studied Romanian." "I've been studying in serious for 3 months." "That's not possible." I have the hostess take a picutre of us. Delia asks for me. And we leave.
She consults with two cabs and we take the second cab home. I go to buckle my seat belt. She thinks it's funny, they don't buckle up in the back seat in Romania. She's not try to persuade me not to. She likes making fun of Americans. Of course, I agree that this is quite correct behavior because Americans deserve to lose a little. She asks me if I want to attend the AIESEC conference with her tomorrow night? Of course. She's going to see if she can get me a reservation. I tell the cab driver where to stop, but it's not the right place. I cross the street. I'm looking, I don't recognize any of the shops. Then I see the shop that says DORNA. That's the one. It's across the street. I get into the block. I get into the apartment, and I'm home and I'm still in Bucuresti.
I'm meeting Cami to go to visit the orphanage where she works at 10:30am the next morning. Strange toilets. Lots of water. It's so late and I'm so tired. No alarm clock. Need to plug in my phone. The converter my dad gave me is square. The sockets are round. One power strip. Should I unplug all the computers and take it? I look through drawers, find one that I think might work. No. Frantic. How am I going to wake up in the morning. Desk. Functioning converter. Plugged. In. Done. Sleep under quilt. Sound of water rushing through the toilet every 15 seconds. I keep the light on in the bathroom and go to sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment