A Proud Moment

I celebrated a short, but proud moment yesterday as I rode down the elevator in our apartment building. It is rare, but every now and then someone else will be in the elevator. For the most part people aren’t ‘talkers’ which is a huge relief for me.

As I rode down yesterday the lady asked me a question. Here is how situations like this usually play out in my head. First there is panic – someone just spoke to me in a language I don’t understand. Once the heart rate slows a bit, I have a decision to make. Do I respond with the quick ‘I don’t speak Portuguese’ or do I take a second (more like 5 minutes) and try to decode what she said?

Well, lucky for me I went to the bread shop last week and ordered my typical baguette. The girl behind the counter threw me off a bit by asking me which kind I wanted. I had to ask her to repeat and luckily I understood natural (spoken na-ter-al) and was able to make a decision. Well even luckier for me the lady in the elevator ended her question with na-ter-al.

I immediately thought about things she could be talking about and then I remembered the most obvious thing. My hair! I also remembered that the word for hair starts with a ‘c’ (of course I can’t remember it now) and she had said a ‘c’ word. She was asking if my hair was natural.

I had actually figured out what she was asking even though it was an uncommon question in my limited vocabulary! I immediately did what any person would do in my situation – I lied! I said sim (yes)! Well, it isn’t a complete lie. I am blonde and a lot more na-ter-al than the blondes here, but I do help it out a bit. Sure, like I was going to try to explain that in Portuguese. Sim seemed like the simple answer.

If you’ve ever tried to learn a language out of necessity rather than out of pleasure I’m sure you can relate to my excitement. Although I learned some words and phrases from those months of CDs I studied before I moved down, nothing can prepare you for the real thing. Given my minor victory on today, maybe there is hope for me yet.