live with the gypsies

i was invited to the famous village of clejan, well famous among lovers of gypsy music. impression i got was that you leave your boundaries at home, if you want to truly be a part of things it can’t be, “oh, hello, nice to meet you, ta ta,” it’s like okay sure let’s have an oceanic experience of music and partying for three days.

i’m not up to that in my old age. i’m a fragile girl.

but i did roll deep with them in italy and moldova. i received a marriage proposal from one family and my choice of two elegant wealthy bachelors from soroca. they were in their 30s and their mother was getting fed up. it was agreed that i was “shukar” and they promised to kit me up with more than my share of gold jewelery. i was considering it but then they disappeared from our hotel, i guess that’s par for the course when you roll deep with gypsies.

then in italy i rolled with a manele mob of slick ex-rural romanian gypsy teenagers in the piazza santa maria novella. while other travelers were buying famous perfumes i was getting the once-over from the head alpha female of the pack. it was inquired if i liked eminem, shakira, and if i was a virgin. they were not used to being approached by hyper gadje art students who like manele. the guys’ idea of a good joke was hitting me and the alpha female with a car very slightly, just enough to really send us scurrying. lots of laughs.

i still like hanging out with gypsies, i guess i have mahala fever or something. lame but beats an asian fetish and i have already exhausted the hasidic jewish scene.

it’s not that easy to live with them but i did hang out with them quite a bit while i have been in europe. they are not quite what i thought they were like. or they are, but the reality is somehow not as enjoyable as fantasy. they’re actually everywhere here. it’s kind of like being like, “wow hispanic people i want to live with hispanic people,” and sure it could probably be arranged, but it’s just not THAT interesting.

this will be hard because i don’t drink and i don’t eat sugar, flour or wheat. my friend’s mom is a sociologist and she agreed that it is exceptionally difficult to bond with people if you don’t eat their food. probably the only way to do this would be to do a peace corps or volunteer ‘vacation.’ which may not be as fun as just going and hanging out in bucharest.

however, i am good at learning languages and i already can chat someone up in romanes.