I thought I knew English until I needed it for small things. Not for an exam, not for a film without subtitles, but for a doctor’s appointment, a question about the bus, a short conversation with the neighbour watering her flowers. ...
One of the first things you look for in a new country is the taste of home. You do not always search for it deliberately. Sometimes you find it on a shelf of pickles, in a loaf that looks a little like the bread back home, or in a bunch of dill that makes you smile in the middle of a supermarket. ...
The first English rain did not surprise me. Everyone had told me that here the sky always has something to say. What surprised me was the way rain changes the rhythm of the day. In Romania, proper rain often means a pause, a hurry home, coffee made quickly on the stove. Here, people simply continue, with a calmness I am still learning. ...