Some days you just want to make the clatter of sound and stimuli bombarding you stop. Sometimes you don’t want to have to try so hard.  Yesterday was a blessing of a day because I went for lunch with another expat Mom that I met at the school who is from Michigan.  Actually kind of a cool story that we met – a “small world” moment!  When we were here in November house-hunting (ha!ha!) you might remember that we met a family who was living here because the major electrical issues with their house caused them to have to move out.  They were in the (long) process of waiting for their house to be ready (see? we’re not unique in this!).  Anyhow, had breakfast with the Mom one day and I distinctly remember her saying that she “was SO glad not to have to try so hard when talking to someone.  It’s so nice to speak English with someone.”  When we started to talk about the school’s our kids were and would-be attending, she mentioned that she had a friend whose kids went to the same school our kids would be going to.  Well, a few months later, there I am picking up the kids at the end of the day, and bump into this woman who is picking up her son, who happens to be in Hudson’s class, and we were both so surprised to meet someone who said “hi!” instead of “hola”… Over the next couple of weeks we would chat in passing at school and one day she mentioned that a friend of hers also lived at the Hilton for a while… I took a chance to query if it was the same woman I’d met in November… and it was!  Neat!

So yesterday, because I’m still car-less, she picked me up and we went to the “big” mall in Santa Fe, to The Cheesecake Factory… Okay, so this big city experience might be good for me and help me get up to speed with things when I realize that The Cheesecake Factory is a REAL place, a chain in fact, and not simply a “made-up” place from Big Bang Theory that Penny works at… 🙂  We are cheesecake nuts and OMG we’ll be working on the cheesecake pieces I brought home for the whole weekend, I’m sure.  “Oreo Dream” is the one I chose… need I say more?  We learn that the young man who is serving us at lunch is studying hospitality and hotel management and he struggles with English (which I’ve come to learn is a VERY difficult language to learn – Spanish is considered “easy” in comparison – so there, we’ve tackled the hard one already!)  I’m sure he was so thrilled that his supervisor shared this with us and that he also saw in us an opportunity for this young man to practice serving English-speaking customers.  He tried his best to deliver our dining experience in English and we met him half way with our stilted, broken bits of Spanish.  Our empathy (and hopefully not pity!:) for one another was palpable.  We all worked to make it work.  Doesn’t mean it wasn’t awkward as heck!!

After a couple of sweet mostly English-only hours and a yummy (not hotel) meal, we leave the mall and wind our way through what seems like every aisle trying to find our way out! Following the arrows painted on the road is usually a safe bet, but that’s so logical and, need I say it, “it’s M—–!!” so a logic that we’re used to just doesn’t seem to be the name of the game!  I commend my new acquaintance on her driving skills just as she pulls an illegal “U-ey”… “You’re not supposed to do that, you know” she says but what relief now that we’re on the right road to exit and we’ve eliminated a few more loops around the parking lot.  Perhaps such “unofficial” practices are indeed born of sheer frustration!  I’m learning a lot as passenger in my “unofficial” driver training program!  We rummage for pesos to pay for our parking – I’ve come up with 30 and we figure that will be enough. However, as we get closer to the ticket booth and can see the fee schedule, we realize it is actually 45 pesos, so we dig for the rest and she hands over the money.  “Buenos Tardes” (Good Afternoon) the attendant says.  “Buenos Noches” (Good Night) is how she responds, then as we are driving away realizes the mistake and mumbles, “Buenos…. tardes… dias… noches…. BUENOS WHATEVER!!”  I am crying I’m laughing so hard because in that moment she has not only cracked us both up, but has summed up that moment of total frustration and the brain-farts that are so common when you’re thinking in one language, attempting to speak in another while also operating a motor vehicle in Mexico City traffic!!  Was just so perfecto!!

A general frustration with learning Spanish has been a common theme this week (for the grown-ups!).  Thursday night at dinner, after a long day for Aaron of meetings and trying to get tasks accomplished with people who speak at various levels of competency in 3 languages (French, English and Spanish), our VERY enthusiastic kid declares dinner a”solo hablo espanol” (only speak Spanish) time.  We maybe don’t respond as favourably as he thought we might – poor thing – he’s so excited and we do generally appreciate this and encourage and sing Spanish’s praises as much as we can with the kids!  However, it turned into an opportunity for him to take a step back and realize that another’s experience is not always the same as his and they may have good reason to feel frustrated and exhausted and compelled to deem the dinner table an “English only” zone at the end of a long day of working to make sense of the Spanish clatter coming from every direction.

Thinking in one language + living in another = a huge energy draw.