Well, I made it to Singapore relatively uneventfully (if you ignore the part where I was in Perth), and my backpack arrived, too, so things are off to a good start. Turns out all the rooms at my hostel are up some stairs, but other than that it seems pretty nice for the price... The A/C is starting to work its magic, and my room has a private shower (which was a pleasant surprise since it was listed as "shared bathroom" when I booked it, and the shared shower is the only annoying part of a shared bathroom...) and is close enough to the lobby to pick up the wi-fi... Thus I am typing this as I sit on my bed in the spot the A/C seems to hit most directly, after just having taken a nice refreshing shower and changed into my pajamas, looking around on the internet and sending an e-mail or two from the comfort of my room before getting a good night's sleep...
So far I really seem to suck at communicating. I guess I don't find that entirely surprising since I have a tendency to use larger/stranger words than are necessary on occasion (because words are fun) and to do a bit of rambling and fast-talking... I guess I'll see tomorrow if it was just the wheelchair guy at the airport or if it really is me... Already I can tell I need to work on enunciating more clearly when confusion arises, rather than doing the classic American repeating-exactly-the-same-only-louder approach... although I think that was mostly a side effect of the exhaustion of travel and my desperate need to get to my bed. Let's hope so, anyway...
There was a young (early 20's?) Chinese guy next to me on the flight from Melbourne to Perth who didn't seem to speak much English. As I watched him during the flight, I felt like it was a bit of a preview of how people would be seeing me here, and it reminded me how much I'm used to being a part of the majority who speak the same language... He first asked for a "soda" and was handed Coca-Cola... which he looked at quizzically, took a small sip of, and left alone. His next beverage attempt was "juice?" which seemed to go a little better but still wasn't quite right. When the meal came I noticed that he was trying to eat the rock-hard dinner roll by balancing it precariously between the plastic fork and knife (he didn't seem to want to touch any food with his hands), which was pretty impressive, really. Then came the sprinkling the sugar packet (for coffee, or so I always assume) onto the single-serving Sharp Cheddar that comes with the meal. Initially I thought he was a little crazy for that one, but then I remembered that I'll probably do something that seems equally silly to locals when I order and eat food here. When the flight attendant came by with the tea I showed the guy that the mug for tea was hidden under the little packaged water cup that he'd just added sugar to, and he was inordinately grateful. Hopefully someone will do the same for me when I become baffled by the intricacies of the awesome food around me and the manner in which it should be consumed... And maybe I'll have to try that sugar-on-cheese thing next time I fly... He seemed to really enjoy it.
So far I really seem to suck at communicating. I guess I don't find that entirely surprising since I have a tendency to use larger/stranger words than are necessary on occasion (because words are fun) and to do a bit of rambling and fast-talking... I guess I'll see tomorrow if it was just the wheelchair guy at the airport or if it really is me... Already I can tell I need to work on enunciating more clearly when confusion arises, rather than doing the classic American repeating-exactly-the-same-only-louder approach... although I think that was mostly a side effect of the exhaustion of travel and my desperate need to get to my bed. Let's hope so, anyway...
There was a young (early 20's?) Chinese guy next to me on the flight from Melbourne to Perth who didn't seem to speak much English. As I watched him during the flight, I felt like it was a bit of a preview of how people would be seeing me here, and it reminded me how much I'm used to being a part of the majority who speak the same language... He first asked for a "soda" and was handed Coca-Cola... which he looked at quizzically, took a small sip of, and left alone. His next beverage attempt was "juice?" which seemed to go a little better but still wasn't quite right. When the meal came I noticed that he was trying to eat the rock-hard dinner roll by balancing it precariously between the plastic fork and knife (he didn't seem to want to touch any food with his hands), which was pretty impressive, really. Then came the sprinkling the sugar packet (for coffee, or so I always assume) onto the single-serving Sharp Cheddar that comes with the meal. Initially I thought he was a little crazy for that one, but then I remembered that I'll probably do something that seems equally silly to locals when I order and eat food here. When the flight attendant came by with the tea I showed the guy that the mug for tea was hidden under the little packaged water cup that he'd just added sugar to, and he was inordinately grateful. Hopefully someone will do the same for me when I become baffled by the intricacies of the awesome food around me and the manner in which it should be consumed... And maybe I'll have to try that sugar-on-cheese thing next time I fly... He seemed to really enjoy it.
1 comment:
One thing I have come to know... Americans are the laziest speakers in the world. We drop whole chunks of words right off, in the name of convenience, and then expect people for whom it's a second language to understand us. Nothing like hearing an Arabic speaker mimic an American accent in a mocking way to really drive that point home.
On the words though I'm the same way...I'll start to say a word, then realize it's a big word, or an odd word, then try to come up with a different one in mid-sentence, and then I'm lost and it sounds like I'm the one who doesn't speak English. Good times...:)
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