The "M" in my middle name no longer stands for Matthew, but rather "Misinformation." In the past two weeks I have been here it has been hard to quantify the amount of times I have actually said something horribly wrong. Here are two quick ejemplos (yea more Spanish lessons for you all):
The first night I was here, I had a somewhat long conversation with my host mother. We were talking about life and family, the usual. In the flow of the conversation she asked me how many sobrinos I had. Being the greatest Spanish speaker to grace this Earth and remembering my high school Spanish family tree assignments, I told her thirteen or so. After that, she asked how long my brother had been married, so I told her a year and a half. I wondered why she gave me this bewildered look when I told her that, but I did not lose sleep over it. The next day I had a conversation with my new best friend, the University of Chicago Spanish-English Dictionary. After a quick charla (chat) with my friend, he told me that sobprinos meant nephews, not cousins like I had thought (primos is cousins in Spanish). So yeah, my brother has been busy over a year and a half. Keep up the good work!
The other night was another one of these instances, not as detailed but amusing none-the-less. the conversation of the night was another session of a "How much does that cost in America?" We eventually got to talking about education and my host father asked how much one year of school cost. Again, you have the best Spanish-speaking American here in Ecuador, so I told him. $500,000 per year. That sounds about right, no? I guess it feels like that much to the average American.
There are probably countless other little gems similar to those cases that I have said, but so far those two stand out as beacons of hope for our culture. The United States is filled with multimillionaire, sex-crazed (or fertility drug crazed) newlyweds. It's not that far off from the truth, I guess.
On another note, if you ever plan to live somewhere that isn't the US or probably Europe, bring Fabreeze. Yes, I am a Fabreeze shill. Picture me holding the bottle in some cheesy, commercial-like fashion. My room smells like mierda. If you have half a brain and scored higher than a 600 on your SATs you can figure ou thee contextual meaning of mierda. Fabreeze would remedy so many weird and sometimes horrid smells. A product like Fabreeze does not exist in Cayambe, so I have put a bounty on its head. Whoever finds it first here wins a dry, flavorless cookie from the panaderia I go to after lunch everyday.
That's it for now sportsfans, I'll try to get some pictures in sometime soon. I just forget to take them, so really do not have many yet. Oh if you here about flooding in Ecuador on CNN, I´m probably fine.
Ok, there is a link on the right for my Photobucket album, if it doesn´t work let me know.
5 comments:
you have to start eating dulce de leche based products, your whole world will open up, taste buds will be invigorated, possibly develop several cavities. i'd probably rather smell your room there, than your dogs you abandoned here.
hi Chris!! I have to say I found your sobrinos mishap rather funny - especially since it's like pulling teeth to have at least one sobrino let alone 13!!! However I will keep you posted on when your first sobrino is on the way ;) Anyways, I'm glad to hear you're doing well. You're in my prayers- love ya - your favorite sister-in-law :)
One thing you would love here Melissa, cilantro. It´s in everything, including my dreams.
as in the beautiful herb you that you do not allow me to put in your fajitas!? btw i was in the middle of watching fotc when mom turned off the tv to make me look at your pics. she's out of control.
Yuck I hate cilantro it tastes like an evergreen tree smells! I'm glad you put up some pictures. Take a picture of your smelly room I want to see you nice accomodations. If you can find dryer sheets they may help the smell just put them throughout the room.
Post a Comment