Letter from California « Romanian Survival Book

November 21, 2006

Letter from California

Filed under: Letters from... — darian @ 12:39 pm

Justin Sebe wrote me a while ago about how much he misses Romania and things Romanian in his everyday life in California. Here is his letter.

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I miss you

I can easily spend a day dreaming away the hours captivated by my imagination of Romania. Sort of strange I suppose that I should be so fond of something so small and unremarkable.

I miss Romania because I miss the people. Don’t take my word for it, go meet them. They are for the most part modest, nevertheless commercialism and its vices are dutifully present. They are outgoing and welcoming. They, often time, will involve themselves in your life without much regard to such social faux pas as ‘personal space’ or ‘polite distance’. These sort of social nuances are left up to the socially antiquated such as the English and Germans. Romanians will treat you openly. I would say for a broader understanding, they are more akin to the French and Italians. Friendly and social to a fault.

I miss Romania because I miss the language. I have spoken to some extent 5 languages now, and Romanian is still my favorite. A personal bias that I would not argue. But I would, despite my bias, argue, no, encourage you to listen to it, to speak it and more importantly to learn the grammar. For pronunciation, you have French, for mechanics, you have English, but for poetry and ’sinceritate’ there can only be Romanian.

I miss Romania because I miss the food. It is by no means the most decorated, nor is the most exotic. In fact by all accounts, mine included, it is quite simple. It seems to me that the staple is Mamaliga (mah-mah-lee-gah), followed by Piine (Puhy-ne). The first is a sort of yellow corn meal while the second is just simple white bread. While I can continue on for some time, here is just a brief list of all the other foods I like. Sarmale (sar-ma-leh) a very delicious stuffed cabbage leaf, Salata de Beuf a type of potato salad that has chooped meats, vegetables and a good deal of mayonnaise.