Another Point of View
Through this blog, I try to share with you some of my favorite tidbits from Moldova. The following, is my host mother's favorite story about my time here. She tells it all the time. I figured I should at least share it with you.
The setup: So, our village, as I've mentioned before, is really, really long! To get to the piata, our central marketplace, it's a good 30 minute walk. So, my host mom and I will always coordinate to see who will be "in the center" to buy things that we need. 30 minutes sounds like a pleasant walk, but it's not something you want to do when it's cold, it's wet, it's dark, or you are halfway through making something and you realize you have no milk.
The story: One day this winter, my host mom called me on my cell phone while I was at my Romanian lessons (My tutor lives on the other side of the town, so she knew I would have to walk back through the piata to get home). She asks me to buy some sour creme, or "Smintina" from the piata on my way back.
The dairy and meat section of our market is separate from the fruit/veggie part, which I normally frequent. I go up to the counter at one of the stands in the dairy section and ask the lady how much smintina is. 20 lei, she says. Okay, I say.
Then she just looks at me. I look at her. Thinking maybe she needs some collateral, I give her 20 lei. She still stands there looking at me... Finially, Where's your jar?, she asks me. Oh, I said, I don't have one. She looks at me very strangely. Okay, it's 30 lei with a jar. Fine, say and I hesitantly give her 10 more lei, not knowing if she is ripping me off or not -- who charges for the container/packaging? -- and wait while she gets me a jar full of smintina...
Handing me the jar, she continues to look at me strangely and asks me if I am Romanian. No, I reply... and leave it at that. Looking at me even stranger she asks if I am Ukranian. No, I reply, not really clearing up the mystery (she knows I'm not Russian because earlier in the conversation I asked her to speak in Romanian, instead of Russian).
She just looks at me, dumbfounded and says -- well if you're Moldovan, why didn't come with your own jar?
The setup: So, our village, as I've mentioned before, is really, really long! To get to the piata, our central marketplace, it's a good 30 minute walk. So, my host mom and I will always coordinate to see who will be "in the center" to buy things that we need. 30 minutes sounds like a pleasant walk, but it's not something you want to do when it's cold, it's wet, it's dark, or you are halfway through making something and you realize you have no milk.
The story: One day this winter, my host mom called me on my cell phone while I was at my Romanian lessons (My tutor lives on the other side of the town, so she knew I would have to walk back through the piata to get home). She asks me to buy some sour creme, or "Smintina" from the piata on my way back.
The dairy and meat section of our market is separate from the fruit/veggie part, which I normally frequent. I go up to the counter at one of the stands in the dairy section and ask the lady how much smintina is. 20 lei, she says. Okay, I say.
Then she just looks at me. I look at her. Thinking maybe she needs some collateral, I give her 20 lei. She still stands there looking at me... Finially, Where's your jar?, she asks me. Oh, I said, I don't have one. She looks at me very strangely. Okay, it's 30 lei with a jar. Fine, say and I hesitantly give her 10 more lei, not knowing if she is ripping me off or not -- who charges for the container/packaging? -- and wait while she gets me a jar full of smintina...
Handing me the jar, she continues to look at me strangely and asks me if I am Romanian. No, I reply... and leave it at that. Looking at me even stranger she asks if I am Ukranian. No, I reply, not really clearing up the mystery (she knows I'm not Russian because earlier in the conversation I asked her to speak in Romanian, instead of Russian).
She just looks at me, dumbfounded and says -- well if you're Moldovan, why didn't come with your own jar?
This entry was posted
on Sunday, February 17, 2008 at 11:53 AM.
