Ludwig's Limits

This is a sign that I see almost every day at the place where I work. And it's meant for kids learning English but it also resonates with me as I am learning Turkish in Turkey. 

Often, I actively change my course of action because I don't know how to say what I really want in Turkish. This is especially true when it comes to approaching guys. In America, my wit and charm are enough win the boys over but it turns out my humor doesn't quite translate into Turkish yet. So when I see a cute guy, I don't say anything because I figure they either won't understand me at all or they will think I'm a hooker. 

So tonight at dinner, I saw a cute guy across the restaurant. I pointed him out to Abby and Niko, and they agreed that he was cute. That was going to be the end of the story - I couldn't express myself properly so there was no point in trying. And then I heard him speaking English! Back in the game!

And then he left. So I spent the next ten minutes working up the nerve to go talk to his friends. Okay, there was no real plan but I was going to see if I could get some info on this dude. Well, that was awkward. The table had a pretty awkward vibe when I sat down anyway - there were two guys and two girls plus one of the guy's parents. Anyway, there was no real way to segue from "Can I sit?" to "So does your friend have a girlfriend?" plus the guy with the parents had lost his wallet and that was a whole thing, so I extracted myself and fled back to my table.

As we left, I regretted chickening out so I made Chris go in there and explain that I am a wuss and could I have the number of the guy who left? It was totally Junior High-ish but hey, we all had boyfriends in Junior High because this kind of thing works! Chris goes back in and explains that I was interested in the guy who left. Well, it turns out the guy with the parents had also left at some point to look for his wallet. So Chris was asking about the wrong guy...in front of his parents.

Chris came back with a name which I quickly realized was the wrong name. Game over. I'll go back to studying Turkish now. Or maybe the language barrier isn't really the problem here. 

Awwwwkwwaarrrdddd.