Saturday, January 08, 2005
typical encounter
Thursday I used my long lunch break to accomplish something during the day for once. twas only a small accomplishment, but in terms of my lazy life of late, it was amazingly productive. went out through the back gate and walked to the bank back there. as it was lunch time, the line was long and i was at the end of it. at this bank, there is one window reserved entirely for currency exchange (the foreigner line, basically), but for some reason it was one of two windows open, so it was taking all manners of transactions. so i waited.
in line, in front of me, was a middle aged looking lady (i am terrible at guessing asian age, sorry) who turns and asks me, in english, where i'm from. it's amazing how much it didn't faze me. you really get used to people here breaking down into english at the drop of a hat, even when you feel like you're in a place where english is millions of miles away. so i take it in stride. "america" i say, throwing in the chinese for it kind of under my breath, signaling that in case it comes to it, i can speak a little chinese, so don't worry. but as it turns out, she is a recently retired english teacher, so we didn't have a problem communicating at all. she is from shanghai and taught herself english. she never even had much contact with english speakers, just used tapes and books. and if you think about the recent history of china and how old she probably was when she started teaching, how long ago that probably was, and in what state the country was in while she was learning and teaching the language, it gets even more amazing to think about. these questions can't be asked easily, but easily speculated upon.
she went to her window and i to mine and she gave me a wave as she left. i counted my wad of cash and left. probably would have felt safer had i had a briefcase handcuffed to my wrist. but no, it's shanghai, crime is (surprisingly) no problem at all. by the way, happy 2005. sorry that i can't figure out how to link my picture page on this page, but china doesn't take kindly to blogspot. hope everyone is well as well can be. e
in line, in front of me, was a middle aged looking lady (i am terrible at guessing asian age, sorry) who turns and asks me, in english, where i'm from. it's amazing how much it didn't faze me. you really get used to people here breaking down into english at the drop of a hat, even when you feel like you're in a place where english is millions of miles away. so i take it in stride. "america" i say, throwing in the chinese for it kind of under my breath, signaling that in case it comes to it, i can speak a little chinese, so don't worry. but as it turns out, she is a recently retired english teacher, so we didn't have a problem communicating at all. she is from shanghai and taught herself english. she never even had much contact with english speakers, just used tapes and books. and if you think about the recent history of china and how old she probably was when she started teaching, how long ago that probably was, and in what state the country was in while she was learning and teaching the language, it gets even more amazing to think about. these questions can't be asked easily, but easily speculated upon.
she went to her window and i to mine and she gave me a wave as she left. i counted my wad of cash and left. probably would have felt safer had i had a briefcase handcuffed to my wrist. but no, it's shanghai, crime is (surprisingly) no problem at all. by the way, happy 2005. sorry that i can't figure out how to link my picture page on this page, but china doesn't take kindly to blogspot. hope everyone is well as well can be. e
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
flickr page
