The Familiar Feeling Foreign!

I visited some friends in Lima for about a week, and I was so excited to go to my favorite restaurant from back home: TGI Fridays. I went twice, once for a girls night out with Suzanne Matthews, and again to place an order to go. When I went the second time, I really wasn´t too confident in my Spanish skills, not knowing what the Spanish equivalent to ¨TO GO¨was. I entered and spoke to the hostess saying ¨Lo siento, no puedo hablar bien, pero yo necesito ordenear para salir.¨(aka... I am sorry, I cannot speak well, but I need to order in order to leave). (I learned shortly thereafter that ¨llegar¨is what I should have used for ¨TO GO¨). She directed me to the bar, where I repeated the same thing to the bartender. His response was beautiful and exactly like this: ¨You can order in English if you want.¨ So after I placed my order in English, I waited and I sipped on a Sprite that he served me, while watching ESPN 1 & 2 (and American football was on one of the channels) and behind me was a table of 5 or 6 people talking in English. For a little bit this experience that is so similar to something back home was so foreign! I am not used to going out and hearing English around me, and it felt weird at first. It was somewhat comforting too, so besides the Starbucks in Lima, I may find myself at TGI Fridays as well.