Victory!
Posted by Chuck Vose Thu, 19 Feb 2009 03:21:00 GMT
Today I write my blog flushed with the successes of the day. Today, for the first time I have successfully ordered a meal and purchased some clementines (or so I hope) without embarrassing myself or needing the assistance of someone more skilled than I. Granted, when you’re offering money to someone they rarely scoff at your pronunciation and the menu was entirely pictorial, but I feel good regardless.
I believe that I can stop studying now. :)
No, there’s still a lot left to do. Incidentally I never mentioned my official goal for China. Months ago Erica asked me to pick up some nice tea cups in China and I have found them. They are perfect, subdued but colourful, modern paints but ancient style. And the best part is that they are marked at $100 each. This is completely ridiculous of course; it’s at a very popular tourist mall and the value of ceramics is extremely low in China.
So my goal, my thesis for China, is to purchase these cups for a reasonable price, perhaps $10 each, and bring them to my lady as a fitting prize for my serenely beautiful woman.
I will have to harness all my charm and wit to bargain down 10x. Being white means that my price is already twice as high as the price for a Chinese person if not four times as much. Perhaps I will have to go full bore and befriend the owner of the shop in order to really get that good of a price. But I’m confident that by the end of four months I will be prepared to do this very thing.
Baby steps for now. Our first test is tomorrow so we’ll see how far I’ve really come.
I hope you’re all doing very well and I’m eager to return and tell you all about my journeys.
