Evenings With Queen Ruby


Evenings With Queen Ruby

(2 votes)

Written by Administrator

Wednesday, July 19 2006

I had a long flight and the muscles around my neck were stressed out and tired. I needed a massage- fast. I inquired around a bit and thought it over. Then as I was walking to Claro com café, I noticed a beauty parlor which advertised for massages. It looked like a nice joint so I jumped on the opportunity. I went in and saw several people sitting around and chatting. I went up to the woman sitting behind the counter. I said nervously “Massages?”

She introduced herself at Ruby, but she rolled her r so much I thought her name was droopy. I thought that was a very odd name for any woman but I didn't ask questions. That's what I called her for the next week until she corrected me. Her real name was Ruby.

At that time I knew less Spanish than I do now which means I spoke hardly any at all. Her English wasn't great but she could at least communicate what she wanted and I understood her. We agreed on a massage. She took me back and both of our sense of humors clicked. She asked me what I was doing here and for how long I would stay. I asked her if she knew anyone who needed any English lessons. She said that she would teach me Spanish if I would help her with her English. I jumped on the opportunity and we would start the next Monday. Her massage soothed me, I walked out and the rest is history.

Monday rolled around and I showed up at her salon. I was ready to learn Spanish. We sat down at a table near the window where they do nails. I had my notebook and she had hers. She mainly teaches me Spanish for about an hour, sometimes more and I answer any English questions she has. There is a whole crew of characters at the salon. There's Marjorie the nail speacialist. She's always winking and smiling at me even though she's married. I laugh just laugh. Then there is Lucretia, one of Ruby's hair stylists. She's got a heart of gold. Lastly, there is the flamboyant hairdresser Carlos. He's relatively new to the scene since he just returned to Panama from the U.S. He speaks fluent English and I work with him a lot when ruby has a client.

The greatest part of the whole deal is that I meet new people there all the time. I meet people from colombia, panama and even some people from the states everynow and then. Because of this, my Spanish has been improving little by little. I would highly recommend setting up some type of language exchange if you are staying a country for a while and don't know the language.