Last week I had some friends at my house to have a bite with me. Our talks were mainly in Portuguese, but once in a while we would say things in Chinese. The four of us studied Chinese for at least two terms and we love it! Our Laoshi came too and it was great, for she is the best and we're crazy about her. It was a great night. The boys played different songs on the piano and Camila sang some. I just stood there watching and clapping. It was awesome.
Camila is a good friend of mine and we love to spend some time together, but it's been quite hard for the last two months to meet and chat. On Friday we got the chance to talk about some of our experiences in China. Singing in the kareoke, saying wrong things in Mandarin and the experience our Brazilian had with her Vietnamese roomate.
Jessica was the other Brazilian girl that went to China with us. Camila and I shared the same room and Jessica had to share it with someone else. Jessica speaks fluently English and Spanish and is still learning Chinese. The girl spoke very little English and Jessica spoke very little Chinese. They could communicate using both languages but only in simple things. The Vietnamese girl had some of her friends over and they would call to other rooms and say things that were not true. When you get a hoax from one of your friends is one thing. Specially because you know them. The language is not a barrier and friends can be friends no matter what. Getting a hoax from your roomate's friends in a language you are not still comfortable in speaking is mean.
Jessica went to bed quite early on our first night in Beijing. Everybody was tired and needed some sleep. In the middle of the night Jessica answered the phone. It was a hoax. They were saying she needed to change rooms. She freaked out. She didn't know how to answer back and she got desperate. She called to the reception again and they spoke poor English. She could understand that they said that no one had called to her room and that everything was fine. Well, all I know that then they came to her room, they didn't speak English, she didn't spoke enough Chinese, her roomate woke up and then they noticed it was a hoax. I still laugh when I remember this. =)
Camila is a good friend of mine and we love to spend some time together, but it's been quite hard for the last two months to meet and chat. On Friday we got the chance to talk about some of our experiences in China. Singing in the kareoke, saying wrong things in Mandarin and the experience our Brazilian had with her Vietnamese roomate.
Jessica was the other Brazilian girl that went to China with us. Camila and I shared the same room and Jessica had to share it with someone else. Jessica speaks fluently English and Spanish and is still learning Chinese. The girl spoke very little English and Jessica spoke very little Chinese. They could communicate using both languages but only in simple things. The Vietnamese girl had some of her friends over and they would call to other rooms and say things that were not true. When you get a hoax from one of your friends is one thing. Specially because you know them. The language is not a barrier and friends can be friends no matter what. Getting a hoax from your roomate's friends in a language you are not still comfortable in speaking is mean.
Jessica went to bed quite early on our first night in Beijing. Everybody was tired and needed some sleep. In the middle of the night Jessica answered the phone. It was a hoax. They were saying she needed to change rooms. She freaked out. She didn't know how to answer back and she got desperate. She called to the reception again and they spoke poor English. She could understand that they said that no one had called to her room and that everything was fine. Well, all I know that then they came to her room, they didn't speak English, she didn't spoke enough Chinese, her roomate woke up and then they noticed it was a hoax. I still laugh when I remember this. =)
