Lost in Translation

Ok, just a quick post about what it is like to live here. I went to the corner store in ZJG tonight to get a couple of things for the apartment here. It shouldn't have been that difficult, and I shouldn't have had to speak at all. Pretty simple, in and out. The plan lasted right up to leaving the apartment. As we were getting ready to leave, the apartment videocom system beeped. So, I went over to the wall to see who it was. All I could see was hair. The camera downstairs is mounted at about 6 feet. When people call up to the apartment, they stand as close to the videophone as possible so they can shout words at us that we cannot understand. So, at best, all we ever get to do is talk to people's hair. Anyway, it was the cable guy coming to collect payment for last month. Yes, much like paperboy/girl's used to do in the States. He spoke no English, me no Mandarin, and Ron laughing in the background didn't help. When it was all over, I had a receipt for RMB144 ($18.75) and apparently we get our non-English speaking cable left on for another month. So the cable guy is gone, and now we get to leave the apartment. We made it a whole 25 meters before we are overwhelmed by all of the kids on the playground screaming "Hello!" and "How are you?" at us in English. We had decided on the way in to the apartment to only speak Mandarin back to them and see how they reacted. They answered our Mandarin with English for a few phrases, and then their parents came to get them away from the strange "white" people (we know we are strange, but white is pushing it). Finally, we made it to the store. I walked through for a little while before the workers got brave. The first girl saw me about to turn a corner and jumped in front of me. She asked, "May I help you?", and I replied , "Yes". Unfortunately, that exhausted her English vocabulary and I was on my own again. So, I almost get done scouting around, and another girl asks the same question. This girl does speak English. The problem is that she understands none of it when she hears it (much like Hong, our Shanghai ayi who can read it but not speak it or understand it spoken). By the time I left, I had managed to purchase a wok, a wooden spoon, some iced tea, and an ice cream cone. I did not get the cooking spray I wanted, nor any food to cook in my wok. Even using Mandarin words for no seafood or shellfish, the girl just wasn't getting the picture that I could not eat them. Therefore, since none of the packaging has any English, I purchased nothing. Ron did tell her I was allergic to it in English and she replied, "Thank you!". Anyway, it will never be easy here, but it will always be different. Bao zhong （宝忠）, Mark. (Take care. Bao zhong is Pinyin, and the next are the characters for it.)