My Chinese is really starting to improve. I’ve reached the point where I can actually communicate. It is sort of exciting. It makes me feel a bit less powerless now that I can occasionally get my point across. I’ve traveled a bit before coming to China but I’ve never been in a place where so few people speak English. Most of the younger generation study English in school but they are usually too shy to try speaking it outside of their classroom.
The other day at the supermarket I wanted to ask where they had pine nuts. (I found out the name of pine nuts from the menu at a restaurant the day before.) As I walked up to a group of three employees one saw I was a foreigner and hid behind the other, whose English I assumed was better. Then when I asked for it in Chinese she got all excited and dashed back out in front to show me where they were kept. It was really cute. People here seem to really like it when I try to speak Chinese. Whenever we are out and I try, everyone always smiles at me.
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