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Writer's pictureKrista

4×4 Frustration


I think it’s hard to describe how much more involved even the most basic daily tasks can be in a foreign country and an unknown language.

We took the truck to a mechanic over a month ago and have yet to see it repaired. Every now and then, when we’re walking to school, we see glimpses of the old beast, but have yet to see it run. Finally, Joel returned to the shop today to gently practice his North American skills of initiating a little interest in the mechanics reaching a state of repair. With the lack of communication skills, though, it became comical.

It usually involves 2 Spanish-speaking mechanics with limited English and 2 English speakers with limited Spanish to arrive at a conclusion. This day we were negotiating with a new mechanic at the same time via phone to see if we could infuse any of our North American drive for competition and capitalism into the situation, but that just revealed the fact that we had other options, so it ended up that neither mechanic saw the need to take on the weight of another customer! So, back home we went.



Joel: “Don’t worry, my little truck. They’re going to take good care of you! And when you’re all better, we’ll go on one of those big adventures we’re always talking about.”

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