Ahh languages...

Communication is one of the big things that we’re learning about here- how to communicate effectively with people from other cultures. How to be culturally sensitive, how to learn, how to teach etc…

Right now Dara and I are busy trying to learn Portuguese before we go to Mozambique. This week we got to practice what we’ve learned with Carlos. Carlos is the project leader in Mozambique, and we will be working closely with him and his wife. I was trying to ask him about the challenges in the project, so I asked him how to say the word “challenge”- he replied “dez a few”. I thought he was saying that there were a few words in Portuguese that meant challenge, so I smiled and said “all I need it one of the words- that I would forget more than one word for challenge”. Again he said “dez a few”, and again I asked what the word was- then my friends yelled at me- “Laura! That’s the word for Challenges- “desafio”.

Another funny moment was when one of the men from Nigeria was leading a song in Church. The song repeated a few phrases such as “everyday God, give me love”, “everyday God, lift me higher”. Then he started repeating – “everyday God, give me sausage, everyday God, give me sausage”. He was actually singing give me “success”, but the resemblance to the work sausage was extremely close, making it very hard for me and many others not to giggle through the long and repetitious verse! I expect a lot more of these experiences!