Social Security, part two

I know, enticing title, right?

I was fully prepared to procrastinate going back to the Social Security Administration for as long as possible, but today I got it over with.

The official reasons I applied for a replacement card:

-to get my NY drivers license, finally
-and then get a municipal pool membership
-and a library card

But the reason I ended up going sooner rather than later is because Dumpling has decided that we should get motorcycle licenses together. For this to happen we'll both need to become official NY state card-holders first, so he basically told me to suck it up and just get a new SS card already.

Not that there's any chance of us actually taking motorcycle-riding lessons anytime before the next snowfall. But I didn't want to hear the same speech every time we see or hear a motorcycle this summer, so I just kissed him on the cheek and said, "Thanks for the reminder, sweetie!" And truth be told, it does feel good to cross that stinky item off my list.

This time I was prepared: I brought The Stand (finished it today!) and I also had another book (An Instance of the Fingerpost, which I'm starting tonight), a magazine (Self, which I used to teach ESL class today! ha!), and a newspaper (some rag I got for free in Herald Square).

I ended up waiting for only an hour in the downstairs line, and for another half an hour upstairs. Not the world's best afternoon, but better than I was expecting. Kruder & Dorfmeister drowned out the mewling toddlers and inane cell phone conversations, and all in all it was pretty painless.

Two separate currents of my life converged afterward, and I just love when that happens. It feels complete, somehow, or like your understanding has increased. I'm not sure if I'm explaining myself well. It's realizing that experiences you had and learned from were not for naught. Like a validation of every day and hour of your life--even the ones you didn't necessarily enjoy. They all serve a purpose.

The first experience was simply me getting turned around and frustrated the first time I took the train down to Borough Hall to search for the SSA building. I found it eventually, and got to know the neighborhood a little in the process. Today I was walking around finding everything no problem.

The other experience was Unit 24 of Pimsleur's Mandarin Chinese I. I have been working my way through these audio Chinese lessons at an embarrassingly slow rate, and this particular unit was a real bitch. I got so mad at how difficult it was the first time, I quit studying for weeks. In the end I think I repeated it four or five times before I got it down. The topic was asking for and giving directions. Things like:

"Excuse me, where is Maxine's restaurant located? Which road should I take?"

"You should go straight, then take the road on the right."

I suppose I have to move up to Mandarin Chinese II to learn the fun stuff.

Today I was walking over to the G-train after finishing up my SSA business, and I was approached by a young Chinese couple. Well, by the guy anyway. The girl looked pretty shy and/or scared. Borough Hall isn't exactly the West Village.

He said: "Excuse me, miss? Do you know where is the Social Security building?"

ESL teaching habits die hard, and my first impulse was to say: "You mean, 'Do you know where the Social Security building is?' Fortunately I was able to stop myself in time, and I quickly told him to turn around, go back to Fulton St, turn right and follow it through the big intersection, then look for a McDonald's on the left...

...and he and his girlfriend both looked like they were going to cry.

Then I remembered how irrationally angry and frustrated I got by learning the simple phrase "go straight" in Chinese (which, to be fair, is at least four words too long) and imagined how long they must've been walking in circles, not understanding directions but still trying to get there.

So I took a deep breath, started over, and said everything very clearly and simply, with pauses in between. They said they understood, and I hope so. Lord knows I've been on the asking end of that situation plenty of times. Actually, as I was walking away, I felt guilty for not just walking them there myself--it was only five or six blocks. On more than one occasion when I was in Japan (before my Japanese crawled up to its current functional-yet-laughable level) I failed so utterly to understand simple directions that a kind stranger would give up trying to explain and just walk me to whatever place I was looking for.

Considering the shit feast that awaited the young couple at the SSA, I really hope they made it there without much more difficulty.

As for me, once that replacement card comes in the mail I'm going to get one of those I.D. card holders for it and never, ever lose it. I'm not going back!

Hilarious postscript: When I first told this story to Dumpling, he got really excited and said, "So you gave them directions in Chinese, right?"

Hahahahahahahahaha! Thanks for the laugh, baby! It took me like fifteen minutes to screw up the courage to order a bowl of rice in Chinese, remember? They were confused enough already without my incorrectly-intoned Mandarin messing things up. Speaking of which, it's probably time to give Unit 25 a listen.