Passage 1

When I first set foot on Mexican soil, I spoke relatively good Spanish. I was by no means fluent, but I could hold a conversation. So when I asked a local ice-cream seller in downtown Guadalajara when he expected a new delivery of chocolate ice cream, and he said “ ahorita”, which directly translates to “ right now”,I took him at his word, believing that its arrival was imminent.

I sat near his shop and waited, myEnglishnessmaking me feel it would be rude to leave. Half an hour passed and still no ice-cream arrived, so I timidly wandered back to the shop and asked again about the chocolate ice cream. “Ahorita,” he told me again, dragging out the “i” sound in “Ahorita.” His face was a mix of confusion and maybe even embarrassment.

I was tom. Waiting longer wasn, t appealing, but I felt it was impolite to walk away, especially if the ice cream was now being delivered especially for me. But finally, after waiting so long that I,d built up an appetite for dinner, dark clouds appeared overhead and I made a rush for the nearest bus to take me home. As I left, I signaled up at the sky to the ice cream seller to let him know that I obviously couldn,t wait any longer and it really wasn, t my fault. His face was, once again, one of total confusion.