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Wednesday, February 6, 2013

My nose hurts

I'm going to stop promising pictures now, because if history is any indication, when I promise to post photos I almost never do.

Just when I thought I was going to get everything put away and picture-worthy, I came down with a cold. And I've been too busy blowing my nose to do anything else.

Also, my husband abandoned me in my hour of need because he had to go to Germany to in-process with the unit that oversees him.
They are located in, you guessed it, Germany.
I wasn't so much afraid of being left alone with the monsters and a cold, as I was being left alone in a country in which I cannot for the life of me figure out what anyone is saying.

People. I studied The Spanish. I even understand the dang subjunctive. Kind of.
But these lovely Spaniards never pause between words. Or sentences.

I avoid eye contact when I enter stores, because when I don't, the nice saleswoman rattles off what is probably some variation on, Let me know if I can help you, Is there something you're looking for?, or How's the weather out there?

I don't know if I should say thanks, or I'm just browsing, or kind of windy.

So I just smile and nod.

Would it be rude to ask them to write it out? I'm a pretty good reader in Spanish.

Anyway, my husband was gone and I tackled three important things:
1) I answered a phone call from the Internet provider to arrange to have the line installed.
This is a big deal, because if face to face interactions are tough, the phone is ridiculous. No body language = No good.
But the lady was very nice, and spoke slowly and repeated.
Mañana, entre once y uno.
Got it.

2) The aforementioned internet guy came today, which is yesterday's mañana.
I was able to both buzz him into the building, score 1, and successfully get a line installed in the area of the house which is the exact opposite of where Josh wanted me to direct him. Score back to zero.
He insisted that what I was asking for, No funciona. Wouldn't work.
Got it.

3) I paid the crazy ridiculous bill for the kids school lunches for January and February. This had to be done in person at the school, well, because that's the only way I knew how to do it.
The folks there are all very nice, but this time I had to try not to make a fool out of myself in front of people I need to see on a regular basis.
More at stake, if you will.

Totally nailed it. They were as nice to me as if I were paying them.

Oh wait.

So there you have it, I was on my own in the big city for three whole days, and Josh should be home later tonight so I can go back to being less adventurous.

And get busy taking some...

NyQuil.

Ha. You thought I was going to say pictures didn't you?




2 comments:

Sandy said...

You sure are one crazy American! =o)

Taylor said...

Hope you are feeling better! Tell Josh to stay in the foreign country from whence he moved to. Or something like that.
Does he have to speak Spanish AND German?