Keyboarding

It's not all fun and games here in Guanajuato. I mean, I've found a serious problem here. Well, not just here, but everywhere in Mexico. And in all Spanish-speaking countries for that matter.

Here's the keyboard that gives me fits every morning when I use it from 8:30 until 12:30. Why? Because it's a Spanish keyboard and not all the symbols are in the same place as an English keyboard. It can drive me crazy, particularly if I'm in a hurry. The key that fouls me up the most is the apostrophe key. I never knew I used so many contractions. But look: I've already used six contractions in this entry, and I'm not even finished yet. Wait! There's number seven, followed by the eighth. Oh, good grief.


Look closely (and you can do that by clicking on the photo), and you'll see that the apostrophe is below the question mark key, and in the apostrophe's "normal" spot (on my keyboard, anyway), there's an N with a tilde (Ñ). I'm usually pretty nimble on the keyboard, but not on this one. And anyway, that's not even the normal question mark key; it's where the dash and underline keys are supposed to be! And that's just the tip of the problem iceberg when I type on this keyboard.

And then when I get back to my apartment and my laptop, I spend at least 7 minutes reorienting myself with my normal keyboard.

Life is rough in Mexico. For this gringa anyway.

And if you've been counting, there are 15 contractions in this post. And it's a short one, too. (Oops, make that 16!)

It's a good thing I'm not typing in Russia.