Lost in Translation

Everyday gets better and better. I've gotten off the roller coaster I've been on for the past year and a half. The world around me has stopped spinning so fast, the world has ceased to be upside-down, and my feet have finally touched the ground again. I am finally settling into my new life, the 24-years-and-8-months me living 'now' and whats ahead for me. I'm finally in the stage where things around me are familiar already, and I do things regular settled people do, errands, shopping for your daily needs.

I woke up today at 9:30, not too early, not too late. I felt like it was going to be a great day, I've been enjoying work more and I had a nice farewell dinner for one of my work buddies the night before. I got up, had a nice quick shower, put on my favorite skirt, a comfy sweater, and my trusty old boots. The weather was great again, sunny weather with the cool breeze of winter.

I set off to find something i needed to buy for my parent's trip over to see me, and I wasn;t sure if they'd have what I was looking for in this particular store. And great as my day was starting off to be, they had exactly what I wanted, for a price much cheaper than I expected, and it was the last piece waiting for me! I paid for it at the cashier, happy, content, had a little chat with the lady who took my payment, and I headed off to do my next errand, fetchign my computer at a freind's house.

I thought it was perfect that after doing that walk from the house to the mall to buy the inflatable bed I had to buy, there was a tram stop right outside the mall that stopps close to where my friend lives. I hopped in, and settled in a seat nearby, and decided to punch the ticket in in a few moments since my friend's house was still going to be a few more stops away. After less than two minutes of my getting in the tram, and sitting down, a man who worked at a tram with a device for swiping tickets came towards me. I thought, perfect, now I don't have to get up and do it myself. So when it was my turn to give my ticket, he swiped it, and to my surprise, he did it twice. And then the man asked me if it was 'valid'. I said, "Ofcourse, I just used that ticket the night before for the train." and he said, yes, so it says here, but is it valid? "And I said yet it is." Before I knew it, he pulled out a ticket pad and wrote me a notice for a fine to be paid for not paying for my ride at the tram. I asked him why he gave me that for and he said that I was making up stories, that I told him the ticket was 'valid' when in reality the last time I used it was last night and not when I had entered the tram. And then I realized what was going on. What I thought meant 'valid', as in, that the ticket has credit and I can pay for the tram ride, to him meant that it was validado, that I had already paid. And I was telling him I did, when the ticket says I hadn't because in reality, I really hadn't paid. And I was telling him the truth, although the truth to me, was a lie to him, for his understanding of the word. At this point, it was too late. I had been branded as a thief of the tram company, a delinquent citizen, that had a ticket full of credit and for some reason, to them, decided to take a free ride that morning. In the end, the headache cost me 40 euros.

So much for feeling so settled, I thought. I couldn't even understand the meaning of a word that would cost me 40 euros in the end. I was a stranger again at the place that was trying to turn into my home. There I was, trying to help myself whichever way I could in this normal, every day situation (or at least for the 'lucky' ones). And I was helpless, lost in translation.