Humor Overseas

Humor in China
Any of you who know Dana and I well know that we like to laugh at stuff that most people would just think is silly. However, tonight in China we had a pretty good laugh. Communication in a foreign land without knowing much of the language is at best awkward and at worst just plain confusing. We are always embarrassed when talking with people when we can't understand them or they can't understand us. They always seem embarrassed as well. For the most part, in the hotels we can find someone who speaks enough English to get us buy when our guide is not with us. It is easier in person because you can use body language and we can use a Mandarin dictionary if we need to. On the phone, it gets pretty interesting. Tonight we called room service to order a hamburger for the kids because they were still hungry after eating KFC. I called room service and ordered the hamburger without a hitch. They brought it, we ate it, and we noticed a card on the tray that said in English, "For your convenience, please call room service to pick up your tray when you are finished." Wanting to follow instructions, when we were done, I picked up the phone and called. The first person I talked to didn't speak English, the second spoke pretty clear English but didn't understand me for quite some time. The conversation went something like this: "Hello sir, may I help you?" In response I said, "I am in room 1524 and we are done with our tray!"---long pause and then "Would you like to order?" I said, "No, I just wanted you to know we are done with our tray!" -----pause "Tray? We do not have tray"---"Sir, you must order something from the list on the counter by the T.V." ----Pause---I said, "We are all done, we have completed our meal, finished"----"someone needs to pick up our tray"-----pause --"Tray?"---I tried to clarify "plate, fork, spoon, tray!"---He said, "You need us to bring you a plate?" I said "No, we already have one and we don't need it anymore!" I hear a chuckle on the other end of the line and he says, "I know what you need and will send someone up to your room." Next time, for my convenience and theirs I think I'll just set the tray in the hall like we do back home. Dana got a good laugh out of hearing me work through that over what seemed like an eternity. To get a chuckle like we did you probably had to be here--but just imagine the conversation with me talking slowly and someone with a Chinese accent speaking on the other end and you may see the humor in it.

It's about bedtime here! Actually the kids are in bed. We had a good day with some swimming in the hotel and a walk to a small garden and park on the block of our hotel. It actually had a carousel and bumper cards which we all enjoyed. Tomorrow, if our passport is done we will go for a trip to a monastery that is over 1,000 years old with our guide. Pray the passport finishes up without a glitch! We were going to do laundry today, but it is $4.00/item of clothing at the hotel and $1.00/item at the local laundry/dry cleaner and it won't be returned for 4 days. We'll manage until we get to our next destination where we have been told the guides can get it done pretty cheap. That's life in a city of 9 million in China. Blessings to you all today!