man .. almost a month since my last post. apologies to whoever happens to read this. when i wait too long .. there are too many things in my head and i'm just not sure where to start. but today i know exactly what i want to share :) two stories that recently reminded me that i really do live in romania.
story number one: i wanted to buy a snack, so went into a corner grocery store, and asked for what i wanted. i only had a bill for 5 lei (romanian currency), and it cost .60 lei. the shopkeeper looked in her drawer and said that she only had 4 one-lei bills and that she wasn't willing to give them all to me. i told her i didn't have any one-lei bills, so she said. 'can't help you'. and sent me on my way. i wasn't going to buy something worth lots of money, so it wasn't worth her time. no offers for 'do you want to get something else too?' or 'let me go next door' .. just 'go away.' on a slight side note .. sometimes when cashiers at small stores like this one don't have the correct change they'll give you a piece of gum or a piece of candy instead. kinda strange at first, but one mostly gets used to it.
story number two: yesterday i was walking home from church with two friends. one of them was going to catch the bus, and we saw it pass just as we reached the bus stop. this meant she would have to wait another 10-15 minutes. and all three of us just assumed that we would wait with her. if one of us had needed to be somewhere, it would have been alright to leave, but because we didn't it was acceptable and expected that we would wait with her. which is nice. i enjoy that. spending time with people, waiting with them, talking until something interrupts :) in american culture, people are often so busy they might not have time to just hang out with somebody while they waited for the bus. today i'm glad that i do have time (at least sometimes!) and that it also makes sense culturally.
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