After spending a large amount of time being instructed by professors with foreign accents both at Virginia Tech and at SGU, and living in another country for nearly 2 years, one might think I'd be an expert at "reading between the lines" when someone is talking to me. Definitely not true. I have gotten a lot better at being able to understand a lot of people, but I definitely still struggle under some conditions!
Today while Lucy and I were taking our evening walk, we stumbled upon a man/teenager/child(?) walking along with a goat on a leash (or maybe it was a sheep). I say man/teen/child because I'm honestly not sure - from behind he looked really young, but looking at his face? It was confusing. He had a very strong accent, and as Lucy and I passed him (she was 100% focused on making friends with the goat, which I was not allowing), he said hi and asked me something. I think he said something about her eyes? I get asked a lot what's wrong with her eyes here (some people think she's blind, others want a dog like that for themselves, and others think she must be the devil), so I kind of assumed he was asking what was wrong with them. I told him her eyes were completely normal and that she really wanted to be friends with his goat. He didn't really respond to that and we continued on our walk. This route is not a loop, so we go to the end of the street and then turn around and come back. I was really hoping he and the goat had turned off some where, but no such luck. Lucy was straining at the leash to sniff the bleating creature. This time when we passed him, he asked me something (twice) and the only thing I caught out of the statement was the word "medicine" (I think). Not being a medical student, I said no, I'm vet med. Since that was not what he was asking, he told me no, asked me something else, and asked something about price I paid for her. I told him no one wanted her at my home so I got her as a gift and then kind of awkwardly tried to keep going since I couldn't understand a word he said!
I think maybe he was hoping to buy or trade for her? Really not sure. The last time I was asked how much I paid for her, I was in line at customs at the airport! Seems like an odd thing to ask someone. I've definitely been asked if she has puppies or a family before, so it really wouldn't surprise me if he was looking to buy her. Or he could have been asking something completely different! I'll never know!
Unfortunately for him (and anyone else desperate to own a heterochromic eyed dog), she's not for sale. For better or for worse, we are stuck with each other until the end!
No comments:
Post a Comment