What's worse than going to the meeting after losing your voice and knowing everyone is going to make fun of you? Trying to hail a taxi when all you can do is whisper! I got a taxi pretty quickly after the meeting, by flashing the number of the kilometer where I live with my hands and whispering it as loudly as I could. The driver had to make a detour and wanted me to know what was going on so he takes both hands off the wheel and starts signing to me. It took me a minute to figure out what was going on since I know zero sign language. I tried to tell him I could hear, just not speak. He nodded and then started signing slower. Finally he understood that he could speak to me but decided to only whisper as well. Whatever works.
The second cab I got seemed to think I was only unable to hear human voices. Every time he had a question on which way to turn, he beeped the horn (instead of saying excuse me) to get my attention. Then, he pointed inquisitively as to which way to go. Again I tried to explain that I could hear (clearly he knew that since I could hear the horn) but again I just got the "oh, ok.....sure" nod and he kept doing it.
The last cab of the day took the cake. I was riding with another sister so she told him where my stop was. He seemed perplexed, though when I stayed in the car and she got out at her house. I kept telling him my address but the more I spoke the more he seemed confused. The conversation went like this: "No, I'm going to X street, please" "What?" "X street" "Huh?" "X Street....you know, by Y street" *blank stare* "Um are you going to pay?"*me blank stare* "Uh....yeah.....,when we get to X street" "Where?" "X street!!!" "Huh??" "X street! X street! X street!!!!" *blank stare* "So....here?" At this point I'm leaned forward as far as I can go, screaming my whispers (how do you scream a whisper??!) so I tell him to lean back so he can hear me. Now I am literally scream/whispering in his ear "X street!!!!!!!" over and over and over. Then he goes, "Oh, X street. Ok. And just pulls off and goes straight to my street. I tell ya, five minutes of my life I'll never get back.
Shout out to my friend Shelina who lost her voice last week. Fortuanately, she serves in the sign language congregation here so she got by with no problems.
The second cab I got seemed to think I was only unable to hear human voices. Every time he had a question on which way to turn, he beeped the horn (instead of saying excuse me) to get my attention. Then, he pointed inquisitively as to which way to go. Again I tried to explain that I could hear (clearly he knew that since I could hear the horn) but again I just got the "oh, ok.....sure" nod and he kept doing it.
The last cab of the day took the cake. I was riding with another sister so she told him where my stop was. He seemed perplexed, though when I stayed in the car and she got out at her house. I kept telling him my address but the more I spoke the more he seemed confused. The conversation went like this: "No, I'm going to X street, please" "What?" "X street" "Huh?" "X Street....you know, by Y street" *blank stare* "Um are you going to pay?"*me blank stare* "Uh....yeah.....,when we get to X street" "Where?" "X street!!!" "Huh??" "X street! X street! X street!!!!" *blank stare* "So....here?" At this point I'm leaned forward as far as I can go, screaming my whispers (how do you scream a whisper??!) so I tell him to lean back so he can hear me. Now I am literally scream/whispering in his ear "X street!!!!!!!" over and over and over. Then he goes, "Oh, X street. Ok. And just pulls off and goes straight to my street. I tell ya, five minutes of my life I'll never get back.
Shout out to my friend Shelina who lost her voice last week. Fortuanately, she serves in the sign language congregation here so she got by with no problems.
LOL..THAT WAS eXcellent! needed that laugh...;-) hope you are feeling and a SHOUT OUT TO all MY NICA CHICAS!!!
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