October 7, 2009
Sarajevo Stories – Part 5
It is time for a couple of light-hearted stories for you. I (Billy) am not really sure how this happens, but I always find myself in funny situations. Don’t get me wrong…I don’t mind. I think life is more fun when you are thrown situations that make you laugh.
1. Jess and I were studying in our coffee shop. We happened to be studying “mesni proizvodi” (meat products) at the time. In the middle of our conversation about spicy sausage and luncheon meat, I look out the window and see the words “mesni proizvodi” on the building across the street. There just happened to be a butcher shop right there! I decided that I wanted to go study with the butcher…Jess told me to go for it.
Well, I entered the butcher shop and began with a few conversation starters…”hi,” “how are you,” and “what is your name.” So far so good. I went on to point to different meats and get a visual picture in my head along with the words. Then, we got to the “teletina.” I had already been told that this was veal, but the butcher decided to help me out. He pointed to the “teletina” and said, “baby beef.” Well, I remembered something when he said this. I had just recently wanted to learn what the Bosnian word was for “baby.” So, I ask, “Kako se kaže…’baby’? (How do you say…’baby’?)” The butcher took a couple of steps back while shaking his head and said, “NE NE NE…BABY BEEF!” It was obvious that he misunderstood what I was asking for since I had still been pointing at the “teletina.” Apparently, he thought for a moment that I was asking how to say “baby meat.” I decided to ask one more question before I left to practice my language a bit more…”Gdje radiš? (Where do you work?)” He gave me a quizzical look and pointed down to the floor. Now, every time I see him walk into our coffee shop to get a drink, he smiles when he looks at me and I wave and say hi.
2. There is a persistent issue that used to encounter in our language class. The rug on the floor was not big enough for the tables and all of our chairs to rest on. So, the back legs of our weak plastic chairs were on the slick hard floor. At least once a day, one of us would experience the back legs of our chair slide just a little…enough to give anyone a little scare. Well, the day came when I became the “chosen” one. Casey (one of our teammates) and I had been cutting up in class the whole day. This had caused me to not pay attention to the slight movements of my chair…until…the BIG slide. I fall silent and my eyes pop wide open. Casey looks at me and sees me drop a couple inches to the left…then a couple inches to the right. Oh, how badly I wanted to hop up and save the chair, but it was too late for the back legs. My momentum (notice my word choice there…it helps me feel better) snapped those puppies clean off. The rest of the class turned around just in time to see me hit the floor. Once they all noticed that I was laughing, everyone joined in the laughter and we shared a few tears together. Our language teacher has now put down a larger carpet piece so that all of the chair legs have better traction. However, someone still has a leg occasionally make a small slip, and we all wonder, “Who will be next?”
3. We were having a team meeting last night and we were all eating together. I was one of the last people to get my food and the cook finally mentioned that he had a small packet of parmesan cheese to accompany the main course. Well, the last shall be first, right? I picked up the packet and saw that all of the cheese was at the top of the packet. Thinking that the packet was unopened, I wanted to get the cheese to the bottom of the packet so I could open it and enjoy this tasty accompaniment to my main course. So, I grabbed the top of the packet and gave it a good fling. I fell silent, and the cook finally looked over at me to find an even layer of parmesan cheese from my hair to my plate on the table. The packet had already been opened for me.
So, know that good times are happening in Sarajevo for us. God is opening doors and allowing us to build great relationships. He is also allowing us to have plenty of opportunities to laugh. We love you all!
So that all may know,
Billy and Jess.
