Sometimes I wake up and have a normal day.  Sometimes I wake up and doodle Glinda beating the black and white out of Dorothy.

Actually, that’s a lie.

I never have a normal day.  That said, this strip was really fun to draw!

Over the past few weeks, we have had some teachers from Armenia to instruct the kids in Armenian art and dancing.  The art teacher, Ella, speaks just about zero English and, despite the fact that she knows I don’t speak Armenian, she speaks to me in Armenian constantly.

Any time this happens, I resort to my usual tactic: smiling and nodding.  If I feel a conversation is particularly special, I’ll muster a giggle and hand gesture.

At the start of meals, kitchen staff leaves all the food items on the tables covered in plastic wrap, including the drink pitchers.  Halfway through breakfast one morning, Ella came by, gestured at a still covered pitcher of milk, and said something in Armenian.

I smiled and nodded.

She smiled back, uncovered the pitcher, poured me a glass of milk, and walked away.

I’m not really a fan of milk, but I now felt like I had to drink it in order to avoid being thought of as rude and I had to do it with a smile.  

By the way, she didn’t even pour herself some milk.  Apparently she took one look at me and decided I needed more calcium.

Are there worse problems in the world?  Maybe, but I feel as though this language barrier is seriously stunting my relationship with some of the people.  How about you guys, any funny misunderstandings brought about by inadequate communication?