I am a monkey

I am currently working on learning my fifth language.  One would think that I would be a master of learning languages by now; however, I am constantly amazed at how long it takes to learn a language.  Although I have been in Indonesia for a month now, I have only had five days of language school (permits, volcanoes and animal sacrifice holidays delayed my formal language training).  While I was not in language school, I have been trying to teach myself a few things about the language.  Since people often want to know why I am in Indonesia, I figured I should teach myself how to talk about my research. In Bahasa Indonesian, there is only one word for my, mine, and I, the word saya.  I figured that I could just replace any of those words for saya and it would work.  Therefore, if I wanted to describe the species I studied, I would say, "Saya monyet bekantan".  I thought I was saying, "my monkey is a proboscis monkey".  Well, yesterday, I found out that to say "my", you need to put saya after the noun, not before.  Therefore, when I thought I was saying, "my monkey", I was really saying, "I am a monkey".  Now, I am not going to deny that I am a primate, but I am pretty sure that I am not a monkey...the last time I checked, I didn't have a tail.  Oh, did  I make my language teachers laugh.  Little did they know that I am been calling myself a monkey, a house, a book, a motorcycle, and luggage for a month now.  I understand why so many Indonesians give me such strange looks.  They must have thought I was really confused or having a very bad existential crisis.  As I continue my formal language, I am excited to learn how many other things I have been saying incorrectly for the past month.