Shijiazhuang to Jinan

(This is a little out of order and the time is messed up. In the interests of getting these up before checkout time, I'm not going to fix the tenses. Just enjoy the wackiness.)

I'm just off of 2 days off. Well, kind of. It’s been fairly intense. This afternoon I would up taking an almost 3 hour nap. Last night was a pretty late night, and I didn’t actually get any sleep on the cattle train. I’ve think I’ve discovered the difference between hard seat and soft seat on the train. Sure, the soft seats are more comfortable, but the real difference seems to be that the hard seats are the cars where the standing-room-only folks stand. And the Chinese don’t hesitate to pack multiple folks onto 2 person seats. I wound up sharing mine with 2 middle school girls. So today the half of my ass that was hanging off into the aisle is a bit sore. Keep in mind that on Chinese trains, all the seats face each other with little tables in between.

Facing me were a granny and a truck driver. At least he claimed to be a truck driver. He didn’t look older than 13, and he was trying awfully hard to flirt with the middle schoolers. I think he may have had more luck if he had a few more teeth. But he did teach me some sign language. I now know how to say stop.

We talked a little bit, but the truck driver kept making fun of my Chinese and the girls patience wore a little this. The granny wound up trading seats with a young lady who spoke some English and was helping out a bit over our shoulder. I had already determined that she was getting off at the same stop as I. Early in the trip I had takend a little poll about who was getting off in Jinan. They don’t really annouce the stops, and Jinan was not the final destination of the train. Hence the need to know the line: 到了你告诉我吗？有济南。 (When we arrive at Jinan, will you tell me?) The ayi let her husband sleep for a while after he got a seat after the first stop, and then they switched later on. Please don’t think I made the lady stand: she sat on her luggage, and so far I’ve noticed that I’m far more likely to be offered someone’s seat than an elderly person.

With translator ensconced, our conversation resumed. The girls already knew that I was a librarian, that I use a computer everyday, both at work and at home, and that I am here studying the language. And they had let me know that they think I am very rich. I tried to explain that it might seem that way, but everything in America is more expensive, so I am not that well off. I showed them my used book and did the currency conversion for them. When they found our it was a 64RMB book, I think they started to understand the nature of things. Still, I admit I am very lucky and am, globally speaking, well off. That’s a lot of information to be traded with little language skills, eh?

They wanted more details, and also wanted to convey that they think I am very lucky to have this time to travel. It was about this point that I finally figured out that one of the girls wasn’t making fun of my Chinese, but actually had a cleft palate. I could still understand a lot of what she said though, because she really stressed her tones. And of course, we had our interpreter, who said she works in a big tourist town on the coast.

We did have a little crowd for a while, but as more people got on at each stop, and it got later, most people lost interest. We all drifted off for a while, but for the last hour or so, me and the more outgoing girl (dang I wish I had gotten her name) played vocabulary. We would take turns giving a word. Me in Chinese if I knew it, in English if I wanted to know it. She did the opposite. I’d say our ability in each other’s language is about even. She was a little surprised that I didn’t know more body parts and colors, but I think she was impressed with my verbs. Our translator helped out when we both got stuck.

I have realized that some of the more in depth conversations I’ve had have been with very young people. They seem a lot more patient with me, and also willing to speak slowly and re-phrase things into simple words. Maybe it’s also that they all know at least a few words of English from school. Tonight for example, yet another person said ‘Hello!’ as I walked past. I said 你好 back and he and his buddy laughed and gave me a thumbs up. He visibly gathered his thoughts for a second and then said “Welcome to China!” I said thank you, and then “认识你高兴我。” which means “Meeting you makes me happy.” They thought that was hilarious.

One last thing about the train ride. At one point the truck driver and the girls had a fun little argument about the variations in their regional accents / dialects. While I couldn’t actually follow it, I asked our translator if I was correct about what they were talking about. Yes, she said, “She is studying Putonghua in school, and she is making fun of him a little bit because he can’t understand some of her language. They have to fall back on slang.” This was really interesting to me, and I told them all that we do the same thing in the States with accents. Only later did I realize that a few times when the girl couldn’t understand something I was saying, the translator told her that I was correct and the girl was wrong. Lest you think I’m bragging, during one such breakdown in our communication, I distinctly heard our translator friend say “Beijinghua.” So I guess I am picking up a little bit of an accent.

So I’m not feeling too bad about not studying my characters and grammar these past couple days. I feel that the conversation on the train was pretty good practice.