As I alluded to in the last post, I had the opportunity to enjoy some Romanian companionship on the cruise. But it wasn’t my sweetie pie. Here’s the strange-but-true story of how I came to learn about 10 new Romanian phrases.
I’d been on the ship for a couple of hours and Lindsay and I had just walked around the shops. I noticed that a lot of the workers were from other countries (which explains their excellent customer service. The only rude worker on the ship was an American) and I said to Lindsay “I wonder if there are any Romanians.” She told me that I could probably ask someone as the majority of the crew knew each other. We walk around a little bit more and she ducks into the restroom and I’m alone in the hallway. I see this woman coming up to me and I’d seen her at the jewelry counter so I decided to get nervy and ask if there were any Romanians on the ship. She gives me the strangest look ever and very slowly says, “I am Romanian”. Well, I’m just beside myself with excitement and I’m not really noticing how confused she looks (I realize all this several days later). Lindsay comes out and we talk to her for a few minutes and she says that her daughter works in the dining room and that we’ll meet her this evening. Great, I am looking forward to this, but have to question why this woman doesn’t know much English. I mean, she works on the ship right? HA! I’m an idiot! She doesn’t work there at all. We meet her daughter at dinner and she’s like “My mom said that you were looking for Romanians” and I tell her the story and she laughs. I choose a random person on the ship to inquire if they knew any Romanians. She didn’t work there. I guess her lack of name badge and uniform should have clued me in, however, they didn’t. I don’t think she looks particularly Romanian. In fact, I thought she looked kind of Russian and she was talking to the Russian girl at the jewelry counter (where she was a paying patron, not an employee). So that’s my story of how I ended up introducing a nice Romanian woman to our table (Table 226-most awesomest table ever) and learning Romanian phrases and teaching English phrases. It made me realize how much I really want to learn Romanian and look forward to traveling with Mircea to see his extended family. I’m also very excited that we’ll have the opportunity to visit Gina (the mother) in Brashov, Romania when we visit. The daughter, Oana, works for Carnival and will probably be on the ship when we visit, but maybe we’ll get lucky. I just have to share this last part. Oana bought her mother a two week cruise as a gift and when we got off the ship, Gina had one week left of cruising, but she said it wouldn’t be the same because she’d miss her new friends. Awwww!!
I’d been on the ship for a couple of hours and Lindsay and I had just walked around the shops. I noticed that a lot of the workers were from other countries (which explains their excellent customer service. The only rude worker on the ship was an American) and I said to Lindsay “I wonder if there are any Romanians.” She told me that I could probably ask someone as the majority of the crew knew each other. We walk around a little bit more and she ducks into the restroom and I’m alone in the hallway. I see this woman coming up to me and I’d seen her at the jewelry counter so I decided to get nervy and ask if there were any Romanians on the ship. She gives me the strangest look ever and very slowly says, “I am Romanian”. Well, I’m just beside myself with excitement and I’m not really noticing how confused she looks (I realize all this several days later). Lindsay comes out and we talk to her for a few minutes and she says that her daughter works in the dining room and that we’ll meet her this evening. Great, I am looking forward to this, but have to question why this woman doesn’t know much English. I mean, she works on the ship right? HA! I’m an idiot! She doesn’t work there at all. We meet her daughter at dinner and she’s like “My mom said that you were looking for Romanians” and I tell her the story and she laughs. I choose a random person on the ship to inquire if they knew any Romanians. She didn’t work there. I guess her lack of name badge and uniform should have clued me in, however, they didn’t. I don’t think she looks particularly Romanian. In fact, I thought she looked kind of Russian and she was talking to the Russian girl at the jewelry counter (where she was a paying patron, not an employee). So that’s my story of how I ended up introducing a nice Romanian woman to our table (Table 226-most awesomest table ever) and learning Romanian phrases and teaching English phrases. It made me realize how much I really want to learn Romanian and look forward to traveling with Mircea to see his extended family. I’m also very excited that we’ll have the opportunity to visit Gina (the mother) in Brashov, Romania when we visit. The daughter, Oana, works for Carnival and will probably be on the ship when we visit, but maybe we’ll get lucky. I just have to share this last part. Oana bought her mother a two week cruise as a gift and when we got off the ship, Gina had one week left of cruising, but she said it wouldn’t be the same because she’d miss her new friends. Awwww!!
She was so great…I miss her already. La reverdere!
2 comments:
Kate that's awesome! see you meet new people all the time!
well hello.. you have a blog or five. fascinating...
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