Ping Ping!

 

Although it seemed to me a very difficult language, Chinese was also rewarding and I made an effort in Tonghua to find a teacher, so I could continue with my studies. However, I learned after our new UK colleague joined us that maybe I needn't have tried so hard.

In a way, I envied the attitude adopted by my new UK colleague who arrived at the end of October .

 

Ed, despite his Italian ancestry, didn’t speak a word of any language other than English, and said  he had no gift for language  learning and no motivation because he could always get  by with gestures. He demonstrated this to hilarious effect one day when he, Katharine and I  went to the 'Bai Huo Da Lou', Hundred Goods Big Shop' , or department store,  to buy rubber  bands.

Whilst I looked  vainly through  my mini-dictionary and Katharine was browsing the shelves, Ed was making stretching motions with his hands at the puzzled salesgirls and repeating ‘Ping! Ping!’ 

Eventually, I found the word for rubber in the dictionary and managed in my halting Chinese to say  ‘used for holding things together’. All at once the assistant  realised what I meant and produced a large bag full of rubber bands. Then she turned round to her friends at the nearby counters, called out something in Chinese and  repeated ‘Ping! Ping!’ They all laughed, and Ed remarked cheerfully that these women at the stationery department were always laughing at him.

 Ed  was obviously a great source of funny stories for them, as he was for us, but,  when it came to important  matters, even Ed made an effort with the language. He  was grateful to me for teaching him ‘mashang ‘, ’immediately’  to add to the one word he already knew - ‘pi-jiu’ or ‘beer’.