October 18, 2009

One of the things about living in a foreign speaking country is that you get used to the idea that those around you probably don't know what you are saying, therefore you carry on conversations with family as if you are alone...well, you can't always assume.



Yesterday we again visited the seaside town of Nazare, this time with the girls. We decided to eat lunch at an outdoor cafe...very European...that looked out over the rollng waves of the ocean..very beautiful! We sat at a table for six...another couple was seated at one end. The four of us...Mike and I and Kati and Nina commenced to carry on a normal family conversation...that of course involved a few unpleasant interchanges along with the normal chitchat. I think Kati was telling me how bad my attempts at Portugese are or something such. We ordered our meal and while waiting for it to arrive the lovely young lady at the end of our table asked if we would like to try some of the steaming clams the waiter had just placed before her and her companion.

Nina and Mike said yes and found them to be delicious. This offer broke the ice
and we began to talk to them. We found out they were celebrating their first wedding annivesary and that she was a psychologist and he a psychiatrist...and they spoke and understood English perfectly. Alarms immediately went off for me...as I realized our "private" conversation and our family dynamics were probably being analyzed the whole time we were sitting there. Seriously though, it was fun talking to them and sharing thought about the country, the city, foreigners, etc.

I do think I will be a little more cautions when I am talking though, many people understand more English than one realizes.

The big news this weekend was Kati got her hampster and named her Jessa. She had been saving money she earned by cleaning the house...first she bought the cage, then food...then she finally saved enough to buy Jessa. She had to find someone to "babysit" while we travel at Thanksgiving and Christmas...and with that done Mike and I had run out of excuses why she could not have a hampster...so now we have a new family member. Mike was lobbying for a boy but...oh, well...
N