“Bunā seara. Sunt Canadianul din camera șase, cāminul trei.”

29 October, 2009. Universitatea de Nord din Baia Mare, camera șase, cāminul trei.

Translation: “Good evening. I am the Canadian in room six, building three.”

I have these words written out on a piece of paper that I carry with me in my coat pocket.  The university campus, which includes the dormitory where I live, is locked down every night at 8pm by security, with only the back parking lot entrance open for residents/students/faculty to get in and out.  The first time I came back to the campus after 8, a security guard stopped me and asked (in Romanian) who I was and where I was going.  Not sure how to respond, I pulled-out my passport and tried to indicate that I was the Canadian living on-campus, assuming he would then let me pass (how many Canadians can be living here, after all, right?).  Well, this didn’t seem to satisfy the guard, who then indicated that he also wanted to know a number (seemingly of the room where I live). When I replied “six” (or rather indicated this number on my fingers) he was more than satisfied (“Buna, buna,” he happily indicated), and let me pass.  I found this curious. Could there be more than one Canadian living in the dormitories here?  Or has there been a past history of Canadian burglars on campus?  Anyhow, after this episode I asked my colleague Horea to write down a few simple words to explain myself (in Romanian) to the guard in the future. As it’s turned out, I’ve not yet had to utter these words in my poor Romanian (or show my new “identity card”), as the guards either now recognise me, or have relaxed a little in their duties.  When I told this little story to some visiting Italian scholars last weekend (here to take part in the Poe Bicentennial Conference), they couldn’t stop laughing.  The story has since been passed on to a few Romanian colleagues and students (via the Italians), providing more than a few smiles and laughs.