After going to the Embassy, we went to the local police department to get the “small forms”. These were the preliminary forms. There were lots and lots of people there for the same thing. You had to go there early and get a number. At that time, I was teaching private lessons in the English language. I met some of my students there. We didn’t know of one another’s intentions to leave the country.
At that time, it seemed that a lot of the would-be female immigrants got it into their heads that it would be beneficial for them to learn the art of cosmetology (facials, massage, creams, etc.). As such, I enrolled in one such course myself. I later found out that 8 out of 10 women taking cosmetology had applied for immigration papers.
We put a lot of pressure on the authorities to let us go. That was lots of memos, meetings, interviews, even telegrams to the highest government officials, Central Committee of the Communist Party, including the President. My memos were not at all tame.
Surprisingly, I was not persecuted at all at work. Even when they found out, the reaction was wonder, bewilderment, admiration. Some colleagues told me that they wished they had my courage but that they felt too old to start anew.
At some point, we had a home search, out of the blue. Two security police came and asked to see our belongings. They were polite, but firm. Although my mother and I were surprised, we were also vaguely amused because we knew that they wouldn’t find anything. We did not have anything illegal, like gold coins, foreign currency or the like. However, we did not leave them out of our sight because we had heard of people that had been framed with illegal items being planted during the search. My mother suspected that the search was due to the fact that one of her co-workers was married to a high-ranking security official. But we never knew for sure.
We knew that we needed a sponsor, somebody to send us an affidavit of support. At some point, we started thinking that we should broaden our area and try to immigrate to Australia. We visited some trade organizations that had business relations with Australia. Through a person at such a trade company, we heard of an impending convention of Australian sheep breeders. We found out when and where the Convention would take place. That day, I called the hotel and asked to talk with the chief of the delegation. And, being a tour guide, I offered to give them a free sightseeing tour of Bucharest. I didn’t have a car, but I took two Australians for a walking tour. I showed them the sights but I also pleaded my case, that is, asking them to sponsor my mother and me. After the tour, I invited them for lunch at our house where they also met my mother. The Australians were flabbergasted by my initiative and persistence and said that indeed I deserved an opportunity. However, they kept saying that I should give up my idea of taking our dog with us on this adventure. They pointed out that it would be much harder with the dog, but I never relented. I said that without the dog I am not going. I don’t know if this was a “deal-breaker” or not, but they never decided to sponsor us.
In the meantime, my mother and I were called in for the “big forms” which was the second phase in the immigration process. We still had no sponsor. Another of my initiatives was to go to the Romanian Patriarchy (main church) and ask to see their books with Romanian churches abroad. A priest said that he wasn’t sure he was allowed or supposed to show me the books. However, he took out a book and left it there for me. Then he pretended he was called elsewhere. I had just a few minutes to quickly scribble a few addresses. I took down a few addresses of Romanian Orthodox churches in large U.S. cities, including Los Angeles. Then I proceeded to write detailed letters about our situation and addressed to the Romanian priest. We were asking that our letter be read to the congregation.
Still, no sign of any sponsor. We were getting rather desperate. Then we came with the idea that maybe another country would give us a transit visa and from there we would be able to get into the U.S.A. without a sponsor. We tried the Italian Embassy (no luck) and then the Egyptian Embassy. Although it was hard to get into any Embassy, the Egyptian one was even harder to get into, being heavily guarded. No people were allowed to even come close to the building. But, being resourceful, I decided that still something could be done. Together with one of the man I was tutoring in English (another would be immigrant), I stood watch over the Embassy, from a distance. The plan was that as soon as we saw somebody looking Egyptian being admitted into the Embassy, we would shout that we wanted to be let in to talk about something really important. The plan worked. We got in and talked to the Consul. He said that we would be granted a visa, but that the destination stated in the passport had to show Egypt. We didn’t want to go to Egypt to stay, but we agreed.
Looking back, I think that I did pretty courageous things. The reason they worked, I think, is because people were taken by surprise and didn’t know how to react. Very few people, if any, would have dared to go inside a heavily guarded area, for instance. But I just didn’t care, didn’t stop to think of any possible dangers. I just followed my dream.
(to be continued)
