More than a week has flown. Winter weather is shelved along with sweaters, and summer weather has arrived. I am delighted. This morning we were planning to go grocery shopping. Bill showered, dressed and went out on the patio. I got ready and came out to discover he was not on the patio, in the yard, or shed. Hmm...
I found him visiting our Bosnian neighbors on their front porch. It is difficult as it is to communicate with each other because we speak very-very little of each other's languages.
The woman, a little younger than us, had surgery couple weeks ago. We thought she was on vacation. Her husband told Bill, "Hospital. Her Zooknekey." He pointed to lower abdomen.
I told Bill he was probably saying uterus. Female surgery. Bill concluded the surgery was laproscopic when her husband indicated "Doctor four holes stomach."
So as we sat on the porch, her husband translated that she was feeling much better after throwing up so much. We discovered the woman had gall baldder surgery, not female surgery.
You know how difficult and awkward it can be to tell someone there is something coming out of their nose even when you speak the same language and know them well? I thought better of bringing attention to it. And kept smiling and trying to communicate with the neighbor man about their cute baby granddaughter. "She is so cute. She looks like grandpa."
"I grandpa. I love Esme." And he does!
So we were making a little progress when all of a sudden a small insect flew onto his cheek, traveled into his nose, and then backed out, and climbed into his mouth.
I had to leave. How do you say in Bosnian, "You have a booger in your nose and a bug in your mouth?"
Such is my life.
8 comments:
I have the same issues with my neighbors. Their limited English matches my limited Spanish. But we make do. Fortunately I've never had the booger/bug problem as we're attempting to chat. Thanks for the giggles.
A language can be a bridge or a barrier between people. Even though good will and sign language help, still, understanding each other requires some effort on both parts.
I love that you worked at communicating with these folks (who must feel very isolated), but yikes on the observations!
Yes, it's probably a good thing you didn't try to tell him. Especially by using a euphemism like, "There's a bat in the cave."
That was the one good thing about wearing a mask, not worrying about clipping nose hair and wondering if there was spinach in your teeth! My hand would have automatically flown to my nose and given my thoughts away!!
Yikes! I would have walked away too.
Some life events truly leave us at a loss for words. I hope your neighbor recovers nicely from her surgery.
I'm so sorry your neighbor had to have surgery. I'm sure they are comforted knowing they live next to dear neighbors like you. Oh my, that poor man that had the insect crawl up his nose and to his mouth. I hope everything went Ok and it somehow crawled out. : )
~Sheri
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