Little Victories

David here, again. If I keep posting it might become a habit.

Veronica usually does the heavy lifting when it comes to tough interactions in Romanian. This is because for some reason I still have a hard time understanding Romanian. I can speak Romanian pretty well but the understanding has eluded me. Well today I had a class canceled so I had some extra time and decided to pay the water bill by myself. We usually go together for the bills just in case there are any issues.

• Side note: Paying bills in Romania is different than in the USA. Here you have two main options. You can pay the bill at a bank kiosk or you can go to the utilities office. Some only allow one way to pay. Water is one of these. You have to go to the water office to pay the bill.

Back to the story, I went to pay the water bill at one window and was told it was the wrong window. I then went to another office and waited in line patiently. I emphasize patiently. I was the fourth person in line and it took about 15 minutes for the first two to be done with their business. At that point I am happy because it almost my turn. But then an older woman came in looked me in the eye and pushed me out of the line and stood in front of me.

• Side note: This is not normal but it is not rare either. It seems to be a throwback to the bread lines during communist times. If you didn’t get a space then you didn’t eat and if someone wasn’t strong enough to keep their space then they lost the space. So this was as much a cultural phenomenon as someone being rude. As a Peace Corps volunteer I have to be sensitive to that.

I knew she had sized me up and decided I wouldn’t do anything. Normally I wouldn’t but this time I was a bit put out by the interaction. Now here is where the victory part comes in. Rather than get angry and pout and make ugly faces I stayed calm. I then said, “Scuzati-ma, Am fost aici inainte dumnevoastra.” This translates to “Excuse me, I was here before you.” The dumnevoastra is the formal form of you so I was being polite to her. She looked at me with surprise and confusion. She didn’t know I knew Romanian and didn’t expect me to say anything to her about the situation. I also think she was surprised that I was so formal with her. The cashier looked at the interaction smiled and nodded approval at me. She had seen me waiting and approved of me standing up for myself. It was great.

Then the greatness turned to ick. The cashier asked me if I was a renter and I said yes. She then asked for my rental contract. I was floored, we had paid our bill to the same woman last month without needing to show a contract. The problem is we don’t have a contract in our name. We are not legally able to sign a contract in Romania. The contract is in the school’s name. So they would need to pay the bill according to the cashier. This is where the victory occurred. I had a discussion talking and listening in Romanian and convinced the woman that it was OK for me to pay the bill.

It was a pretty great day. Some little victories and I only had to turn in one class to their dirigente (home room teacher)