Finding a Romanian tutor in June and July is a tall order. About a week after getting settled in and defining my priorities for the summer, the university here began three weeks of finals. Digressing for a moment, three weeks of finals sounds like the worst thing ever. Science students always ended up with the Friday finals at Iowa and some of my roommates would be done on Tuesday or not even have finals. I couldn’t imagine if someone was done three weeks before me. The finals ended right at the end of June and after that there was a mass exodus of the students. Because of all this, our original plan of finding a student to tutor me was out the window. After much looking, the center I work at found me, Aida, my wonderful tutor and I began learning last week.
My homework before tutoring tomorrow is to write twenty things I like in Romanian. I’ve decided I will write twenty things I like about Romania in Romanian to let everyone know a bit more about life here.
1. Îmi place salata de rosii. I like tomato salad. I’ve mentioned this previously but I have to again; the tomatoes here are AMAZING! You don’t need to pair anything with them because they are so flavorful, although mozzarella never hurts.
2. Îmi place mămăligă cu brânză. I like polenta with cheese. It’s the Romanian rendition of mac-n-cheese. Kraft will never be the same.
3. Îmi place ciocolată Primola. I like Primola chocolate. This is a brand of chocolate made in Bucharest, Romania and it’s to die for. Milka and you other Swiss brands have nothing on Primola.
4. Îmi plac croissant ciocolată. This one’s easy, I like chocolate croissants. Actually, I like anything with chocolate.
5. Îmi place Pizza Hut din România. I like Pizza Hut in Romania. I mentioned we went to Pizza Hut for the 4th of July but it wasn’t like one at home. It was fancy, you could order a drink and they gave us the best napkins in all of Romania. It isn’t “Wing Street” over here.
6. Îmi plac caise. I like apricots. I had only ever eaten dried apricots before being here and I don’t know why…they are marvelous. Do we have fresh apricots in Iowa and I’m just oblivious?
7. Îmi plac alimente. I like food. If that wasn’t apparent enough from numbers 1-6, I thought I would sum it up.
8. Îmi place mea de mers pe jos de la locul de muncă. Not sure if my Romanian is correct, but it’s supposed to be: I like my walk to work. Someday I may actually bring my iPhone with me to capture parts of the walk because it’s great.
9. Îmi place agitatia din afara fereastra mea. I like the commotion outside my window. At all hours of the day something is making noise whether it be kids at the playground nearby, a cat, the roosters, or groups of happy drunks. The noise would probably be bothersome if I was trying to study but for the summer I just love it.
10. Îmi plac taxiuri ieftine. I like cheap taxis. I may be asking too much from Google translate at this point but I think that’s I like cheap taxis. The taxis here cost 1.79 lei per kilometer ($0.60/kilometer)! Taxis in Rome are going to be painful.
11. Îmi place Zara. Not translating this one because Zara is the same in English. It’s a clothing store that is big in Europe and has made its way to the bigger cities in the states. I got my birthday dress there and I can’t wait to wear it this weekend!
12. Îmi place că nu există tornade. I like that there are no tornados. I’m not compulsively checking the weather this summer and it’s simply sweet.
13. Îmi place mumie mea. I like my mummy. My mummy is my little travel sleeping bag. It rolls up to the size of a fist and keeps me from having to touch hostel beds.
14. Îmi place istoria. I like the history. It’s so much richer than the history of Iowa, sorry Lewis and Clark.
15. Îmi plac cappauccinos. I like cappuccinos (you needed that translation didn’t you?). It’s a bit pretentious in my book to sip tiny cappuccinos out of tiny cups, but I love to do it…at least in Europe.
16. Îmi place Transilvania. I like Transylvania (again another necessary translation). I actually haven’t been out of the Transylvania portion of Romania, but what I’ve learned is Transylvanians are the Colorado people of Romania.
17. Îmi plac magazine de fructe şi legume. I like fruit and vegetable shops. The Farmer’s Market is open everyday here!
18. Îmi place având în timp pentru a scie. I like having time to write. I love writing and I’m trying to become better at it and this summer has given me ample opportunity to try.
19. Îmi place de sănătate publică. I like Public Health. I’m not sure how this will fit into my future medical career because I’m not interested in Family Practice or General Pediatrics, the main fields intertwined with Public Health, but I’ll figure it out.
20. Îmi plac pistruii. I like freckles. Well at least I’m trying to like them. I’ve reached the point in the summer that my face is dark, not due to a tan, but because of overlapping freckles. My tutor tells me I’ll appreciate them in a few years when they help hide wrinkles.
La revedere,
Katalina
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