- I'm alive. Nothing real special going on. Just basic days.
- I'm busy. Summer is my busiest time of year.
- I'm a chef. Flower cut tomatoes stuffed with Red Wine cooked chicken salad.
- I'm Sooooooooo ready to visit the US. A bit homesick atm.
Right now is just basic days...
Although... I did have an interesting day right after my last post.
Basically, I like to ride my bike. So, I decided to ride south. No particular place to go. Just... South. One thing led to another, and I ended up heading East.
I live near the 3rd Ring. I rode out past the 6th ring. This is a hefty little journey. No idea about distance, but it was around 3 hours of hard, fast riding.
Then I got lost. Even with my maps, and a general idea of which page to look at, I had no idea exactly where I was.
I was in some little piss-ant town. I tried to go home. I went in a circle. So I tried to go home again, in a different direction. I went in a circle. And, I was back in the piss-ant town. So, I tried to go home AGAIN. Yep. I did a circle again. And, I was back in the piss-ant town.
Finally, I got smart. I asked some guys at a toll-booth how to get back home. Apparently, I was SO out in the boonies, they couldn't even figure out how I even got there in the first place.
A few hours later, and numerous stops to ask peasants where I was, I finally got home.
I left my house at 11am. I got home at 8pm. Insane leg cramps. Body covered in dried salt.
Why was this actually kinda cool?
During those 9 hours of riding, being lost, etc. ... I spoke no English. It would have been pointless, out where I was, since no one would have understood me. It was the longest stretch of non-English since I've been here (besides sleep, of course).
I dealt with street vendors selling water, shop keepers selling water, toll booth guys, random peasants, and people at a little restaurant. And I did it all in Chinese. And, the people actually understood me.
Conversations included "Please give me a bottle of water.", "Do you have colder water?", "What road is this?", "Can you help me find this road on my map?", "Where the hell am I?", "I live near the 3rd ring. Can you tell me how to get back there... on a bicycle?", "Yes. I'm on a bicycle. I came out here on purpose, but now I want to go home.", "Are you serious? I have to go NE, in order to get to my home which is SW of here? Damn!"
What was the REALLY best part?
I learned a new greeting. It's actually a form of Goodbye, rather than Hello.
Goodbye in Chinese is "Zai Jian". And, over the last year and a half, shopkeepers have said this to me when I leave, if they say anything at all.
During, and ever since, my "Lost in the Farmland" bike ride, people say something a little different.
They say "Man Dianr", which is essentially "Take it easy." (Literally: "Slow a little")
People at work say it's because I can actually talk a little bit of coherent Chinese.
The shopkeepers are saying the same thing to me, that they would say to any other Chinese person.
It's kinda cool.
Makes me feel like I'm making a little progress on the Chinese Language thing.
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Moral of the story?
Best way to practice your 2nd language skills is to go out and get lost.
1 comment:
Excellent story!
Dude, I think you're learning Chinese.
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