vida cotidiana
28 Oct 2006 01:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cimorenefirst snowfall. it's not going to stick, of course. i love the way fallen leaves on wet pavement look like gold coins.
there's a middle-aged man in a wheelchair in our building. he's not as seriously injured as my dad and a lot stronger - he goes around in a manual wheelchair and he opens all the doors himself, and navigates into the elevator on his own. i still save him some time sometimes by holding the door for him. when we've ridden in the elevator together a few times we've tried to talk but he only speaks finnish (and i think maybe there was another, but nothing that i speak). i can say "i don't speak finnish" and "i speak english and swedish" and "i am american"1 in finnish (score! a use for those six weeks last spring!), at least. of course, since we can't communicate my attempts always carry the possibility of getting in his way instead of helping when he is quite capable himself, but i still keep wanting to hold the door and stuff. ever since my dad's accident i feel a lot of kinship for other people in wheelchairs (and burning hate for people who use wheelchair van handicapped parking spaces when they don't have a wheelchair van, but that's another rant). i held the front door for him today when i was coming back with the dog and he insisted on my taking the elevator alone which i suspect was because my holding it was getting in his way (since he's ridden with both me and the dog before). i really need to learn some more finnish.
1. for the curious: minä en puhu suomeaa; minä puhun englantia ja ruotsia; minä olen amerikkalainen
there's a middle-aged man in a wheelchair in our building. he's not as seriously injured as my dad and a lot stronger - he goes around in a manual wheelchair and he opens all the doors himself, and navigates into the elevator on his own. i still save him some time sometimes by holding the door for him. when we've ridden in the elevator together a few times we've tried to talk but he only speaks finnish (and i think maybe there was another, but nothing that i speak). i can say "i don't speak finnish" and "i speak english and swedish" and "i am american"1 in finnish (score! a use for those six weeks last spring!), at least. of course, since we can't communicate my attempts always carry the possibility of getting in his way instead of helping when he is quite capable himself, but i still keep wanting to hold the door and stuff. ever since my dad's accident i feel a lot of kinship for other people in wheelchairs (and burning hate for people who use wheelchair van handicapped parking spaces when they don't have a wheelchair van, but that's another rant). i held the front door for him today when i was coming back with the dog and he insisted on my taking the elevator alone which i suspect was because my holding it was getting in his way (since he's ridden with both me and the dog before). i really need to learn some more finnish.
1. for the curious: minä en puhu suomeaa; minä puhun englantia ja ruotsia; minä olen amerikkalainen
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Date: 29 Oct 2006 02:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 29 Oct 2006 03:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 29 Oct 2006 04:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 29 Oct 2006 04:49 pm (UTC)