Sometimes we all need a little help ... with life, with living in a foreign country, in dealing with cultural differences ... and church is no exception. So, to that point, we sometimes partake of the English translation available at our local Gemeinde ... especially when our main leader is preaching. He is a fantastic speaker, and brings a new insight to so many aspects of the Gospel based on his own personal background (he was raised Muslim) ... ok, I've gotten a little off-track ... back on track.
Our preacher talks fast, and makes a lot of side-comments that are all really interesting, so we do the half-and-half translation (one ear listening in German, the other through the headphones in English) to make sure we get the full-impact. This morning, we seated ourselves on the back-row (English translation row) and got ready to do the split personality thing when one of the workers in the church came by and asked us "will you be needing the translation?" Nothing unusual about that, right? Um. He asked us in German, and I swear that for a moment I had a complete brain dysfunction. Do I respond in English? Then obviously I understood him and don't need translation. Do I respond in German? Obviously, translation is not required. The "deer in the headlights" look should have been enough to answer, but fortunately our daughter (fluent little thing that she is) spoke up and said "yes, they will need translation" ... danke.
Granted, the guy who asked us that question was not stupid, but this was SO much like a Bill Engvall routine that I almost lost it.
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