Walter's Birthday

Today was Walter's birthday (He's the one on the left with the smile) and we celebrated with a lunch and cake in the office.

Below you can see the "after party" celebration.

One of the things I'm struggling with here is not being able to fully participate in group events. Although my co-workers are very good at explaining things to me, it's just not the same as understanding and joining in on the laughter (or creating some laughter myself). It's certainly the of the loneliest things about being here.

However, it was pointed out to me today, that while it may be lonely, it's also an excellent opportunity to focus on listening, to observe body language, and try to figure out what's going on.

To me, this is harder than it sounds. I find myself zoning out after about 5 minutes of not understanding, it's very painful (and humbling) to continuously not know what's going on.

Tonight, I picked up my dry cleaning. What an ordeal that was. Sounds simple right? Well, I arrived, handed over my reciept and the woman retrieved a large bag of clothes.

Hmmm...is everything here I wonder?

Nope, missing some things, that's for sure.

"Donde esta mi pantelones negro?"

"No se. Es todo."

"No es todo. Donde esta me pantelones?

"Blah blah blah..." (Points to receipt)

I'm not checking the receipt, where are my pants.

(Walks away)

I hope you're going to find my pants! I thought. Boom. There are my pants. Ok, what else am I missing? Ok, two shirts.

Same process. No, I'm not checking the receipt, where are my shirts?

(Walks away)

One shirt.

"Donde esta mi polo negro?"

(Points at receipt)

"No, donde esta mi polo negro?"

(Walks away)

Second shirt.

We went through this comedy act about 5 times!

Lesson learned: Trust, but verify!