I was a very good student although I did not study too much. Studying was just something that I had to do, not something that I liked to do. My parents never checked my homework or asked whether I did it or not. It was entirely up to me, my sole responsibility. In highschool, some of the homework was rather difficult so my parents wouldn’t have been able to help me anyway. I had a very strong sense of duty. I always did my school work first thing after coming home and then I was free to do whatever I liked which was reading, movies, shopping with my mother. I was very close to my mother and would go out shopping with her practically every day. Shopping meant mostly shopping for food because that was very scarce, especially after 1964 or so. Finding a nice plump chicken or some ham or hot dogs, smoked fish or anything really, was a great accomplishment which gave us a lot of joy. It was probably similar to the feeling a hunter has when he gets something. Finding a good book to read was also a great accomplishment. Usually, for anything you had to know somebody. My mother was friends with the bookstore salesperson next to her work and also with the grocery clerks nearby. When something good came in, they would generally tell her.
There were no supermarkets so for everything you had to go to a different store. Grocery shopping was very tedious. But everybody managed to get by somehow. At holidays, everybody had a feast. Even if you had to wait in line for something good, maybe even wait in line just in hopes that merchandise would be delivered soon, it was still worth it. If you wanted to eat a little better, then you waited. I remember many times, waiting in line for hours, hoping to buy some bananas or oranges, in the dead of winter, outside of the store, in the back, where the huge lines would not be noticed, freezing, and when you almost made it to the front of the line, they announced you that the store ran out of the thing you had waited for 2-3 hours. Very frustrating is an understatement. But imagine making it just in time to buy the coveted bananas or whatever and to know that the store ran out just after you had bought them! Ahh-hhh, what a feeling of deep joy and accomplishment! Many times food was rationed. You could not buy as much as you wanted. This was applicable to food and non-food items such as toilet paper. Standing a couple of hours in line for 6 rolls of toilet paper and finally getting them did not give you such a great joy as getting a bunch of bananas, but still it was an accomplishment.
Reading was the main pleasure. Good books were hard to get buy and were published in small numbers. Bookstores were full of books with political propaganda that nobody wanted. When something good arrived in the store, long lines would form and in an hour or so, the book would be sold out. Sometimes we went to the movies and saw American and European films that we liked. There were many that were just propaganda that nobody would go to see those.
We got our first TV (second hand) when I was 13. It was, of course, black and white and quite small. And it frequently needed repairs. There were only 2 channels and the programming was just for a few hours, most of it, political. But occasionally we had series such as the Avengers, Untouchables, Bewitched, Flintstones, Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, Dallas. We loved those. Streets would be deserted when our favorite series were on. All in all, we, children did not have the opportunity to waste our time too much on TV.
Before graduating from highschool you had to pass the Baccalaureate exam. That was the highschool exit exam. The exam had both oral and written components. The Real and Human branches had different exams. I did very well in this exam. When all the scores were tabulated, with grades from all 4 years in highschool + the baccalaureate exam, I turned out to be very close to the front of my class. That was the class of ’73.
The teacher with us was our Diriginte (home teacher). She was a teacher of Psychology. We had Psychology classes too. We seem happy because highschool is practically over.
The last day of highschool was very emotional. Everybody went crazy. Each of the classes (A through H) had their own ideas. We, in 12 C, had a metal badge made that showed 12C. Everybody had a long wide ribbon on which they asked colleagues and teachers to write something. Then, this long ribbon was tied around one’s neck. I still have my ribbon somewhere, I think. After an all school meeting and pep talk, we all left the highschool and walked as a group towards downtown, singing at the top of our voices. Everybody would look at us and smile. And we were very proud of ourselves. We were like drunk. We were free from uniforms. Colleges did not require uniforms. And the great majority of us would go to college. There were very few of us who didn’t. A lot of us went on to study English, quite a few to become doctors. Some others left to become engineers, architects, teachers.
A few days later, we had our grand graduation ball at a fancy restaurant. There was food, drinks, dancing. All under the supervision of all teachers and the principal. Everything was very civilized. Nobody got very drunk. And of course, we all walked or took the bus. There were no limos and we didn’t even take taxis. I didn’t have too good of a time because I was running a high fever and had to leave early.
(to be continued)
Simona Georgescu
