Who doesn't like to hear language blunders from people who live overseas?!?! People who say one word, thinking it is correct, only to find out that it is wrong...sometimes very wrong. And the more wrong it is, the funnier the story is, usually.
On a scale of 1-10, this story won't be a 10, although my most embarrassing moment, which also happens to involve spanish, was about a 9...but I'd rather not post that story here at this time.
Anyhow, this story takes place in Tijuana, last week.
We were constructing a 20x20 addition to a house that will be used to provide care and housing for individuals who have been deported from the United States. Ofttimes people are dumped off at the border without extra clothes, necessities, and any place to go. Their birth home may be 4-5 days away, depending where in Mexico they are from, but they are still taken to Tijuana and let go. Then they are vulnerable to crime or other awful situations, which is what this house ministry hopes to prevent. Anyway...my funny story...so in the back of this house there is a peach tree that was getting in the way of the roof we were trying to construct. My friend Brian asked for a rope...so I meandered across the street to ask the neighboring pastors, Roberto and Bety, if they had a rope.
As soon as I saw Bety, I asked (in spanish) if she had a rope...only I said, "tienes una ropa?" She looked at me a bit quizzically and asked if the ropa was for me to which I said yes. Then she said she thought she had some and went inside her house. She came out holding a bag of clothes at which point I remembered that ropa means clothes. I started laughing and quickly told her no, sorry, I need this (and pointed to her rope clothesline). She started laughing and went to get me a rope. I asked her, "how do you say this?" The answer: Un lasso. As I walked away, both Bety and I were still laughing.
I doubt I will be forgetting lasso any time soon!
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