I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving!
Mine was really good. Not that all previous Thanksgivings weren’t good, but this one was less stressful and maybe a little more warm and fuzzy.
Wednesday night we gathered with a bunch of my extended family and ordered six huge pizzas. No cooking, no cleanup, and the kids all had smiles on their faces. And my son, who hasn’t ever gotten over the years of being forced to eat asparagus or sweet potatoes, or some other food that kids don’t like, announced, “This is the best Thanksgiving dinner I’ve ever had.”
We had a big traditional dinner on Thursday; my sister and her family were in town from Hanoi, Viet Nam. I hadn’t seen them in two years, and it felt so good to be with them again.
All of us had split the food preparation, .and there was very little to do that day except pop everything in the oven. It was more laid back than I ever remember, but maybe it’s because my kids are older and stuff.
We ate ’til we were like beached whales. And we laughed.
We laughed about old times, about our kids, and about our parents. We laughed about old cars, babies, and friends. But when we started talking about how an error in translation from one language to another can completely change the meaning of a sentence, we were rolling on the floor.
My mom had a French student living with her several years ago, and when he got home one night; she asked, “Whatcha been doing?”
He replied, “I’ve been out shooting trouble.”
My mom was horrified. She envisioned this foreigner with a gun, blasting out windows or something. He saw the look on her face and realized he had been misunderstood.
After some discussion, my mom discovered he had been helping some fellow students resolve some problems. He had been “troubleshooting,” not “shooting trouble.”
My sister, who speaks passable Vietnamese, began to tell a similar story. She was on the phone, trying to tell someone she had to leave home soon. Her Vietnamese housekeeper overheard her and started laughing. When my sister hung up, she learned she had just said, “I need to go to the bathroom right now!” She had left out one small word, and the whole meaning was changed.
My mom ran to the kitchen and hauled out a bottle of water she had saved since she had visited Viet Nam several years ago. On the side of the label was this: “Health drink good the body.” Well, okay, so that’s not exactly what they wanted to say but I understood the gist.
But then underneath in bold letters were the words “FREE BACTERIA”. Oh, boy! I love free things, but free bacteria? What they meant, of course, was “Bacteria-free.” Priceless.
There were many more, and we laughed and enjoyed each other’s company until well into the night. Like I said, it was warm and fuzzy.
I hope your Givesthanking was as nice.
