No News November

Today Beijing had its first snowfall of the season.  Other than that, nothing eventful has really happened since I last wrote.  My old roommate left (on her own accord), and they assigned me a new roommate already.  My new roommate’s name is Xuechao; she is very friendly and so far we are getting along very well.   Since I do not have any exciting stories to tell, I am going to share two stories about recent struggles I have had with the language barrier.

Last week, when I was doing laundry, I ran out of detergent.  I went to the neighborhood market to look for another box, and found what I thought was laundry detergent on the first try.  I brought the bottle to the clerk, who told me it was actually dish soap.  Then I asked her to show me where the laundry detergent was located.  She promptly brought me hand soap.  I had forgotten that most Chinese people use their hands to wash their clothes.  I tried to explain to her that I used a machine, but my meaning was lost and she ended up trying to direct me to a store which sold machines.  After I explained that I was not interested in purchasing a laundry machine, she brought me back to the hand soap.

My second story involves a similar miscommunication, because all the words used were interpreted correctly, but the meaning was not fully conveyed.  Xuechao took a nap before her afternoon exam, and when she woke up, she told me she did not want to take her test.  I tried to joke with her, so I said it could be our secret if she did not go to class.  However, she thought I was serious and had gave me a lecture on the importance of attending exams in China, followed by a few sentences warning against keeping secrets from roommates.  After her talk, I tried to tell her I was trying to make a joke, but she did not seem entirely convinced.

Sometimes I let these kinds of scenarios frustrate me, but lately I have been able to take them in stride and not let them bother me.  We now have fewer than five weeks remaining, and although I have had a great semester thus far, I still hope the best is yet to come.*  I was sick last weekend and early this week, but now I feel well-rested and ready for the final stretch.  Studying abroad definitely has had its ups and downs, and I hope to finish the semester on a good note.

-Holly

*Check out this song:  “The Best Is Yet To Come” by Sheppard

Temple of Heaven

This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2015 at 5:59 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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