All better.
And back in business. And it turns out the outlets are controlled by switches on the 'master control panel' that sits in between the beds. I'm sure '笨的美国人' (stupid American) gets muttered around here quite a bit.
On the plus side I keep running into a staff member on the street and she always insists on stopping to talk to me. She tells me that my speaking Chinese (口语 or kou yu) improves every day. And I think it does. In some ways, and sorry if I'm repeating myself, being here is like one giant, constant review session of everything I learned last year. With lots of added vocabulary thrown in.
And people will randomly stop you on the street and attempt to practice English. The conversation typically goes like this:
Chinese guy/gal: Hello! Excuse me. Where are you from? Hello!
Me : 我是美国人。
Chinese guy: OH! You speak Chinese.
Me: 一点.
Chinese guy: That is wonderful. Where did you learn?
Me: 我在北大学中文。
Chinese guy: How long have you been studying at BeiDa?
Me: 一个星期.
Chinese guy: Only one week? That's amazing!
Me: 我在美国学写学的一年. 在这会来两个月.
Chinese guy: Well, I hope you can travel. This (pointing to campus, the street, the restaurant, or wherever it is we happen to be standing) is not China. This is New York. This is globalization. To see China you must go to the countryside.
I don't really have a comeback for that one. And besides, I know the grammar on my last sentence is atrocious, so it's usually around here the person loses interest. Or insists on giving me their phone number so that they can connect me with their uncle / cousin / brother-in-law who runs a travel agency / gives tours / owns a hotel / needs to practice English. Although I have learned something to say to disengage from these conversations: 我有事. (Literally: 'I have an affair/matter/business.') Haven't had a chance to try it yet. But I do have the phone number of a lawyer if I need one.
More random observations:
On the plus side I keep running into a staff member on the street and she always insists on stopping to talk to me. She tells me that my speaking Chinese (口语 or kou yu) improves every day. And I think it does. In some ways, and sorry if I'm repeating myself, being here is like one giant, constant review session of everything I learned last year. With lots of added vocabulary thrown in.
And people will randomly stop you on the street and attempt to practice English. The conversation typically goes like this:
Chinese guy/gal: Hello! Excuse me. Where are you from? Hello!
Me : 我是美国人。
Chinese guy: OH! You speak Chinese.
Me: 一点.
Chinese guy: That is wonderful. Where did you learn?
Me: 我在北大学中文。
Chinese guy: How long have you been studying at BeiDa?
Me: 一个星期.
Chinese guy: Only one week? That's amazing!
Me: 我在美国学写学的一年. 在这会来两个月.
Chinese guy: Well, I hope you can travel. This (pointing to campus, the street, the restaurant, or wherever it is we happen to be standing) is not China. This is New York. This is globalization. To see China you must go to the countryside.
I don't really have a comeback for that one. And besides, I know the grammar on my last sentence is atrocious, so it's usually around here the person loses interest. Or insists on giving me their phone number so that they can connect me with their uncle / cousin / brother-in-law who runs a travel agency / gives tours / owns a hotel / needs to practice English. Although I have learned something to say to disengage from these conversations: 我有事. (Literally: 'I have an affair/matter/business.') Haven't had a chance to try it yet. But I do have the phone number of a lawyer if I need one.
More random observations:
- More manual labor observed today: they were trimming hedges on campus. With hand clippers.
- There are latin characters everywhere. Enough to make you lazy as you're walking around.
- They allow smoking in the gym I joined. But only near the snooker tables.
- Our rebar friends from last week? Turns out they live on the construction site in little shacks. And they work in dress slacks and loafers. Some even in flip flops. No OSHA here.
- The beer here really, really sucks. Not that I can stomach it at this point. I made my map instead.
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