In my last blog I mentined our victories seemed to have something to do with language and/or food and that these two were often closely linked. It seems that our failures are also linked to language and food. We continue to experience both growth and failure in language and ask that you not forget to pray for us as we study Polish.
On Tuesday evening I went to the home of a neighbor who is in her 60's. She is studying English and had asked me to come over and help her. After spending an hour or so reviewing her lesson she asked me if I liked perogi. I told her yes, and she began to explain that she had made some earlier that day. (Perogi is a dumpling, filled with almost anything: fruit, cheese, vegetables. These were filled with cheese and potato.) She told me that she had some leftover from lunch and said, "I give you." I thanked her and said that would be wonderful. She then began to tell me how they were made and how to cook them. At this point it is after 7 p.m. I was feeling a little pressed for time because I had started spaghetti before leaving to meet her at 5 p.m., and we were expecting friends from Warsaw around 8 p.m.
As she continues to describe how to fix the perogi I suddenly realize that she intends to fix them for me and for me to join her and her husband for dinner. That was not at all what I had taken from the conversation, especially when "I give you" had been said in English. I thought she was giving me the perogi to take home and fix later...
In the end the perogi were delicious. I had to laugh to myself when her husband complemented my Polish as we talked during dinner...at least I think it was a complement. If he only knew!
Please pray that we learn to communicate with the Polish people.
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