A Funny Story

This is Raquel and I on the bus on our way to work at Prem Dan. Raquel is a wonderfully rad woman from Spain, volunteering here in Kolkata with her husband. We get along great at work despite our language barrier. The following is a funny story about that barrier.

The following funny story contains profanity. If you will be offended or will think I'm a potty mouth, do not read further.

While standing shoulder to shoulder over a large sink basin, elbow deep in suds, Raquel and I decided that we would try and decipher various words between our two languages that would help the Spanish speakers and the English speakers work well together at Prem Dan. With her second hand English learned mostly through her husband's already rusty second language and my two and half years of high school Spanish, we made our way down a list of words that are commonly used in the ward. Blood. Help. Clean. More. Bowl. Spoon. Nail polish. Stop. You're welcome.

Raquel lifted a sheet out of the sink we were working over and said, "And this?"

That's a sheet.
A shheeeit?
Yes, bed, sheet

Raquel started laughing at me. I didn't understand. She motioned towards her ass, making a digestive gesture.

Oh, no, no, not shit! Sheet!!!

We both are laughing.

Shit? (Raquel gestures again below her apron)

Yes, I say. That is a shit. This, holding the sheet, is a sheet.

Raquel looked confused.

Shhhhh - 'eat'
Shhhhh - 'it'

Raquel circles with her finger the shit stain on the sheet we are holding.

I explain,
Oh, well, yes these sheets are covered in shit. Shitty sheets.

We both are laughing so hard at this point everyone is looking at us. 'Sheets' and 'Shits' were being spoken left and right, Spanish speakers and English speakers alike, nuns walking about.


I thoroughly enjoy language barriers.