Oh the struggles...I mean challenges...I mean JOYS of living in a country where the people do not speak your language (and I'm not that great at speaking there's...I need some help form anyone reading this: is that the right "there"? Not only do I struggle with Spanish, my English is dissolving as well.)
Okay, the bulk of today was spent at the school. I'd like to say nothing exciting happened, but in all actuality, every day is a new adventure. Nothing worth dragging you through in writing though. Now that I think of it, I did get my schedule which is INCREDIBLY note worthy, but you'll have to wait for tomorrow. More pressing items are on my mind tonight.
Tonight I decided to tackle my first load of laundry. The washer looked functional so I put my clothes in, dumped some soap in, pushed some buttons, and all of a sudden the machine started groaning. Yeah! That wasn't bad. Then I realized there was no water, and she wasn't making noises anymore. So, I did what any logical problem solver would do and started pushing more buttons. Beep. Beep. Beep. It was like a phone where every button makes a different tone. After figuring out "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" in button tones (okay not really, but it was a long time) I recalled seeing a user's manual in the closet. Score!!! I followed the directions. Nothing. I followed them again. Nothing. I tried a different setting. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Kicked it and decided to walk away (well, I didn't really kick it, I just went to get my glasses, because they weren't on at this time and neither were my contacts in. Ha! For those of you who know my eyesight, you might say I was foolish for trying to function without my eyes). Well I came and after taking a second look I realized there was a hose on the back of the washer where it connected to the wall. I turned on the spicket (more help please, is that a word?) and water started trickling in. When I say trickling, I mean the flow was like it was coming from a straw. At least it was progress though. Impatiently I watched the water and decided it needed some help. I filled buckets and poured away and all of sudden she came to life. The roaring monster just needed a drink, and now she's happily churning away! Wooo hooo! I'd like to pat myself on the back for success...I hope I'm not speaking too soon...as she is still groaning at the other end of the room. Moral of the story? Laundry takes me 4 minutes in the states - here it took me 45. Next time should be easier though. Battle = success.
So, my apartment complex is really neat. I have a direct phone to call a 24 hour security man at the front desk. He is my "portero" and he is wonderful. I actually have 2 of them and they both graciously help me with Spanish. Well, whenever anyone arrives for me or someone is here to see me, they call. Brrrinnnnnggg. Brinnnnggg. Tonight the phone rings. "allo" (that's like the Spanish version of hello) Then Spanish comes flying at me a mile a minute. Most of the time I catch the important words and I do okay. Also, they usually call when my ride is here, so no big deal - I'm ready for it. But a call a 8:00 at night when I'm not expecting someone threw me for a loop. So I get, "a;dslfja;dsja;dlgkjad;lgkjas;lfkjads;lfjdsf" and pick out of the mess that Superwoman called and wants me to call her back at the school. Perfecto. Then he kept going....not okay. He was telling me something about having to press "111" and if I had any questions to call back. So, I tried about 20 different times to call Luisa but it was a fail. I reached a few wrong numbers. Ha! Remember prank calling in middle school. That's what it was like. Finally I gave up, swallowed my pride, and called him back for directions again. This is what I understood, "asdf;lajsd;flkasdf;lkajdf;laskd after press 111". (For your purpose I did the translating) Great! I hung up with him, grabbed the other phone, and tried again and then failed again. Then I quit. I didn't want to call him back again. About an hour passed and I decided to just walk down the 4 flights of stairs and speak with him. Maybe that would be easier. Oh man, it was great. There was a 14 year old boy chilling with him at the front desk that spoke English about as well as I speak Spanish. We managed to figure it out, my portero was just telling me the extension I needed to press after calling the school number. By this time it's 9:00 at night and everyone who would be at school is gone. Therefore, it was a fail on almost every level. BUT now I know all about extensions and prank calling Colombians. So at least it wasn't a complete loss? Ha! Next time it will be phone-call POSSIBLE!
