Wednesday, May 12, 2010

I need to Learn Spanish

Phone call #1 came one out from the end of the game. Chancho needed to know the score. I've gotten phone calls everyday since he's been able to have a working phone. Some days, he's been able to call twice, but I am definitely glued to my phone waiting for an odd number to pop up. I missed one phone call and attempted to call Peru. Let's just say it was...a disaster...interesting. Remember I don't speak Spanish at all. I can understand a few words, but mostly nothing. Chancho said that if I call I would just have to repeat his name and someone would go and get him. Well we didn't go over the plan for if he wasn't home when I called. It went as so:
Female voice: "Hola?"
Me: "Is Chancho there?"
Female voice: "something in Spanish...Chancho y Mama...something in Spanish."
Me: "Chancho?"
Female voice: "something in Spanish"
Awkward silence not knowing what to say
Me: "It's TM calling for Chancho?"
Female voice (I now recognize it's Chancho's grandmother): "Oh Hiiiiii TM, Khow are choo?"
Me: "Good...."
Chancho's grandmother: "More Spanish....Byeeee"

So I hung up. Confused as ever, but at least I knew that his grandmother knew who I was and that there was a chance that he would get the message. I heard Mama so I figured that he was out with his mother. When Chancho called back later that night he goes "I heard you had an interesting conversation with my grandmother. How come you didn't answer her when she asked who was calling?" I quickly asked if he just asked that question and then he laughed and said "Oh yeah, well at least she knew it was you."

Now I'm waiting for the second phone call. There were two games played today so he should be calling after the end of this second one. I jokingly said that the only reason he calls me is to find out the final scores, but he laughed and reassured me that he had other reasons for calling like me buying him a book so he had something to read on the flight back.

I'm super excited for tomorrow. I'm babysitting Buster, but unlike every other day, we're going on a field trip. My friend suggested that we go to a Nature Center with another friend who has a kid. I am a little nervous as to how Buster will react to being in public with me. I haven't had to deal with any temper tantrums and I know he likes to have them when he's tired and we'll be skipping a nap to go there. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he'll be too busy with the other kid and looking at stuff that he won't get crazy. I'm just excited that we won't be doing the same thing that we do every day that I'm there. I was going bat crazy in the same routine. Now that I know that his parents are comfortable with me taking him somewhere, I think this has opened a whole new world for us.

5 days down and only 10 more days to go til Chancho gets home. Then vacation for the both of us!

Quote of the Day: "Every person you meet knows something you don't. Learn from them." -H. Jackson Brown 
Listening to:  "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" by Billy Joel

2 comments:

  1. If you want to improve your Spanish, you should try our Spanish video lessons:
    http://spanish-lessons.webspanish.com/

    ReplyDelete