The two lids and the definition of Romanians

 

What does it mean to live by yourself?

First of all it means additional costs for: rent, utilities, household minor things (garbage bins, glasses, soap, etc.), food, some furniture… and the list might continue….

Second of all it means learning how to live in a block of flats. And my neighbors are the best teachers to help me.

Let me share with you some of the lessons I learned:

Lesson 1: The neighbor next to you door is always occupied (though she is retired) when it comes to ask her to help you with a minor thing (like asking her to keep the keys from the plumber man till you get back home);

Lesson 2: Never park the car on a good parking place in front of your balcony – it is for sure that that place belongs to some neighbor that will arrive at home later than you and you just occupied his place. (like two night ago my car alarm started because the neighbor’s wife was kicking the car so that I can hear it and move the car, because that is their parking place and her husband will arrive late and will stay waiting for me to move my car…- I would say that of course is better to scratch peoples’ cars than marking the place as being yours so that none to park without knowing that it belongs to someone else)

Lesson 3: Never make noise in the evening. There are people that are sleeping in the apartment above ( I found out this from the neighbor next to my flat – dear of her – that came today in the morning knocking at my door, saying that last night the lady above my flat heard some noises and asked her to tell me not to do noise anymore; my neighbor – poor of her – told me that she listened with her ears close to my door if I am doing any noise. She anyway has an excuse for me: I didn’t realized how late it was when I started knocking nails in the walls)

I bet the lessons will not end here.

On the other hand, what does it means to be Romanian?– I found out from a shop assistant in Cora Supermarket.

It means stealing the garbage bins' lids. “How can someone steal a lid like this?”, I asked – “Well you know... Romanians are inventive.”

I only realized home that I had also “stolen” a lid. In the same garbage bin there were 2 lids that were wrapped in the same plastic bag. You would have never notice that there were 2 unless you would have unwrap them.