May I have a stoplight, please?

So, after sharing my Spanish blunders in the Little Miss Perfect post, I thought I would share a more recent incident...

I took a group of youth girls to Guatemala this past July. One day we went to start a fire when we realized that we were out of matches. Being the team leader and the Spanish speaker of the group I ran up to the cafeteria to ask for matches. So I walk in the cafeteria and say hello and ask how everyone is doing, and then I ask for what I think is matches. But I mixed up my words, I asked for a semáforo, which is a stoplight. Suddenly, I am back in the room where I asked for soup instead of soap, and I am turning red (because everyone in the room is looking at me with that, "What in the world are you talking about" look, you know what I mean), the problem was that I knew that I knew the word for matches, so I am standing there, thinking very hard and finally say, "ummmm, I don't know, matches?" and yes, I said it in English. Fortunately, someone understood and I was handed a box of matches. I say thanks and walk out, and decide that I am in major need of a Spanish review. By the way, I felt about as cool as the lovely stoplight people in my picture, but they still got me beat in the coolness area. Oh, and if you are wondering, the Spanish word for matches is fósforos, it actually is pretty close to the word for stoplight.

I am also studying Spanish everyday again, so that I don't lose anymore of it. If you speak a second language, I would like to personally encourage you to practice it everyday, or don't and then send me stories of your mistakes ;)