A Series of Drabbles: Day 3

Third of December, 2011

Todays Word of The Day:

Lusophone adj.

Portuguese-speaking.

Today is press day. I hate press, I only do it because I have to, I’ve got no choice. I can whine to Aiden but I won’t get anything out of it, not even an ounce of sympathy from the man I call my boyfriend when no one else is around.

I was in Portugal that week doing a few interviews in the aftermath of winning the French Open again.  To be honest, I would rather be on the court working out than sitting in a studio attempting to hide my confusion when I find out the hosts are introducing me in their own language, Portuguese.

I’d never bothered to lean any new languages like Spanish or German. I speak Danish and English and English is the language I use in my day to day life. My coach speaks English, my publicist speaks English, my friends are Americans. So every one speaks English.

I’m curious as to what they’re saying about me as they introduce me, probably something like “Look at that pompous tennis player by my side, she doesn’t know I’m secretly calling her a donkey. The joke’s on her.” My publicist, Marlene Johnson, looks happy though so I’m pretty sure they’re not saying mean things at all.

As soon as they switched to English for the interview I felt much more as ease and I put on my publicity mask and I smiled, I was humble and I tried to be funny and I tried very hard not to sound like an ungrateful child and it seems I succeeded.

As soon as I was left alone in my hotel room that evening, the peace and quiet got to me, so quiet and peaceful. I didn’t want to be alone and peaceful, so I took it upon myself to go out, find a restaurant and sit down and just look at people, have a feel for the city, its life. So that’s what I did, I threw myself into a country that spoke a language I didn’t understand. 

Word Count: 339

Fun Factor: 3/5


(This was Alex.)