The Guatemalan Consulate Visit.

Today, I took all of our dossier documents FINALLY to the Consulate of Guatemala (after I took them to various County Clerks and to the Secretary of State). First, let me say, after spending $10 per document for the SOS and then $10 per doc for the Consulate - this is becoming a very expensive week.
The Consulate is in the Latin American Association building on Buford Hwy. Luckily, we live about 15 minutes from there. The documents are valuable enough to me, that I wanted to take them personally and then pick them back up. So, I get there and the parking spaces and arrows are insane! I teach high school and adult English language learners - predominantly Latin American, so I am familiar with this sort of organization (or in my eyes, lack of) and it made me smile.
I walked in and the front desk people were very helpful and friendly and they directed me to the Consulate.

I got to the door and heard a lot of excited chattering inside - in Spanish, of course. I walked in and everyone just stopped and stared! I should add here, I am very white - very pale with dark blonde hair and blue eyes. Ummmm..... No one said a word and when they did, it was only to whisper to one another. There were 20+ Guatemalans and no one would speak. There was some type of line...I think. So, I stood behind seemingly the last lady in line. Again, the "organization" was a bit haphazard for my Caucasian-American standards. I realized, after standing there for about 10 minutes, I needed to ask someone where line was or if they were in line....uh oh. Here is where I am with Spanish - I can read instructions and such pretty well, I can understand- if they are from a country that I hear a lot (except Cuban Spanish, it seems too fast for my ears), I can write elementary sentences correctly but conversations scare the crap out of me. As an ELL teacher, we call this the "silent period" that is where I am.

Internal dialogue: Okay, to wait is esperar- I think - ¿cómo se dice waiting? Who am I going to ask?
I can figure this out - -ing is usually -ando... are you? ¿usted esperando?
Okay, maybe that's right.

I asked the lady who was in front of me - ¿Usted esperando? She smiled and said, "Sí­."

Internal: Great, now I know she is waiting - if she understood me maybe I said it wrong and she is just being nice. EVERYONE is staring at me now. But isn't everyone waiting? Okay, what is line - línea - en línea? or is that 'on line'? AAH! I should just leave and mail it in. No, my students go through this everyday, I'm sure it's "good for me" to experience this. I start sweating - I've got to do something, I've been here for quite awhile now... It really is hot in here. Isn't it?

Finally, I just cut line because it seems there is no definite line. Of course, everyone is still staring. I smiled at everyone and went to the window - I asked in English because I felt that it was expected and I was already unnerved enough.
Me: May I leave these documents to have them authenticated?
Man behind glass: Get back in line!
Me: I don't know where the line is.
Man: I need to finish with this man.
Me: Okay, I'm so sorry. (I smiled to man waiting and mumbled lo siento) He smiled back.
Man: Miss, where are your documents.
At this point, a girl jumped in front of me to ask a question and he barked something at her and she went and sat down. She smiled apologetically at me and I back at her.
Man: Come back on Wednesday.

One thing I love about Latin American cultural, generally, is people are very friendly and helpful - and very forgiving when you butcher their language. Sure the parking and lines and such are mayhem and maybe no one will be there on time....but they are nice people and I look forward to trying to instill this attitude in little Che. Hopefully, I will be able to leave a little bit of the pushy, time conscious part of my culture behind - or at least allow it to slide from time to time.

However, I pretty much dread going back on Wednesday. I am meeting my Spanish tutor Wednesday night - I haven't met with her since October. My students always help me say what I need to - I've learned a lot from them. Much more than words. One day, one day, I will be unafraid to speak in another language....maybe.