In the late 70s - 80s I was an instructor for an oil field services company. When the students would come to the USA for training, I was responsible for setting them up in apartments, etc.
On the very first day I took them to a local supermarket to buy groceries for their apartment. When we got to the meat aisle they started grabbing every piece of meat they could grab.
They actually filled up the shopping cart with only meat. I said, “You cannot fit that much meat in the apartment’s refrigerator/freezer.” They said, “Yes, but we have to get the meat while it is here.”
I told them that the shelves would be fully-stocked with meat whenever they came to the supermarket. They couldn’t believe it but I convinced them.
They put a lot of the meat back and took only what they could fit in the refrigerator/freezer.
They told me that they wished that they could defect. I told them to defect. They said, “We can’t. We have families in Rumania who would be in danger.” They were all amazed that we could travel around as we desired. We drove to Tulsa and other points in Oklahoma, back again without having to ‘get permission’. Driving from Texas to Oklahoma was fascinating to them! The guys sitting in the back seat were playing some kind of board game. Things got heated and I thought that I was going to have to stop the car and calm them down. The guy sitting in the front seat with me laughed and explained that everything was OK. Five minutes later they were all laughing and joking again! ;-)
When they left to return to Rumania they all cried, knowing that they had to return to a ‘police state’.
I actually felt great sympathy and empathy for them.
I agree with you, Scott. They are very playful, friendly, fun-loving people. ;-)
Not long after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mrs. rktman and her former boss(married to an Armenian) were tapped by USAID and the head honchos at Junior Achievement to go to Armenia to teach basic economy and starting a business from the ground up. I declined the offer to go but, they made the trip and Mrs. rktman’s first trip outside the U.S. was on. (Bahamas don’t count) She wasn’t really sure where they were going but she soon came to the realization that the U.S. is without a doubt the best place to be. Not that she thought otherwise but it was a real eye opener. Intermittent electrictiy, intermittent water, shortages of just about everything. Her bosses husband went to help translate and she came back with a huge respect for the Armenian people. The soviets just dropped everything where it stood. Cranes in mid-lift. Things like that. Of course the black market was thriving.
Great account of your interactions with people from Romania. I traveled out there twice from Germany; the first time in late July 91... I met two elderly ladies on a roadside selling everything from tapestries to shoelaces. I pulled over and bought a couple items from them with American $$, which they really liked. They spoke German, which was a relief to me, as I could speak and understand the language. Turned out they were descendants of the “Donauschwaben”.. the Danube Swabians who generations ago migrated Southeast along the Danube through Hungary and settled in the Transylvanian region of Romania.
After striking up a conversation with them, the subject turned to sleeping accommodations, i.e, where I might find whatever might pass for a Romanian “Gasthaus.” One of the ladies offered to put me up for the night with her family. I ended up staying with her family for half of my two-week leave period, and had a wonderful time. They didn’t have a vehicle, so we all loaded up into my Toyota van and traveled throughout the area so they could meet up with some friends and family.
Since my son was in the states over the summer, he missed out on that cultural opportunity, so I made a point to come back there over the Christmas holiday before PCSing back to the states (I was assigned with HQ USEUCOM in Stuttgart GE at the time).
My son and I indeed went back over Christmas and were treated to a fine old-world celebration of the holiday. Romanians are very family-oriented, so they spent much of the time visiting from house to house. Word that a couple Americans were in town spread like wildfire, and we were treated like long-lost family members. It was an experience I’ll never forget.