Shopping

Wednesday 20th February 2008

I was shopping in Carrefour, when a shop assistant came and said something to me (I don't know what...maybe she was seeing if I needed help or trying to sell a product). I replied in my best Mandarin possible, "Duibuqi, wo bu mingbai...wo shi Yinguo lai de...wo bu hui jiang putonghua..." After a moment or two of looking confused, she replied, "Wo ting bu dong"!!!!!! That made me smile as I walked away, since that's usually my line!!!!

* Wo ting bu dong – I don’t understand

Tuesday 26th February 2008

I was shopping (again) in Trustmart. When I got to the cashier, she asked if I had a store card. I only knew she was asking this because I had seen some signs with pictures about store cards whilst I was queuing up. Anyway, I replied that I hadn't got one. But then, thinking that this would be my new local store once I've moved, I asked her in my best Mandarin possible, "Wo shuyao zuo shenme...yuguo wo xiang yao zhang 'card'?" She seemed to understand my question, because she then proceeded to reply and said something about ID... only, she must have said more than just bringing ID, because her answer was quite long... and it was only when she started answering the question that I realised I shouldn't have bothered asking, because I wouldn't have been able to understand the answer!

I was gonna buy eggs too, because I wanted to have chow mien for dinner with noodles and veg, but was scared that I’d get squashed on the bus... so I ended up getting it at a local shop on the way home (after some disorientation and ending up at a different shop to the one I’d intended)... Anyway, first i asked for 5, but didn't know the measure word for eggs... like - I know in Cantonese you say "mm jeh(t)" so i tried "wu jie"... then the lady asked if i wanted "wu jin" or "wu gor"... and I knew "jin" is a weight, so I asked for "wu gor" and also it sounded like "ge" in Cantonese... I’m still not entirely sure whether she was speaking to me in Mandarin or Sichuan-hua!!! Haahahaha... but I have my 5 eggs...only, I had one for dinner:)

Thursday 6th March 2008

Went to Decathlon with a friend (a local shop)

So - there's two Chinese girls wandering around this massive sports store, and they're muttering amongst themselves picking up bags muttering some more then putting them back down. After some time, they pick up two bags each. Do they choose one then take it to the check out? No. They pick them up and go sit down on a bench. The usually inquisitive-I-want-to-make-a-sales-pitch-at-you Chinese staff pass by without offering any help. One girl lists the pros and cons of each bag she's picked up, and unable to come to a conclusion, asks the other to list the pros and cons of hers. A staff member passes by. Still unable to decide, each goes through the list again, and the two solemnly discuss the practicalities of each bag. The staff member passes by again...these are clearly not regular Chinese girls. There are moments of silence during the discussion, as each girl reflects deeply upon the points raised, and after which, the discussion continues. Perhaps fifteen or even twenty minutes pass before they finally come to a conclusion as to which bag they will purchase. They get up, replace the unwanted bags, and take the chosen ones to the counter. Those girls sure look Chinese... but they can't be Chinese... can they?

Tuesday 25th March 2008

I don't know if this is a funny story, but I'll write about it anyway. I've not had many bad shopping experiences, but today, I had a slightly unpleasant one. I was paying for some groceries at the checkout at the local Renmin Shang Chang, and having heard the figure and double checked it on the screen, I gave the lady the exact amount in cash. After counting the money, she asked me if I had something (I don't know what). I must have given her a puzzled look, because she then proceeded to repeat herself, only slightly louder this time, and I also sensed some impatience in her voice. I replied that "wo ting bu dong" (I don't understand), at which she shouted even louder whatever she had just said. So I repeated that I didn't understand, and added that I'm from overseas, at which she quietened down a bit quickly apologised, then carried on doing whatever she was doing tapping into the machine. I waited for my receipt, thanked her, and then left. I'm still not sure what she was asking for, but I suppose she hasn't met many foreign Chinese people.

Thursday 8th May 2008

Waiting to cross the road to go to the supermarket. I'm sure I heard Cantonese... I did... these two guys behind me were speaking to each other in Cantonese! After the bikes had gone past, they walked up to the section of the road I was in between the bike and car lanes... I looked at them, but by then they weren't really talking anymore. I wonder if they thought I was wondering what they were talking about, or whether I was thinking they were weird for speaking a different dialect... If they had been girls, maybe I'd have started talking to them.

It still amazes me how many people seem to be in shock when I say I'm from the UK. Last weekend, I went shopping with Grace in the city centre. Several times, when we were speaking English, people in front of us would turn round and look. On several occasions, they turned to look when we paused in our conversation, and there was a look of confusion as their eyes searched hard for the white faces and failed to see them.

On the bus home, two girls heard us speaking English and asked us where we were from. When we replied that we were from Canada and the UK, they seemed somewhat confused and said we looked really Chinese. We (well, Queena, really) explained that we are Chinese but were born overseas. I wonder if there are still many people who don't know that there are Chinese people overseas. Or perhaps Chinese people born in western countries are characters in stories - never real people you meet. However simple and answer you try to give, there is surprise, confusion, misunderstanding and sometimes anger, resentment, I don't always understand the response, but I feel like I misunderstood the question, or ought to answer without simultaneously ruining their beautiful language. Give me a break guys, I'm trying to learn!

When I bought some gou-cai bing for lunch today, the guy making them asked me where I'm from after just hearing me ask for two bings. I had tuition this afternoon and didn't have the time to explain nor the patience to go through the anticipated frustration. I replied that my parents are from Guangdong. He muttered something to his son selling food beside him, and they chuckled. I chuckled along with them and explained I'm studying Mandarin, the guy said something I didn't catch and his son handed me my food. I thanked him politely and left.

Monday 14th July 2008

Grace and I went to try the new noodle place downstairs. The menu said that they also sold chaoshou (a type of dumpling). A small bowl was five kuai, and a large one was seven kuai. We asked how many were in a small bowl and the waitress answered four to five. Then we asked how many in a large, and she said twenty. Two extra kuai and you get twenty!!! We abandoned the original plan of getting a large bowl of noodles and small bowl of chaoshou to share and decided instead to get small noodles and large chaoshou. Towards the end of the meal, I brought it up again - I still didn't get how for two extra kuai, they could give so many more in a bowl. It was then that we realised the waitress had been speaking Sichuanhua and the small bowl would have had fifteen (siwu) and not four or five (siwu)!!!!