Two linguistic surprises
I surprised two people this week by saying something in their language unexpectedly. I love doing that, mostly just because it gets a laugh, but also because I think it honors people by showing some interest in their culture. Language is so much a part of who we are.

Friday morning at work we had a visit from a contracting candidate who is originally from Ethiopia. I had already surprised him during the phone screen by asking a couple of questions in German. At the end of the visit (which went very well), as he was leaving, I said "Amesegenallo" ("thank you"). He looked puzzled and said "What?" I repeated it, tentatively, because I wasn't sure I was saying it right. (Getting it wrong can be a little embarrassing, but it gives the other a person a chance to correct you, which makes the friendly connection, too.) He looked like he'd seen a ghost--he literally started. He said, "You say 'Amesegenallo'! I didn't think you were saying that! How did you know?" I told him restaurants. I've never had that reaction before.

Friday night Zoe had a sleepover with Charlotte, and Pritha had her friend Kingda over. It was like Grade School United Nations over there--Charlotte is from Ethiopia, Pritha from India, Zoe's Guatemalan and Swiss, and Kingda's dad is Hungarian. When I heard that I asked her, "Vogy beszelek Magyarul?" Which I guess is conjugated wrong, but she got it anyway--she giggled, and then said "Igen!" I didn't have anything to say after that, though, so I asked her about where she'd been and so on. A sweet kid, and bright.