AS A TOURIST I DID NOT HAVE TO.....
1. translate labels when grocery shopping....I didn't grocery shop. I ate out at fabulous restaurants every meal and didn't care if it was a balanced meal.
2. drive children to and from school, therefore did not have to understand street signs. This can make riding with me quite dangerous......
3. spend 30 minutes with my computer translating the cooking directions on the packages. (refer to number 1)
4. set an alarm....self explanatory.
5. have to walk 3 blocks to take all my trash that is made of glass to the "glass bin" and 5 blocks to take plastic bottles back to the machine at the market.
6. learn to park a 5 foot wide car in a 5 foot wide space.
7. spend an hour in search of the Parkhouse I had parked in while the meter was ticking ( Most Parkhaus are underground and look the same to me)
8. go to a Government Driver's License building to pick up my Driver's license and sit in the wrong waiting area for 30 minutes because I couldn't read the signs. Then listen to a man tell me where to go and pretend to understand (pride often gets in the way) Thankfully, I picked up on the word 'die Treppe' (stairs). You would have thought me having ticket number 745 and them calling 124 would have been my first clue.
9. Listen to my navi, (aka, Jane) tell me "prepare to turn right" after I already missed the turn. Autobahn is faster than Jane and U-turns aren't allowed in tunnels.
10. have to make sense of conversations when being spoken to in another language. I thought I was doing good in this regard, until I have learned that I seem to generate a different version of what is being said to me much of the time.... For example, Jason and I were having a conversation in German with a Gentleman about the country from which he originated, when Jason turns to me to translate what he was saying, I immediately cut him off and say, "I UNDERSTAND.....he said that after much time the land dried up and people didn't have any food" Jason said, "ummm, no, he said that a long time ago there were many wars in this region".
11. have a compost pile (don't think this would have been allowed in the hotel and wasn't this from my parents generation?)
12. AND FINALLY, As a tourist, I did not have a man YELL at me because I forgot to weigh and price my bananas in the grocery store. Of the German I understood, "I was taking too long and blah...blah....blah....blah...." (as the cashier left to weigh my bananas) I was so tired from the stress of items 1 thru 11 , that once I paid -I walked out crying....haven't done that since driving in the ice. I was soooo embarrassed which is one of the few things that will bring me to tears. Jason says it is a cultural difference and I shouldn't worry about it. I say, if I could speak better German, I could have told him to kiss my butt! (But a true Southern girl wouldn't do that.....would she?!?!?)
For me, most days I end up laughing at myself when making a few these adjustments. Like I said, it is my choice to get out and experience EVERY aspect. There were some great cultural things I also experienced today that I would not have if I were a tourist...... For instance, when dusting, I realize I am humming along to the German Oom-pah music playing on the radio. ( I doubt I dusted anything when I was touring... ) And most of all, AS A TOURIST, I WOULD NOT BE "OFFICIAL..." (see picture below)
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| I can officially drive.... |
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| They give women the good spots-if you can squeeze in them. |
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| Had to translate all of this to pay parking ticket before I could get out of Parkhaus |
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| "Please turn right"...too late, I'm going in the tunnel.... |
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| Had to translate this machine to return our Plastic bottles..... |
Did you know there's an app for iPhones that help you locate your parked vehicle? I've walked around the target parking lot too many times hitting the alarm trying to locate my silver Honda minivan that EVERYBODY else has.
ReplyDeleteSecond, you're not in kansas anynore Dorothy. Don't let those folks intimidate you over a simple mistake. Bananas can easily be shoved up noses. (I'm keeping it G rated here). Today will be a great day! Enjoy the break from the winter weather.
Hmmm... I doubt that app would work over a TEN BLOCK area. I didn't just lose my parking place....which Parkhaus covering a ten city block area!!
ReplyDeleteit is TOTALLY differnt living in a different country and visiting!!:) I remember last summer I had to go and get more passport pages put in at the american embassy in Lagos ( since it takes Nigeria forever to issue a green card...or anything for that matter...I think i have killed about 10 trees for all the temporary visas that are in my passport)....and no one would tell me where to go and sit...i was with the kids, too. I was so frustrated...i just cried....talk about being homesick!!! You're doing a great job!!! love,m:)
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