* WARNING*
Not for children, unless they know what a male rooster is and no slang words
Thank you to my friend Eliza and her sharp eyes.
I had my first official Shang-low day yesterday. Not bad, considering I arrived August 2010. In "honour" of my melt-down, I wil tell you two short stories.
First one, the major grocery store here is called Carrefour. They are constantly re-merchandising as is the wont of big box stores looking to increase their sales. I was in there on Tuesday, looking for eggs. While I know how to say some things in Mandarin, I don't know everything, like, yes, you guessed it, egg. After successfully wandering around and finding the eggs, I thought to myself, "Well, let's ask a store clerk what egg is so I will know for next time." I found a clerk and, with my egg carton open and pointing to an egg, I asked her, "Zhe shi shen ma?" (What is this?) She replied, slowly and clearly, "Egg." Ah, yeah. Thanks...'cause I don't look like I speak English.
Second story, I was in City Shop yesterday, completing my grocery shopping. I know. It's impossible to go to just one or even four stores here to get everything on the list. Maybe there's something the matter with my list. Whatever, as the teens used to say. The English language Muzak caught my ear. It featured a knock-off Michael Jackson singing "We Are The World". How did I know it was a copy? I listened several times to make sure he really was singing, "It's a choice we're making, we're TAKING our own lives..."
Sometimes I feel like I've wandered on to the set of some absurdist play. As long as I can keep laughing, I'll be fine.
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