Ear Tampons?

I really had no idea how hard school for 5 hours a day in a foreign language in a foreign country would be.  I’d rather be at the office for double the amount of time, it’s sooooo much easier!

That being said, it’s amazing how much Spanish I’ve learned! If you’re going to learn a foreign language, this is definitely the way to do it!  Immerse yourself in the language and culture for a finite amount of time, and you’re guaranteed to come out with SOME language skills!

Having to constantly think about what you’re going to say, how you’re going to say it and make sure you conjugate those damn verbs correctly is hard work.  And for someone like me who doesn’t stop talking, it’s downright exhausting.  It’s gotten so bad, I’ve started to dream in Spanish!

It’s gotten so bad for all of us at school, that 3 of us have an informal “club” at lunch where we go speak English just to give our brains a break. 

All that being said, it’s been a great experience.  Because I speak French, it hasn’t been as hard for me as the others.  The other day, the teacher even suggested bumping me up to the next level for the last few days (not that I’m bragging! half the time I just make a wild guess in French and part of the time I’m right!)

I’m having to resort to charades in public less and less.  Today, I even went to the local Laundromat and had a charade-less conversation.  Yesterday, however, was another story.

I haven’t been sleeping very well in Santiago.  Chileans don’t seem to sleep very much! No one seems to go to bed before 2am.  So last night, I set out to buy ear plugs to have a good night’s sleep. 

I went to the nearest pharmacy.  Except for some basics (soap, shavers, etc…) everything else is behind the counter.  I went to 3 different pharmacies hoping one would have ear plugs on display: they didn’t.

So I braved going to the counter and knew this conversation was going to have to involve charades.  I walked up to the counter and used some basic sentences and started pretending to stuff my ear.  The pharmacist’s first guess was cotton balls.  Nope, try again.  Then, as if she won the lottery said “ah, ah, ah, Tampones!!!!!!”  I thought to myself that wasn’t exactly the hole I wanted to fill…. she popped back up with a selection of “tampones” “tampones de oido” specifically.  That’s right, ear plugs = ear tampons.   I suppose it serves the same purpose but I couldn’t stop laughing all the way home.  I am the proud owner of a pair of ear tampons.  And ear tampons is what they shall be referred to forevermore.