Sunday, February 20, 2011

Hilarious Language Barrier Moment

This weekend some extra relatives came into town to stay with us. My host mom was one of them. Since she doesn't live in the city I don't see her too much. She does a great job of eking out Khmer conversations with me, speaking slowly, and laughing with me, not at me. Despite my pitiful level of Khmer, we actually have a pretty sweet relationship. Last night she told me she misses me whenever she goes back to province. Another time she told me I was like her daughter now. So on to last night's hilarity:

My host mom points at a brillant, full, harvest moon and says:
Mom: Do you have this in America?
Me: Yes, in September and October (thinking harvest moon)
Mom: Oh no, you always have it. 2 weeks of the month it gets bigger, 2 weeks a month it gets smaller.
Me: Oh yes we always have the moon, but its orange in September and October
Mom: (explains again how the moon is always there, obviously wanting to correct my ridiculous idea that the moon only exists 2 months of the year!)

So, my language skills led to tell someone America only has a moon in the fall. Great, here I am trying to overcome assumptions people have about the US and instead I'll just add another really strange one! ha ha

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