The other day Colin and I went to the Cable Color kiosk in the Mall to set up our cable and internet. So we walk up and ask for cable and internet...
Girl: "Ok what is you address?"
Us: "We don't know what our address is." (We don't actually have an "address" as we know it.)
Girl: (starting to smile) "Alright, what is your phone number?"
Us: "Don't know that either..."
Girl: "Can I see your Passports?"
Us: "We didn't actually bring any identification."
Girl: (laughing at us)...
Us: "Is it Ok if we open a couple of beers?..."
By the way this entire conversation was in Spanish.
More about the mall...
The local teenagers spend a lot of time at the mall. They even have a Spanglish word; Malear. Malear means "to go to the mall". The mall is pretty close to our apartment and probably represents the highest concentration of wealth and economic activity in all of Honduras. It is a very nice mall by any standard. It certainly defies our preconceived notions of what Honduras would be like.
Another mall story (from Jennie)... last week we were running out of food so we went to a supermercado under the mall. We had spent all day at the school sitting in on staff meetings and preparing for the first week of school. At about 5 o'clock we headed for the mall and realized that we had better eat dinner first before heading into the supermercado. We ate at a TGI Friday's (a completely unforgettable experience) and then went into the store at about 6. It took a while to do the shopping, and when all was said and done, we had 6 grocery bags and a pack of 12 roll toilet paper. Herein lies the problem - how do we get our grocery bags up to the level where we could catch a cab? Elevator didn't work. Kids were starting to wank and the mall experience was beginning to take its toll on all of us. Eric left the the kids, groceries and me as he headed out to get a cab. Minutes later, Linnea says she has to go to the bathroom. She starts crossing her legs to hold it in. She's experiencing some intestinal upset. She begins to cry because she can't hold it in any longer and she goes in her pants. Poor thing! So I am stuck there with 2 kids, a cart o' groceries and no cell phone to call Eric to have him come back right away. Finally, Eric returns, Linnea and I high-tail it to a bathroom, and we eventually walk our full cart of groceries through the entire length of the mall to the spot where we can get a cab. Because of our height, clothing, and one loud, blond child, we already stand out in the crowd. But now we are the stupid gringos pushing a shopping cart through the mall. I wanted to crawl under the coffee kiosk.
oy vey. i've so been there. i can assure you the culprit for linnea's distress was TGI Fridays.
ReplyDeleteno worries Jennie....I'm sure no one in the mall could smell lineas pants....they were all just wishing they had blonde hair too :) JW
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