Ohio

the other day, i was at the post office trying to send some work back to a university in iowa where i've been doing some work. so am sending it registered mail, cause things sometimes get lost at the post office here. I had to try and read the entire address back to her to input it in the computer. sounds easy right? except that romanian is a phonetic language so people dont spell things to much. there arent names for the letters, just sounds. while i can speak (sort of) its hard making sounds that are pretty meaningless to me (and just trying to get my brain to not say 'aye' but 'ahhh').

When we got to the state part, IA didnt translate for her, so i said,"Iowa." She responds with "Ohio?" back and forth we go with iowa and ohio. i said to her that it is a state in the US she again responds with ohio. then am all having to give a mini geography lesson - there are 50 states in the US. Ohio is one and Iowa is another - before she would put the state on there.

how random is it that Ohio is familiar to her. Thank goodness i wasnt all trying to Idaho.