a little overdue

When I went home after 19 months, I had a lot of things to rediscover, including myself, my friends, my childhood neighborhood and my people who had just joined EU.

While I am totally unable to have the discipline to keep a journal, I did share some of my observations with my close friends scattered across the world.

Sometimes in late July
…. today I was on the (330) bus coming home after lunch with my friend who works in the corporate world in Bucharest. So it must have been 2 pm or so and there was this little old lady who must have been well into her 70s and she got on from one of the stops near a big hospital (Colentina). She was obviously in a mood to talk and so she started telling how she got some eye surgery and spent on it the money she had saved for her funeral. Than she said, well it's ok, she'll save it back. She works (does housework) for this "lady and gentleman" and the "sir" likes to change his shirt daily (duh!) and so the "lady" cannot keep up with the ironing. so she hired her - if she can iron 30 shirts in a day than she gets 300,000 lei (the equivalent of roughly 14 bucks!!!!) i felt so sorry for her, you know, it was obvious exploitation.

But, anyway, the little old lady was quite happy. She kept saying she likes working and likes to help and the money is helpful. The “lady” is nice to her and lets her take days off when she needs it. She works from 5 am to 5 pm.

Then she started saying how with this summer heat she only eats very little because it just feels like enough. She was carrying a round loaf of bread, freshly baked and so she said - oh this is such good bread - and started offering to other passengers on the bus, who tore little bits out of it.

This little lady was beaming with happiness. (I think I was so surprised to see that) Working so hard for so little, still sharing her bread. As the bus kept going and stopping, fighting traffic, people talked and listened to her even though nobody knew her. There was a lady next to me and she started talking to me as well about what the old lady was saying, about how sometimes there are these old ladies that are always happy, always working and always sharing everything. It sort of reminded me of my granny. But it also made me feel happy because despite being away for so long strangers still talk to me here. Just as some do so in US of A.