Sometimes living in a foreign country is akin to a giant scavenger hunt. Perhaps the epitome of this analogy is my trip to the postal office this past week.
Since my arrival in Oviedo, I have kept my eyes open for a post office near my flat. After weeks of seeing nothing and then needing to send a piece of mail, I finally turned to Google. Searching for a Correos (post office) near my location put one at 2 km away. Not bad. Heading over to its supposed location, I soon discovered that Google had led me to a mall. Indoor malls in Spain contain some pretty funny things (butchers, grocery stores, car repair shops), so I was surprised, but not deterred. (Now would also be a good time to mention that in most circumstances I would trust Google with my life.) It took me about 20 minutes to walk around all 4 floors. By the time I got to the fourth, I was feeling quite sorry for Spaniards who have to go up 4 flights of escalators just to get to the post office. Of course, this was assuming it was on the fourth floor, which it wasn’t. A bit confused at this point, I went back down to the first floor, where I started walking around the grocery store in the mall, thinking there might be a store within the store (also quite frequent). There wasn’t. I looked around for a sign listing all stores in the mall. There wasn’t one. I asked a security guard where the post office was, but he didn’t understand what I was saying without the rolled r’s in correos. It is becoming more and more a frequent problem that I can’t roll my r’s (I can’t order churros, which is kind of a bummer). That was embarrassing. I finally found a sign on the wall that listed all the stores, but still didn’t see Correos. As I was turning away, something small jumped out at me under the 2nd floor. It was miniscule, a different font, and a different color, but it said Correos. Jubilant, I headed off for the 2nd floor, only to remember when I got there that the entire floor was the home section of one department store. I made 2.5 loops around the inside of the store before I finally found the post office hidden way in the back of the store, behind the bedding, miscellaneous bathroom hardware, and pet toys. From there it was another 30 minutes waiting in line. The part that I was dreading—asking for a stamp to send a letter to the USA—ended up being the least of my problems. All in all, it was a good 2-hour trip to mail a letter. But, what really matters is next time it will be 5 minutes. It’s all about the learning experience. It is not just the language that acts a barrier, but the entire culture. And I love it more and more every day.
In other news, I am thoroughly enjoying a four-day weekend at this point in time. The time off was a bit unexpected and after much debate about travel locations, I ended up taking a trip from Saturday to Sunday with the destination of León, Las Médulas, and Astorga. On Friday, most of our group went to the beach in Gijon as well seeing as we are still enjoying 80 degrees and sunny (be jealous). I am starting to wonder if the rainy weather will ever come…
Tomorrow my language classes begin. I can hardly contain my excitement.
No comments:
Post a Comment