Miruna takes Sami to the vet. Always has.
Not because I don't care. Because my Portuguese is the kind where I can order food, say thank you, and be enthusiastic about things in the wrong tense. Sami's commands are in Portuguese, because that's where he learned them. I learned them too, phonetically. I can say "senta" and "anda ca" with real authority. That's roughly the extent of my medical vocabulary.
So Miruna goes. Then she explains it to me afterwards. Which means I get a secondhand summary of my own dog's health, delivered by someone trying very hard not to laugh at me.
I tried going once. Early on. The vet was explaining something about Sami's skin, and I nodded at what I believed were the right moments. I understood maybe 40% of the words and none of the meaning. At one point she asked me something and I said "sim." Miruna later told me I'd agreed to something that wasn't actually a question.
The thing is, I run a company. I make decisions. I sit in meetings where I'm supposed to be the person with the answers. Then I come home and can't tell a vet "he's been scratching his ear" in the language of the country I live in.
Sami doesn't care who takes him. He loves his vet, Maria. Tia Maria, which is Portuguese for Auntie Maria. He's happy to go see her. He just hates the moment she gets the syringe out. In every language equally.
Bobby