DAY 3

Tuesday May 26, 2009

LOST IN TRANSLATION

My roommate turned on the Basketball game this morning. One of the International students came in and read the Chinese characters and informed us that it said “The Lake people vs. The Gold Diggers.”

SWIMMING

I took my tiny Taiwanese friend with me to translate for the first time entering the pool. She is the tiniest person I have ever seen yet she always asks me why I am so skinny. Her name is Genie. And true to her name, she got me what I wanted. After a lot of confusing language that I did not understand I made it to the pool deck. Then some Chinese guys at a desk, on the deck started talking to me. They appeared to be giving me some sort of directions and telling me I couldn’t do something. “You can’t do that” is pretty easy to figure out in any language. They pointed to some things and said more stuff. I went to get the girl from Israel that I met in the locker room. She told me that if you want to swim in the deep end you have to have a special pass or prove to them that you can swim 100 meters without stopping. 100 meters? I’ll show your mom 100 meters! (that’s exactly what I said in Chinese) So then I showed them.

Soon after a middle aged Chinese man who was also swimming appeared to be telling me I was a good swimmer. Damn right. I just showed you 50 meters butterfly nonstop. He gave me a thumbs-up and then asked me in Chinese if I was American and I understood him! He spoke some English and I showed off my 4 phrases of Chinese. He was amused. All the Chinese seem to think I am comical, either that or crazy.

Much to my dismay the pool was not heated and I was shivering and my new Chinese friend, who I have named ‘Paco’ was laughing at me because I was cold. So I got out and then remembered what my teacher said about the Chinese showers. Well, when in Rome….do as the Chinese do. So I did. It was a liberating experience.

My shoulders are pretty sore today. It’s either from swimming or shrugging so much. I think they understand shrugging pretty well.


LOST IN TRANSLATION II (and the highlight of my day)

My friend went to the gym and got a personal trainer/masseuse. He massaged her but 3 times. His American name: LOUIS VUITTON.