Though there are pharmacies on every corner in Romanian towns and cities, the most dependable, trusted, and available medicine/cure-all is tuica (tzoy-kah).
The elaborate glass bottle depicted at left is perhaps 'traditional,' but far more common is the re-used Pepsi or water bottle. Enter any village home, family friends', or pensiune (bed and breakfast type facility) and be expected to be offered and then cajoled, pressured, and almost physically forced to drink a shot of it (and then usually 4 more).
It is NOT POSSIBLE to refuse tuica. If you are invited somewhere, and they start ceremonially distributing the nice shot glasses, just brace yourself and prepare for the inevitable: RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. Women will offer, cajole, frown and lay on the guilt trip. Men will laugh, slap your shoulder, push the glass closer, and insult your manhood or imply that you are insulting his manhood. You take a sip, obligingly, and are then subjected to a barrage of disappointment- how could you not drink more of the offered cup of precious liquid?!?!?! You insult the entire household and its ability to offer and serve its guests!!!
I've had experiences during which I gladly toss back a few (or more) shots of tuica, to the immense delight of the hosts. I've enjoyed a few "guess what type of fruit this tuica is made from" games (it's usually plum, but it can be apple or pear or something with wildberries, too). However, you play this game too much, and you will regret it. It burns going down, and it brings tears to your eyes coming up again. Your stomach begins to identify the scent from 10 meters away, and obligingly begins to spasm violently at the smell. However, the concepts of 'alcohol poisoning' or 'alcohol peer pressure' or 'this stuff makes me violently heave, don't make me drink it' are not valid considerations within the borders of this country.
Tuica has more than a social value, however, as this post began to assert. Tuica is also the cure-all medicine. It stimulates appetite, simulates warmth, settles a worried stomach, kills a virus (I actually sort of agree that this might be possible. I think you could scrub mildew with this liquid). I, being of the anti-alcoholism, post-quacks posing as serious doctors who prescribe opium for headaches and straight grain alchohol for backaches periods of America, was skeptical. However, I may have witnessed, firsthand a success story for TUICA.
My poor, poor boyfriend was struck with some extremely unpleasant form of a stomach flu (the fact that he caught it and NOT me is simply just revenge for the time I was covered in unidentifed bug bites that seemed not to affect him at all...) that had symptoms that are not polite to discuss in public. This interfered with a group trip up to Maramures where we stayed in a pensiune. On a day trip when he had to stay home, close to bathroom facilities at all times, I told the pensiune's owner that he was sick upstairs and asked if they had any stomach medications. They only had nausea preventing pills, but they offered a traditional remedy: blackberries preserved in tuica (this is probably also baby food). He was intructed to eat and drink a small bowl of these berries. This had some instantaneous, dubious results. However, at dinner that night, one or two shots of tuica were forced down. The next morning resulted in dramatic changes and reduction of symptoms. One more night of small dosages of the clear, potent liquid has completely cured him.
This stuff is phenomenal. And, as Teo's mother noted, it is all natural and totally organic: I think there may be a place for it in the American eco-friendly medications market.
3 comments:
Actually telling your host that you are taking some medication that reacts badly with alcohol does do the trick too. It can however make your host very sad that you aren't able to join in their games.
You can alo tell them that you belong to a religious sect (pocait = some kind of Baptist or Pentecostal) however that will mark you as a boring killjoy and enemy of traditional Romanian beliefs, and is not recommended. If you are really unlucky, they might think that you are a Jehovah's Witness. However, knowing you, I doubt whether you would convince anyone that you have suddenly become a long-faced puritan.
Leaving your glass only part-drunk tends to reduce the frequency with which it is refilled, because it is bad luck to refill a glass that has not been drained dry. However, when plenty has been drunk, no-one can tell anyway.
Basically, you are going to get drunk when you go drinking with Romanian peasants. Pity my liver after eight years there!
Since I barely spoke the language, it was always easier for me to just ignore the entreaties to drink that hellish stuff. But I also employed the 'pour it into someone else's glass' method more than once!
Since all the comments here are advice, I'll offer some too.
As soon as you get new bug bites, dab them with vinegar on some cotton. Then apply toothpaste.
Good luck.
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