In the 80 after graduating from the university, I wondered if I should go to Transylvania, because I had to choose between Transylvania and Bucharest. Bucharest gave you a kind a security, food was more accessible. In the country life was getting harder, it was an extremely difficult period. Certain areas were privileged somehow, in other areas the system of ration cards was back. I must tell that Bucharest was affected by the fact that the peasants wanted to buy bread to feed the pigs. There was no wheat, no maize (one was forced to give away almost everything one cultivated in front of one?s house, on a small land plot) People had houses near Bucharest or even in the city, raising cattle, animals that they fed with bread. What generated this? A lot of problems. Many because of the bad bread. One knew the bread went to animals. So everybody ate bad bread, incredibly bad bread. The phenomenon persisted until 93-94. (114)

BRIBERY

There are many synonyms for bribery in Romanian, though there are slight differences between them. The most frequent words in everyday language are backhander or kickback. The present and gift, words with different basic meanings in the rural world, have been borrowed, changed and used as variants for bribery. So the present can mean extra money for some honest or dishonest legal service, consisting of 'art' objects or consumer goods due to lack of foreign currency.

Traditionally it is a present offered to godparents on certain occasions.

Lawyers and judges used to take: framed gobelins, red crystal bowls (imitating the Bohemia ones), china fruit dishes, imitations of Rosenthal style, silver and crystal and bronze and crystal fruit dishes, large macramé "doilies", tablecloths embroidered by hand, oil paintings showing edible still lifes, flowers and landscapes, sensuous women, big trinkets (the bigger and more naturalistic, the more precious), sometimes genuine second-hand art objects and books.

Most presents were placed on the desk in the house.

Other presents taken were: Kent cigarettes boxes, foreign coffee bags, whisky, "wrapped" eau-de-Cologne and deodorants, home electronic equipment, foreign most of the time, any kind of Western goods.

The habit has been preserved, but today lawyers take icons mainly.

I gave presents on all sides owing to some overseas relatives' generosity to whom I owed my successful divorce action or all contacts with public administration at that time.