Dale's "Wee" Apartment & Other English-English Translations

Lunch at Dale's house turns into another all day party!
Running late-cab to Coca Cola. Bus to Santa Ana. Dale meets us at the bus stop. Taxi to Dale’s house. Dale’s “wee apartment” is fabulous! Very unique little place with a small bedroom, small living, eating, kitchen room. All in interesting shapes. No 90 degree angles here! Tile floors. Tile countertops, bottom cabinets only. Little bar at the end of the “kitchen” area, where Dale has her computer set up. All tile in the bath with a big shower. Not much furniture or décor; she just moved in. But she now has a set of dishes and served us a very nice chicken (already cooked from the grocery store, but very good recipe), little tiny seasoned potatoes and a salad. We ate around a real table and had some very nice red wine that came in a box. Oh, yeah, I just realized that she has wine glasses too! Everyone here has a story. Dale says she gets more frustrated trying to communicate in English with Norte Americanos and Brits and Canadians than she does trying to learn Spanish! She knows she doesn’t know Spanish, but assumes we all speak English! She told me she can spend $10 US and have enough fruit and veggies for a “fortnight.” I sat there for about 30 seconds trying to remember what a fortnight was, and finally admitted I didn’t know and asked her. Turns out it’s two weeks. I think I should have known that. I’m sure my grandmother would have known that. I suspect that everyone in New Zealand still knows that! (Reminds me of Ann saying that she can’t even talk computers in English, never mind Spanish!) Dale’s fabulous “wee apartment” rents for $250 a month. When she first got here, she ran around asking everybody to help her find a job. Now, she says, with the theater and everything else she does, there’s no way she has time to work! Cab to the bus stop. Bus back to San Jose. Walk from Coca Cola back to the hotel. A good long walk. Stop along the way for sandwiches (big Cuban style things) at my favorite soda. Wow! What a great day! It’s just so amazing to be here. Everywhere we go, I look around and think, “I just can’t believe we’re really here. We really live here!” We made it!