Ice Cream

Today I learned a very important lesson: in Romania, there are rules about getting ice cream. Yes, there are rules and yes, I inadvertently broke the most important one. Ok, so here’s the story:

It was lunch time and, as usual, I was sitting in the park eating and talking with a handful of my fellow PCT’s (that’s Peace Corps Trainees for those of you who aren’t hip to the thousands of abbreviations that the PC has for everything. See? there was another one). Diane walked by with a delicious looking ice cream cone and of course I asked her where she got it and how much it cost because, as well all know, I have a serious love for all things ice cream and it was probably 80 or 90 degrees outside. So she told me that the ice cream was available across the street at a little corner store and the soft serve dispenser was right outside on the sidewalk and that I could just walk up and get some ice cream. So my friend Chase and I walked over there to get some ice cream. As you can imagine, I was very happy to find that the corner store was set up just as my girl Diane had described; the soft serve dispenser was right outside and the cones were on top of the machine in a tupperware box.

I’m the type of person who takes directions/instructions very literally so I remember what Diane said about just walking up and getting my ice cream so I walked right on up to the machine, grabbed a cone and just as I reached for the handle to get my ice-cold deliciousness, a very angry ice cream man came out of the corner store and gave me the kind of look transcends all language barriers and needs no hand gestures. So I just stood there feeling mortified and scared.....meanwhile a group of 6 or 7 children walk up. They walk right in front of me, hand the ice cream man their money and wait patiently as he makes their cones. Well, after those children got their ice cream and then after 3 or 4 other adults got their ice cream the ice cream man then turned to me and took the cone which I had apparently stolen, picked up a NEW cone, gave me the ice cream and a dirty look that basically told me to go away. And he did all of this without ever saying a word. Nevermind that during the whole ordeal I’m stammering “Imi pare rau”(I’m sorry) and gesturing like an idiot to try and convey the fact that i didn’t know the rules and that I did not know I had to wait for him to dispense my ice cream for me.

So anyways, the kids who bought their ice cream all got a good laugh out of me standing there with a cone in my hand and a confused look on my face. As we walked back to our friends, Chase turned to me and said “Hey, you gotta know the rules man....and apparently there are rules for ice cream here, the main one being: you don’t mess with the ice cream man”.

Well, ya learn something new everyday I guess.