The bike shop in yesterday's post reminded me of this photo of a typical neighborhood plumbing shop. It's taken from just outside the entrance.In a shop like this, the proprietor is buried somewhere in the back, hunched over a tiny, cluttered desk with a calculator that serves as the cash register. He is the only person on earth who knows where anything is, and he does not speak a word of English. If you can successfully communicate with him, he will rattle around the shop for a minute and then dig out what you want from some hidden corner that you would never have guessed was there.
Andy came here to find a part to hook up the water filter in our kitchen. He very cleverly got around the language gap by taking photos of the filter and our faucet with his iPhone, then used the photos as a mini-slideshow presentation to show what he needed, and why. It's just one more reason why we've found the iPhone to be worth the considerable expense.
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