Today was a bit of a
rollercoaster of a day for me, beginning with the good news that the keys were
ready. I was so thrilled to get them to
Yamelys, who gave me Venezuelan chocolate, either because she was happy with my
efforts with the keys (or in general) or because she felt like it. It was very good chocolate, although I
realised that it says ‘Made in Socialism’ on the side. I found this really interesting – a taste of
Venezuelan life.
A little later, a group of
Venezuelans went to the bank, apparently happy to go without me. Happily, I sat reading the Metro, chatting to
Yamelys, when we got a call for me to head to the bank to translate. I was half-expecting it, and was happy to walk
to the Lloyds in the Village to offer my services. However, there was already a translator
there. I offered to take over, but the
guy said he was happy to continue, for some reason criticising me for not going
there when the Venezuelans had said they were all right without me. As the poor lady was
counting out the very large sum of money, the guy then proceeded to insult me,
saying that I speak too poshly in English to have ever been able to carry out
the transaction in Spanish, and being surprised when I replied in fluent
Spanish, even more surprised when I said I speak French. At that moment, one of the Elidas decided to
chirp in with saying that I speak ‘poco Español’. I tried to put her right – I didn’t spend all
these years studying just for someone to say that – but I was so upset I was stuttering and
stumbling. I still don't even know what she meant by it. I didn’t have much energy to
fight back when she took my pin from my lanyard to give to him, but it was the
nail in the coffin for my day. I felt
terrible. I mean, I know my Spanish isn’t
perfect, but I speak to them every day, despite their accent being different to
me, and I try my best to work hard. On the other hand, it's made me even more determined to impress these people, and to persevere on.
Over lunch – late because of
the bank saga – we met with Shernaz. It
was nice to be with people to complain about my bank experience. The silver lining to the cloud was that
talking about it made me realise that I’ve made wonderful friends here. I’m so lucky.
The afternoon was quiet, which
suited me fine. I got another pin badge
from Elida, which made me feel a little better, and Goli came to take over from
us – it’s always great to see everyone.
After a difficult morning,
Christina, Mark and I went to Wetherspoon’s for a drink before heading
home. I really needed that hour there,
and it was great to watch Andy Murray’s win with them. I’m really glad that we’re getting into such
a rhythm with our shifts that we can do something like that.
It being my first morning
shift since the beginning, it was my first free afternoon, and I was prepared
to take advantage of it. After
enchiladas with Leigh – so different to the
Olympics food – we went to see the new Batman movie, which was great to see, as
a movie and something totally detached from London 2012. I love my job, but today was a bad day at the
office. It’s the same feeling as having
that first argument with a friend or partner, and I feel a bit weird still from
it, but after this evening I’m ready to go in fresh for a new day tomorrow.
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