25 Apr 98

Eating in Romania
Dining in Romania is an experience. Sometimes a good one. Other times, well, . . .

There are the minor problems such as the confusion of Tang and orange juice (learn to say "suc de portocale" if you really want the latter).

They charge extra for butter which is always unsalted and somehow not very tasty. There is no bread dish; you use the table cloth which is _usually_ clean.

Variety in food is not great. There is an utter dominance of pork, an infrequency of chicken and an absence of decent beef. Dairy products seem to be exclusively imported from Germany which is a shame given what a natural farming land this is.

Beyond the difficulties posed by a language one does not speak are the sometimes odd descriptions one finds on menus. Here are some of the more intriguing items I have found -- and not ordered:

Chicken surprize
Gordon Bleu de Porc [i.e., pork stuffed with pork]
Special Rumanian Food
Pork Fried Steak
"Italian" Steak
"Stroganoff" Saute
Stuffed Cabbage with Poridge and Sourdream
Pizza with Ham, Cheese and Ketchup Sauce

Western junk food is available here -- thank god. There is a Pizza Hut where you can order a pepperoni pizza with extra pepperoni and extra, extra pepperoni -- yes, that is a triple serving of pepperoni. I have found that, with repeated explanation to disbelieving wait staff, I can get my needed periodic dose of pepperoni. I do have to work at it, but it does work after several repetitions.

Romania has a number of McDonalds and the "plain double cheese" can be ordered in English and correctly delivered, hot. It is EXACTLY the same taste and consistency as in the States. God bless McDonalds. However, there is no breakfast -- they start serving Big Macs at 7 AM. Progress is needed here.

There is a Kentucky Fried Chicken establishment right beside the McDonalds closest to where I live. Once again the quality is quite good and it fulfills a deep seated need. On the other hand, I have not been able to locate a Popeye's. I have been advised to not "hold my breath."

There are, of course, expensive restaurants that cater to the well-healed foreigners. I have recourse to these establishments from time to time. Primarily for tender beef -- and it isn't always tender, even then.

Ethnic food, as we think of it, is very limited. I went to what a guide book described as the best Chinese restaurant in the country and would say, "Don't!" Other expats agree with my assessment.

Romanian wines are tasty and usually varietally described. They are worth sampling. "Narock!" which Romanians translate as "Cheers!" but which means "Luck!" is the word for a toast here but they also say it if you sneeze.

You can't get ice cream here, only ice milk. It can be good ice milk but if you are addicted to ice cream, this is a problem. One of those slowly growing, apparently insignificant problems that ultimately make you determined to go home -- at least for a while.


Tipping
I have found few things as problematic as trying to understand the local custom on tipping. On the one hand, it is crude to widely deviate from local custom and, on the other hand, it is a problem to refuse to pay for service that is well delivered -- especially in an economy where you know that few people are fat.

But an American's opinion is only one factor on the scale. One must also consider the opinions of the Romanians one is dining with. This can lead to problems since Romanians tend to believe Americans are throwing away vast sums when they tip.

Judy hides her tip under the plate when dining with Romanians, because they are so sure that she tips too much that they take the tip and give it back to her. Having Romanians we work with return a tip has happened to me.

I asked some Romanian acquaintances about tipping and they say they do tip but that they "finish off" the bill, rounding up. Well there are some pretty small bills in Romanian currency so it is not at all clear what this means.

It is hard to not tip excessively. You feel that you want to return something to the economy. The problem is that only a certain segment of the economy benefits. And maybe you didn't like the food anyway.

Joe


26 Apr 98

A Reprise on Service
Two friends and I stopped in a trendy cafe near my apartment to get a drink. The night was the year's mildest so we sat outside. When the waitress came Alex ordered a Mimosa (called a "jack Fizz" on the menu) and Daniel ordered a "Bellini" which is pear juice and champagne. I contented myself with a large beer.

Much discussion ensued. When the waitress left I asked what happened. "She said the bartender who was too crowded to make the drinks," Alex told me. I had an image of a hassled man working out of a corner, disparately trying to fill orders until I looked over at the outdoor bar that was a few feet away. It was about 10 feet on a side, with shelving that had many bottles of liquor. In front of the bar were two waitress chatting with the bartender. They might have been discussing how inconvenient customers were.


Romanian Liquor
The traditional drink of this entire region is a brandy made from plums (or peaches or prunes or pears or apples) as the situation permits. It is called Tzwika (or Slibovitz) and has the strength of whiskey with a deceptive pellucid appearance. How could anything with such visual clarity produce such cloudy thinking? It has an interesting flavor but is definitely an acquired taste. Romanians are very proud of it (once you are out of Bucharest) and Judy is regularly presented with two liter bottles of it -- rather more than a lifetime supply for an American.

