These past couple of winters it seems that we have spent a LOT of time with Freddy (our VW) and our mechanics. Freddy does not enjoy the sudden plummet to -30 temperatures and it always takes several visits to the doctor to sort out what's wrong and to make him better. But standing around with our friendly mechanics, I'm always thankful that we have found some that we not only trust, but who also treat us with respect. There was a time when we used to dread having to take the car for even the most minor of check-ups or routine oil changes. Trying to find a good mechanic that you can develop a relationship with is hard enough in your own language, culture and country, but in Kazakhstan,....
Back when we first started driving a car here we were some of the very few women behind the wheel, and as far as we could figure, the ONLY women who took their car to the mechanics. Not that it was culturally inappropriate or taboo, it just wasn't necessary and didn't happen. When we wandered into a new garage, we felt like we drew a lot of attention,.. and yet at the same time it was hard to get anyone's attention. The latter because that's just the way things go here; if you want some one in the 'service' industry to assist you, it is up to you to command their attention. You must say the first words. If you're lucky, they'll acknowledge you shortly after that and perhaps even make eye contact. Regardless, you must seize the moment and quickly say whatever it is that needs to be said to have your needs addressed before someone else with a louder voice or clearer Russian diverts their attention.
So, walking into an unknown 'service' centre, into a new bastion of men who are simultaneously aware of you, and yet not paying attention to you requires several deep breaths before opening the heavy steel door that guards their kingdom. More often than not, when we finally managed to secure someone's attention we were treated with smirks and sniggers that made us feel as if "oil change" was a dirty phrase!
Of course, there was the one time early on in my car-Russian vocabulary days, when I boldly stated in no uncertain terms that:
"whenever I step on the baby chicken, it squeals"...
I think I realised my mistake only a few seconds after it came out of my mouth, and after all, is it my fault that clutch and baby chicken sound so similar to a novice russian speaker??? but the damage was done, and the guy we were talking to decided we were idiots that he had no hope of understanding and passed us off to someone else, who passed us off to someone else... the upshot of that visit was that we never went back there again!
With experiences like these, I was so thankful when we stumbled across Teddy and the Gnome. We had bought a new battery for our LADA, and the guy behind the counter had been unusually helpful so we decided to ask him for a mechanic he recommended. Good move! He gave us the name of the owner of "the best mechanics" in town, and we walked in, armed with real weapons! Asking to see the owner by name and patrynomic commands immediate respect - you must be somebody! We explained we had been directed by an acquaintance of his (name and patrynomic) and VOILA! instant obligation to assist! He passed us on to one of his mechanics, and we have never looked back since. Teddy (nicknamed by us, because he's a bit of a teddy bear) and the Gnome (nicknamed by the other mechanics, because, well, he DOES look like a gnome!) treated us with respect from the very start. They patiently listened to us as we tried to explain various squeaks, squeals, rattles and bangs, and worked hard to translate our Russian into concepts they could understand.
Much has changed since those early days of me driving and floundering with the Russian language. Where there used to be a handful of rusty old LADA's rattling down the main street, it is now bumper to bumper PRADOs, LandCruisers and the occasional Humvee. Half of these are driven by women, many of whom take their cars to the mechanics themselves. My Russian has improved, but sometimes I'm the one that needs to work hard to translate the Russian into concepts I can understand! Take for instance something I heard last winter while we tried to get our "we-don't-get-this-cold-in-Germany" VW to behave.
Initial, on-the-spot, internal translation:
"You may have a problem with the valve of the single man not moving properly - you may need to replace him"
What they really meant, figured out at home with my online dictionary, wikipedia and much linguistic wrestling to make the words fit the context:
"You may have a problem with the idle speed air valve, you may need to replace it"
Who knew - the Russian words for idle and bachelor are from the same root! :)
Showing posts with label car adventures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label car adventures. Show all posts
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Monday, 16 January 2012
"Hussein says"... a great way to learn Russian verbs
Some of my best russian lessons have been had while watching, waiting and often participating in the fixing of bumps, bangs, scrapes and general wear and tear of Nadya the LADA and Freddy the VW.
