The Spanglish Debaucle

It's me... out of the country again.  Did I mention I love my job/my life these days? Because I do.  You may be saying, Bree, where are you off to this time?  Well, let me just tell you.  Some of my very favorite people on the planet moved to Peru in January.  If you ask me to rehash the goodbye at LAX, it won't be pretty, so don't ask.  They left because they felt called to this awesome ministry called Krochet Kids, which is busy changing lives of impoverished women in Uganda and now, because of Blake and Sarah's faith and obedience, in Lima, Peru.

As you could imagine, this whole moving to Peru, not knowing Spanish, having 4 little kids thing is a bit of a difficult transition.  So I decided to show up... do a little kid spoiling, a little Sarah's birthday-celebrating and a little "He is risen" celebrating Peruvian style, a little translating, a little checking out the ministry they are just beginning and ALOT of laughter and honest conversation.  We're really good at that.

All that to say, I'm en route. I'm in Costa Rica on the 6 hour layover of death, but not so death-like since I found the wireless :)  But now to my debaucle... I spoke Spanish once upon a time.  Fluently in fact.  I lived in Spain so fluency was a requirement.  I also lived in El Paso so quasi-fluency was a requirement.  Well, I don't use it as much anymore and here's the awkwardness I've found myself in today.

SCENARIO #1
Older woman on the plane (in Spanish): Can you get me my umbrella? (from the luggage compartment)

Me (in Spanish): Yes, ma'am

Older woman (in Spanish):  Thank you very much.

Me (in Spanish):  You're welcome!

*at this point, I'm thinking, "I'm good to go, it's like riding a bike."  Si senora and de nada?  Really Bree?  Side note - everyone automatically speaks Spanish to me instead of English because I look like I belong - finally, I've found my people.

SCENARIO #2 - ordering coffee

Young Costa Rican barista (in Spanish): How can I help you?

Me (in Spanglish): Can I get a latte with vanilla (Spanish) and can you fill up my water bottle (English)
*what the!?!?!? Not sure what was going through my overtired brain.

Young Costa Rican barista (in Spanish, looking at me like I'm crazy): Yes, a latte with vanilla and you want water from the sink?

Before I could really register what she said, I nodded.  Oops and then proceeded to see that right next to the coffee stand was a water fountain.  No wonder she thought I was crazy.

What I'm realizing is that it's not quite like riding a bike.  I understand everything.  That part's easy.  I can hear people's conversations and know exactly what's going on.  No big.  But as soon as I try to find vocabulary words in the recesses of my brain and then try to conjugate a verb my mind goes to mush.  Hopefully it's the red eye flight & 3 hours of sleep!??!  If not, it's gonna be a Spanglish kind of week...