Monday - Postscript

I (Matt) have to add a little postscript from yesterday. The story starts with our lunch after the shopping described in yesterday's post. We decided we had to try McDonalds at least once while here, so we tried it for lunch yesterday. Here I (Matt) am, trying to order in my pre-school quality Mandarin. I got my Big Mac and Sherri's cheeseburger ordered by the number menu, and was trying to convey that I wanted nuggets for my daughter. Luckily, they had some pictures on the counter as advertisement, and one of them was nuggets. So I point and say "wo da nyu are," "my daughter." The cashier, who spoke absolutely no english to help me up until this point, says, as clear as day, with absolutely no accent or error "oh - Happy Meal!" I nodded vehemently and we all got a good lunch. Tastes identical to McD's in the US, too!

Luckily, the meals are numbered, and Matt can count in Mandarin!

Little Princess at McD's

I thought things had gone pretty well (although by no means lovey-dovey) between Lina and I for the day, but when describing the above story over Skype to my sister Ali, Lina overheard it and when I got to the "wo da nyu are" ("my daughter") part, Lina gets in my face and yells at the top of her lungs "wo bo shure ni da nyu are!!!" Unfortunately, I know just enough Mandarin to know exactly what she was yelling at me: "I AM NOT YOUR DAUGHTER!" That one hurt. I knew this wouldn't be a bed of roses, and I know she's been through unimaginable turmoil in the precious little life she's had so far. One of us is 40 and one is 4, and I have to make sure it's not too hard to tell the difference, but it still wasn't fun to hear.

I think the thing that confuses me the most is the Jekyl and Hyde effect we have going on - we have a pretty smooth time for a while, then she turns 180 again...