Day 4 - Morning to Night: Food, Hospitality & Cultural Immersion - U.S. Arts Envoy Day In the Life

One of my favorite parts about visiting Romania was enjoying the food, and warm hospitality of the people we met along the way.

I was delighted to discover that many of the dishes enjoyed by Romanians are also part of a hearty Southern U.S.A. style of cuisine.

Combine that with influences from the Mediterranean and the German, and you end up with a culinary delight all its own in Romania.

For breakfast, our host hotels provided a lavish feast fit for kings that was pre-negotiated as part of the traveler's stay, and I am sorry I did not take any photos to share with you.  

I did get a picture of this delightful coffee shared with members of the law school faculty in Sibiu with their festively decorated Christmas tree.

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Lunches and mid-day meals along our visits were often my favorite meals of the day, enjoyed in the good company of our Embassy hosts, the lovely Isabella and Denisa.

I took photos of their food, too!

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Notice the similarities int he menu items for this delightful restaurant, The Hermania, reportedly frequented by the Sibiu philharmonic musicians.

Our first mean in Romania was the most memorable, having just landed in this marvelous, ancient and mysterious land, jet-lagged and excited about the cultural exchange to come.

I had my first cultural delight with language on the evening of our arrival, when attempting to order room service.

I had practiced Romanian daily for months and had a decent grasp of pronunciation, or so I thought.

Scanning the room service menu, I found a familiar favorite to calm the nerves and tummy, ginger ale, yes, I would have one of those, please.

The phone rang and was answered by the most polite of gentlemen, and after ordering a snack, I added, "and I'll have a ginger ale with that."

Silence.

"Excuse?" asked the gentleman.

"A ginger ale," I repeated, thinking he had not heard me.

"Um. Excuse me. We have no gin-jer-ail," he carefully repeated the word I had said.

"Yes you do!" I expressed, perhaps a little frantically, "It's a beverage on the menu page 2."

"Oh!" he gasped, "You mean a'gain-gher-aye-lay! Yes, we have those."

"Gain-gher-aye-lay! Yes! Thank you," I parroted, relieved and delighted at the lay of my favorite beverage on this foreign tongue.

The next day, one of the Sr. Ambassador's assistants, an American, visited us for a welcome dinner and complimented me on my accent when ordering a "gain-gher-aye-lay" from the waitress.

Here's our final meal with our Embassy hosts in Cluj, and I must confess I made a faux pas that they desperately tried to talk me out of making that very night.

After a lovely meal at Maimuta (which translates to "monkey") we went to the hotel for dessert.

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It is my custom in the U.S. to enjoy a coffee with my dessert, especially on the fancy occasions where I actually have dessert in the first place.  On this occasion, I was feeling fancy, so I ordered a cappuccino.

"No, no," Isabella urged me, "Not in Europe. Not here.  It is very strong."  

Having been a coffee drinker since 5 years old, and black strong Tennessee hillbilly coffee at that, I figured I could handle it.

I should have listened.

What was delivered to me was perhaps the best lesson in diplomacy I have ever received.

I will now assure you for a fact, do not drink cappuccino in the evening.  It is something akin to rocket fuel and I thought I might actually have a heart attack trying to sleep that night.

I share this here in all humility and in hopes that my mistake (two mistakes in one actually) will not so afflict any other daring, coffee loving travelers.

I must also offer praise where praise is due - the airline in Romania (Lufthansa) offered us passengers a most delectable sandwich - egg salad, perhaps, and a little pack of wafer cookies.  This was the best airline sandwich I ever ate.  Delicious. Simple in delivery (a paper wrap) and that's it!  Thank you and you're welcome.

Passengers were also polite and it was delightful to be a guest in a close quarters with a people that, despite any differences, also felt very familial amongst one another, and kindly to a traveler seeking to practice her Romanian.

"Incântat de cunoștință" being my favorite phrase by far, with "Vă mulțumesc" a close second.

Until next time - thanks for following along with the Day-In-the-Life series.  

Here's the others -