Coming and Going

For most of you who lives in this country you know what is coming and what is going…   

The very first thing I find hard to adjust to is the language barrier. Asking one question to a saleslady is an entirely different matter than when you are into a long conversation with a different nationality.

In our office the majority is Indian, then Lebanese, then Filipino and the minority Greek, Italian, Brit, Egyptian, Jordanian, S. African, etc..We are really a fusion of multi-cultural races and so are the twangs which really makes me crazy…

I am relatively good in speaking English. In fact, back home, some Korean OJTs love the way I speak.  Coming to Abu Dhabi changes all that. Most of my co-workers are fluent in English, however, as I've said the twang makes it difficult to understand. Since I am normally shy and timid in a new environment, I am afraid to ask and repeat what is being said  to me. Relatively new, it's frustrating. I feel like an alien from outer space! (Hi, I am a Martian :-D)

I was very hard on myself then, expecting too much,  and so it makes me more depressed. Later on, a co-Filipino told me that most of my office mates do not understand how I speak. Instead of taking it negatively, I was even relieved by the news.  I realized I was not the only one suffering from the language barrier. It was mutual for me and them. 

And so began my Abu Dhabi eloquence. I changed the way I speak and make sure to pronounce each words  carefully.  I also soon came to understand how words are used differently. 

 "Pardon me?" is not the usual. instead its "I'm sorry?" 

"Coming" is used when a person is on his way to a place regardless of distance 

"Going"   means leaving

Sometimes   it can be more artistic…like" upstairs' means on top or "downstairs" means below.       Pronunciations also matters..Compliance is pronounced as "complaince"…so I thought its (complaint. dang! I almost missed that..)

Vegetable is pronounced as ve-je-tabol… and so the list goes on… 

Asking for a spelled word might be more risky...RAK would be spelled as R-EH-KEH (??) 

But the worst so far is our tea boy,  who according to some was interviewed using so much of a sign language..(he doesn’t know how to speak English at that time but he is quite improved now and is one of my friends).Since he normally goes to an Indian restaurant every morning to buy his breakfast, sometimes i ask him to buy me "chapati". So this morning, I asked him if he had gone to the Indian restaurant already. He said "Ohhh I am going and coming already. So next time". :-D

After all the familiarization, adjustments and hardships, I am proud to say that I feel human now like the rest of them. I also now have the confidence to ask if I do not understand, which, I think is the most important thing I learned. Though I have somehow changed my 'americanized' diction, it's not important. What matters is you are understood. What matters is your acceptance that every being  indeed is different...When acceptance comes, then confidence do sets in.