So I was riding the bus home from church yesterday and about 3 stops before mine (I kept checking the map in my purse to make sure I was on the right route) the driver gets on the intercom and says something, I had no idea what. Granted I am in no way fluent but I had just left a 3-hour block of church and had understood about 80% of what went on so I was feeling pretty confident. Little did I know. Besides, who can understand what is ever said over intercoms on buses, planes, in airports etc? It should have been a sign that most of the passengers stood up and got off the bus. The driver promptly skipped all the remaining stops and I ended up on the outskirts of town in suburbia. "Not a problem" I say to myself. "I can just take the next bus going back into town." Right? Wrong. I attempted to board the next bus. The driver asked me what stop I wanted to go to (in norwegian mind you), I replied (in norwegian as well) and he promptly told me in english that I'd have to walk, that the bus wasn't stopping there that day. So, I walked the 20 minutes home, uphill, in heels and a wrap dress without a sweater.
But I learned my lesson...always carry flip-flops.
7 comments:
That sounds like the sort of thing I would do!!
But it does make a wonderful blog post doesn't it!!??
I have done that a time or two when I was in Sweden. It does make you feel quite stupid.
I still remember the day that I realized I truly understood Bulgarian. After living there over a year, for the first time, I understood that the announcer at the train station was saying--"the passenger train from Sofia is arriving on the 3rd platform. . ."
It is definitely difficult to understand what they say over the intercom.
I'm glad you made it to Norway! I haven't checked your blog in a while, but I knew you would be there soon. Is Norway like Denmark where everybody rides bikes everywhere? Cause that would be so cool.
Hey, don't feel bad. I went on my mission to England, (in theory they speak ENGLISH there) and on my way to my first area, they gave me a 3X5 card with the information about the trains I was supposed to take to get to my area. The guy at the train station spoke SOMETHING, but it wasn't any English I knew. I asked him three times. Then I just took a chance and got on a train. At least I eventually made it to my area...... Of course it might have made a diffence that I was there as a missionary and not for the government, the Lord does tend to look out for his missionaries. You do carry a cell phone, right?
About Norway, we were thinking about visiting you next summer, after I get off on the 9th of July.
If it helps at all, I never have a clue what they are saying over the intercom on the DC metro. And I'm pretty sure they're speaking English!
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