I visited my friends in 台北 (Táiběi or Taipei) right after the Western new year, as that's when I had time off from classes. One of the nights we went to the 士林夜市 (Shìlín Yèshì), one of the night markets in the city, and while I was buying a few things for friends back in 美国 (měigúo), the friend I was with was 送ed to the restrooms by one of the shopkeepers, so when I was done I had to stand around awkwardly waiting for her.
But the other shopkeeper insisted that I come to the back and have tea and peanuts with him while I waited! I had no idea how to respond - a month ago I couldn't even say 早上好, much less "thank you but no thank you, my friend will be back soon"!
So, very embarrassed, I sat down and tried to stumble through a conversation about Obama and how terrible my spoken Chinese is. When my friend came back she and the other shopkeeper actually joined us and we both stumbled through the conversation (though her Chinese is better than mine by far).
Posted on: Seeing Somebody to the Door
January 19, 2009 at 4:00 PM哎哟 (aiyo)，I wish I'd learned 不用 two weeks ago!
I visited my friends in 台北 (Táiběi or Taipei) right after the Western new year, as that's when I had time off from classes. One of the nights we went to the 士林夜市 (Shìlín Yèshì), one of the night markets in the city, and while I was buying a few things for friends back in 美国 (měigúo), the friend I was with was 送ed to the restrooms by one of the shopkeepers, so when I was done I had to stand around awkwardly waiting for her.
But the other shopkeeper insisted that I come to the back and have tea and peanuts with him while I waited! I had no idea how to respond - a month ago I couldn't even say 早上好, much less "thank you but no thank you, my friend will be back soon"!
So, very embarrassed, I sat down and tried to stumble through a conversation about Obama and how terrible my spoken Chinese is. When my friend came back she and the other shopkeeper actually joined us and we both stumbled through the conversation (though her Chinese is better than mine by far).
Alas for not knowing 不用！