My dear friend Kyl said that when you move to a foreign country, communicating is just the first barrier. Maybe, but it is a big one. I took Spanish lessons in classes, then I tried a private tutor, but my Spanish is still awful. What compounds it is my hearing is also terrible. Oh sure, I certainly hear noises, and that is part of the problem. When there is any kind of back ground noise (music or people talking too loud) I have trouble understanding anything. Also in my ear, "P's, D's and T.'s all sound alike. This causes problems in English, let alone a foreign language. Oddly enough I do speak and understand some French. One would think that would make learning Spanish easier, but it does not. Yes, the grammar is the same (pronouns precede and adjectives follow) and many words are recognizable to me because the spelling is similar in Spanish and French. The pronunciation is a whole different thing. My pronunciation is terrible. Often when we get into a taxi, I will give the driver instructions in Spanish. He will stare at me as if I am speaking in Farsi. Jennifer will repeat exactly what I said, but in her near perfect accent and off we go.
I further complicate the issue by not having a 'smart phone" I still struggle along with a cheap Mexican phone. It is not just the cost (Yes, I am cheap) I just do not think I could ever learn how to use one. I can barely manipulate the computer and I have had one for 30 or more years. But I think it is time. For one thing the smart phones have good volume. My dumb phone is barely audible and it keeps sending messages I cannot read. I will give you an example.
I had arranged with Felipe to take me on some errands. Actually I only needed to go to the water company, but since I pay him, I always try to add more stops. I like to pay the water bill ahead. This time of year, my water bill exceeds my electric bill. Last month I gave them 1,000 pesos to cover me for 4 or 5 months. Then this month I get a bill and there is no credit listed. What did they do with the money? I knew I would need Felipe not only to drive me there, but to argue with the company. At utility companies and banks, no one speaks English. Only at expensive restaurants and tourists shops where you do not need good Spanish anyway. He said he would pick me up at noon. Like many businesses they close from 2:00 to 4:00.
Now Felipe is one of the good guys, but he is Mexican and therefore has no sense on time. Once he said he would be here at noon and arrived at 3:00. I asked why he was so late and he said, "Well, you said after 12:00 and it is after 12:00" You can see what I am dealing with here. So I always call him in the morning to find out if he has a better idea of what time he will come by. Today I could not get through on his cell phone or his home phone. A recorded message came on that I did not understand. I tried a few times, then sent a text message hoping it would get through. I got a message back, but not from Felipe but from TelCel. I had no idea what it said, so I took it to the man at the taco place next door. He does speak some English as it is a taco stand and a restaurant and popular with tourists. He told me it said I had no credit in the phone. I knew I did, but then I remembered that TelCel has a strange quirk that you must put money in every 60 days or it will not work. You still have your credit, you just cannot use the phone. Carlos Slim owns the company as well as almost all the telecommunication in Mexico and I guess it insures a regular source of funds. but it is irritating. So I added more money to the account giving me a balance of over 300 pesos. I tried again to send a text message.
I got another message from TelCel. This one I understood for I had seen it before. When someone who has no credit tries to send you a message you are offered the option of paying an extra 2 pesos for the privilege (another Carlos Slim idea) But doing so is not easy. You have to push options to reply, then hold down 1 (or it comes up a ",") then scroll down to send. Apparently I did something wrong (who would have guessed). Nothing happened ! I tried again and this time I got a different message from TelCel that I also could not decipher. I took it to the taco man. He of course has a smart phone and may not have seen a dumb phone in years and had trouble working with it. I finally brought up the message and he said, "you have no credit" At this point I decided the only thing to do was to go to the shop where I bought the phone. Unfortunately no one there speaks English either. They may have known what the problem was, but could not explain it to me. But there was a customer who offered to help (Mexicans are really nice) He looked at it and said that I had tried to receive the message too many times and the message was now GONE!!
I went home to play games on my computer when the phone rang and it was Felipe. I thought he said he was outside ( as I said, it is difficult for me to hear on that phone, especially when someone has an accent). I told him I would be right down, locked up and rushed out the door. There was no one waiting for me. After 30 to 45 minutes of standing in the sun, I went back inside to try to call him. He answered. Apparently his car died and was in the shop and he did not know when he would get it back. How did I think he said he was outside?? He said we would try again for Friday at noon. We will see.
Noon on Friday came and went. I had tried to call him, but again I could not get through on either of his phones. One would assume that since I did not hear from him, that he would not be coming by. But this is Mexico and you should never assume anything because most of the time you are wrong. So you wait. Sure enough about 1:00 I heard someone honking and looked down into the smiling face of Felipe. I gave him the bills and my receipt and told him he would have to speak to the water company. I knew I was incapable of it.
The girl behind the desk studied my bills and the receipt I had for the 1,000 pesos and proclaimed, "You paid the wrong account !" No ! I did not pay the wrong account, you did. She wasn't sure and showed it to her supervisor. Finally they said (in Spanish) that I would receive credit for the 1.000 pesos, but not until Monday. Why? Do not ask. BECAUSE IT IS MEXICO ! She wanted us to return on Monday but I did not want to waste another day or pay Felipe for another trip. So I asked Felipe to see if we could just call and confirm the credit and I think she agreed. In any case, I will hold on to my receipt and in two months when I get another bill, I can check to see if I got my credit. If not, another trip to the water company. Always something to do. It makes my life interesting, but a little frustrating as well
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