The last few days I have been REALLY trying hard to communicate with Chinese (not like I wasn't trying before...but maybe before I would be a little more willing to say 'o.k. I'll eat at the cafeteria again today even though I really don't want it...because the alternative is to have to talk...or...'I'm starving and the cafeteria is closed...guess I'll have to go to bed hungry.') With this new found determination has come some embarrassing moments...and finally last night....a successful one!
So over the weekend I took a road trip to PingYao (blog post on that still to come...I promise). I went with my colleagues as well as the director of ICB and the coordinator of the Office of International Affairs (this will become important information in just a bit...I promise). Well, with 17 people on the trip things are inevitably going to move slowly...but at one rest-stop things were just moving at a snails pace. I was ready to round everybody up and get them on the bus so I said 'Let's Go'. Then the assistant director here said...Oh Gary you need to say it in Chinese...then everybody will listen (really I am beginning to feel like I am the only one who doesn't speak Chinese in the entire world). I ask him how to say it and he tells me and in true China fashion I yell it out really loudly. JoBa! JoBa! Sure enough people heard. Everyone turns and is staring at me...then somebody says 'what?' And I repeat...JoBa! JoBa! Everyone is now cracking up and the director is looking at me like I'm crazy. Then Claire interprets for me. Gary...you were just yelling at people Bars Bars...everyone thinks you want to go to the bar.
Whoops! Apparently it was supposed to be more like a z sound out front...but not a z...just kind of like it...but still close to a j sound...kind of like Tsoba Tsoba instead of JoBa (I figured out later bars is literally JioBa). I think my ears just don't pick up on the subtle differences between some of these words. It was a laughable moment for sure...and now I know TWO new words!! So I can't complain.
Last night I had a much more successful experience. I teach until late at night so eating dinner is always complicated during the weekdays. The cafeteria is closed by the time I'm done and there are only so many dishes of Ramen Noodles and Chicken Sandwiches that need no refrigeration that one can indulge in without needing something else. My dream for sometime has been to be able to go into a restaurant and ask them if I can order something to go. Order it...and then take it back to my room. I have been successful at my local pizza restaurant Luigis with a series of hand gestures that I'm sure makes me closely resemble a man being attacked by killer bees. However...I wasn't willing to try this wild gesticulation at some of the nicer restaurants around.
I told our American foreign exchange student here (Kelcey) about my great longing for take out and she said...'oh well just ask them this Ke ee da bow ma...or something to that effect'. What? This is golden information! I typed it in my phone just in case I would forget it and set off on my way. Part of my problem is always getting up the confidence to go through with these inevitably embarrassing encounters. I almost aborted mission twice...but my stomach was telling me otherwise. Eventually my feet carried me to a place that we like to call 'The Red Restaurant'. Pretty much all of the restaurants here have a red sign...but for whatever reason...this one has become a favorite.
I walk in and the place is packed. The Fuyan looks at me kind of like 'there's no room for you' and I can tell she knows I can't speak Chinese. So I go up to her and I just blurt out my phrase. 'Ke ee da bow ma'. She looks at me knowingly and says 'kee ee da bow'. This was good. She took out the ma. This means that she changed it from a question and is confirming...yes, they can do take out. She understands!!! She goes over and brings me a menu. Phew! To me that was the hard part. Now I flip to my favorite dish and order it with an easy word 'Jega' which just means 'this one'. Then I order a bowl of rice that is not on the menu so a little trickier 'ee won me fawn'. She tells me the price...'arr sure tsss kuai. 24...I understand! Yes!!! I pay and wait for my meal. When it is ready they put it in the to go boxes and put it in a bag. One small problems...they didn't include chopsticks...wait...I got this...'qkwiza'. She grabs a pair of chopsticks and puts it in the bag.
I literally almost run out of the store and back to campus. I don't want there to be any opportunities for me to mess this up. I just had a smooth transaction completely in Chinese. I also got everything I wanted and the way I wanted it. I almost cried. Then I decided...I must certainly retire from any further Chinese speaking. This is certainly the way to go out...having a successful experience...yes!!!! (Sidenote: I have since come out of retirement...in true Brett Favre style and had a disastrous attempt at a conversation today...but that's o.k...at least now I know that a successful interaction can be had!!)
So overall...I'm feeling much better than a few weeks ago. I think I'm slowly, finally starting to gain the tiniest subset of skills needed to survive here...and hey...any information I add to my pre-existing knowledge base can only help right? Hopefully.
Zaijian,
Gary
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