Day 27: Oaxaca, Mexico
Previously on Baconismagic.ca…I was alone in Oaxaca and decided that a sure way to meet other travelers would be to take Spanish lessons.I arrived early Monday morning to enrol in school and take the placement test, which was pretty easy as I know nothing.
In a matter of minutes I was taken upstairs to my new classroom. Silvia, my new teacher, tells me that I’m lucky as I’m the only one in the class.
Yay me…
She assesses my skill level by asking a series of questions. I share that I’m traveling alone and also the only one in my hostel. A kind soul, during the break she introduces me to Whatsherface.
Her name isn’t important but the story is.
I sit down to talk to Whatsherface and find out that she’s from North Carolina but has lived in Washington, DC for the last 5 years.
She’s been studying Spanish for four weeks at the school, which I find odd because she’s not sitting with any students from the other levels.
I start to ask a few more questions and she tells me that she purposely came to Oaxaca during the low season because she doesn’t want to talk to any other travelers.
She admits she doesn’t socialize with any other students either.
She knows they think she’s snobby and she’s okay with that. In my head I was contemplating correcting her that they all probably thought she was a biatch.
Alas, I didn’t have the time as she explains that she also doesn’t want to speak English.
With that she gets up from the table and walks away.
Baffled, I have the last laugh as I was ironically able to tell Silvia in Spanish that she wasn’t very friendly or nice. I have yet to learn the Spanish word for biatch.
Mexico certainly has its characters.
Note: This is an actual photo of Whatsherface, she’s so involved with her iPhone and being unfriendly that she didn’t even look up when I sat at the table across from her and pointed my camera in her direction.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA…. you made me happy.
Nice. I see she’s drinking Coke Zero to have that true Mexican experience…
What an awesome life whatsherface must be living!
What a biatch!
Dude that’s just…bizarre. I can KINDA MAYBE understand wanting to be alone or whatever, but it isn’t even LOGICAL to do so when you’re taking mother-effin’ LANGUAGE CLASSES. WTF?
I see she’s learning the most important step of learning a language: Complete Isolation. When you have no one to speak to, no one can say you’re speaking incorrectly.
Hahaha, omg, this is a bit naughty, but I think this chic deserves it! Buena suerte con tus clases. 🙂
I looked it up, and the Spanish word for BITCH is “Perra”. Take a picture of her face as you call her that okay? I think your Spanish teacher will also be impressed!
Speaking of biatches, where is that greasy ol’ bastard, Mr. Bacon? I haven’t seen him in your blog lately. Did he chicken out and go back home to his mommy?
Perra can mean bitch but it really depends on the context. I’m not sure 100% if it is the same in Oaxaca but ‘Puta’ kind of means bitch, but also whore/slut in a mean vulgar way. ‘Hijo de Puta’ means Son of a Bitch but just ‘puta’ would most likely be taken as slut/whore. As for stuck up you can call her a ‘Creida’ I have more but I probably should encourage flinging vulgar spanish words, but if you wanna learn how to make a sailor blush let me know I’ll help you out @(^_*)@
opps meant ‘Shouldn’t encourage…’ Freudian slip? Oh and add ‘punche’ before a word or any form of ‘chigada’ in a sentence (anywhere really) and you have yourself the making of a roottin toottin good time.
Your ability to swear in more than one language might be impressive but could land you in doggie do-do….but the black across her face makes her look like a criminal or someone from a stag magazine from yester years! Not that I would know anything about that!
Definitely wouldn’t call her a puta…doesn’t mean bitch at all! I would call her creida, though it’s not a bad or vulgar word by any means. Would also call her media rara (a bit weird/off).
Also wouldn’t recommend using pinche (not punche) or chingada (not chigada) until you’ve got a fairly good command of Spanish and/or you are with people you feel VERY comfortable with.
Not that I’d recommend actually using this phrase, but I’d definitely feel like saying this to someone like her: bajate de huevo. (something like get off your high horse but pretty vulgar and street-slangish.
Adelante con tu espanol!
Let’s forget about calling her a biatch…she is a straight up loser!
Thanks Melissa, a few typos and no edit button can make for interesting comments. The Chingada part just makes me laugh and think of the movie El Norte where the Mayan immigrants are told to just say Chingada a lot to make people think they are from Mexico. But Ryan makes a good point…you could always fling poo, works for me.
she won’t speak english but she doesn’t appear to have a problem texting in english to her friends back home.
i wonder why some people ever leave their country. if she really wanted to learn spanish that way she shouldn’t have chosen oaxaca, one of the most touristy (and english speaking) parts of mexico.
bueno suerte con tus lecciones. spanish came in handy at the cairo airport yesterday – i saved to argentinean lads who had no clue what the immigration guy was yelling at them in english. I translated and they understood (i was pretty chuffed that I remembered how to form a sentence en espanol and even more chuffed that they understood me).
You know I didn’t encounter anyone in Oaxaca that spoke English. That said, I didn’t go to any restaurants, which is likely why. My teacher told me that most people in hospitality would speak English but I’m too poor to frequent nice establishments 🙂
Oh my, Whatsherface apparently drinks Zer and gobbles chips at an astounding rate. Maybe that’s why she’s so nasty? Junk food makes for cranky learning and jumpy kids. She is kinda like a kid, right? One that might need a biatch slapping.
This is as awesome of a post as I was hoping! I love the blackout, lol, she really does sound like a royal biatch!
Sounds like a winner.
sometimes you wonder what’s going on in peoples heads…..
I love the chance to catch on posts of yours that I haven’t read yet. And am amazed at people over and over again!
hahahaha! NASTYYYYY 😛
After all your time in Latin America, you MUST know how to say biatch now! So, what is it???
Ha yes I do but I’ve never said it to anyone’s face for fear of getting slapped silly.
Depending on where you at perra, puta, bruja always work well to describe someone.
Ooh… I had to deal with a whatshisface during SXSW and it nearly killed me.
ooh do tell!
That’s just weird. I feel bad for the girl — she obviously has issues. But honestly, we all do. I started my long-term travels as the result of much heartbreak and depression and was revived and renewed by the enthusiasm and love of the people I met. As an adult, we find ways to fix things… It makes me sad that she can’t see that — yet?
Hilarious. I love the picture and the black across her face. Some people are just plain miserable! Screw ’em!
Funny post- and poor soul, she’s probably still trying to figure out what to do with her life. Plus, why does she want an Iphone if she wont speak with anyone?
My favorite line “I have yet to learn the Spanish word for biatch.”
hahahahaha awesome – that is all 🙂
Wow! I don’t get it! Half the fun of travel is meeting interesting people from across the world. She is missing out big time! More fool her.