Communication

I have a few blogs that I keep up with and one of my favorites is Jana Cook's. Jana and her husband adopted two boys, Charlie and Sam, from the same orphanage that Chera and Kenenisa are from. Reading about her adventures with her boys is so uplifting and encouraging to me. It gets me super excited about our boys being here. A recent post of hers addressed some of the funny communication problems that can arise. When talking to other kids who have came from Ethiopia, I have noticed that they are very literal. With the crazy way we describe things sometimes, I can understand why it could get frustrating! Take a minute to read the post, it's pretty hilarious!


Even though we've been home for over a year, we still have a most difficult time with some words. And even if we know a word, we may not know it in the context used. Which makes for some hilarious conversations!

The funniest part is that Charlie usually thinks that he is right and you are wrong, even though I am the one that has lived in the United States all my life and he just got here. Sometimes makes you want to pull your hair out when you have a 10 minute conversation trying to explain that you take a backPACK to school, not a backTACK. He still thinks I'm wrong and he's right. Whatever.

So, here's Charlie's latest antics, taken from the Spencer County Children's Ministry Blog. He has had some really funny conversations with Nicole lately, to the point of getting frustrated with her when he doesn't understand what is going on. Sorry Nicole, but thanks for putting up with him!!

So I'm taking the kids to school this morning, and Charlie Cook is in the back seat with my girls. They are all looking at the pie sale forms from their school and reading about the pies. This is what I hear:

(Insert Ethiopian accent here)

"Turtle cheese cake pie? What? You eat a turtle, and a pie, and a cheese on it? Oh, no, I can't eat a turtle and I don't like cheese. I can't sell any pies."

Oh, my. I know I should have clarified. But, it was just too funny. I just left it alone.

If you think that's funny, try explaining DVR to an Ethiopian. He still thinks I have movies TAPED (as in scotch tape) to my TV that are now stuck, therefore I can't let him borrow them.

Hmm. Never did really figure out how to fix that one.