I was a bit disappointed to hear that F was teased at work since he’d caught a cold and stayed home for a couple of days right after our trip: “Did you get food poisoning in Bucharest?” a French buddy said. “I hear you were in Bucharest”, a Czech colleague added, “it must have been wild!” And I know it was all a joke to them, but I have to admit it hurt. Here we are in 2018, traveling like never before and still harboring the same stereotype views of the world. Book a trip, I blurted out! We decided to invite them and serve them Romanian wine the same quality and price range as the French ones, hiding the label to see their reaction. ‘Cause it’s easy to classify persons as “ignorants”, but the thing is many decent people probably feel the same way, but don’t say it out loud and so nobody ever corrects them. Anyways, rant of the day.

Back to me and mine. Oslo starts showing signs of spring, the days are longer and warmer, the nights- still a bit chilly, the snow is melting and soon we won’t need gloves anymore. Actually I decided not to wear mine already, in a silent protest towards the long winter, with cracked skin as a result. 😉 Way to go, Alina!

I miss the days off, I miss having no plans, I was about to say, but it wouldn’t be the truth, ’cause going home is always about plans and often someone else’s plans for you- haha! But the freedom of waking up with no work, deadlines or customers is still priceless. I sound like I’m already fedd up and I’m not. It was actually good to be back on track, even if that means back to the same work environment, lawyers and prosecutors who couldn’t care less about the interpreters or their own clients, not even bothering to switch on the microphone, lawyers again telling me how smart I am since I can do their work (search for some sms and print out a Word-document) and me wondering how come some people think their job is so much better than others’. I don’t see my architect friends feeling smarter than me just because they build houses, so why do lawyers feel this superiority because they defend people? I saw the same in journalists back in school, they thought they were so much better than the rest of us, but I didn’t even envy their work, ’cause I’m just not nosy and independent enough to be a journalist. Anyways. Enough with that, too. Most people are nice in my line of work, too and I’m friendly and appreciative towards most of them. But the fact that we usually translate for the defendants makes us a sort of a “necessary evil” and I hate that.

Back to Bucharest- I hear it’s gotten really warm and I miss walking around staring at houses and hoping someone will start caring and renovate them. 😉 I’m dreaming of an old mansion, but for now it’ll be just a dream, I hear they cost 1 million Euros- haha!

I also miss the fantastic dessert scene, you can only dream about it here, where buns and cookies are what you can get your hands on. I also miss the coffee, although coffee is great in Norway, too, but the independent coffee shops are mainly in Grunnerløkka, meaning too far away from my crib. 😉

But what I miss most is the feeling of belonging- although I am wearing braces at 38, I don’t comb my hair and seldom iron my shirts, in Bucharest I always feel at home. Maybe it’s because you know what to expect, which a foreigner would probably disagree with, but for me no reaction is unknown and that’s probably why I feel so safe. 😉

 

Sammy boys is starting to show signs of impatience, I’d better get ready for our morning walk. Drop me a line, I’m dying for some human contact these days!

xxx, Alina