Saturday, August 07, 2010

A Few Observations/Comments While in Bucharest

  • Romanian men are so manly that it’s not uncommon for them to carry purses of their own.

  • Many women carry around fans, though I doubt they still use them to speak another language like was done in places in the past (but I could be wrong since I don't speak fan). I used to think that fans were just for young girls in tourist shops.

  • I watched a guy ask for salt to put in his beer. I’m not sure if this is a strange cultural thing, something to do with it being really, really hot, or if the guy was just weird. It bothered me.

  • Adolescent courtship is the same everywhere – guys doing really stupid things and young women somehow pretending they don’t.

  • I really like that women in Romania ‘check me out’, though it’s quite strange. This city is so safe that when passing a young woman on a street at 11:00 at night when no one else is around she looks at me, and not because I may be a threat. It’s probably the beard – it seems that in Romania only priests, Roma, and American tourists have beards.

  • I went for a new experience tonight – I went to an ex-pat Irish bar. There were a bunch of old(er) guys at the bar and a few younger people on the patio. The most exciting thing was the cricket on TV. Engrossing, but not actually exciting. Tomorrow I think I’ll go back to Lipscani.

  • I have now drank in Irish pubs in 8 different countries – none of which are Ireland.

  • Brandon Sanderson writes books that are far too heavy to carry around. Shorter books are much better reading for the park.

  • I thought rollerblades were something of the early-90s. This is not true in Romania.

  • Subways everywhere smell the same – some are just stronger smelling than others. Romanian subways are actually not anywhere near the strongest smelling I’ve been around (I’m looking at you London).
  • My feet hurt.

7 comments:

Michael Cummings said...

Salt can be used to cut the bitterness in coffee and tea - and presumably, beer?

D Swizzle said...

hahaha i have got to go to bucharest.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, early in college (USA) I would see some people put salt in their beer. People who were new to drinking and still thought beer was nasty, so they did this to cut down on the bitterness.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Never heard of placing salt in beer, but from the other comments, I understand why.

ito said...

It's not just people who are new to drinking. In Romania we use the salt for "bad" beers or when the brew is not to our liking.

Neth said...

ahh, I see. Thanks for the imput.

Bucharest is a great city - but not a fun place to drive (I had that honor today). Oh well, maybe a few more posts as I have time, but it'll probably be a while.

Simcha said...

As I have not yet had the chance to domuch traveling of my own, I love reading about other people's experiences and their reactions to other cultures. I look forward to more of your Romanian observations.

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