World Language
After we visited the Dom, we stopped at a Starbucks in the train station before getting on the subway to get back to our hotel. We were thirsty and it was convenient.
While I was in line I rehearsed in my head how I needed to order our drinks. I had studied German in high school and in college, but 'way back then our vocabulary did not include words I found I would have liked to have known for this trip, like Internet, Password, and Iced Mocha.
I was having difficulty getting my order placed in German, and she was having difficulty understanding my English. I took a chance, because she was Asian and I thought I had heard her say something in Chinese to one of the other barristas, and asked rather desperately in English, "You don't happen to speak Mandarin, do you?"
Surprised, to say the least, she said she could (Keyi!), so I started to rattle off our order with all our favorite specifications and minutiae as I would in Wudaokou after Sunday Mass. "Lai yi ge...."
There was no problem after that.
While I was in line I rehearsed in my head how I needed to order our drinks. I had studied German in high school and in college, but 'way back then our vocabulary did not include words I found I would have liked to have known for this trip, like Internet, Password, and Iced Mocha.
I was having difficulty getting my order placed in German, and she was having difficulty understanding my English. I took a chance, because she was Asian and I thought I had heard her say something in Chinese to one of the other barristas, and asked rather desperately in English, "You don't happen to speak Mandarin, do you?"
Surprised, to say the least, she said she could (Keyi!), so I started to rattle off our order with all our favorite specifications and minutiae as I would in Wudaokou after Sunday Mass. "Lai yi ge...."
There was no problem after that.
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