Nice...duck.

This entry is dedicated to my immediate family, who will probably find this story considerably funnier than the general population.

It rains about 5 months a year in Santo Domingo, beginning right about now. Unsurprisingly, it was raining really hard yesterday, and when I looked outside and thought to myself that I didn’t really mind it, I thought about something my dad always said when it rained in Michigan: ‘it’s a good day to be a duck.’ This saying always made me feel pretty amicable toward rain, because hey, how can you hate something that makes ducks so happy.

Yesterday, I related this saying to Flor during dinner. I told her that I didn’t mind the rain, because like my dad always said, ‘es un buen día para ser un pato.’ She laughed, and then Humberto came in and asked what she was laughing about.

Flor: Alyssa’s dad always cooks a duck when it rains in the United States!
Me: Wait, what? No.
Flor: Isn’t that what you just said? ‘Es un buen día para hacer un pato.’
(Ser = to be. Hacer = to make.)
Me: No…SER un pato. It’s a good day to BE a duck…you know, ducks like the rain. They’re happy…when it rains. So it’s a good day…for ducks…when it rains.
(Blank looks)

The conversation was saved by a discussion of the deliciousness of duck and in what parts of Peru they prepare duck the best, allowing Flor and Humberto to stop wondering why I would care so much about the emotional wellbeing of a duck.

Nice…language misunderstanding.