Gabel Gabel Gabel

     A few days ago I got together with some of my friends and made dinner. While setting the table, my friend Sterling handed everyone already seated at the table a fork and said Gabel--which is German for fork-- each time he handed one out. Because of this it sounded like he said "Gobble Gobble Gobble" the sound a turkey makes in English. This reminded me of a Thanksgiving song about a turkey that I had learned when I was a little kid, part of which went something like this:

...Soon t'will be Thanksgiving day,
Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble,
People say that it's much fun,
But I think that I shall run
And hide until the day is done,
Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble

Needless to say I burst out in uncontrollable laughter for, what seemed to everyone else, no good reason. They all gave me the "what's the matter with you" look. I tried to stop laughing and explain about the song, but everytime I got close to singing the "gobble gobble gobble" part I just started laughing again. I was laughing so hard that my eyes were watering and I had to use my sleeves to wipe my eyes off. I thought it was hilarious, but they didn't even think it was funny that Gabel sounded like Gobble. Maybe it's only funny to those of us who learned the song as a child... I don't know, but it sure made the evening awkward after that.
   
     Speaking of awkward moments... One time I was walking on the sidewalk and I ran into a metal pole. It didn't hurt real bad, but it startled me so much I started to laugh and I laughed so hard I started to cry! It was soo funny! The people behind me did a collective intake of breath and had a "do we laugh or should we be concerned" moment. Once I started laughing they decided that it was okay if they laughed at me. I got a small bump above my left eyebrow from the encounter, but thank goodness it didn't bruse! I don't know what I would have said to the people in my class if I had gotten a black eye from it! haha They probably would have looked at me like I was a crazy American or something! I don't think of myself as being a super clumsy person, but now i'm not so sure.
    
     An accual awkward moment happened when I was walking down a street with a few people from my group and saw a VW Beetle. I got excited and punched the guy next to me in the arm and yelled "punch buggy!". He looked at me with the "I can't believe you just touched me" look. I asked him if he had ever played the game before and he replied with "I don't think i've played that since I was three". Yeah that was really awkward.