Lost in Carpool Translation - Oh the HORROR!!!

Thank GOD for girlfriends.  Seriously.  They bailed me out.  I got myself into a disaster of a mess trying to arrange carpools in group chats on WhatsApp.

Stella and Mony having fun fixing my mess.

I have only been using a cell phone for two months.  I am a late conformer, and I just may go back to my old ways as soon as I get back to the States, but here, it is imperative.  EVERYTHING happens on the cell phone.  I think it is like that in the US too, but Adam and I live in our happy little bubble and ignore it all.  It is lovely.  If I did that in Puerto Madryn, we would have NO social life, we would miss school assignments, we would never attend a birthday party...  Everything comes via WhatsApp.

Saving the day...

That is great - if you speak the Spanish perfectly.  One or two little tiny letters at the end of a verb change the whole meaning of what is being said.   For example, las llevo and las llevas - I take them versus you take them.  That is a pretty huge difference when you don't want to leave kids stranded!!

Also the word traer had me all jacked up for a month.  Traer in English is "to bring."  In English we use "to bring" for two directions, i.e.,  I will bring the kids to the party.  I will bring the kids home from the party.

I HAD NO IDEA WHICH DIRECTION I WAS GOING WHEN PEOPLE TOLD ME TO TRAER the children!!  BRING THEM WHERE???  To the party?  Home from the party? I was totally LOCA!!

Finally I learned that in Spanish, thanks to my dear sweet friend Mony, "traer" is only one direction - it is HOME from the party or school or wherever, but it is to bring HOME.

Wednesday I got myself into a GIANT carpooling mess with a mountain of people.  I tucked my tail between my legs and begged my girlfriends to help me during our afternoon mate session.  They were more than happy to oblige.  Within a few minutes, Mony and Stella had all my problems worked out, and they taught me a great lesson:

Do not set up carpools in group chats when you don't know what you are saying.  Message people privately.

I hope one day I look back on this post and laugh, but right now I am so thankful to have these joyful women in my life.  They are a gift from God.  I truly love them and am so thankful for their friendship!