Language barrier
It has been our custom to dine at the Guadalajara restaurant in Concord; about every two weeks. In the process we have come to ‘know’ Roberto who is one of the servers whose English is as good as our Spanish. The ‘knowing’ is strictly a few words and friendly greetings; as well as non language teasing.
Last Friday, he, in his very broken English, surprised us by inviting us over to visit his apartment and enjoy a meal with him, his wife and little girl. This was to take place Sunday; and he wrote down telephone number and address on a napkin. No time was set and I was to phone him today to confirm.
Unfortunately, I wakened with one of my all too frequent neck aches, attributable to spinal issues and not well tolerated; requiring Vicodin. There was no way that a visit was in the works; so, not knowing Spanish, I went online to get an English to Spanish translation for a brief explanation of what was happening.
With the written translation in Spanish, I dialed his number via our land line; only to be confronted with an automatic message in Spanish which I did not understand at all. With the thought that his line might have been busy, more calls were made throughout the morning; all with the same result.
We were concerned that preparations might have been made and felt bad that we would let them down. For whatever reason, I tried one more call in the middle afternoon and, this time, used my cell phone. Surprise, surprise, Roberto answered. In my broken Spanish, I read my message and tried to explain the previous unsuccessful calls. Now, at the same time, I dialed on the land line and, immediately, got the automatic answer; so I held my cell phone so he could hear what message I had heard and was hearing. He tried to explain what I was supposed to have done.
Regretfully, preparations were under way; but a rescue effort was made and the invitation was extended to Monday with a definite time of 3:00 PM.
Guess who will be brushing up on learning Spanish.
