Communication, the largest barrier I've had to adjust to during my time abroad. It is very challenging living in a place where you literally have no idea what people are saying, and you can't read anything. To adjust to this, Google Translate has been my best friend. Communication issues can either be amusing, which most of the time they are, or frustrating.
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An instance where the communication barrier was amusing was during our last day in Olomouc. Sara, Lauren and I were getting in our last minute shopping and at a jewelry store. The little old lady spoke absolutely no English, and we had asked if we could look at some bracelets in the store front window. She jabbered on in Czech and then directed us to the cabinet beside the door, which had nothing of what we asked to see. Confused, Sara and I looked at each other and began laughing. After while, we had pointed to the store front window again, and she once again did not know what we were saying and directed us to another area. Finally, we asked a third time and she understood through lots of pointing. She was laughing along with us because it's amusing playing charades with another person as a form of communication. She then kept talking to us in Czech as if we understood, after some time we just began nodding along with whatever she was saying and left the store. More times that not, when a person doesn't speak English and we don't speak Czech, everyone finds it pretty funny. But not always.
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An instance where the communication barrier was very frustrating was during an assignment for our Czech language class. We were required to enter a bakery and order in Czech, and film it for our Czech teacher. We walked in and began to film each other, and the lady who spoke very little Enligsh, began saying "No phones, no phones!". We then explained it was for our Czech language class, and she okayed us to film the interaction before disappearing to the back room. She returned with another worker who spoke better English, which we all assumed the non-English speaking lady explained the situation to the English speaking lady. So we kept filming and the better English speaking lady began to get very uncomfortable and angry. After we all went, she then yelled at us for not asking for her permission to film her. We explained that the previous lady said it was okay, but she just kept lecturing us. We apologized, because clearly there was a miscommunication and left. Needless to say, we did not return to the bakery for the rest of our stay in Olomouc.
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A very funny language barrier situation happened on a train ride back from Prague. Lauren and I got seated in a cabin (an enclosed room with 6 people on the train) with two other guys that were close(ish) in age to us. These two guys were drinking an abnormally large beer and after some time we tried to talk to them. Lauren asks, "Where did you get a beer that big?" Clearly confused, the guy says "What?" So we repeated the question, "Where did you get a beer that big?" Still confused, he looks at the other guy who must have spoken more English. The other guy says, "You speak so fast, slow down!" So with Lauren and I laughing at each other, we say, "Where.....did....you.....get....a...beer....that....big....?" He still had zero idea what we were saying and we just shrugged it off and said never mind. After they finished their beer, the two men then preceded to vandalize the cabin with a purple paint marker. Lauren and I minded our own business and were happy to leave the criminals when we got off, although it's still pretty funny.
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These were just a few of the most memorable experiences I've had with communication issues during my time abroad. Everyday I have a communication barrier, although, after almost 2 1/2 months into my program, it's easy to say I am used to it. Most of the time everyone just laughs it off and carries on with their day, minus the bakery lady.
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Thanks for reading!