Life is Good.

Bucharest

There are blueberries now in the piata markets, a sure sign that September is the day after tomorrow. Tiny le seur pea sized purple-blacks, they are sold by the spatula. Scooped from the newspaper cloth’d concrete counter piles, a new addition to the proaspat (fresh) produce panoply into small, fragile synthetic bags the thinness of a plastic whisper.

“La fel,” the same, I say to the peasant merchant, seeing the size of the previous customer’s order and thinking I've found a linguistic shortcut. Slipping into the easy catch phrase that let’s me avoid my stuttering insecure language skills, and grateful for the simplification, I hand her half the Kilo price and she looks askance, shakes her head in a clearly negative direction and holds out a demanding palm.

Nope. Didn’t get by with the easy. “Jumatate” I sigh, slipping out of my good Romanian accent and into American. “Imi pare rau” I’m sorry, I say with exaggerated flattened A's, and she sighs, and gives me leeway for being a simply slightly stupid ex-pat and halves my order. I stash the fragile treasure in my bag and head next for the stands full of gladioli and freesia for the weekend household decor. Company is coming tonight.

This morning I reach into the back of the pantry where I keep the red-white-blue secret stash. Cheerios and Kellog’s Cornflakes, and sigh with the small but perfect satisfaction of my polka dot breakfast.

The leaves are falling, though Bucharest is still flirting with 38 and 40 degrees C. Work is going very well. My circle of local and international friends grows and sits around my welcome table drinking wine and eating cheeses and chocolates, experimenting, in IKEA reality, with the shocking rumor of a banana-caviar taste combo sweeping some adventurous market and unilaterally deliver our unanimous ugh's with lemon expressions.

End of the summer, September-serious is the day after tomorrow.

In Bucharest, for an Ami ex-pat, today, life is good.

_________

I watch the US political convention frenzy via CNN and Euronews and BBC and one thing becomes increasingly clear.

If you wish to prepare for war: John McCain.

If you wish to prepare for peace: Barak Obama.

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