« China Day 1: Visit to the China Library Association | Main | China Day 2: American blogger in China »
March 14, 2006
China Day 2: Cultural bathroom exchange
Bathrooms are interesting in China in general. If you've traveled in Asia before (I haven't, but I've done research for the someday trip to Japan), you know that many public restrooms have squat toilets. While our National Leaders purposely chose restaurants that have Western toilets for us, we are often seeking out restrooms, since our intake of water, tea, and other beverages is pretty steady between large meals and professional meetings.
Things move fast on this trip, and the schedule is tight. We tend to try to queue up for the restroom before leaving the hotel, and just after every meal, since we're assured Western toilets that way. With all the water we drink to stay hydrated, and all the beverages we drink in our professional meetings, the lines are often long. Tuesday morning's bathroom trip was particularly interesting for me.
Before I continue, I need to give Jennie Pu props for calling this one. She totally knew this would happen to me in China, but I didn't believe her.
On our way out of the hotel, I stopped at a public restroom in the hotel (with Western-style toilets), muffin from the buffet in hand for the bus. While my travel partner Jen used the facilities, I stood outside the stalls, munching, waiting for Jen so that she could hold my muffin when it was my turn.
There were two ladies cleaning the bathroom while we were in there, and one of them started talking to me in Chinese, starting with "Ni hao" (which means hello), and continuing on in Chinese for a short sentence. I responded "Ni hao" out of habit, and she began to talk to me in Chinese. In a deer-in-headlights moment, I couldn't remember how to say "I don't understand," and I decided that saying, "I'm American" would sound like a stupid gwailo thing to say. So, mouth full of muffin, I simply said, "Tui bu xi" in Chinese (I'm not sure if I'm spelling it right, but it means "excuse me"), covering my mouth, since I was after all eating in the bathroom.
She kept talking to me in Chinese. I wasn't sure what to do. I said, "I don't understand" in English, and gave a little shrug with my head to the side a bit. She didn't seem phased, but she did say something to the other cleaning lady, who then asked me a question (there was a "ma" in there somewhere near the end, so I assumed it was a question). I told her the same thing.
So the first cleaning lady goes outside, asks an invisible person a question, and I hear from outside the bathroom, "Oh, American, American," as though she was trying to commit it to memory. She came back in, and said, "American" to me, but trailed off into another Chinese sentence. She did that a few times, but each sentence after sounded different. So, I showed her my name tag (we're supposed to wear our People to People name badges all the time), and she responded, "American, American." She said something to the other cleaning lady, who said something to her, then to me, then to her.
Our first lady then says something in Chinese, pointing at her face, then mine, then hers again, then mine, then the white paper towels, laughing. It's obvious that she didn't think I was American, because I wasn't white, because my skin was like hers.
I giggled. We all laughed together. Jen came out of the stall, and held my muffin for me.
After I came out, I was washing my hands, and the first cleaning lady came over to me and said, "Beautiful" pointing at me, and trailed off into another Chinese sentence. I naturally said, "Xie xie" (which means "thank you"). She then said, "Xie xie" followed with more Chinese, but she was asking me something. I shrugged, and she tried again, tossing, "American" into her sentence, and pointing at me as she asked. I assumed she was asking me what "xie xie" means in English. So I said, "Thank you" slowly, but not in that "you don't know English so I'll shout at you" kind of way. She repeated "thank you" with very good pronounciation, confirming that my assumption was correct. Then I said, "tui bu xi... excuse me," and she too repeated in English, although the "excuse" part was tough for her. I went to dry my hands with the white paper towel, and we both laughed again. I said, "xie xie" again, hobbled my way through goodbye in Chinese, and we both smiled as I left.
March 14, 2006 1:06 PM