Do you know what happens after you live in a country and develop a decent command of its language? No, you don’t necessarily start dressing like the locals (there are exactly zero boubous hanging in my closet). What happens is that you take for granted your ability to communicate in a foreign language- and you don’t imagine that you really need to learn anything else ever again. That’s my case anyway.
This manner of slacking did not become evident until I moved across borders and suddenly found my words as useful as Robin Williams did when teaching American slang to a group of Vietnamese students. That was me checking into my Cape Verdean hotel yesterday.
“Fala inglês?”
“Não falo.”
“Fala francês?”
“Eu falo português.”
Well damn. We have just about reached the boundaries of my Portuguese comprehension. What happened to my mad French skills? Turns out I left them back in Dakar where they will wait to resume their utility.
I do love this place. And don’t roll your eyes when I say that it’s largely because I am reminded of home in certain regards. Take this morning for example: I was dropped off in front of the American embassy and guess what I saw when I stepped out of the taxi? A dude wearing a green t-shirt that said “Walpole Junior Varsity Field Hockey”. No way.
This of course, probably means nothing to you if you are not my brother-in-law (he is from Walpole, a town close to Foxboro Stadium). I was in too much of a work mode to take a photo, but I thought that this entrée into downtown Praia was very fitting for the likes of me. As usual, I was faced with the typical dilemma that accompanies random t-shirt sightings in Africa. Should I:
- Inform this guy on how his t-shirt and I share a common bond
- Tell him that he is wearing a girl’s t-shirt, since only girls play field hockey
- Do nothing but make a mental note of my amusement
You have already read about my less-than-Sesame Street command of the Portuguese language, so of course I rolled on without saying anything.
I’ve got a lot to do this week, but between my Cape Verde studies and my plans to run on uncharted pavement, I really do need to work on my language skills. The locals have been super nice, but they are not helping to motivate me in this respect. I tell them that I am from Boston (really Cape Cod) and they get very excited. “You must learn Criolo!” they exclaim. I say that I am working on learning some Portuguese and immediately they respond with “Don’t learn that- it won’t help you back at home!”.
Thanks. I mean obrigada– or whatever they say in Brockton. They have direct flights to Boston from Praia- might be worth a field trip to find out for sure.