The wonders of language…

Want to start this entry with a few shout outs:

Happy Birthday to my cousin Chad. Hope you had a great day. I’ll always look up to you, and not just because you’re taller than me. I must defer to the original celebrity.

Daylight savings time. This is funny. Now everyone in the central time zone is 14 hours behind me. A point to note, China is on the same time zone and it’s approximately the same size as the US.

Corn. I hope that corn harvest finishes up soon. I hear corn is a lot of work. Funny fact is that my family has raised corn since 1999 and I have never helped with harvest. I have no idea how this has worked out, but I chalk it up to the fact that I must be magic.

On to today’s soiree: Sometimes I find it hard to practice my Chinese. Many natives I meet want to practice their English, and being the polite minority that I am, I generally oblige. Who then, you ask, is polite enough to help me practice my Chinese? One of my favorite segments of the population, restaurant personnel and food stand workers.

Now here’s a typical exchange between me and the Food Stand Lady or FSL.
(translated to English)

FSL: (sees me, smiles happily) Hello.
Me: Hello. One meat one vegetable bun.
FSL: That will be 20 cents (US).
I take out my money and give it to her.
FSL: You speak very well. Do you teach at USST?
Me: What?
FSL: (repeated at a slower speed) You speak very well. Do you teach at USST?
Me: Yes I’m a teacher. Thank you. Good Bye.

Now keep in mind I said one complete sentence, a fragment, and two basic phrases. Put this into context. If some one who spoke very little English and ordered a meal at Burger Time will one full and successful sentence. The service worker would not fall all over complimenting the foreigner on their grasp of the English language. I guess China believes its language to be much harder than we regard our own.

My second case is that I am currently trying to buy a new pair of glasses. This seemed that it would go easily. I tried on several pairs, pick out frames, had them copy my prescription from my current glasses, and agree on a day to come back and pick them up. When I come back I pick them up but don’t realize until later that the frames are purple not blue like I ordered. I make it back to the store a few days later to try to get the right color. Encountering another clerk I eventually get my problem across. No problem she says, we’ll call you in a few days when the blue frames are in. Ok, I can handle a Chinese language phone call. The call comes, I make an appointment to go back to the store (again) and get my glasses. When I show up I am greeted warmly and hand her my receipt. Well the good news is they have frames that work but in another color. She explains many things to me and I only understand 50% of what is said. She not only speaks fast but also in Shanghainese which is a different dialect than what I speak (Mandarin) and sounds noticeable different. Eventually one of my students happened upon me and clarified the other 50% of the situation and my status is currently waiting for another phone call that is supposed to come tomorrow. And now they have assured me several times that there is no blue (but the example frames I tried on were blue) and they can get me silver. I’ll believe it when I see it. The nice clerk lady complimented me several times on how well I spoke Chinese.

This is been surreal stuff. I’ve only been studying Chinese for two and a half years and can sporadically navigate a foreign country. My adventures have brought me many things to think about and see what I am doing. They raise many questions and I have not yet found the answers.