a month in the life. day 3: phone conversations.

no picture today.  sorry.  but it's difficult to take a picture of a conversation on the phone.  you might think you know how a phone conversation should go.  someone calls.  the other party answers.  the caller explains who they are and why they are calling.  the answerer responds.  well, you thought wrong.  here, after you've gotten past the 20 hellos that are said to see if someone is there (they don't mean i'm hear, but are you there?) the caller often says, "who is this?" or "from where are you speaking?"  um.  you called me.  not the other way around.  "where are you right now?"  really?  can you not tell me why YOU called.  so this goes back and forth for a few minutes (unless you know the person fairly well, in which case phone conversations are interesting, but usually non-eventful) until someone (usually me) decides we have reached the apex of our communicatory efficiency and ends the conversations.  there might be a follow-up call soon after the first is over.  keep in mind this is often in 2 languages.  it can be pretty tiring, but usually it's just enough to keep my on my toes.