If I only spoke Spanish

There is not a doubt in my mind that if you want to get a job in the Miami area – at least in the service or retail industry – you have to be able to speak both Spanish and English with the first being perhaps more important than the second. Where this seems to bother a lot of people, I can just shrug my shoulders. I spend enough of my time in parts of the world where English is not the dominant language that it actually seems natural that I don’t understand everyone around me. The young man at the Dolphin Mall information desk ….

Wait a minute – I am getting ahead of myself. The internet here works. Perhaps not blazing fast but certainly faster than any ship or airport where I have been. I am not paying for it, which suits me just fine. Breakfast was certainly lovely this morning with oatmeal, fresh fruits and a made to order omelet. When I finally got myself organized I discovered that there was a shuttle bus to the Dolphin Mall. For a very cheap price I could have entertainment till the last bus back at 2145. Even better, although not a full store, there is a small Apple shop there. I did mention that the charger for my MacAir died? No? The covering over the skinny cable at the box cracked open and frayed the wires underneath. At least there certainly was the appearance of wires without coating when I peaked in the now present gap. This occurred when the battery was at 19% so to say I was not thrilled would be quite accurate.

So bus to the Mall. Wander around a ton of stores carrying clothes for which I have absolutely no use or interest. Shoes that look like torture devices plus jewelry, cosmetics, electronics. I found the OneClick and easily purchased my new power box. Check off task one. For task 2 – turns out the Mall has free Wifi. Both Sports Authority and the BassProShop carry Columbia sportswear. Third up was underwear. Sorry, but since I am not home today it was important to replace what I tossed when leaving the Infinity.

Then there was just the fun of walking around, watching the people. When talking to the various sales people I just started smiling and saying “English speaker here, sorry.” I met immigrants from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Columbia, Mexico and Brazil. Yes, the young man at the info desk said that there was more use for his Portuguese than you would think. This Mall is within reasonable distance to the Miami Airport. They get a lot of tourists from South America.

I caught the 1845 shuttle back to the hotel in a much better mood than yesterday. The driver saw me sitting on the bench reading and came to get me. He has been in the US now 17 years from Jamaica and has added Spanish as well as English to his skills.

What can I say? Perhaps I should work at my German, then go on and learn more than the minimal few words of Spanish that I have?

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6 Responses to If I only spoke Spanish

  1. Lynne L says:

    Glad it was a better day, although it seems like it couldnt have gotten too much worse than the Lufthansa cancelled flight fiasco.

  2. Linda says:

    Yes, there are times I regret leaving South Florida. It is an exciting place to live, but the tensions between haves and have-nots, and the state’s political climate that pretty much ignores South Florida and its international perspective make Miami -Dade and Broward Counties challenging places to live. And in Palm Beach County the real estate collapse gutted so many communities. There are holes everywhere from when people walked away from homes they couldn’t afford any more.

  3. Brad says:

    Spanish way easier than German though with more regional accents.

  4. catdownunder says:

    Guten Tag, buenos dias!
    It is always a good idea to know enough to be polite. My problem is that all I seem to learn beyond that are long lists of words that would be completely useless in daily life – believe me, it’s worse than the unlikely phrases in a phrase book.
    I assume your German is adequate for everyday purposes – and your Spanish is probably reasonable too. Why not take up something a little more challenging? A remote Eskimo dialect perhaps? 🙂

  5. Chere' says:

    Felicidades! It sounds like a very successful day, grin.

  6. Helen says:

    Sounds like fun! I LOVE observing people don’t you?

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