Living near the centre of Houston presents a number of new experiences as you might expect. The first thing you need to do though is to get over the bleedin’ obvious. “Look Henry, a squirrel!, check that out!” “Henry, whoa...check this out..a melon!...in a supermarket!!” Henry, who saw squirrels every day at school and could locate the melons at Roundhay Tesco, matches my enthusiasm. He’s a good boy like that. Had he been 14 years old, I may have come in for a withering stare or an Olympic standard rolling of the eyes. For me, one of the most interesting aspects is the parallel languages spoken in this part of Houston. The dominant written language is English but most shops offer somewhere a Spanish translation. So far the dominant language to my ears has been Spanish. Toby and I were recently in McDonalds (yeah, bite me) and as I tucked into my Quarter-Pounder I scanned my fellow diners. Sure enough, the dominant presentation is Central American and I can only hear Spanish being spoken. So, I’ve started learning Spanish (because I want to fit in) and am going to start practisicing on the locals soon but for now, it’s gonna have to be with ‘noodle-head’ and the subject is ‘chicken nuggets’ “Toby. Tu Come chicken nuggets?” “Bird, Daddy! Bird..OHHHH...Hello mister bird” (Points at a grotty looking bird outside) “Pajaro” I correct him “BLURK!!..BLURK!!..BLURK!!” Hmmm..you got me there Tobes. I don’t know the Spanish for the sound a chicken makes. For now, maybe, we’ll both gloss over that it’s clearly not a chicken we are both looking at (which is “Pollo” by the way) and finish our respective nutritious meals in peace
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 16:55:14 +0000
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