moving to america

[Svadharma 11]

Oh, this is great! My hubby isn't hear yet but we have already had some of these experiences. While living in El Salvador with him I cooked coconut curry. He did eat it, but he had never ever seen anyone do anything like that with coconut. (And to laugh at myself, I spent 20 minutes looking for canned coconut milk in the grocery store, only to remember that they were selling it fresh on the sidewalk outside.....)

I also took him to a touristy place where we had bagels. The next day we were watching a movie and he said, "Wait! Is that the kind of bread we ate yesterday?"

And then, the next day I had a waffle and he had an omelet. First, I had to explain to him what an omelet was. Then I had to convince him that he should not just order a hamburger.... He was concerned he wouldn't like the omelet, but I tried to explain that he had eaten all of the ingredients together before, they would simply be in a different order. When the meal came, he took pictures so that he could show his family.

When they cook spaghetti, they add water to the sauce. They also like their pasta to have the texture of Chef Boyardee. Ugh. I cannot convince him that al dente pasta is good... and I finally told him to start telling me that he was making me soup when he cooked spaghetti, so that my mind could handle the wateriness of it.

As for pets, I have 3 cats... and he seems to have no problem with them living inside, sleeping in the bed with us, etc. Though I was trying to ask him what the correct translation for litter box was and realized he had no idea what one was. So, I sent him a picture...... I realized that just because the word exists in Spanish, it does not mean that he will have any idea what I am talking about.

Oh, and I brought him a pumpkin cookie.... that mystified him. So did crystallized ginger....

I imagine it will be fun when he gets here. I am sure I will need this thread.

[TBoneTX 45,091]

I found this beautiful, big, cured ham

A CURED ham? Wonder what it had?

Re the cats, I had a heated "informational" discussion with the wife just last night about cats & cat food. She still cannot fathom that Daffodil (resident feline) eats only the premium foods (dry & canned). In Ecuador, cats are apparently scavengers, or they receive table scraps at best. I noted yet again (with sarcasm, si man!) that this was yet another illustration of Ecuador's being a third-world country. The wife again said that we are all locos to treat our pets like people. We mused idly about the prospect of cats' appearing on restaurant menus, alongside pollo (chicken) and cuy (guinea pigs). I said that, for this, Ecuador's cats would have to be MUCH better fed, which would require that they eat only the premium foods (dry & canned). The wife pondered this reality only briefly until replying, "Shaddap!"

I remain perturbed that the only bags of actual cat food in Ecuador seem to be available only in the few pet stores in the large cities' malls, and sometimes in the hypermarkets... and, even then, the food are only of "regular" variety, not "diet" or "hairball control" or anything else. The wife, conversely, came upon a copy of "Cat Fancy" magazine shortly after her arrival, and she could not stop expressing her amazement to all of her relatives & friends, si man: "Cat condos?!"

[Marilyn. 340]

Just wait till you start talking about something like for example 4.30 pm. In Dutch you say half of five while Americans/English say half past four. Still confuses me if I don't pay enough attention!

Make sure you take time to explain your money system here. To Dutch people it is very, very confusing how you still use checks! Last time I had seen them was when my mom used them when I was a little kid. I still don't know how to fill one out or deposit one.

What still gets me going is the greeting here in Texas. When people walk of and say: "have a good one". Always wondering what that "one" is supposed to mean. Why can't you just say have a good day?!

Letty

Oh..I would have no problem with my fiance saying, "Quarter past" or "Quarter of.." but see, in Holland they are on a 24 hour clock. Don't even get me started on trying to figure out when 1600 is. They don't do am/pm there. He says it is less confusing...hmmm....not to me! I mean, if I think about it, I can figure out the conversion...really not hard, but if you aren't use to that it can make ya stop a sec.

-Blu-(currently residing in the State of Confusion)

I think my fiance was kind of amazed that we still get pay checks. They have their pay direct deposted into the bank. A lot of companies offer that here too, but not all. It is a pain to have to go to the bank every week...I KNOW.

-Blu-(still trying to learn Dutch!)

and even if the company offers it not everyone uses that option...

[Ladylethal 12]

No, I don't mean the american cheese slices (cheddar or swiss) velveeta style or whatnot, I mean it was a big bag of shredded mozarella, and it said imitation, it wasn't just bad quality, the ingredients list was like a blend of oils, it didn't have milk in it.

EDIT: Oh, and I learned to read the packages more carefully afterwards, as there's more unbelievable ####### in the supermarkets here.

I'm a USC, and I never even knew there WAS such a thing as imitation mozzarella cheese.

Me neither, lol. Always buy fresh sliced cheese from the deli... well I'm a NYer I'm not sure if you guys have delis in other states outside the northeast, they're big here.

That's how I buy it in Brazil, but either way even if you pick up a packaged cheese on the shelf it will be real cheese, and usually the same brands you ask the deli balcony to slice.

Oh..I would have no problem with my fiance saying, "Quarter past" or "Quarter of.." but see, in Holland they are on a 24 hour clock. Don't even get me started on trying to figure out when 1600 is. They don't do am/pm there. He says it is less confusing...hmmm....not to me! I mean, if I think about it, I can figure out the conversion...really not hard, but if you aren't use to that it can make ya stop a sec.

