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Nov. 10th, 2006 11:45 pmThe mean dog has disappeared. Nanny Zou says she thinks they got rid of it (she made a slitting motion across her neck as she said it) because they are poor people who could not afford to pay us if the dog bit one of the children. Why couldn't they just tie it up? That's all we wanted.
Tonight was Mariannette's birthday party. She turned 30 and was a bit depressed about it. It was a fun party, nice to hang out with everyone in such a casual atmosphere. While we were there, Chris mentioned that I wouldn't be having a birthday next year. I asked him to please explain himself and he's right! I literally will not have a birthday next year. We will be leaving Florida on Jan. 14 to fly back to China. We will arrive in China on Jan. 16. My birthday, Jan. 15, will disappear somewhere over the International Dateline. Isn't that bizarre?
We have a super busy weekend and am not really looking forward to it. So, Chris' boss (Henry) has announced his engagement to the language teacher (Jesse). They are having two different dinners this weekend to celebrate their engagement. Also, we have church on Saturday (to view the DVD of a General Conference Saturday session), and Chris has Priesthood session later that afternoon. We decided just to spend the night in town rather than ride back and forth 3 times.
I've had a couple of odd experiences over the past two days with Chinese people speaking English to me. Today, I was walking alone on the campus. I there was a couple walking behind me, giggling together. I'm used to this. People often dare each other to speak to us, to see if any of them are brave enough to practice their English skills. I heard one of them sort of shout out "Nice to meet you". I didn't turn around because I figured they were just being silly between themselves. Next he shouted out "excuse me!" so I did turn around. He just grinned at me and his girlfriend burst out laughing and hid her face on his shoulder. How am I expected to respond to that? I'm more than happy to talk to them and practice English with them, but it's hard not to feel like they are laughing at me when they act so absurdly.
The other oddness, much more extreme, was yesterday at Wal-Mart. I was standing in the check-out line when a man came up to me and said "Excuse me, do you speak English?"
Me: yes. (I'm smiling, I smiled through this whole thing)
Him:Where are you from?
Me: America
Him: Oh, USA? I like USA very much. (He then shows me what's in his shopping basket to prove to me that he likes the USA. He has Pringles and KitKats.)
Him: Do you have a MB?
I don't understand what he's asking me. I think about it and decide maybe he's asking me if I have an MBA degree? Of course, looking back now that's a strange thing to be asking, but I have no idea what to expect. I shake me head no.
Him: Do you speak Chinese?
I tell him just a very little. By now, Petey has realized that we are in the presence of an English speaker and he has started trying to talk to the guy. My kids are so starved for English speakers that they just talk the ear off anyone who can speak English. The guy pretty much ignores him. Petey speaks too quickly and too little-kid-like for most Chinese to understand.
Him: Do you have a MB?
What, that question again? I try hard to understand him this time and finally it dawns on me that he is asking me if I have RMB, Chinese money. I tell him yes and immediately I begin to suspect that he might try to rob me. I can't help it, people are always warning me to watch out for crooks, etc. But, what he was really concerned about was that I wouldn't be able to pay for my groceries if I had foreign money.
He suddenly blurted out "I like beer. B-E-E-R. I like beer very much." Huh. Apparently there is a stereotype abounding that all Americans like beer very much. I was tickled by that and wondered what he would think if he knew that I'd never drank a drop of beer in my life. I just smiled and nodded.
When I got to the cashier, he told me not to worry, that he would help me. It was very nice of him to offer, and of course he had no idea that I'd been to Wal-Mart countless times before. He told the cashier to tell him how much the total was and he would translate it for me. The reason this was all so absurd is because the total is plainly displayed on the cash register. However, I humored him and went along with it.
The total was 125 rmb. He told me "Please pay 126 rmb." I had to bite my tongue not to giggle. However, he quickly realized his mistake and corrected himself. After I paid, he then kept saying "Ok, bye-bye" as if he was telling me to leave, get out of the way so he could check out only the cashier hadn't given me my change or groceries yet. Bye bye, bye bye. It was a very odd experience, I must say.
