Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Hours of Spanish Conversation

Today has been a long day. But it has been one of those good, long days. I left the appartment about 7:50 a.m. I arrived at the office to apply for my N.I.E about 8:10 and stood in line (if you call having one person in front of you a line). A huge wave of relief hit me when I made it past the front desk this time. They gave me a number instead of an appointment. While waiting for my number, I talked to two other auxiliares-- one from Massachusetts and another from England. When my number came up I was able to get everything done, including having to copy another page of my passport and have photos taken.

The entire process, including waiting, lasted about four hours. I stopped by the market on my way back to my room and grabed a few things, including sugar, which I have been searching for during the last three or four visits. When I got back to my room I worked on some math that I will be helping with tomorrow. I honestly work more than required, trying to prepare lessons, etc. I will soon start science.

After about an hour half of math, skype and youtube, the pastor and his wife invited me to their house for lunch. We talked over lunch for a while and then he showed me where the church will be starting in November. It will be much larger and will be able to serve better in the community. He told me about some of the plans for classrooms, a place for missionarys to stay, a gameroom, the kitchen, and the temple. We also discussed the possibility of me doing english classes or an english small-group at the church as another way to reach out. I look forward to seeing what God does in this.

After leaving from the church, I began walking back to the piso. I passed by a pharmacy and decided to stop by real fast to see what they carried. I asked if they had "jabón antibacterial" which is how I thought to say "antibacterial soap." Unfortunately they didn't understand me. The man showed me what they had, a shower gel. I told him that wasn't what I was looking for and tried to say I was looking for bar soap. After stumbling through, he asked, in Spanish if I spoke English. I said yes and he went and got another employ. I tried explaining the same thing in Spanish before trying English. Eventually I said hard (in Spanish) and they still didn't really understand me. Finally they grabbed a bar of soap off a shelf and I said yes. But it wasn't what I was looking for. Eventually I told them I had been searching for it here in Spain but only have been able to find it in the USA. They told me I could get them the name/brand and they could order it-- although it may be a different brand. The biggest thing out of this was laughing at my inability. For once, rather than freaking out and being discouraged (wow, that took an entire minute to think of the word in English!), I laughed. I hope the three or four employees found it as amusing as I did.

A few other notes... Electronic dictionaries are no help. I carried one with me in hopes of being able to better communicate. FAIL! The hard words weren't in there. Oh, and could someone remind me of the word for the fruit that is purple, commonly eaten around Thanksgiving and comes in a can? (Its not beats, its not yams...Its...)

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