No Hablo Espanol

As mentioned before, there are a number of Hispanic porters at Sucre. There is Andrea, Juan, Fernando #1, and Fernando #2. Andrea is kind of quiet and motherly, Juan is the one who was confused by my lack of marriage, Fernando #1 speaks the most English and constantly talks about how much he loves his church (really nice guy), and then there is Fernando #2…he is the hardest to understand by far but he is trying! He genuinely wants to learn English and asks lots of questions.

Yesterday I worked a morning shift and we had an order come in from the studio. This involves checking in gelato, chocolate, etc and then putting the finishing touches on some of the entremets. We were not busy on the floor so I ended up helping Fernando #2 get everything done and thus also conducting a mini-English lesson as well!

Here is an example of his desire to understand: I asked him which containers he wanted me to use because there were some stacked on a shelf and some propped up by the sink. He pointed to the ones at the sink and said they were “sweat” then pointed at the ones on the shelf and hesitated. I thought I knew what he wanted to say so I said “dry”? He looked a little confused then said “drive” and pretended to move a steering wheel. I can see how he could get these words mixed up, so I wrote down on a sticky note “drive a car” and said the word slow emphasizing the “V” sound and did the steering wheel motion. Then pointed at the dry stack of containers and said the word. Then I explained the other stack was “wet” (and wrote these words down too) then said “sweat”, emphasizing the “s” and wiped my forehead. Despite how ridiculous this may have looked to someone who didn’t know what was going on or how weird it is to be reading now, Fernando #2 understood what I was saying and repeated the words pointing at the appropriate containers or acting out the word. He thanked me for explaining the difference and took the sticky note home with him at the end of the day.

During our assembly process he also showed me a book he has that is a simple Spanish to English guide with words and phrases, not a dictionary per say. It is amazing how complicated it is to explain how to say something when you think about it. Ed, the delivery guy, speaks Spanish and was trying to explain the difference between “our” and “hour” to him. Later, Fernando #2 was asking me if he should say “I like do this” or “I like doing this”? (He was referring to assembling entremets.) So I tried to explain you could say either but it would be “I like TO do this” or “I like doing this”. To few people's surprise, Fernando #2 said that I talk fast, so I will have to keep that in check when trying to translate to him!

Of course it is just what it is to you and me, but damn English is confusing!