Last month at the resthome, I was going through the lobby because of something, and there was my one (Mexican) coworker standing there for some reason talking to the one (Romanian) receptionist.
And, both were speaking (English), but it was striking to me how both are products of vastly different cultures and places, but both speak a descendant of (Latin), in one case brought across the ocean to a new continent.
Just something to think about.
One of my big surprises from this past summer was trying this new type of popsicle from this (older) (black) ice cream vendor who sets up on the sidewalk outside of the beach that I go to.
It's like a spiral sculpted popsicle with kind of frozen yogurt-like flavors, blueberry and strawberry on the outside spirals, and vanilla on the inside, though the vanilla is really subtle and almost a bit dairy product-like in terms of flavor, like a standard (Greek) yogurt or something, even though the label says it's just made with milk.
Overall, it's really, really good!
And, it's only 70 calories.
How can you not like something like that?
The first day that I tried it, I was so in the mood for ice cream that I stopped into a convenience store after the beach that night, and it turns out that they had it there, too, so I got it there, and I ended up having it for like the second time in a single day.
The other week at the resthome, I ran into the one (Japanese) resident when I was going down a hallway on her floor to go do something.
"How are you doing?", I was like.
"Still alive," she was like.
"So, is that a good thing or a bad thing?", I was like.
At that she looked off into the distance for a while, then looked back at me.
"Neutral," she was like.
Later at night on that same shift at the resthome, my one (edgy) (Ethiopian) coworker asked me if I was still studying Ancient Egyptian, and I said that I was, only I wasn't taking my flashcards into work with me anymore, since I was afraid of getting Covid contamination on them.
"I study German here now," I was like, and I showed her my German vocabulary app on my phone.
"You are good at language," she was like, "You should teach."
At that, I reminded her once again that the sector I'd trained for for years was falling apart, that's why I had switched sectors and began working with the elderly, though who knows, maybe I'd go back one day, if things ever clear up.
And, I said that I do very much enjoy learning languages and learning about other languages, and I asked her what other languages she had studied in her life.
Just English, it turned out; she grew up speaking Amharic in Ethiopia, and she studied English at school.
"Chemistry, math, that what I like," she was like, "But physics no, language no."
"Do people in Ethiopia ever study Italian?", I was like, and I added, "Wasn't Ethiopian an Italian colony or something?"
"No, never," she was like, and she explained to me that Italy was in Ethiopia for 3 years, but then Ethiopians kicked them out.
"Ethiopia and Gabon," she was like, "Only two countries in Africa, to stop the colonizer."
"That's really good," I was like.
"Yes, very good," she was like.
That same shift the other week at the resthome, me and my one (edgy) (Ethiopian) coworker found ourselves in the office before dinner, and even though I should have had to run off to go do something, I told her it was a busy day, and so I was just sitting down to eat something for five minutes before I had to go run off to do more work.
And, I pulled out some leftovers that our one (townie) coworker had brought in for everyone to celebrate her birthday a few days earlier; the cupcakes were gone - cream cheese frosting, some with slices of strawberry pressed into the top! - and I had brought home the buffalo chicken salad - pulled chicken breast with hot sauce and a little chopped-up jalapeno all mixed together with cream cheese, which the one (gay) (Texan) nurse had said was really good, and it was, especially at home chilled put on toast! - and so the only thing left was some shaved beef in au jus, and so I microwaved some of that in a mug and pulled out a bun and dipped it in the juice and ate that.
"[Name of our townie coworker] ate it like that, with bread," my one (edgy) (Ethiopian) coworker observed.
So, I explained to her that that's how you eat it.
"I like spicy," she was like, and she went to the staff fridge and pulled out a jar of giardenera (sp.?), then she shook some leftover tortilla chips in a bowl and then spooned the giardenera on top of that, and she began eating that.
The other week at the resthome, my one (edgy) (Ethiopian) coworker asked me if I had started taking the 3-hour online training that work is making us take, to meet our training hours for the year that the state makes you keep up for your licensature or whatever they call it.
"No," I was like, "Not yet," and then I think I said something about how it was a lot of hours and I didn't want to spend the time right now.
"I don't like, it's too much, too long, like the Bible," she was like.
Later that shift, I told that story to my one (cool) (Muslim) (Ethiopian) coworker, and she just laughed and swatted her hand like she was batting something away.
"She's crazy!", she was like, laughing.
