Then, a smaller committee was organize inside the big committee, a committee of mothers more specialized in luxury shopping, closer to The First Lady Comrade, an who knew her tastes in such matters. The present was beautifully packaged and handed in a small circle; later on, we were thanked in a large circle, on the occasion of a meeting with all the parents.

This did not include individual presents, offered by each child on the occasion of legal holidays (on the 3^rd of January, 1^st of March, 8^th of March, 1^st of May, 1^st of June, 23^rd of August, and strangely on Christmas) or days celebrating the Christian name of the teacher.

In the same way, I cannot omit the famous stories known by us all with teachers who, at the beginning of the first grade, would divide their pupils function of the professions of their parents, you have a doctor, give me the manager, I give you the turner, because I have a house painter kind of stuff. (125)

Wedding rings; you were allowed, took your wedding certificate, go to the bank and buy two gr. per person or something like that. Officially, you were allowed to buy gold for one wedding ring from the bank. You could also buy gold on the black market. Either from somebody who had traveled to Turkey or somebody who sold their gold because they were short of money: a wedding ring, an earring, a golden tooth. (I. H., 30)

You could have 100 kg of gold as long as nobody knew about it. How you got it and where you hid it were your problems, but nobody was to know. You they found our you had gold, they came and confiscated it. An interesting thing was that there was no gold under 14 k except the one on the black market (mostly by athletes who had gone to competitions abroad). If you wanted to get some gold to make a wedding ring, you had to follow a certain procedure: the city hall gave you a document attesting your intention to get married, a document also signed by the party secretary; you showed that document to the bank and then bought the gold. In those times, we would be expelled from the party if they found out you had done a religious wedding ceremony. Another possibility was to buy the wedding rings ready made, but only if you had money and also with permission from the party secretary. There 2 or 3 shops in Bucharest, one on the Magheru street and another one on VictorA Road. Apart from the gold for wedding rings, it was very difficult to buy gold on legal ways. The only way you could buy jewels was on the black market, but if you got caught, you could have gone to prison.