Things Are Different ...

A lot of people here have asked me what's shocking and different when I step into Europe, or my home country of Romania, and people there have asked me what's shocking and different here, when I step into America... Hhmmm... Just off the top of my head, here's my list of things visible to anyone traveling at first glance:

GETTING OFF THE PLANE IN EUROPE, I couldn't help but noticing the different fashion: everyone looks like they're peeled off a GQ or Style, or Vogue magazine. Everyone has fashionable glasses, haircuts, clothes, bags, and stuff you see on TV, not in real life in small town America, on people going to the mall; the newspaper stands and bookshelves feature naked people, and the sex magazines are up front ; travel comes next, and then politics. People are slim, tall and walking or shopping in the airport boutiques. They have small carryons, backpacks or shoulder strapped ones, and maybe a couple of paper shopping bags, that look like gift bags. They carry bags that you see on E! worn by movie stars... They seldom talk on the cells or listen to music on some device ... They read and walk around... People in airport bars, smoking and drinking coffee or a beer in between planes ...They all wear what I call "European" shoes: they look weird, have weird colors, and are shaped funny. They don't look comfy, just ... different...

ONCE ARRIVED IN ROMANIA, the airport (as well as the cars and homes) was (were) not climate controlled and thus was very stuffy; there was no ice anywhere; all the drinks are room temperature, and the fridges in all the houses I went fail to keep the food and the drinks icy cold; everything there is much warmer, in that respect... They all yelled at me for wearing short sleeves, but the air is so hot and stuffy, I couldn't help it... In the car, on the way from the airport, mom has cold cut sandwiches she made before she picked me up; we stop for beer and mom and I drink while dad's driving us home...

The toilet paper there is pink, gray or beige, and still rough... Trust me, it is, it's not that I am picky. No one eats out in Romania. We cook everything, and if we do go out once a year, we make a big deal out of it, and we dress up, as if we're going to a wedding. Everyone there has high cholesterol yet they eat everything fried or soaked in oil, and insist they're using olive oil which has no cholesterol and it's healthy ... Their diets are weird. You think South Beach is weird? Or Atkins?! Go to Romania...God only understands those!!! Everyone smokes at the dining room table, while the rest of us are eating. They have shots of liquor for breakfast; there is no such thing as "sweet stuff" for breakfast (muffins, pancakes, waffles - nope!), everything is eggs and meat, or leftover cold fried chicken or cold cuts. The lunch always has 2 courses (always a soup)and dessert; dinner - one dish and it's always potatoes (at least at my mom's house) and some kind of meat. There are no traffic rules there, or so it seems: 2 lanes, and 4 cars driving in one direction; passing on the roads is common practice, and honking as well. Streets are soooo narrow, you feel like you're going to hit the cars parked on the sides at all times, or the people driving in the opposite directions. Cars look smaller than a BMW Mini... about 90 percent of them! All cars have 2-3 or more people in them...

The air is dry . A 10 minute rain will cool everything down by at least 5 degrees... Cars drive slow...35-40 miles an hour is the norm... It's a walking country: everyone is walking and you have to watch out for people, stray dogs, and farm animals everywhere ... Parking on the sidewalks and the grass is common as well...Stray dogs everywhere... Can't sleep at night from the hawling of the dogs and meowing of stray cats; they fight, and yelp at each other; the noise is deafening at times ... Roosters wake you up at 5 AM, every day ... Shower-heads are hand held... Coffee is Turkish and awfully strong, made in a pot... They drink it in small cups, too ... Everything is home made, or about 90 percent of what you eat ... The hosts and hostesses spend about three quarters of their days in the kitchen ... Cell phones all have weird-sounding rings: snippets of songs, foreign and Romanian...

ONCE IN THE STATES, what strikes you at the airports is the amount of very large people. A lot of people barely getting out of airport chairs and gasping for air. Here and there people are eating, or snacking at restaurants or at gates. Everyone is either talking on the cell, working on a laptop or listening to music, I assume... Might be books on tapes?! Their dress is plain and simple, seems comfy, too ... If someone is wearing makeup or has an unusual hairdo, they stand out ... People stare without realizing they do... The shoes are comfy, not really stylish. Most people wobble when they walk... Their carryons are enormous, they sometimes have 3-4 of them, and I keep wondering how is that allowed?! A lot of people chew gum in American airports... Everyone carries a drink and all the drinks are huge, oversized McDonalds or Wendy's cups, or huge bottles of water. The books that are displayed upfront in the bookstands are always diet books... Relationships and politics come next... There are no naked people on the cover magazines displayed up front. At all? Didn't look...

Once on the roads, everything is organized and people respect the number of lanes in the road. No one passes, no one honks... Roads are wider and there are no potholes... No stray dogs either. Traffic moves smoothly, with no surprises here... Streets are wide, and cars are huge... about 80 percent of them! The majority of cars have just the driver inside... We stop for fast food, and head home for dinner...

I am often asked, too, which one feels like home?! And I can never answer that: both and neither... or a little bit of both and a lot bit of both, too ... One thing I am still struggling with: trying to make dad happy: he always thinks I am still a hippy, because I don't dress "European", but "American", that is "comfortable", to me ... *sigh* .... I guess in some ways I do choose one over the other... I feel sometimes that I am suspended in between the two worlds, and never really belonging to either ... but it's a great feeling... I feel like I can never get bored this way...And I am also very grateful to know the difference... and appreciate it ...