“Shhhh. . . I want to hear the English!”

Let me set the setting for when this was spoken.  A few weeks ago I went to dinner with one of my Chinese teachers and we went to the place conveniently located by the school because we had a short break before teaching a class later that night.  So this restaurant is cafeteria style where you walk down a line choosing which items you want and then at the end you pay for the items you do get.  At this point in time my Chinese was bare minimum where I could hardly say that one please.  So going through the line I simply point and get a few things.  Then it comes to choosing a bread that I want and so I simply point and the server asked me in Chinese do I want the “meat filled one or the vegetable filled one.”  I look at my Chinese teacher and she tells me what was said in English and so I respond to her in English in order to get the one I want.  At the time I don’t notice but the manager is standing behind the servers watching us intently.  After paying and sitting down my Chinese teacher pointed out that the manager was ignoring other customers trying to ask questions about the food and told them “shhh. . . I want to hear the English!”

That isn’t the only time when I had the attention of a lot of people and it’s not in the classroom.  Last week I went and purchased a new phone.  There is a bigger electronic store close to my apartment and so I walked over and found a phone that I want.  By this time I know how to say I want to buy this one please, but not much higher vocabulary dealing with electronics.  So the sales associates has me follow him to the register where I pay for the phone and then back to where the phone is located in the shop.  At this point in time about four other sales associates come up and start trying to talk to me.  I know very basic phrases and none of them know English and so one of them does pull out a phone to translate.  I am waiting for paperwork to sign and then they take out my phone and put a protective screen over it and put it in the case.  It is a little bit of time and while they are getting this done about four or five customers come up and join in on the translated, broken English, broken Chinese conversations.  Eventually with phone in hand I leave saying goodbye to the crowd of people.

 

Having been in different countries I have become used to being a foreigner and standing out, but here in China it seems like I get more stares and attention.  In Korea they were used to seeing foreigners around and even in Yemen it isn’t as bad as here.  I am in a “smaller” (small for China standards) town so that might have a lot to do with the attention.  I have lost count of how many times I have seen people taking pictures of me.  They are trying to hide it but it is obvious what they are doing.  Even one of my students in a company that I teach at the first day was trying to sneakily take a picture I called him out on it, and he put his phone away quickly and was embarrassed.  I go about my day normal and if they are staring and they catch my eyes then I give a smile but for the most part I ignore the attention. 

One benefit of this is I can practice Chinese with lots of people.  I have already started classes and I feel like I have picked up a lot.  Of course not knowing any of the language and then being surrounded by it, the learning curve at first will be high.  In fact after posting this I will be studying some more.  The next few weeks are normal work weeks with no such thing as time off for the holidays.  Time off will come at a later time.  Now that I have figured out how to navigate around the “Great Wall of China” (blocked sites) I will post more often than once a month. Upcoming posts will include stuff about my new job, sites, food, and other random things.  My Chinese book is calling my name so I will write later.