Six Sick Sheep and Tres Tigres Tristes

Written February 9th, B.D. (Before Daniel), and floating around in Drafts:

Several friends of Will and Cecilia were here at the apartment last night. Cross-culturally there's always a group that likes to hang out in the kitchen, right? Well, last night that group was C's brother Helio, friends Julia and Anao, and me--the Gringa. Helio speaks English very well. Unlike me, Anao is unafraid of trying to hone his many English skills, while Julia speaks much better English than I speak Portuguese. Truth is, many people seek out English speaking folks--even strangers on the street--hoping to engage in a conversation.

So, as I was saying, the four of us wound up talking in the kitchen. I'm not sure who brought it up, but the subject of tongue twisters was on the table. "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers" was met with laughter, then a breakdown of any new vocabulary, then good-natured repetitions. Next Helio offered "O peito do pe de Pedro e preto." It means "The arch of the foot of Pedro is black." They laughed as I sputtered. Next up--"Tres tigres tristes atrarasam o trem" which means "Three sad tigers stalled/ delayed a train." Not to be totally ridiculed, I threw in "Six sick sheep" which I could barely say myself. Then "She sells seashells down by the seashore." That was one that Julia, Anao, and Helio knew already.

The final challenge was a Portuguese one: "O rato roeu a roupa real do rei de Roma." "The rat gnawed the royal clothes of the king of Rome." In Portuguese, the letter "r" behaves differently depending on where it sits in a word. When "r" begins a word, it makes the sound of the letter "h" in English. So the tongue twister basically has no "r" sounds in it whatsoever.

I'm finding lots of ways to enjoy the company of new friends here. Basically, Brasilians love to talk. A stranger in the cafe struck up a conversation with our group; and before we knew it, he proudly showed us pictures of his two pretty granddaughters. Today, a congenial postal clerk knew the entire story of Will and Cecilia's meeting in the States and my first trip to Brasil before she gave me my stamps.

The English major in me is fascinated with the ways we communicate and connect across the barrier of spoken language. Laughter, gestures, facial expressions, body language, tone of voice--all these intangibles are a bigger part of understanding than words.