Ordering and Avoiding in Chinese

Two days ago, when somebody would ask if I knew Chinese, I’d roll over and stick my hands and feet in the air. Now, I can at least say with some confidence, “Wo bu hui shuo.” (I can’t speak.)

Last night, a guy sat by me on the bus. I found this odd, because I was at the back, and there were several open seats at the front. He fidgeted and kept glancing at my Chinese-English dictionary, then finally said, “The words in that book are so small!” Between what little English he knew and what little Chinese I knew, we were able to have a decent conversation. One of the last things he said to me before I got off was, “You must be very brave… come to China by yourself!”

Oh, but I don’t feel brave. Not right now, anyway. I’m camped out in my apartment, watching Samantha Who, for crying out loud! Please don’t ask why. Any comments that bring it up will get deleted.

I’ll get better. I know I will. I’ve always said that if I can do this, if I can teach in China by myself, I can do anything. On the plane to Tokyo, I sat by a girl who is in a similar situation… in Thailand. It’s comforting to know there are other crazy people out there. She said something that really stuck with me, though. She said doing this wasn’t just about her, it was about proving to others that you can be adventurous, and things will be okay.

Things will be okay!

In fact, I visited the World English training school today. The director introduced me to two of the other American teachers, and I about collapsed. It had been four days since I last saw a white person. I was beginning to think they didn’t exist. What a relief to hear native English for a few hours!

I’ve kind of enjoyed being dumped into so much Chinese, though. Just being around it seems to help. I do pick out a lot, but as soon as someone says a sentence I don’t get, I’m lost. For instance: the cafeteria closed for the weekend, so I had to find my own breakfast. I went to a Chinese fast food restaurant and tried to order dumplings. Here’s the transcript of my conversation with the cashier, translated into comparable English:

“Do you have dumplings?”
“Yes, there’s a list of all our dumplings over there.”
“Well, I just want some meat dumplings.”
“Which ones? We have several kinds of meat dumplings.”
“Duh…. um…. der….”
“What ones do you want?”
“Uh….”
“I’m just going to give you these ones. How many do you want?”
“Der…. uh…. duh….”
“Well….?”
“Um…. er….”
“Hurry up. There’s another customer behind you.”
“Yes! Spicy!”
“I’m going to give you eight. Please don’t come back.”

I was so embarrassed, I contemplated ditching my food and heading over to KFC where they have a menu for dummies: all pointing, no talking.

28 June 2008 | China | Comments | Home
tags: chinese, expat life, self-improvement, shopping

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