Selected text
I got engaged in 1939. He was such a handsome lad, that any girl of my age would have fallen for him. I didn’t have enough experience to seek his inner qualities; I was blinded by the exterior.
So he was handsome, and I was inexperienced, and I was very much in love with him. But I was in for a big disappointment, so I had to break the engagement. What I learned from that was never to say what you shouldn’t say; it’s better to keep your mouth shut, and, whatever you do, you mustn’t lie.
My sisters and brother got married, so I remained the only one who didn’t have a spouse. I stayed home for a while, but I got tired of a housewife’s life and decided to build a future for myself. My mother didn’t approve of my going to work for at a hospital. She was afraid I would become immoral. Back then, rumor had it all the nurses were hooked up with the doctors, so they were safe in case something unwanted happened… It’s no wonder my mother was afraid.
But I gained a different reputation. Doctors would say to one another: ‘The little one will never fall for that.’ I was a savage creature, because, you know, I had been raised like that. It’s not that I didn’t understand those things. I didn’t condemn anybody, but I stuck to what I had learned: a girl is allowed to give in to a man only if they get married. I repeat, this is how I was raised.
So he was handsome, and I was inexperienced, and I was very much in love with him. But I was in for a big disappointment, so I had to break the engagement. What I learned from that was never to say what you shouldn’t say; it’s better to keep your mouth shut, and, whatever you do, you mustn’t lie.
My sisters and brother got married, so I remained the only one who didn’t have a spouse. I stayed home for a while, but I got tired of a housewife’s life and decided to build a future for myself. My mother didn’t approve of my going to work for at a hospital. She was afraid I would become immoral. Back then, rumor had it all the nurses were hooked up with the doctors, so they were safe in case something unwanted happened… It’s no wonder my mother was afraid.
But I gained a different reputation. Doctors would say to one another: ‘The little one will never fall for that.’ I was a savage creature, because, you know, I had been raised like that. It’s not that I didn’t understand those things. I didn’t condemn anybody, but I stuck to what I had learned: a girl is allowed to give in to a man only if they get married. I repeat, this is how I was raised.
Period
Year
1939
Location
Aghiresu
Romania
Interview
Elza Fulop