Okay, the bulk of today was spent at the school. I'd like to say nothing exciting happened, but in all actuality, every day is a new adventure. Nothing worth dragging you through in writing though. Now that I think of it, I did get my schedule which is INCREDIBLY note worthy, but you'll have to wait for tomorrow. More pressing items are on my mind tonight.
Tonight I decided to tackle my first load of laundry. The washer looked functional so I put my clothes in, dumped some soap in, pushed some buttons, and all of a sudden the machine started groaning. Yeah! That wasn't bad. Then I realized there was no water, and she wasn't making noises anymore. So, I did what any logical problem solver would do and started pushing more buttons. Beep. Beep. Beep. It was like a phone where every button makes a different tone. After figuring out "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" in button tones (okay not really, but it was a long time) I recalled seeing a user's manual in the closet. Score!!! I followed the directions. Nothing. I followed them again. Nothing. I tried a different setting. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Kicked it and decided to walk away (well, I didn't really kick it, I just went to get my glasses, because they weren't on at this time and neither were my contacts in. Ha! For those of you who know my eyesight, you might say I was foolish for trying to function without my eyes). Well I came and after taking a second look I realized there was a hose on the back of the washer where it connected to the wall. I turned on the spicket (more help please, is that a word?) and water started trickling in. When I say trickling, I mean the flow was like it was coming from a straw. At least it was progress though. Impatiently I watched the water and decided it needed some help. I filled buckets and poured away and all of sudden she came to life. The roaring monster just needed a drink, and now she's happily churning away! Wooo hooo! I'd like to pat myself on the back for success...I hope I'm not speaking too soon...as she is still groaning at the other end of the room. Moral of the story? Laundry takes me 4 minutes in the states - here it took me 45. Next time should be easier though. Battle = success.
So, my apartment complex is really neat. I have a direct phone to call a 24 hour security man at the front desk. He is my "portero" and he is wonderful. I actually have 2 of them and they both graciously help me with Spanish. Well, whenever anyone arrives for me or someone is here to see me, they call. Brrrinnnnnggg. Brinnnnggg. Tonight the phone rings. "allo" (that's like the Spanish version of hello) Then Spanish comes flying at me a mile a minute. Most of the time I catch the important words and I do okay. Also, they usually call when my ride is here, so no big deal - I'm ready for it. But a call a 8:00 at night when I'm not expecting someone threw me for a loop. So I get, "a;dslfja;dsja;dlgkjad;lgkjas;lfkjads;lfjdsf" and pick out of the mess that Superwoman called and wants me to call her back at the school. Perfecto. Then he kept going....not okay. He was telling me something about having to press "111" and if I had any questions to call back. So, I tried about 20 different times to call Luisa but it was a fail. I reached a few wrong numbers. Ha! Remember prank calling in middle school. That's what it was like. Finally I gave up, swallowed my pride, and called him back for directions again. This is what I understood, "asdf;lajsd;flkasdf;lkajdf;laskd after press 111". (For your purpose I did the translating) Great! I hung up with him, grabbed the other phone, and tried again and then failed again. Then I quit. I didn't want to call him back again. About an hour passed and I decided to just walk down the 4 flights of stairs and speak with him. Maybe that would be easier. Oh man, it was great. There was a 14 year old boy chilling with him at the front desk that spoke English about as well as I speak Spanish. We managed to figure it out, my portero was just telling me the extension I needed to press after calling the school number. By this time it's 9:00 at night and everyone who would be at school is gone. Therefore, it was a fail on almost every level. BUT now I know all about extensions and prank calling Colombians. So at least it wasn't a complete loss? Ha! Next time it will be phone-call POSSIBLE!
HAHA! Omg, all that time just to hear it was a simple extension!? Oh jeese... What an interesting day to say the least! And, hey, I will try to be on Skype as much as possible. I would like to make a habit of keeping in touch to practice both Spanish and English, keep you up to speed, and to keep me up to speed. I wasn't joking when I said I'd be visiting. :)
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ReplyDeleteHa :) Thanks! ...and for spigot too! lol
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