Misunderstanding – that’s Spanish to me. Or isn’t.

This day starts with madre Margarita lighting a fire in the house. In the hearth. The hearth!

“¿Por qué?” (-Why?) I ask naive. It’s warm today and furthermore: one of the walls in the kitchen is made of chicken wire – so the heat wouldn’t stay in the house anyway…

“I cook frijoles!” I get as an answer. 

Uh…huh…  “What are frijoles? Madre Margarita?”

I don’t understand her answer, so she reaches into a burlap bag and fetches some red bowls.

“¡Ah, sì! Claro!” I nod. Yesterday padre Memo showed me the coffee bushes in his garden and told me that the beans are ripe when they are red. I already had some coffee – tastes delicious here!!!

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The hot beverage is prepared in putting ground coffee into the filter and then pouring hot water. The finished coffee streams into the pot below.

And a real Tico (= Costa Rican) refines his coffee with at least one tablespoon sugar and one tablespoon milkpowder…

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Tensed I watch how the coffee roasting works!

A big pot, filled with water, is put on the hearth. The beans checked for animalistic intruders. Then they are poured into the hot water.

Mesmerized I whisper: “¿Quanto tiempo hasta el café esta listo?” (-How long until the coffee is ready?)

“¿Quiere café ahora?” (-Do you like coffee right away?)

“¡No, no! Solo quire saber quanto tiempo!” (-No, no, I only want to know how much time!)

“¡Si quiere café solo dura uno minuto!” (-If you like coffee now it is prepared in just one minute!)

Well, obviously she doesn’t understand what I mean and I don’t know how to say it differently. So I just will be patient – wait and see. And anyway I am really curious – I didn’t know that one could broil coffee beans instead/before roasting.

In Costa Rica coffee beans are not roasted but cooked!

In the meantime Margarita prepares lunch. She places some rice and veggies on my plate.

“¿Quieres aöslkjvowaölk?” (-Do you like aöslkjvowaölk?)

I don’t understand and ask: “¿Cómo?”

“¿Quieres aöslkjvowaölk?”

Um…”No entiendo…” (-I don’t understand…

Margarita first points at the pot with the coffee beans and then at me.  “¿Quiere comerlos?” (-Do you like to eat those?)

“¿¿¿¿¿¿Se puede comerlos??????” (-One could eat those??????) I gusp with wide open eyes.

“¡Sí, claro!”

Kiki eats cooked coffee beans!

Well then. I will taste cooked coffee beans! I have always been curious in new tastings.

But when the soft bowls touch my tongue I am surprised. That’s beans! Just regular Kidney-beans! Or…?!?

I demand: “¿No es café?”

Margarita and Memo watch me thunderstrucked. “¡No, son frijoles!”

I take the dictionary. Indeed. Frijoles are red beans…

I start to laugh and tell the two my confusion about the cooked coffee beans. They also laugh and show me a coffee bag from the supermarket… that would be much easier to buy it…?

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“Madre Margarita, padre Memo, could I have some hangers for my room, please?” I ask. My wardrobe is my suitcase as the little cabinet in my room is unfortunately to mouldy to keep my clothes. And it would be nice to hang a few things – especially when they are wet from the rain.

After the hangers arrived I tried to find something where I could hang them on. But only smooth walls with a few insects are to be found. Uh…huh… I need an idea. Think…think…think…

I know something! The rooms don’t have a ceiling, but the sceleton of the house. If I had a rope I could tie it and hang my hangers.

Sometimes it is just nice not having a ceiling…

But first I will call Matthias – oh well, I do have a Costa Rican telephone number in case someone would like to call me…

After I hang up the phone madre Margarita asks: “¿Él extraña a usted?”

Question marks are to be read on my forehead. “Estran… what?” I ask and take my dicctionary. E. Es. Est. Estr. Estra. Estran – ah, here it is. Estrangular a algn.

I read loud: “Estrangular a algn – to strangle sb…”  Scared I look at mis padres. “Noooo, I don’t think Matthias likes to strangle me…”

The answer is a loud laughter. “¡No, no, EXTRAÑAR!”

Aaaaaah! This makes more sense. The question was if he MISSES me! ?

The question is: misses me Matthias or would he rather strangle me?

But now the important part: I need a rope!

“¿Padre Memo, tiene una cuerda?” (-Padre Memo, do you have a rope?)

“¡Sí, por cierto!”

He brings me a cord and I get a chair. Then I jump on the chair, knod a knod, swing the rope like a lasso over the frame and fix it.

“Ahora puedo estrangular me.” I say competent (-Now I can strangle myself.)

After a moment of shock we laugh. But, new words need to be practiced! 🙂

Then I accomplish my work and voilà: My wardrobe is ready:

So, and now I just realized that in English you don’t say: that’s Spanish to me, but that’s Greek to me. Well, but I am not in Greece. So the next two months some things will be Spanish to me!

Hasta luego!

 

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