Romania has a number of decent beers but many imports from Germany, Belgium, and Denmark are very popular. I don't think Romanians appreciate how good the local beers are. I have even found regional beets that I think are excellent.


Problems in Communication
Effectively communicating ideas to people (training) is always difficult. Add in the language barrier and suddenly Americans are presented with new and treacherous obstacles to speaking clearly. The problem is that there are many things that we say to each other that increase the impact of our message, that help us hit a home run in the communications game . . . Oops! Hitting home runs doesn't translate in Europe. Admittedly a very experienced interpreter might be able to deal with fairly common American colloquial expressions but do you really want to run the risk?

We use regionalisms and colloquialisms much more than we think. Here is a short list of things that don't translate well. My only defense is that I have every one of these used by Americans training abroad.

A "Come to Jesus" meeting
Waiting for the other shoe to fall
Big wheel
Dog and pony show
Didn't miss a trick
'Till the cows come home
Talk turkey
Getting to first base [and all other baseball references such as "going to bat for someone"]
A pep talk
Going to the dogs
Turf wars
Getting up a head of steam
Pulling my leg
Barking up the wrong tree
. . . and don't sell the farm.

Telling stories can be even worse than using colloquialisms. I know of one instance where an American was speaking to a non-Western audience and was being sequentially interpreted by an expert. He told a story from this American experience and the audience laughed a lot at the interpreted version. He decided that he was quite a success as an international speaker.

Only later did he learn that when he had begun the story the interpreter had told the audience, "The American has begun to tell a story. When he concludes be sure to laugh heartily. Now I must continue to pretend to explain what he says."

Of course, odd phrases are not an American exclusive. I have heard more than one reference to "street lightening" and the "planification" of the budget.

Language is a peril even when you are trying to learn someone else's. I asked Alex how to tell someone at the office that they were nicely dressed. He said that I should say,"arati marfa azi" which is pronounced "aratz marfa ahz" which he said meant "You look stunning today" but the staff said otherwise; they said it meant, "Today you have the goods." The perils of Romanian!

Joe



27 Apr 98

Hands Across the Water
When you are away from your home, the task of maintaining links with the friends back "in the States" becomes quite significant. Letters can take two weeks to go in one direction, although they maintain a tradition of quaintness. Phone calls from Romania are prohibitively expensive for the frequency I would prefer. Email, well email I hardly use at all.

So the problem of maintaining your roots, keeping in contact with friends and loved ones persists. There is no single solution but there are a number of partial "fixes" to your needs. One partial "fix" is to read English language publications. For Americans the preeminent news publication in Europe is the International Herald Tribune, the only American newspaper on the entire continent. Alas, the Herald Tribune seems to have fallen on hard times. It is thinner than I remember it from trips past. It seems to have less news and that seems less American. It still has the New York Times crossword puzzle but man does not live by words alone.

Papers the world over have had to change to help them attract increasingly reluctant readers. Even the formerly stately London Times now sports color pages, banner front page ads for "Hunks in Trunks" features on the interior pages.

But there is evidence that there will always be an England: The court Circular, the list of birthdays, and, of course, Modern Manners by John Morgan (postal address but no email) wherein important questions of etiquette are dealt with in that forthrightly British way. "I recall in an officers' mess soon after the war [unspecified, the reader is expected to know] eating pieces of cheese off the tip of one's knife! Would you kindly confirm whether this still acceptable in polite society? -- John H. Hobson, Bournemouth, Dorset. Response: "It certainly isn't."

The Times has a section for "Quotes of the Week":
"She is truly representative of the city" -- The local council explains why it used a picture of Marge Potter, 67, to promote Birmingham.

"I would stake my life on the fact that he is dead" -- Lady Lucan on her missing husband.

"We would still like to speak to Lord Lucan in connection with our inquiries into the death of Sandra Rivett" -- Scotland Yard spokesman

And there is that British sense of "News": "Happy day when dog was man's best man" was a headline about a man whose best man was "Muttley, his border collie, Mr. Rickman, a graphic designer from Richmond, Surrey, said yesterday: 'It was a choice between my brother and my best friend. I chose Muttley so neither of them would be upset.' Mr. Reindorp [the minister] said the dog, which regularly attended services at the church, even 'signed' the witness book with a paw print."

Yes, there will always be an England.

Of course, there is TV but it is one way. It represents a third party's idea about what you should know about the States. But then your friends are being fed the same drivel so there is some value in shared experiences.

But despite all these palliatives, you have to go home once in a while. You learn to really look forward to it. I had originally planned on returning to the States at the end of May but I will now be staying on until about July 6th. When my plane lands in Boston, I plan to head directly for Regina's Pizzeria in the North End for a long denied dose of pepperoni pizza. See you there!

Joe