In Bulgaria, the Monday after Easter is a holiday. When I was at my lesson, I wanted to tell my Bulgarian teacher that I wanted to cancel my class for that day so I could take the day off and so she could, too. I practiced on my walk to her flat exactly how to say what I wanted to say.
Ne doyday vuf oorok vuf ponedelnik, zashtoto shte buday praznik.
(I can't come to class on Monday, because it will be a holiday.)
I repeated it several times to make sure I had the right words. And at the moment of truth I said, "Ne doyday vuf oorok vuf ponedelnik, zashtoto shte buday rechnik.
Boyana looked confused and pointed at the dictionary beside her. "This is a dictionary," she told me in Bulgarian with a confused look on her face.
Somehow instead of saying praznik, which means holiday, I had said rechnik, which means dictionary. I corrected myself and we both laughed. Oh, how humbling it is to learn another language! (