Customer Service and Getting Around

Ninety-five percent of our time in pre-service training is spent in Costesți, so I try to make the most of my days spent in the capital. After eight hours of lectures and information insemination, I try to explore a little or grab a drink with a current volunteer to get a better feel for PC in Moldova. Chișinau also has a lot things that are not available in the villages (Walmart has yet to globalize Moldova), so I like to take advantage of already being in the city and save a shopping trip. The only two things I really wanted were a blow dryer (gotta meet the Moldovan standards of being put together) and a yoga mat (sitting all day hurts my body).

I started with the hair dryer. All electronics are conveniently sold in one store. If you want a refrigerator or a cell phone, a curling iron or an electric kettle (love those), there’s a one-stop shop for you. I found the store, not too far from the farmer’s market (piața in Romanian) and decided on the cheapest but sturdiest looking blow dryer. I told one of the wandering clerks which one I wanted and he want to get it. He told me how much it was and I pulled out my bani to pay, but he just handed me a slip of paper (without the blow dryer), said something inaudible to me and pointed towards a window with another employee sitting behind it. I walked over to the window, assumedly handed the woman behind it my slip of paper, then watched her rifle through it and stamp a couple things. I tried to hand her the money as well, but was once again sent elsewhere in the store. I ended up at a counter next to the big screen T.V.’s with yet another clerk shuffling through my papers, making stamps and signatures and who knows what else.  I was however at the end because he had me also sign the papers, plugged my blow dryer in to assure it worked, handed me the warranty, let me pay and then sent me on my way. Whew, sales clerk marathon over.

The yoga mat was easier. Found sports store. Found yoga mats in sports store. Asked sales clerk how much they were. Justified the price. Choose a color (purple, this was the most difficult part of the whole transaction). Paid the same sales clerk that had been helping me the whole time. Left with purple yoga mat in hand. All in Romanian! Who has two thumbs and was super proud of herself? This girl.

Another afternoon, I was searching the main street in Chișinau for the post office. I couldn’t find it and stopped to ask a sweet looking older couple if they knew where it was. Mind you, this was five or so weeks into language training. They were pointing and using words I had never heard. I felt like an idiot because by this point I had already learned my directions. I thought for a moment, then asked them if they were speaking in Russian. Bingo! Turns out they understood my Romanian, but couldn’t speak it? Or perhaps my Romanian was so fantastic they thought I also spoke Russian (dream big). We laughed about the language barrier and I headed off in the direction they had gestured. I found it after a local heard me asking someone else in Romanian and asked me in English what I was looking for. Mission accomplished and worth every moment.