Year One: Make lots of mistakes

I don't like making mistakes. I can't stand it when I'm wrong. But, I realized pretty quick that in a new culture and a new language, making mistakes (and lots of them) is inevitable. It almost becomes a daily (scratch that, HOURLY) process where I would invariably do something wrong in my new culture.

Yet, my mistakes were a source for new learning opportunities. It gave me opportunities to ask the local people questions about how life works from their perspective. It gave me the opportunity to mimic many aspects of Portuguese life and try harder for the next time. One mistake in particular was pretty funny:

For the first couple of months I thought I had mastered how to introduce Hannah as my wife. I confidently introduced her to people we met for the first time. Then, one day in class I was telling my language teacher that many people looked confused when I would introduce Hannah. He asked me to tell him the exact phrase, which I did......I had barely uttered the phrase when he started laughing hysterically.....about 10 minutes later when he calmed down he said, "Mark, you are trying to say 'I am introducing my wife Hannah to you,' but what you are really saying is 'Would you like to desire my wife Hannah?" The issue was one little word, but it made a huge difference! I decided right then and there that the only thing to do was to laugh and figure out how to really introduce Hannah to people!

So, I've made a lot of mistakes this first year. I've had to learn to let go of the mistakes and use them as an opportunity to dig deeper into culture and language. I've realized that people are quick to help when I freely admit that I mess up and it gives them an opportunity to help me out. And, just because we're going to hit a year mark soon, it doesn't mean the mistakes are over; I'm sure they'll be plenty more hysterical stories in the future.....at least I hope so! Ate ja!