Its been long enough.. Ok ok ok .. I just have to get off my little or rather expanding hiney, and write some more .....
I went to my first totally norwegian girls lime .. where there was no one for me to hide behind, under, or around.... I was on my own .. had to understand the conversation, had to understand the jokes and more importantly ... had to try to respond ..
It all started grandly enough ... I FALed my way into the lime ... well who tell me do dat? In my every effort to regain some sort of socialite status as I had (or at least I believed I once had) in Trinidad, I overheard a conversation at work about a little Lime happening (oh ! Sorry for my non Trini readers ... a lime in Trini slang is a impromtu (or planned) get together. In American it's usually referred to as "Hangout"). I understood perfectly what was being said and I was being a little brat wantin to be part of all the action. "What about me?" I had said ...
Tsk tsk tsk ..
My mother may have hung her head in shame ... So there we had it ... I Forced A Lime (FAL) with these wonderful people.
Ok so ... after I reached home I really thought about the damage I had done. I was going to be surrounded by Norwegian in a "relaxed" setting. The dialect out here is going to kill me!
Its wonderful to be part of a group of ... something, teachers, mothers, singers .. something! Just ANYTHING! .. And it's wonderful to go to work and be surrounded by good natured easy to get along with people .... but maybe I bite off more than I could chew for now .... with a Lime in Norwegian..
Conversation was moving very quickly ... I barely said anything .. but I appreciated the fact that I was being actively included in the conversations ... (See these women are DARLINGS I tellya!) But there came a point in time .. when I just had to zone out :( ...
I am forced to listen to, and speak norwegian for 6 out of the 7 days of the week ..Saturday is my only totally English day (if I want it to be!) ... This was a Friday night ... which by Sabbath standards ... is Saturday!
Things were going well enough. I was understanding the majority of what was being said, but keeping my peace. When I did try to talk , my brain was so tired , I was faced with many quizzical looks, but urges to go on for full comprehension.
I had predecided that I would leave at 11 pm to come home and sleep .. since I'm notorious for being REALLY REALLY sleepy as soon as 10 pm hits.
That however, proved to be more difficult than I imagined.
I suppose I'm not a very good limer with girls. I have grown up with boys around me and a busy mom and a quiet dad. I didn't really get inaugurated into the "Let's talk and talk and talk" club.
But I was facinated how I couldn't even get a sigh in!
You know how, sometimes, obviously not always, when a lime is going good... you have talked alot, and you have food, drink and yuh good... there is usually this lovely Pause with a big ... ahhhhhhh .. sigh .. when people go .. ok well gosh dis was lovely ... let me go home! ...
None of that!
Maybe I was in the midst of night birds and I didn't know it .. but this little early bird was having GRAVE difficulty focusing ... her eyes were starting to cross and the norwegian was becoming more and more difficult to understand, since ... well ..let's face it .. yuh need to be semi awake in order to translate a different language.
Now on top of that, my bodily functions were starting to give in as well. We had had pizza with minced meat on it. It was really really good ... too bad I had eated so much before I went!!! But now, I needed the joy of a throne ... and it was becoming very impatient. So, since there was going to be no sighing and pausing .... I thought maybe I should just make an graceful exit at the best moment.
11 Turned into 11:30pm ... then into 12pm .... at 12:10 I could feel my eyes like gravel.
Something had to be done! I knew I had a semi fairly early morning the next day, but everyone seemed so into the lime still ... My graceful exit needed to be now.
Suddenly, I jumped up, thinking that I would HAVE to HAVE to use the toilet, but then turned around and said,
"Now , I must go" In Norwegian of course.
I saw the shocked faces from my sudden jump and shout and immediately felt pretty dumb!
I tried to smooth things over with gentler (and more on the graceful side) hugs and assured everyone that I DID have a great time.....
Maybe I've destroyed my chances of being invited again ... lol .. who knows!!
I had a good laugh at my self on my way home thinking of all the OTHER ways I could have done it Gracefully ....
But I'm excited that I am getting into the social scene ... even though I may be forcing it on .... But how else will I get friends and the such like? .. lol ..
I'm looking forward to more limes ... and more times when I will be a part of the prattle just as much as any other woman around the table! .....
Whey yuh say?
