Eu Falo Português

So you figure out quickly, when you’re trying to learn a third language to impress your shweetheart, that you’ve grown cocky since gaining your sputtering fluency in your second language. You’re all “Mmm! Wiggity-WHAT?! Look at me! You see that future-anterior conjugation? Aw YEAH you did!” Then suddenly you're right back in 7^th grade French 1. Only it’s Portuguese online. 

And you’re in the Alps. 

And it’s cold. 

It’s like being told at Thanksgiving when you’re 20 that you have to sit back at the kid’s table, in that we talk in simple present-tense about colors and leave the parents to it. Subjunctive and big-kid chairs are for jokers anyhows.

Still it is a little goofy when I phone up my Latin lover to tell him “I am the Naomi. I eat pasta every day. May I have the check?”

Sizzling. 

Some things however go farther than language when you're dating someone from a different country. Little things you know? Like how I am convinced that EVERYTHING in Brazil wants to KILL you. Upon telling this theory to Paulo he looked at me startled and assured me that of course that wasn't the case. "And besides" he promised,"I would only take you to the safe places, like my farm! There's nothing dangerous on my farm." 

We smiled at each other.

"Except for the spiders," he added,"..........and the scorpions.....and the snakes."

"Wait a sec, didn't you say there are jaguars at your farm?"

"And jaguars."

One time we were walking through downtown Poitiers when it started raining.

"Oh look!" I said brilliantly, using all my finely honed investigative abilities, "it started raining!" 

He looked around like a baby that just tasted a lemon (youtube it) and asked, "You call this raining? But it's just up and down..."

At the end of the day, muttering to myself in front of a computer screen is absolutely worth doing for someone I'm a big fan of. I don't have half as good a reason for learning French (Am I right?!)! And speaking of the two I thought I'd share this drawing Paulo made in my notebook over dinner. Medium? Red pen and red wine. Vive la France!