This wasn't really one of my good moments.
In fact, I think every time I look back on it I die a little more inside.
Then I laugh. I laugh a lot. Because really, it was funny. Even if it did make me feel like a total idiot.
In life, you have your people who are great at dealing with awkward and confusing situations. Then you have your people who are awkward and confused as it is, so they wind up making those situations that much more awkward and confusing. Now... guess which one I belong to. ;)
About a year or so ago, I was staying with Karissa at my grandparents' house for a couple days. One of the days, my grandpa randomly said "Hey, want to go to a magic show?" Apparently they were having one as a memorial for one of the ladies who lived at my great grandpa's retirement home.
So with that, we sat and visited with my great grandpa while a couple guys performed some magic tricks. It was actually a really good memory I have of my great grandpa. :)
But then things got weird.
There were refreshments after the magic show, so Karissa and I grabbed some cookies and juice, then headed back to our table. Next to us was an old asian lady who sat quietly in a wheelchair by our table. As I held up my cookie, she tried telling me something. Only whatever she was trying to tell me was hitting a language barrier. As she continued pointing to my cookie and speaking a foreign language, I didn't exactly know how to react. I figured she was trying to tell me she wanted my cookie.
As if she'd understand me, I tried asking her. "Did you want one? I have an extra."
Then I plopped the pink-frosted, sugary disk into her wrinkled little hand.
The second I did this I wondered if I'd made a mistake.
Because... if you give an old lady a cookie, she might look at you like you're crazy.
Then she might start laughing at you.
And if she starts laughing at you, you might get totally embarrassed and stare at her in wide-eyed bewilderment, completely shaken by the lack of understanding between the two of you.
And if you're confused, she might try talking to you again, leaving you even more confused.
My face a bright shade of red, I took the cookie out of her hand. Karissa was laughing at me now, and the lady kept chattering away in what I later learned was Korean.
I guess I felt a little better learning that the lady talked to my grandpa (who knows some Korean) and told him that she was, in fact, hungry. (So I wasn't totally wrong!) It turns out, though, that she isn't allowed to have cookies (or solid food, really).
Let's just say that I don't go around feeding my extra cookies to old ladies at memorials/magic shows anymore. :P
