Translation of gewunden

In the beginning it looked brutal but it worked. He brought my wallet back to me and asked me to count the bills in it. I was stunned and could not believe what just happened. He repeated his order.
Language education is very important to me, because I really want to communicate with other cultures and people. If I could I would learn all languages: Spanish, German, French, Portuguese and Italian.
Some of the people had invited me for dinner and I joined them. I soon found out that they were eating at their apartment and were cooking by themselves. I found myself peeling raw potatoes.