Language Barrier

This is going to sound a bit silly, but it is SO DIFFICULT TO LIVE IN A COUNTRY WHERE PEOPLE SPEAK A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE......

- When you go to the grocery store not only do you have to ask questions in another language, but all of the food is in another language. Granted food is easy, but still if you're trying to know what flavor rice you're getting and there's not a picture it can be hard. Then you have to pay in a different currency and get things weighed in kilos.

- When in a restaurant and you finally decide what to get and how to pronouce it... the waiter says "we don't have i"t... followed by like 15 other very fast and mumbled words in spanish and all I can do is panic and say "Si" and immediately point to something else, which turns out to be quite tasty mystery meat, that unfortunately cost WAY too much.

- When you go to a clothing store you have to ask for things in another language. Today's challenges were saying "do you have yoga mats" and "do you have hooks for the back of a door" and "do you have a smoke alarm for my house".  Also, today I had to return something and that took 4 seperate people to tell me I could only return things on the 3rd floor in a tiny unmarked room.

- When you go to the language school to sign up for Spanish classes, SHOCKINGLY, the people there helping to sign you up and take your money SPEAK IN SPANISH. They can do broken english, but they just mostly speak in spanish. How does that make sense?? If I knew spanish why would I be taking the classes?

Due to these difficulties, one of the things that we have learned in orientation is to celebrate the smallest accomplishments. So today when I DID get to return my item and when I DID purchase the smoke alarm I was grinning from ear to ear!! AND this all happened by myself, all across the city today. Meaning I had no one helping translate and no one helping me read the maps, buses, etc. YAYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy for me!

Also, when I was walking back from the grocery store and the ATM feeling a little broke and down guess what happened.....

I looked up and saw that the street sign in front of me said "TOMAS ANDREWS"
It made me smile and laugh to think of Thomas and then of my family. I think it was a little sign from God saying cheer up charlie!!