Stupid Americans and Backgammon

There are tons of things I could comment on: Relgion, the weather, how I am doing in school, the latest crazes, but I thought one of my "stupid American" stories would be good today.

The thing to do in the evening here is to go out on this one street that is lined with open air coffee shops and just sit, drink, and talk. You can get a backgammon board and just sit, drink something and play backgammon. Their backgammon boards are huge and ornate and made of olive wood with mother of pearl inlayden and they are just a beautiful work of art. More on this later.

The Story:
A couple of nights ago me and a buddy head out to sit and drink coffee and see if we could maybe meet some new friends and enjoy a "guys night out." We stake out our table and have a seat. We order two cocktails (banana, mango, strawberry) drinks. We sit for a while and then try to ask for a backgammon board. Did you know that backgammon isn't a cross cultural word? They has no clue what we said, so we had to resort to a game of gestures, which didn't really work. The tables nearby began to get involved and try to help or guess what was going on. Finally we get the point across and they bring us back......

a little kiddy board, that is broken and missing the pieces and made of plastic. The whole place was roaring with laughter. It was like asking for a bike and getting one with training wheels on it. It was so........funny? Needless to say, I 've learned my lesson. I will always remember the Arabic word for backgammon......ta'wiila.

So laugh you head off! Because that won't be the last time I do something stupid or use the wrong word. More to come from this stupid American.