Bing translator to the rescue- in the purgatory between Slovakia and Hungary
Sitting at the border between Slovakia and Hungary (taking a minute to checkin on Foursquare actually) and I see an enthusiastic blonde woman approaching the car. Did I mention I’m sitting at the border checkpoint between Slovakia and Hungary? It’s not like I know anyone there.
Crazy lady approaches the car door, actually grabs the handle to open it (good thing I had already locked it!). I roll down the window to see what she wants. She starts jabbering off in German. Whoa nelly. I know some German, can read it quite well for sure. But, she needed to slow down. And why the heck was she throwing her GPS at me? And leaning in the car, almost sitting on my lap?
She kept pointing at the top line on the GPS, Montenegro. We’re sitting between Hungary and Slovakia. I asked her in English what she was trying to do. That wasn’t going to work. She was pointing to the GPS and saying Montenegro and then waving all around saying Hungary (in a German sounding way).
Ok, light bulb! GPS is stuck on Montenegro, she needs it to be in Hungary. Woohoo. Lady can’t figure out her GPS. It’s a gadget, I can do this, right?
Ok, touch all around the GPS to try to find how to change the location. GPS is German. GPSy German is not the German I know. Food, I know. Ok, so I find the way to change the countries, but “Hungary” is the ENGLISH word for the place.
Here comes Bing. I asked Dave to find me the Hungarian word for the country Hungary. That word is Magyarorszag. And that word was not on the country list.
Ok, this is a German lady, German GPS, what is the GERMAN word for Hungary? Ungarn. That WAS on the list of countries!!! I change the location on the GPS and save the day! (just give it to me, it was a looooong day)
It was then I realized why she picked me. We got our rental car in Germany, we have Germany plates. She assumed I could help her.
Haha! I love this story. Being European can be quite bizarre sometimes, but this is why I love being it! Crazy. Keep relaying these tales - I'm loving it!
Posted by: BizPaul | September 22, 2013 at 01:38 PM