Two minutes into the game Maicol looks up to me long enough to ask for a bottle of water and then turns around. I couldn’t get his attention to tell him I didn't have any money. For the next ten minutes I tried to get his attention. He was in the zone...
So I knew what I had to do…Practice my Portuguese.
The teenage boy sitting next to me heard Amy and I speaking English and he stared inquisitively. So I assumed he understood some of it. In Portuguese I smiled and asked " You speak English?!" He replied - "no." Great, now I have to continue. So I proceed to explain to him who my husband was and that he needed water. And I "have no money". Then, I very politely demanded HIS money. Saying: "Can I have your money please?" I had no idea what the verb for "borrow" was. He stared at me for what seemed like an eternity. Amy scanned her brain and whispered to me what the word for "borrow" is... so glad she saved me! I turned red and the then tried to explain that if I could borrow his money, the tall red-head which the Brazilians fondly refer to as "Cenoura" or "Carrot", would pay him back after the game. The boy was very kind and loaned me the money.
Maicol had a fantastic game. The boy who loaned me money was part of a group of high schoolers who had just finished their game prior to the start of Maicols. Once they saw me struggle through demanding this kid's money, they became our friends and we helped them yell at the opposing team during free-throws and they cheered for "Cenoura" all night long. Maicol had a chance to "make peace" with a player from the opposing team after a few bad calls. You could tell from the way the player responded he wasn't used to making friends on the court. Who knows, maybe Maicol will have a chance to see him again!
Both of us have learned an important lesson when it comes to basketball and language studies - practice makes perfect!
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