My Face isn't Red from Embarrassment; that's just Sunburn...

When you find yourself in a new place with a different language and culture, expect to make a few embarrassing mistakes. But if I have learned anything during my 21 years on this earth it's that sobbing and running away doesn't solve anything. Usually. Just pick your pride up off the ground, dust it off, smile...and move on. Here's a short post about some of mistakes I've made since my arrival in Lima and how I've handled them.

• Hand gestures. Here in Peru, body language is slightly different. I've already mentioned how I've had to get used to touching cheeks and making a kissing sound whenever I say hello and goodbye to anyone. I've actually gotten pretty used to that! But there is one gesture that is really hard to get the hang of. You see, in Peru, when someone wants you tell you "come here," they make a hand motion that most people from the U.S. (and probably other places) would interpret as "oh my God, get away from me!" Below is a drawing to help you get an idea of the hand motion. Anyway, of course we were warned during orientation that this would confuse us but when I actually encountered it, I was still caught off guard. So, after my first class at PUCP I was going to go talk to the professor and introduce myself. I begin walking over and, of course to be friendly and welcoming, he waves me over. I'm like a deer in the headlights. I stop in my tracks. I take a few steps back. "What have I done?" I think. "Why doesn't he want to talk to me??" The professor stares at me for a moment, probably just as confused as I am, and then makes a larger waving motion with his arms that I recognize to mean "get over here, stupid!"I scurry over, laugh,  mumble something about hand gestures, and move on with trying to make a better first impression.

• Getting Lost. Don't worry, that wasn't the first embarrassing thing that happened to me on the first day of classes! I wanted to be organized and prepared for my first day, so I wrote down the names of the classes I had that day and the numbers of the rooms they would be in. I made it to the university a full half an hour early...yet I still ended up being ten minutes late to class. You see, when writing down the room numbers, I wrote down the first room that was listed for the class schedule. The rooms change depending on what day it is, so I assumed it would be listed as Mon, Tues, Wed, etc. Nope. It was the reverse. So I waited in the wrong room for five minutes until I finally decided to go find someone who knew where in the world I was supposed to be. Luckily, I wasn't the latest person to class on that first day.

• Getting Lost (Part Two).  The other day I was trying to walk to a supermarket called Metro. I had walked about two and a half blocks when I realized I was definitely going the wrong way. I needed to turn left at the previous block. But did I turn around in the middle of the sidewalk? Heck no. I didn't want all the locals to see this lost gringa retracing her steps and looking confused! I kept my head up, stayed focused, and walked all the way around that block until I was once again headed in the correct direction. We will just call it the scenic route. 

• Lost in Translation.  After my first day of classes I was in the ISA office at PUCP just hanging out and talking to some Peruvian students about my classes. I wanted to say one of the simplest phrases in the language, but of course my intentions were misinterpreted. I wanted to describe a teacher as "nice" so I used the Spanish word "simpatico." It is one of the first descriptives words you learn in Spanish. How would you describe yourself? Yo soy simpatica, comica, y estraña. Well, apparently in Peru "simpatico" means handsome rather than nice. So one of the Peruvian students gave me a weird look and giggled and the other was nice enough to explain my mistake. I now know to use the word "amable" when saying someone is friendly or people might get the wrong idea.

• Just Smile and Nod. Or do the opposite! I often find that when interacting with people in everyday situations I usually miss a few words or phrases. If I am being told something that I don't fully understand (and I don't think it is imperative for me to know the information) I just smile and nod. But if someone asks me a question that I don't understand, I usually just put a confused look on my face and say "no." If they asked a question that cannot be answered this response, I just hope that they also get confused and move on. This can be tricky though, because I don't what I am turning down. I still have no idea what I was asked at the cash register in the Vivanda yesterday, but whatever it was, I was having none of it. (Evelyn, if you are reading, I was not being asked to donate 10 centimos to anything because I was prepared and listening for that question...and slightly disappointed when they didn't ask.)            

I'm sure I'll have many more embarrassing, uncomfortable, or silly situations like this in the future and I'll be sure to tell you about them. I'll just keep laughing it off and moving on!