Something cool happened on Thursday. I was in town, near Leicester Square tube station, so I thought of going to Chinatown which is just nearby to buy some Chinese magazines and newspapers, to help my reading. I walked around quite a bit and then eventually found a tiny Chinese newspaper shop. I went in and looked at the papers and magazines on display while the shopkeeper, a cross-looking Chinese man in his late 50s, talked to his friend. When the friend went away I picked up a couple of titles and took them over to the proprietor.
“Ni hao” I said, bravely. And he glared at me suspiciously and replied “Ni hao”, and then conducted the rest of the transaction in English.
!! Amazing! I loved it! It was like casting a spell and finding that it works! He was a real, live Chinese person! The only people to whom I’ve ever said ni hao before are my classmates and my teacher, who is Chinese but is paid to listen to our horrible accents. This guy was a bona fide Chinese person who isn’t paid to pretend to understand clumsy Westerners! I said ni hao and he understood me, and replied, and I understood his reply! Joy!! I got such a huge kick out of that. I even liked it that he was grumpy because it meant he wasn’t just replying to me to be kind.
The Hanyu You Want 
I’m empathising with the wardrobe saga. Yesturday evening my sainted brother came round to help me get the house ready for a little man to come and clean my carpets today. This required all the furniture being moved out of the guest bedroom AGAIN and put into my bedroom. I feel like a refugee. The large chest of drawers on the landing had to be pusuhed into the bathroom, rendering that inaccessible – good job I now have the en-suite, and we had to spend ages clearing space in the garage to put furniture which is not ever coming back into the house but which is being passed on to other people.
I’m beginning to think my house will never be back in one piece. I have furniture piled on furniture in my bedroom, and very little floor space left to walk on, but I can’t move the furniture back into the guest room yet because the room has to be painted. Also, I have been to buy a new wardrobe – a rather lovely shabby chic french-style cream job – but what that means is that the rest of the furniture needs to be painted cream to match, so I need to do that before it gets repatriated into the guest room. Al always used to say I created jobs, and he’s right, but it will be good when it is all finished.
The only concern is whether my body will hold out. The muscle problems which are preventing me running are equally inflamed by all this Mr Shifter stuff, and painting is likely to make it worse too……………………..I have to say I rather dread getting up in the morning because I am so stiff I have to shuffle around for the first hour and go downstairs one step at a time. Going to see the Dr tomorrow for a chat about it all
PS the carpets look and smell great, and it only cost about £20 a room – not worth getting down on your hands and knees to do it yourself
Oh, we are having similar furniture-disruption issues, aren’t we. It is so annoying. My bedroom is still in chaos and I have no sofa and it is all a bit crazy. I have to get my living room window replaced urgently and I am scared of how much it is going to cost to get all the windows done because they all need it.
I am very sorry to hear of your continuing muscle problems and I am worried about you! I hope it goes okay at the doctor’s.