Words

Language, spoken and written, can be extremely entertaining here, as well as anywhere, for that matter. Any combination of Chinese and English often has a humorous ending: Chinese translated into written English, Chinese people speaking or listening to English, or me trying to communicate in Chinese.

Wednesday was International Talk like a Pirate Day, so one of the students in my class was explaining the word pirate to our teacher. Although she thought she knew the word before it was explained, afterwards our teacher laughed and said that she thought he was saying parrot, not pirate, which do actually sound remarkably similar! I know that I make mistakes like that with Chinese, too, mixing up one sound here, or a tone there, and I end up saying something that doesn't make any sense at all, much to the amusement of the listener.

Last week, I had a woman come to my apartment, and I had to go to class before she left. I had two keys, so I gave one to her, and tried to tell her that if she needed to go anywhere, she could use my spare key. I didn't know how to communicate this, so I told her, in Chinese, that if she wanted, she could go buy fruit, or vegetables...and I listed some other things, hoping that she would understand that she had the freedom to leave and come back whenever. We both thought we understood each other. When I returned home from class, however, I observed that my fridge had been stocked with food...the woman thought that I was asking her to buy all those things for me! I had to laugh at my inability to communicate, and I did pay her for buying all that food!

Finally, I thought you might enjoy some pictures of English language in China. I'm not sure if they tried to translate these directly from Chinese, or if whoever was in charge just decided they were necessary. In any case, I was entertained. Hopefully you will be, too!Just in case I was planning on taking my nuclear weapons in...I'm glad they warned me!
I know that this label is kind of hard to read because of the plastic on the outside, but yes, that is called Pungent Taste Powder. Any takers?

Happy Birthday! and other sounds

Laying on my somewhat hard bed last night around 11:00, I began to think about the sounds around me. Out in my apartment complex courtyard, I could hear some restaurant workers cleaning dishes from the days work. Scraping and brushing, lots of water swishing around, it seemed like. I heard a small boy, perhaps 4 or 5 years old yelling to somebody, and that somebody, sounding like a friend about the same age, responding. Beeping buttons on the apartment front door tells me a resident is just arriving home. The honking of taxis and other vehicles, near and far away, reached my ears after those other sounds, making me realize that I'm getting used to hearing those sounds while sleeping. (Mind you, sometimes they do still scare me when they are coming from directly behind me while I'm riding my bike!) Chirping crickets remind me of summertime in Nebraska, lulling me right to sleep. The combination of all those noises provide some great background music almost all night!

Another sound that I hear often and has become part of life here is Happy Birthday. Daily, almost constantly, it seems, I hear this song. Sometimes in my head I hum along, but sometimes out loud. Sometimes I sing the song to myself, pretending like it's my birthday, but usually it's somebody else's birthday in my mind, and so I sing to them. You might be wondering why I hear this tune constantly. Well, the garbage man, the trash truck, the guy who goes around emptying the public garbage cans (whatever you would like to call him), has a tune to notify nearby people that he's there to do his job. It's loud, it's hard to miss, and it's Happy Birthday to You.

Mmm, Mmm Milk!

After a few weeks of living here, I realized that it's pretty hard to get good dairy products...the main food groups here seem to be meat and vegetables, although it's not hard to get grains and fruits at the market. Milk and yogurt, however, are not easily found...good(or maybe I should say "actual") dairy products almost impossible. At first I was really disappointed, because I love my milk (right, Cathi?), but then decided that I needed to face reality and lower my expectations. A couple weeks ago, though, a friend told me about ordering fresh milk and yogurt to be delivered to my door every morning! So I signed up right away, and a couple days later, a dairy mailbox was installed outside my apartment door. Every morning, when I wake up, I feel giddy with excitement, knowing that I have fresh, delicious milk and yogurt waiting just outside my door! I probably look like a little kid at Christmas time, running out in my pj's to see if the gifts are there, knowing full well that they will be just what I wanted.
Be assured that I do in fact keep my mailbox locked - nobody's going to take my milk!
There it is! So exciting :)