Ok, story time!
Last weekend I had a really eye-opening experience.
One of Jayson's co-workers invited us over to his house to have some dinner with his family and to play some pool. I thought that sounded great, so naturally, I agreed.
On our way out there he called his co-worker to get some directions and they were talking in Spanish.
And then it hit me.
"Jayson, does he speak much English? Does his wife speak English?"
"Umm....I'm not sure...I know he speaks a little English, but it's pretty broken. I'm not sure about his wife."
Just to be clear, I don't have anything against people who can't speak English. I was just thinking to myself that this was going to be one of those nights that just drag on and that I was going to be that awkward person that just sat and stared all night and didn't say a thing. I mean, what was I even going to do?
But you guys, I couldn't have been more wrong.
We were supposed to meet them at the Catholic church that they go to because there was a party going on there and they wanted to go and invited us. So, we headed there, met one another, and got some food- some REAL, authentic Mexican food. I had tacos and nachos and they were SO delicious. We also got some corn on the cob that had mayo and parmesan cheese on it, but to my great surprise I was not a fan. Jayson sure loved that corn though!
Then we headed over to their house. The inside of their house was different than anything I'd ever seen. It definately wasn't your average Utah house, but it was beautiful. It was really cool being exposed to a different kind of beauty in decoration than I'm used to.
They also bought Little Caesars for everyone because their kiddos wanted some. So, we had pizza, bread sticks, and buffalo wings. While we ate the pizza Jayson played translator so that we could talk a little bit. That was kind of tough, but it worked out. I even surprised myself by being able to understand a whole story about how buffalo wings originated in the city of Buffalo, New York and there they just call them wings. But, that was mainly because I had heard the story before and Jayson used the words New York, buffalo, and wings.
It turned out that their kids did speak English though, so I was able to speak to them and...oh my goodness. They were the most adorable and well behaved kids I've ever seen. They were just so sweet and you could tell they loved having guests over. It was wonderful.
Then the kids decided they wanted to put on some tunes, so we played pool while listening to the chipmunk's covers of lot of popular songs. It was crazy-hilarious.
Playing pool was SO fun. I've actually always liked playing pool, but I've never been very good at it. They gave me some pointers and I got a little better by the end of the night, but let's just say it's safe to say that I lost every game. But, the best part was that while we played pool we were all laughing and just having a grand old time.
All in all the night was really fun and I loved it! I was completely blown away. I was able to enjoy my evening even though I couldn't carry on a conversation.We were still able to connect, laugh together, and have a good time. I didn't know that would be possible without speaking the same language. It was really cool because I haven't really ever been in a situation like that. It was interesting to be able to get a small taste of what it must feel like to not be able to speak the language of those around you. It made me realize just how alike we all are. I think so often we get caught up in how different this culture is from that culture and so on. But, really, we're probably all more alike than we are different. We all laugh, we all feel, we all smile... you know, all of the important stuff.
Last weekend I had a really eye-opening experience.
One of Jayson's co-workers invited us over to his house to have some dinner with his family and to play some pool. I thought that sounded great, so naturally, I agreed.
On our way out there he called his co-worker to get some directions and they were talking in Spanish.
And then it hit me.
"Jayson, does he speak much English? Does his wife speak English?"
"Umm....I'm not sure...I know he speaks a little English, but it's pretty broken. I'm not sure about his wife."
Just to be clear, I don't have anything against people who can't speak English. I was just thinking to myself that this was going to be one of those nights that just drag on and that I was going to be that awkward person that just sat and stared all night and didn't say a thing. I mean, what was I even going to do?
But you guys, I couldn't have been more wrong.
We were supposed to meet them at the Catholic church that they go to because there was a party going on there and they wanted to go and invited us. So, we headed there, met one another, and got some food- some REAL, authentic Mexican food. I had tacos and nachos and they were SO delicious. We also got some corn on the cob that had mayo and parmesan cheese on it, but to my great surprise I was not a fan. Jayson sure loved that corn though!
Then we headed over to their house. The inside of their house was different than anything I'd ever seen. It definately wasn't your average Utah house, but it was beautiful. It was really cool being exposed to a different kind of beauty in decoration than I'm used to.
They also bought Little Caesars for everyone because their kiddos wanted some. So, we had pizza, bread sticks, and buffalo wings. While we ate the pizza Jayson played translator so that we could talk a little bit. That was kind of tough, but it worked out. I even surprised myself by being able to understand a whole story about how buffalo wings originated in the city of Buffalo, New York and there they just call them wings. But, that was mainly because I had heard the story before and Jayson used the words New York, buffalo, and wings.
It turned out that their kids did speak English though, so I was able to speak to them and...oh my goodness. They were the most adorable and well behaved kids I've ever seen. They were just so sweet and you could tell they loved having guests over. It was wonderful.
Then the kids decided they wanted to put on some tunes, so we played pool while listening to the chipmunk's covers of lot of popular songs. It was crazy-hilarious.
Playing pool was SO fun. I've actually always liked playing pool, but I've never been very good at it. They gave me some pointers and I got a little better by the end of the night, but let's just say it's safe to say that I lost every game. But, the best part was that while we played pool we were all laughing and just having a grand old time.
All in all the night was really fun and I loved it! I was completely blown away. I was able to enjoy my evening even though I couldn't carry on a conversation.We were still able to connect, laugh together, and have a good time. I didn't know that would be possible without speaking the same language. It was really cool because I haven't really ever been in a situation like that. It was interesting to be able to get a small taste of what it must feel like to not be able to speak the language of those around you. It made me realize just how alike we all are. I think so often we get caught up in how different this culture is from that culture and so on. But, really, we're probably all more alike than we are different. We all laugh, we all feel, we all smile... you know, all of the important stuff.
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