Communication Problems

When Martin and I met in Holland, language wasn’t a problem. It was a toy to play with.

Martin would say “Dobry den - good morning” and I would repeat “Dobry den”. I would then say “me gustas” and Martin would obediently repeat it. Martin would continue “Jsem nadrezena”, and I would say “what the heck is that?” and he “go figure”.

So I asked the Internet, of course, more concretely the mailing list from the university exchange students, and I obtained several answers from people that didn’t know what nadrezena means but they were happy to translate anything I needed to Tamil, funny guesses from people that tend to read emails after a few drinks, and eventually the correct translation from some Slovak, and a Croatian, and a Polish… Yes, writing “I’m horny” in the internet is quite an ice breaker.

Now it’s more or less six years from that day, and I can’t help but wonder if this story is really meant to work. Wonder if it is really a good idea to go all the way there, and settle down, and buy a house, and bring kids to a world of poor English and two isolated mother tongues. And then I think, hey! That would be a good joke, wouldn’t it? Guess we both have a twisted sense of humor.