Like a bull in a china shop

Had another one of those humbling experiences yesterday. One of those moments when I had no idea what was expected of me and was completely handicapped by my lack of language skills.

We took a quick break from our biking adventure at a local coffee shop. I went inside and ordered-- they had a freshly-baked cake on the counter, so I ordered "eine Kaffee, eine Latte und Kuchen, bitte".

So he pours the coffee and they set a plate down in front of me at the bar and put 5 slices of cake on it! And then didn't charge me for it. ??!! (I'd seen them handing a piece to another customer so I think it was probably free with the coffee.) I was going to try to tell them that I didn't need so much but blanked out, panicked, and ended up taking the whole plate to our table.

Of course we couldn't finish it all, but I didn't want to be rude by bringing it back to be thrown out so I wrapped up the last piece and took it with me. And only realized with hindsight that that plate was probably meant for everyone and that I should have only taken one piece. They must have thought I was the biggest boor to come through in a long time!

Which is almost as embarrassing as the fact that the neighbors probably saw me yesterday afternoon having that race with an acquaintance out in front of our house. (we were on stilts...)