I have finally begun to use some of the 25 words of Chinese I know. The Chinese merchants really get a kick out of this. If I am at the subway putting more money on my card, they just help me, but if I am shopping at a street merchant and I use some Chinese, they repeat what I said and laugh and laugh. I am so funny! I don’t know if it’s funny how bad I say it, or that I can say anything at all. They definitely get a kick out of me. Last week I shopped for fun stuff. I spent some time at a jewelry store. The lady kept saying “Hello!” to get me to look at stuff. But I could say “I don’t want that one.” She laughed and repeated it to the other merchants. Then a young woman came in shopping. She asked if she could help me ask for something. I said I just want to look around. Later I said in Chinese, “I don’t want this one.” She was shocked I could put two words together. The shop lady would repeat it, laugh, and then say “Hello!” and try to sell me something else.
If the merchants tell me slow and clearly how much the bill is, I can understand, and I really like that! I just cannot understand anything else they say. Still, last year I thought it would be impossible to speak or understand or remember even one word. This year I went with Ben to some tutoring of how to say stuff in Chinese, and it finally started to rub off on me, since so often we really did want to ask for something.