Opportunistic education

Went walking with Ute, and taking pictures. I imagine some conversations I could get into as we walk, so I have an idea of how many words I don’t know and what to look up when I get home (Ok, I don’t make a list and I never remember later, but it’s still good practice). So, of course as my dog relieves himself, I wonder what would happen if someone came and got upset with me about my dog pooping on the grass outside their compound. I have a feeling that the word ‘shit’ is pretty universal. And because I learned the word for ‘sack’ as part of a tongue twister, I could show my plastic bag, say roughly, ‘my sack’ (mea sac) and ‘my dog shit’ (mea caine shit).  I don’t think I could do that with a straight face though. Luckily, this conversation is not likely to come up, as few people even make eye contact when we are walking, and I can always  blame the poo on the street dogs.

The construction around our house is on-going, although it seems contagious now. The workers have removed the neighbor’s fence and are repainting and rebuilding it. Then, this morning, the thunder started and it rained hard for a little while. I looked up the word for rain, but didn’t know how to pronounce it. The construction guys are on smoke break waiting for the rain to stop and dry a bit, so I look up the word for ‘read’ and ask one of them to read to me. They look amused and all three come to the porch where I have set up a table and my books. I show them one of the children’s books I have and explain I need help with pronouncing words. They are even more amused, and we read two pages, about 50 words, while they correct my pronunciation. Then my brain is full. I give them cookies, and they go back to work.