A bit of a mundane thing to write about, but as it almost had me in tears, I thought it waranted some air time.
Paying a bill is not a complicated task. But living in a world where I continually prove and then disprove my ability to speak the language, it becomes one.
I know how to say "can I" but not "pay". I know how to say "water" but not "bill". "Can I water?" doesn't mean anything in any language, so my Chinese skills failed me royally on this task.
I just pointed to my bill and gave inquisitive eyes to the first person I saw at the bank. He nodded and handed me a ticket number to get in line. When my number was called, the girl started laughing uncontrollably and speaking in ridiculously fast Chinese. Pretty soon all the tellers were laughing and just shaking their heads. I'm not sure what was so funny or why they couldn't use simple, slow mandarin to relay it to me, but I was really frustrated.
Finally, an older man who was also waiting walked up point to my bill said, "Zhe ge...NO!" Which means, "This...NO!"
Explosions of giggles followed. Frustrated without an apparent cause, too annoyed and embarrassed to try to find out why, I attempted to call Chris to sort out this situation. But he didn't answer.
I walked to the next bank, made sure this time with the guy at the door, and got in line...again.
Fifty-five numbers later, I successfully paid my bill without so much as uttering a sound.
Sometimes things are unnecessarily complicated in this country.
