Faux Pas - An Embarassing or Tactless Act or Remark in a Social Situation

Funny stories What can I say… I’ve been lazy. I have been back in Blantyre for about 1 month after my summer break. I spent 48 hours in Norway before I jumped on a plane for Nueva York and a 3 week round trip together with my bestest bud. The trip took us from NYC, to Virginia Beach, Savannah, GA, Miami, Key West, New Orleans, Jackson, MS and we flew home from Memphis, TN. It was a wonderful trip with too much fun, a lot of good music, mostly great weather, wonderful people and a lot of laughter. Coming back to Blantyre felt a little like coming home. This is where I live, have my own room, my house, my dogs and cat and a lot of friends. Back in Norway I do not have a home anymore but hopefully I’ll be able to buy a small apartment in Oslo when I move back next year. I want to share a couple of funny stories and one of them is a major fuck up on my part. Considering this was my first really big faux pas since coming here I do not feel too bad. We had a group meeting within the project and discussed staff/personnel matters and 1 girl just got married and we are not sure if she will stay here in Blantyre or move to Lilongwe to be with her husband. We discussed this back and forth and we would be very sad to lose her because she is 1 of 2 Theatre nurses that has been to Norway and the other one is going back to school to get his bachelor. One member suggested that although it would be sad to lose her she might have to go since it is said in the Bible that a woman should love and support her husband a stay where he is… For those who know me well know what is coming! I momentarily lost my brain to mouth filter and wasn’t even aware of my own thought until I heard it coming out of my mouth: “Well, the bible needs upgrading”! Needless to say the room got quiet, very quiet and a colleague sitting next to me theatre whispers in my ear: “some people might find that offensive”. I just said thank you and carried on like nothing happened… What was I supposed to do? I am just brought up with not bringing up religious References in a Professional setting and still get confused when People do. If they can express their thoughts on this matter referring to the Bible I should be able to express mine as well, I Guess that is my thought! The most important thing is that we respect eachothers beliefs, something I kind of missed on this one..... Another story a friend shared during lunch one day had me giggling for days. I might have shared my distinct hatred toward the Immigration office in Blantyre on a previous occasion and even though I have my Temporary Employment Permit (TEP) and VISA is secured until May 2017 my hatred has in no way diminished. A friend was in the office of one of the head honchos at Immigration to talk about her TEP that had just been given her. She sat with the papers in hand in an office with this Gentleman working with Immigration alone. He then got up from behind his desk and walk around it to the door. He opens the door, peeks outside and step back in, closes the door and locks it. He then walks back around his desk sits down and looks at my friend and says: “Let’s play”. My friend gets a little confused and ask: “Excuse me?”. He then proceeds to answer: “Let’s play”… bows his head and starts praying… The thing is, in Malawi the letters L and R tends to swap places or just being used as interchangeable. F.ex. If your name is Laura, the people here a most likely to call you Raula or Laula. It takes a little time to get used to this and these miss pronunciations makes for a very interesting life here in Malawi. Have a wonderful week