A funny thing...

Yesterday we spent the afternoon with a friend who is actually more of a second mother to Jeff and so a second mother to me and another ouma(grandmother) for Asher. She makes amazing food and always has great desserts(which we love). As we were eating our dessert yesterday I took a bite and the taste shot back to my jaw(you all know that experience, the super sour and sweet combination gets you right in the back of the mouth). I said "mmm, that's tart!" Jeff and Carle looked at me strangely and Jeff then explained to me that they don't have a word for that in South Africa(well not in Joburg anyhow). Carle(who is Afrikaans) also said there is no word for that in afrikaans either. We all had a good laugh and Jeff said "welcome to our marriage." More laughing over that as I thought to myself, how true is that statement. Here I am living in South Africa for nearly nine years now, working with University students and building lots of friendships with South Africans, shoot married to a South African even and there are still lots of those moments all the time where I totally miss what is being said.

Some examples: Casey(13 yr old cousin): I am gonna go dos.-translation : I am gonna go sleep.
Emmy(college roommate living in Durban who is American by the way): One more night on my ace.-translation: One more night on my own.
Woman selling me a coffee at Wimpy: There you go my skat.-translation: There you go my treasure.
I only knew that one because Casey likes to call Asher that often and I knew it was something sweet but had to ask her for the translation.

Anyone else have stories about missing the cultural cue or phrase?? Please share, I won't feel so dumb :)   I will leave you with some pictures of our visit with Ouma Carle.

Asher and Ouma Carle

Asher loved the bed he napped in, slept for 2 1/2 hours.