Critical incident- AN UNCOMFORTABLE TIME

By Unknown -
An uncomfortable time

In November 2016, I went a week to Italy with my classmates for an English project. The fifth day, my host partner and I went to her aunt’s house to spend the afternoon because in the evening we had a dinner. While we were at her aunt’s house, my partner said she had to go to the bathroom, so she left me with her aunt and her cousin alone. They didn’t speak Catalan, Spanish or English, they only spoke Italian and I didn’t understand them. I told them, gesturing, that I couldn’t speak with them because I didn’t speak Italian but they started talking in Italian and telling me things (that I couldn’t understand) and I was answering using “Yes” and “No” although I didn’t know what they were saying. My partner, who was at the bathroom and I don’t know what she was doing there, took half an hour there and when she came into the living room I thought: “Finally!”
It was a really uncomfortable time and I was dying of shame and nerves.

What should I have done?
1.      Stand up and go to the bathroom and tell my partner that I don’t know what to do.
2.      Before going to Italy, learn a few things in Italian.
3.      Take the mobile phone and search the translator so I could talk with them.

Possible explanations:
1.      Yes, you’re going to solve the problem.
2.      No, if you only know a few things you won’t be able to communicate with them.
3.      No, because you don’t know how to write the things they say.

Why did she stay such a long time at the toilet?
1.      She had stomach ache.
2.      She wanted to put on some make up to go to the dinner.
3.      She wanted some time to be alone.

Possible explanations:
1.      Yes, maybe she had to do her needs.
2.      Yes, she wanted to look beautiful.
3.      No, she could make her reflections in bed, at night.

Why did she leave me alone?
1.      Because she thought I was going to understand her aunt and cousin.
2.      Because she didn’t realise I don’t speak Italian.
3.      Because she forgot I was there.

Possible explanations:
1.      Yes, because Catalan and Italian are quite similar.
2.      Yes, you can forget it.

3.      No, if you have a host partner you think about her.
Ivet


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Critical Incident - IS ITALY A GREEN COUNTRY?

By Unknown -
Is Italy a green country? in November I travelled to Italy and one of the things I noticed is that they do not recycle at all. They only have one bin in the whole house –my travel companions noticed that too- and the streets were really dirty. I tried to come to some hypothesis of what could be the reason this was so shocking even though we are such similar countries in other aspects. My first thought is that they did not recycle but when I asked my partner she answered that they indeed have been recycling since 2014. Actually, I did some research and in a Swedish guy blog I found out that they even get a tax relief calculated by the quality of their recycling for the ones that do recycle, which is an amazing way to get people to start doing it. So maybe it was me that only saw one bin and they did have several for different products. In my country for example the average Spanish  home has at least four different bins: the organic one for food and kitchen paper, the trash, the
Read more

April 1st -Saturday

By Unknown -
Image
      We knew that the returning day would be tiring because we would have to get up very early; but surprisingly, getting up before 5am was not as difficult as we thought, maybe because of the nerves of travelling by plane or seeing our family. During the night and Saturday’s morning I was a bit worried because on Friday’s afternoon my body hurt and all the teachers and I were paying attention if this pain would get better or worse. But I could sleep well, so it was not a difficulty at all.   I woke up at 4:20am and then I took a shower that made me feel relaxed. After that, I had breakfast and so, the last meal I would enjoy in Sweden. As I did during the whole week, I ate milk with cereal. Then I put some more things into the luggage and Povel gave me some presents. It was such a beautiful moment!  At a quarter past five I had to say goodbye to Povel and his mother. I told them I had been very grateful during the stay. Povel’s mother, Ingela, was also happy about my
Read more

Critical Incident - KISS HUG OR SHAKE HANDS

By Unknown -
Kiss, hug or shake hands?   Although I didn't host anybody, during this week, when the Italian, Bulgarian and Swedish students where in Catalonia, I noticed some differences in our cultures. The first days I had to greet and introduce myself to other students. But I didn't know if I had to kiss them on the cheeks, hug or just shake hands. In Catalonia we usually kiss each other on the cheeks but in other countries too? I thought that if I shake hands it will be more polite because kisses would be strange and inappropriate for someone. In the end I asked my Catalan friends what they did to greet them, and then I realized they had the same problem and I was not the only one. Learning Point: If you’re not sure what to do when you meet someone new from another country, ask them what they do to greet people. It’s easy and better to talk and avoid misunderstandings. Greeting new people I was at my school waiting to the teacher to arrive. In the meantime, a Bu
Read more