Being an exchange student means making mistakes sometimes. As an exchange student, I've found thus far that it's better to just laugh and move on than to be self conscious about it. Before I talk about what happened today I want you all to know that I have no regrets, and I'm sitting here typing this and trying to stop laughing... and failing!
This evening before dinner my mom asked me if I could go downstairs to our friend's apartment to get some butter, since we had run out earlier that day. I said yes, of course! I got into the elevator, excited that my mom trusted me and my Portuguese enough to send me on this oh-so-important mission by myself.
I pressed the button for the first floor. The elevator began to descend. The elevator stopped, a man got into the elevator, and I got out of the elevator. I went up to the apartment door and knocked.
A maid answered the door, and I expertly began to explain my objective in portuguese.
"Hi! I'm the exchange student living with the Araujo's. We live just upstairs. My mom is friends with the lady who lives here, and she told me to come down and ask for some butter, because we're all out," and I smiled sweetly at her, like every exchange student does in an awkward situation.
She said okay and went into the kitchen to grab some butter while I waited patiently in the living room. As I was waiting I looked around and noticed that the decor of this apartment were different than I remembered... like completely different, which was weird because I had been over just the day before. I thought, eh, they probably just redecorated, whatever. The maid brought me the butter and I thanked her and said goodbye and left.
I got back into the elevator, and looked at the floor number... I was on the 11th floor! I had gotten off to early when the elevator stopped for the man getting on! I HAD JUST GOTTEN BUTTER FROM A RANDOM PERSON IN A RANDOM APARTMENT! And what's more, she hadn't even questioned me! She just gave me the butter!
I got back to our floor and couldn't stop laughing as I told my mom what had happened. She had a pretty hard time not cracking up as she called the other apartment to make sure everything was okay and explain what had happened to the slightly confused but also very nice maid downstairs.
So, today I got butter at a random neighbor's house. I doubt my mom will send me on any more food missions for a while, but hey, if it hadn't happened I wouldn't have anything to write about! This definitely isn't the first mistake I've made here, and it probably won't be the last, but as long as I can laugh about it after I know I'm doing something right. Hope this story gave you the giggles! Tchau!
*The word for butter is mantega. I'm sure knowing that will come in handy for you someday, because everyone knows that EVERYTHING is better with butter.