Back in Nadya's day there was the time we were having her brakes seen to. I was in the hoisted up car (not so unusual here), being commanded by a guy named Hussein (quite unusual for here, hence why I remember his name) and was responsible for pressing, holding, pumping and letting go of the brake pedal. They say total physical response is a great way to learn a language, especially verbs, and I would have to agree. I think however, that the words might not have stuck so well, if it wasn't for the fact that I was then able to use 3 of the 4 of them in teaching computer skills to our Tumdi 9th graders.
Before that fun hour spent in a barely heated, dimly lit, exhaust and smoke-filled garage, pressing, holding, and letting go of the brake pedal, I had resorted to a lot of sound effects in my first efforts to teach basic mouse manipulation skills to computer illiterate teens who gripped those mouse-s with steel trap-like grips.
"Just {click} this button once. No {click}. No! Make it sound like this! {click}"
"Ok, to make this window bigger, first you need to {click} but keep it {cliccckkkkkkked}..."
Nope. There's just no way to make a "press and hold" sound with you tongue. I didn't even get to the "let go of the button" sound. The kids were probably just as frustrated as I was. Perhaps they should be called sound in-effects!
However, after repeated reinforcement with Hussein and the brake pedal, I was a master at these 3 russian verbs.
"Just press once. Good"
"Ok, now press and hold,... good, and now let go."
Ahhh,.... the victory of using words... now I know what a talking toddler feels like!
It's just a shame that all my car mechanic words can't be as useful. Thanks to a recent adventure with the gas pedal on Freddy, I learnt the russian word for throttle - for the space of about a week. At the time, I checked my online dictionary and found that unfortunately I can't use it to say to little G, or any other graduate who is acting up: "I could throttle you!!!" (lovingly of course)
Pity. I suspect it would have been a helpful way to reinforce my new vocab addition. Instead, the word has been relegated to the "might recognize it, but can't reproduce it" drawer of my brain.
Back in Nadya's day there was the time we were having her brakes seen to. I was in the hoisted up car (not so unusual here), being commanded by a guy named Hussein (quite unusual for here, hence why I remember his name) and was responsible for pressing, holding, pumping and letting go of the brake pedal. They say total physical response is a great way to learn a language, especially verbs, and I would have to agree. I think however, that the words might not have stuck so well, if it wasn't for the fact that I was then able to use 3 of the 4 of them in teaching computer skills to our Tumdi 9th graders.
Before that fun hour spent in a barely heated, dimly lit, exhaust and smoke-filled garage, pressing, holding, and letting go of the brake pedal, I had resorted to a lot of sound effects in my first efforts to teach basic mouse manipulation skills to computer illiterate teens who gripped those mouse-s with steel trap-like grips.
"Just {click} this button once. No {click}. No! Make it sound like this! {click}"
"Ok, to make this window bigger, first you need to {click} but keep it {cliccckkkkkkked}..."
Nope. There's just no way to make a "press and hold" sound with you tongue. I didn't even get to the "let go of the button" sound. The kids were probably just as frustrated as I was. Perhaps they should be called sound in-effects!
However, after repeated reinforcement with Hussein and the brake pedal, I was a master at these 3 russian verbs.
"Just press once. Good"
"Ok, now press and hold,... good, and now let go."
Ahhh,.... the victory of using words... now I know what a talking toddler feels like!
It's just a shame that all my car mechanic words can't be as useful. Thanks to a recent adventure with the gas pedal on Freddy, I learnt the russian word for throttle - for the space of about a week. At the time, I checked my online dictionary and found that unfortunately I can't use it to say to little G, or any other graduate who is acting up: "I could throttle you!!!" (lovingly of course)
Pity. I suspect it would have been a helpful way to reinforce my new vocab addition. Instead, the word has been relegated to the "might recognize it, but can't reproduce it" drawer of my brain.
