Want to tell more colorful stories in English?! Read this story about how my friend lost her passport and we almost missed our flight to Mendoza while also learning color idioms…
My friend, Amy, came to visit me from the United States yesterday! We planned on going to Mendoza together this weekend but we had quite an adventure when she got to my place in Santiago and realized she didn’t have her passport…
Amy looked through all of her bags for her passport when she finally came to the conclusion that it was missing. Normally, Amy is extremely organized and only loses something once in a blue moon(1) so this was an extremely unusual situation for her. Once she realized that it had to be at the airport or in the taxi, she went back to the airport to ask if anyone had turned in her passport. She started to feel blue(2) when she realized that she might not ever see her passport again and she would miss her flight to Mendoza.
Luckily, she didn’t stop looking for it. When she got to the airport, they said they hadn’t seen it. She immediately started to see red(3) when they told her that someone might have stolen her passport. “Who would steal my passport?!” she thought to herself. The airport attendant mentioned that they’d caught several people red-handed(4) stealing passports in the last few months at the airport. In fact, a huge fight broke out just last week when someone was trying to steal a passport from an airlines passenger who had just arrived in Chile. The passenger got so mad at the thief that she tried to beat them black and blue(5) but the police stopped them from getting in a fight when they started a huge commotion in the airport. I guess the passenger showed her true colors(6) when she saw the thief trying to steal her passport.
Luckily, the second time Amy and I went back to the airport together the immigration office had found her passport. It fell out of her bag when she went through airport security. We were so happy, excited and relieved when she got her passport back! We jumped for joy and hugged. Finally, we were able to get on the plane and take our trip to Mendoza. We both agreed this would be an experience we would never forget.
once in a blue moon: something that occurs very rarely: algo que sucede en raras ocasiones
feel blue: to feel sad or depressed: sentirse triste o deprimido
see red: be extremely angry: estar extremamente enojad@
catch someone red-handed: get caught doing something wrong or unlawful: pillar alguien con las manos en la masa
black and blue: to be bruised a lot: tener muchos moretones
show your true colors: reveal someone’s real character or intentions (often negative): mostrarse como realmente es