This morning I patiently listened to the window guy as he explained, in great detail, how he had fixed our arched doorway. Of course, given that he was speaking Portuguese at 100 miles per hour, I nodded and smiled politely as I tried to catch every fourth or fifth word. Sim, as janelas and obrigada was about as much as I could say without getting flustered.
entre as linhas ~ between the lines
This week’s theme for chick<8000clicks>chick was between the lines and this morning’s ‘conversation’ reminded me how important it is to watch as well as listen. Every time we communicate we tend to read between the lines but sometimes it’s easier if we just forget the words altogether.
I’m between the neat rows of orange trees on the left and djbeat is playing in Vancouver puddles on the right.
.
PS: Thanks for all the rubbish comments from daisyfae, St Jude, DaddyP, KPX, Stinkypaw and Poobumkins on I Say Garbage, You Say Rubbish.
Reminds me when I went to the Acores, rented a house and everytime we used the stove it smelled of gas, badly. My cousin called a repair man. I was alone in the house, and didn’t speak Portugese other than “Nao falvo Portu…”. With signs I managed to explain the problem, and this nice old man took out his Bic lighter to do some tests. When a 3ft flame spit out from the kitchen wall, he agreed with me that there was a leake, even if I didn’t speak Portugese!
Ah yes, sometimes flames speak louder than words
lemon & orange – really? the look so tiny. but what a gorgeous view!!
They’re tiny because it’s an orange/lemon tree nursery. I watch with horror whenever I see them spraying pesticides, I resolve to keep our trees organic!
I once remember before I tamed my Spanish tongue, my friend had been taken into hospital after an accident in Spain and I was trying to get directions to the A&E dept. After much hand waving from the porter I had asked I followed his directions and ended up in the mortuary. I won’t tell you what followed but suffice to say I learnt to watch and listen after that.
Was your tongue feisty before you tamed it?
Something tells me you’ll never forget the Spanish word for mortuary … !
this is why i hate ‘telecon’ meetings. i can’t watch body language, look for the ‘eye roll’, or crossed arms… video teleconferencing is a little better, but us ‘snarky, crusty oldsters’ are always inclined to sit off camera… love the chickclick! this is fun!
Exactly the reason I hate the telephone altogether. Of course, I never realized it was because I’m a snarky, crusty oldster but whatever …
Organic!!!! – no, no, no – everything will get eaten and destroyed – apply as many chemicals as possible ………
Well I’m sure we’ll get our fair share of pesticide breeze so not to worry … nothing organic here!
DP’s surprisingly good at foreign body language – just as well, because he’s totally deaf to the verbal type.
Maybe he’s just tone deaf … ?
[...] flickr Skip to content « chickchick: Between the Lines [...]