A Day in the Life...

At ten o'clock this morning, I sat down to do some language study. Then the phone rang. The courier bringing the latest shipment of books from our publisher would be at the office in an hour and a half (several days earlier than expected), and I needed to be there to pay him. So I dropped everything, made phone calls to the men on our team who handle finances (didn't have enough money of my own to pay and get reimbursed), changed my clothes, walked to the bank to meet our team treasurer, got money, and took a taxi to the office.

By now, the courier is there, the books have been carried up to the office, & the guy is waiting to be paid. He, of course, insists that he doesn't have change since we are his first delivery of the day, so Gabi and I scrounge around to come up with the appropriate amount of money from the depths of our purses. I'm all for giving tips for good service - and I did, but not $8 for a $50 service. I might be a bit naive, but not enough to believe that every taxi driver or delivery person in this country just started their shift immediately before I came their way. It is, however, a good tactic for them to get extra money out of the unsuspecting foreigner. In this situation, it didn't help the man's case when he pulled out his wallet to "verify" that he didn't have change but did it in front of my face where I could see that he did in fact have the correct change.

Anyway, after all of that, looking through the new books to make sure everything printed correctly, walking back home, and eating lunch...now I'm back where I was 4 hours ago, ready to start my to-do list for today. This is a day in the life of a foreigner in Romania - seldom what I expect at the beginning of the day, sometimes frustrating, and often amusing. Hopefully, somewhat productive, too. On that note...