Monday, 12 December 2011
The real way to handle a stuck accelerator!
You can find instructions for pretty much anything on the internet these days. Type a few words into google and soon you find yourself learning about all kinds of things. One of my latest searches turned up this little gem from ehow.com:
"How to Handle a Stuck Gas Pedal. Although not a common occurrance, your throttle linkage can get stuck, making your car go faster even though you've taken your foot off the gas pedal."
The interesting thing about this search was that I was looking for information AFTER the fact, mostly trying to find out WHY a gas pedal would get stuck, but imagine how happy I was to find that I had done everything right when it does!
eHow's first suggestion: Don't panic. {Check!}
Here's my internal feed while cruising on the new flat road just at the city limits, on the way to Yesun:
"Mmmm, nice new smooth road, city limit sign coming up, time to crank it up to "out-of-city-bumpless-road-speed"... {foot presses accelerator down a little}...
"Hmmm, that's funny, I didn't know we had cruise control... wait, we don't." {head turns to colleague only to see that she has gone into "smooth-road-nap-mode"}
"Nah, I can't let something interesting like this pass without comment..."
{out loud}
"Hey - check this out. Freddy's driving himself! Look, no feet!" {car continues to cruise, speedo nudges towards 80km/h}
{internal again}
"... ok, hmm... this is really happening, I have no control over this gas pedal. It's stuck down..."
Time to follow the rest of the Instructions
"How to Handle a Stuck Gas Pedal. Although not a common occurrance, your throttle linkage can get stuck, making your car go faster even though you've taken your foot off the gas pedal."
The interesting thing about this search was that I was looking for information AFTER the fact, mostly trying to find out WHY a gas pedal would get stuck, but imagine how happy I was to find that I had done everything right when it does!
eHow's first suggestion: Don't panic. {Check!}
Here's my internal feed while cruising on the new flat road just at the city limits, on the way to Yesun:
"Mmmm, nice new smooth road, city limit sign coming up, time to crank it up to "out-of-city-bumpless-road-speed"... {foot presses accelerator down a little}...
"Hmmm, that's funny, I didn't know we had cruise control... wait, we don't." {head turns to colleague only to see that she has gone into "smooth-road-nap-mode"}
"Nah, I can't let something interesting like this pass without comment..."
{out loud}
"Hey - check this out. Freddy's driving himself! Look, no feet!" {car continues to cruise, speedo nudges towards 80km/h}
{internal again}
"... ok, hmm... this is really happening, I have no control over this gas pedal. It's stuck down..."
Time to follow the rest of the Instructions
- 1 Shift to neutral {check} and turn off the ignition {nope - didn't do it. Other car adventures have taught me that braking and steering happen best when engine is on! Ehow does helpfully clarify:} You'll lose all power, including power steering.
- 2 Turn on your emergency lights to warn other drivers. {check}
- 3 Apply your brakes, but keep coasting. {check}
- 4 Search the roadway for a safe place to pull over. {check - they've just widened this nice new road and put in wide gravel shoulders, and its Saturday, at lunch... it's all pretty much safe!}
- 5 Pull off the road cautiously. {check - then turned off ignition}
- 6 Locate an emergency roadside phone to get assistance. {oh, ehow,... if only you knew how good it could be...}
a) Pull out cell phone, find "FavMech" in your contact list.
b) Tell your favourite mechanic what has happened and that you're on the outskirts of town.
c) Listen patiently while he tells you what to look at under the hood, then wait for the magic words as he realises you're not really understanding all the car-related Russian verbs and nouns he just threw at you: "Ok - just stay there, I'll be right there"...
We never did go to Yesun that day - by the time we would have got there, we would have had to turn around and drive back - and we still don't know WHY the gas pedal got stuck, or how it unstuck itself ... but I do know that I can handle myself coolly under pressure. I also know that my new haircut suits me - my favourite mechanic told me so :)
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