#13 - The Humiliating Moments
Ok, don't laugh too hard that I am giving thanks for the humiliating moments. Believe me, I wasn't laughing in the moments nor giving thanks for them. In fact, I was doing just the opposite. God and I have had quite a few "heated" discussions over the past three years! But after the fact, sometimes long after the fact, I can say thanks for those moments. Ok, maybe not all of them, but a lot of them have brought a ton of laughter and the retelling of them has been the source for some great friendship growth.
My favorite humiliating moment continues to be my first attempt at buying a Boston Butt in the meat store. The cuts of meat in Spain do not match the cuts of meet in the US. Why oh why does everything have to be different? I did all my homework.... I figured out how to say it in Spanish, I studied cuts of meat and figured out where a Boston Butt came from and I went prepared to simply order my piece of meat. Well, sometimes my life has a life of its own.... for quickly I figured out my meat man had no idea what I was asking for and I had no other resources up my sleeve. I had a picture of a side of a pig so I tried showing him that. Finally he says "un momento." And I have hope.... until he returns from the freezer with an entire half of a pig. The entire store is filled with abuelas (see prior post to understand how that would have gone). The conversations stop. The place is entirely quiet for what seemed like hours, although I am sure it was only seconds. Finally the meat man starts pointing to different parts of the pig and then to my picture. And finally, we matched up the parts and I walked away with 3+ kilos of pork (ok - by then, I just took what he cut - I didn't care what it cost nor how much I had - I just wanted out of there). For my American friends - 3+ kilos is 7+ pounds. I was going to be eating Barbecue forever, but I had succeeded.
Do you remember the days when an encyclopedia was a set of 20+ books? Well, if I were to begin to tell you every humbling moment I have experienced in the last 3 years you would have at least that many books. There were seasons of this experience that humbling moments came everyday, sometimes more than once a day. If you decide to learn a foreign language for the first time at 45+ years old, be prepared to be humbled.
How do I choose one story to tell you?
I got my driver's license when I was 16. Before coming to Spain I had driven for 30+ years. About 6 months after arriving I studied and studied for the written exam and passed it on my first try. I know - how is that humbling? Well, after the written part came the driving part. After 30 years who would think that I would have trouble with the driving part. I had heard all the stories, but for sure I thought I could do this. And add to it that the other student in the car had automatically failed (he turned the wrong way on a one way street) and I made it all the way back to the driving center without an immediate fail. Imagine my surprise when the examiner said I had failed. What? I had been driving for 30+ years! I had stopped at all lights, parked perfectly, checked my mirrors every 15 to 20 seconds, and didn't go down any roads the wrong way. Ha! That wasn't enough. Apparently in one of the round abouts I did not look over my should at all the exits. Fail. No go! No license! Another week of neither Scott nor I having a license. And worse than that, I had tell the world I had failed.
Oh how much sweeter the pass was on the second try.
I wouldn't choose to repeat a single of the humbling moments, but on the other hand, I have learned a ton. I have learned to lean on God in a new and more desperate way. I have developed sympathy and empathy for many people in my life. I have had to examine my own failures.
And yes, I am sure there are more editions of this lesson to come. I expect a few of those moments will come next year when we are in the states for several months and I experience culture shock in the opposite direction.
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