Tonight was Mariannette's birthday party. She turned 30 and was a bit depressed about it. It was a fun party, nice to hang out with everyone in such a casual atmosphere. While we were there, Chris mentioned that I wouldn't be having a birthday next year. I asked him to please explain himself and he's right! I literally will not have a birthday next year. We will be leaving Florida on Jan. 14 to fly back to China. We will arrive in China on Jan. 16. My birthday, Jan. 15, will disappear somewhere over the International Dateline. Isn't that bizarre?
We have a super busy weekend and am not really looking forward to it. So, Chris' boss (Henry) has announced his engagement to the language teacher (Jesse). They are having two different dinners this weekend to celebrate their engagement. Also, we have church on Saturday (to view the DVD of a General Conference Saturday session), and Chris has Priesthood session later that afternoon. We decided just to spend the night in town rather than ride back and forth 3 times.
I've had a couple of odd experiences over the past two days with Chinese people speaking English to me. Today, I was walking alone on the campus. I there was a couple walking behind me, giggling together. I'm used to this. People often dare each other to speak to us, to see if any of them are brave enough to practice their English skills. I heard one of them sort of shout out "Nice to meet you". I didn't turn around because I figured they were just being silly between themselves. Next he shouted out "excuse me!" so I did turn around. He just grinned at me and his girlfriend burst out laughing and hid her face on his shoulder. How am I expected to respond to that? I'm more than happy to talk to them and practice English with them, but it's hard not to feel like they are laughing at me when they act so absurdly.
The other oddness, much more extreme, was yesterday at Wal-Mart. I was standing in the check-out line when a man came up to me and said "Excuse me, do you speak English?"
Me: yes. (I'm smiling, I smiled through this whole thing)
Him:Where are you from?
Me: America
Him: Oh, USA? I like USA very much. (He then shows me what's in his shopping basket to prove to me that he likes the USA. He has Pringles and KitKats.)
Him: Do you have a MB?
I don't understand what he's asking me. I think about it and decide maybe he's asking me if I have an MBA degree? Of course, looking back now that's a strange thing to be asking, but I have no idea what to expect. I shake me head no.
Him: Do you speak Chinese?
I tell him just a very little. By now, Petey has realized that we are in the presence of an English speaker and he has started trying to talk to the guy. My kids are so starved for English speakers that they just talk the ear off anyone who can speak English. The guy pretty much ignores him. Petey speaks too quickly and too little-kid-like for most Chinese to understand.
Him: Do you have a MB?
What, that question again? I try hard to understand him this time and finally it dawns on me that he is asking me if I have RMB, Chinese money. I tell him yes and immediately I begin to suspect that he might try to rob me. I can't help it, people are always warning me to watch out for crooks, etc. But, what he was really concerned about was that I wouldn't be able to pay for my groceries if I had foreign money.
He suddenly blurted out "I like beer. B-E-E-R. I like beer very much." Huh. Apparently there is a stereotype abounding that all Americans like beer very much. I was tickled by that and wondered what he would think if he knew that I'd never drank a drop of beer in my life. I just smiled and nodded.
When I got to the cashier, he told me not to worry, that he would help me. It was very nice of him to offer, and of course he had no idea that I'd been to Wal-Mart countless times before. He told the cashier to tell him how much the total was and he would translate it for me. The reason this was all so absurd is because the total is plainly displayed on the cash register. However, I humored him and went along with it.
The total was 125 rmb. He told me "Please pay 126 rmb." I had to bite my tongue not to giggle. However, he quickly realized his mistake and corrected himself. After I paid, he then kept saying "Ok, bye-bye" as if he was telling me to leave, get out of the way so he could check out only the cashier hadn't given me my change or groceries yet. Bye bye, bye bye. It was a very odd experience, I must say.