Changing countries is always hell somehow. Even as a wily veteran traveller, it is always a little bit terrifying heading into the complete unknown. By now I should be used to that slight feeling of un-comfort, yet I still feel it every time. There is a new currency to learn the value of, a new list of cities to geographically memorize the names of, new everything that you had adapted to… I used to wonder how it was that professional athletes who have played many hundreds of games in front of huge crowds could still get sick before games from nerves, but maybe the feelings are something relatable. I never do an ounce of research of where I will go in a country beforehand, as I prefer to meet people heading the other direction and I ask them where they have just come from and where I should go. Their advice is much better than what one could ever read from a generic guidebook. And surviving with terrible language skills requires some patience, some waiting around to analyze the situation when I have no idea what the answer I just received was, and a lot of instinct trust. Actually, I have been studying Spanish semi-daily, and it is really growing for me, but the biggest problem is that under pressure I lose what I have. If I have time to think, I can hammer out something remotely understandable to the locals so that sentence #1 goes well. Then the native Spanish speaker assumes that I can speak Spanish and they fire an answer back at me that sounds like a voice that has been recorded and played back audibly in fast forward. Then I present the confused face. I explain that I barely speak Spanish. Then the native speaker repeats the sentence at the same speed but with a hint of frustration. I try to grab three words out of the sentence and attempt to grasp the context. I respond with, “Si…,” more confused look, and I walk away to try to formulate another way to get the answer I need. The trouble is that conversations move too fast. If dialogue exchanges were at 25% of the speed I would have time to think and respond, but it happens so fast that I do not have time to use my Spanish reserve words that are dimly illuminated somewhere in the back of my brain right behind the location for former pet names...
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 02:05:43 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015