You know what's the trick with 24 hr clocks? We use them in Brazil as well and as a child the way I learned it was by subtracting 2 and ignoring the first number from it for the hours past noon and up to midnight.

So ...

13 - 2 = 11 (1 o'clock)

14 - 2 = 2 o'clock.

...

23 - 2 = 11 o'clock

It's easier to think like that than to subtract 12 which would be the correct thinking.

Edited June 15, 2009 by *Laura*

[TBoneTX 45,091]

It's easier to think like that than to subtract 12

(My head... aspirin...) Five out of four people are bad at math, and I'm at least one of them.

[Ladylethal 12]

Exactly, so just take out 2. Everyone can subtract two even if you count it on your fingers.

[Chamy and Gatita 3]

As for pets, I have 3 cats... and he seems to have no problem with them living inside, sleeping in the bed with us, etc. Though I was trying to ask him what the correct translation for litter box was and realized he had no idea what one was. So, I sent him a picture...... I realized that just because the word exists in Spanish, it does not mean that he will have any idea what I am talking about.

HA HA HA !!! We had almost the same conversation yesterday! He said, you need to make the cats sand box. Me: huh, you want me to build them a sand box? Him: No! No! Make the sand box! Me:Um.... Him: You know! The sand box! For the cats! Me: blank look. Oh! You are talking about the litter box! Do we need more litter? Him: No, no, we need sand! Me: Oh! In English we call it "litter." Him: But it's sand!!!!!!! Hysterical.

A few other things I thought of:

when he first got here, we got a leak in the roof. I went up to see what was wrong, and he was stunned, no, apoplectic, speechless, as I walked from the ladder onto the roof. He thought I had lost my mind, because apparently most peaked roofs in his country are decorative and aren't built to hold weight.

And one day he noticed a big puffy roll of white poufy stuff in the shed- what is that? Me: it's insulation. Him: what is it for? Me: (#######???) Ohhh, of course- you dont need insulation in Ecuador- the buildings are either solid concrete or cane.

Tbone, I love the Cat Fancy story-- love it!!!!

[Wyld Blu 35]

23 - 2 = 11 o'clock

Ok...I understood all the other figures you said...just subtract 2 and drop the first number...but..um...how does this one work. 23-2 =21. If I follow the other equations, the time would be 1 o'clock.

-Blu-(wha??)

[Ladylethal 12]

I meant it as a quick thinking thing, 'cus in reality you take out 12 and not 2. But logically after 22 you should realize it's late night (only 24 hours in the day). I was just saying how I learned it. Worked for me as a child. You can view it was a drop 1 from the first number, if it's 1 it disappears, if it's 2 it becomes 1.

Well I knew what I a litter box was and all, but I gotta say back home either the cats do their business in the yard or we do make them a sand box, no industrial litter, we use regular sand.

[faryan 4]

Ordered an Entree thinking it was an appertiser and realised it was a main meal?

Yes. The rest of the table looked at me as if I had just called the waitress a nasty name, "Is he freaking insane?" written on their faces in bold letters. Was in Denver, btw, at Café Berlin.

Well this is just dumb. I am an American and I don't know why we call the main course an entree. entree mean start or begin (or even enter) when translated. Everywhere else uses the term correctly but this country.

I FEEL YA! lol

[Ladylethal 12]

Same here, at first I'd think, but that entree looks like the main course!

[TBoneTX 45,091]

Oh, here's a great one, si man:

The wife saw a magazine ad for a pedometer. With a chortle, she asked, "What is THIS?" I explained, knowing full well why she was chortling... in Spanish, "pedo" means "a fart."

Just to complete the linguistic lesson (proving that I learn the crucial words first), "pedito" = small fart, and "pedote" = big or room-clearing fart. The words are masculine gender, appropriately, although several women of my acquaintance have also been able to acquit themselves QUITE impressively in the production category (volume + intensity), si man. This includes the resident female cat.

Edited June 18, 2009 by TBoneTX

[Chamy and Gatita 3]

Oh I am eternally indebted to you for adding this important word and its variants to my vocabulary!!! Thank you! I can't count the number of times i have asked my C how to say "fart" in Spanish! BTW he was also laughing at the "pedometer". phhhtthhhht! phhttthht! good one.

[TBoneTX 45,091]

Oh I am eternally indebted to you for adding this important word and its variants to my vocabulary!!! Thank you! I can't count the number of times i have asked my C how to say "fart" in Spanish! BTW he was also laughing at the "pedometer". phhhtthhhht! phhttthht! good one.

Si, K., and you can thank my C., si man. The word and its variants are not merely important; nay, they are crucial, and they should be within the first 10 words of any foreign-language-learner's lexicon, si man. The question is, why wouldn't your C. tell you? In Ecuador, do they not have an equivalent to Webster's Unabridged, wherein a "pedo" is defined as "n. - 1. a blast of intestinal gas from the #######," si man?

[TBoneTX 45,091]

Here's another one for all here who have a Spanish-speaking SO: Ask him/her if he/she knows exactly what a "calzoncillo chino" is, and its significance. No cheating, now!