China again...

[Tom Adam]

Op 25-2-2011 3:39, diode schreef:
>> >  (I get it for the x-ray thing, but just try to
>> >  do an eye test with Chinese characters...)
> How have you done then?
>
Well, that was funny. I just said every word I know in Chinese. The 
nurse looked at me like I was crazy. So after a while she changed the 
characters for numbers. Now I happen to know the hand signs for the 
numbers in china, so the problem was solved. (Note: I can count to 10 in 
Chinese, only the most Chinese people don't understand it when I say it. 
Although my teacher says I'm doing a great job. Well, another 8 years or 
so and i can start ordering my own food.)

I like '8', pronounced 'Pa' or 'Ba'. Apparently what you do is holding 
your hand as the Chinese sign looks: your thumb and index finger spread 
open and pointing down. The Chinese also put 88 at the bottom of the 
mail, as it sounds like beybey, 8 is also a lucky number, 4 is the bad 
number.

That nurse was actually the most 'normal' person working there. She was 
the one who took the needle out of my arm after 3 hours. When I left the 
hospital she gave me her mobile number. I was so stressed at the time 
that I didn't realise  what just happened, but the translator found it 
very funny. When I got back home, my wife found the paper with the 
number (and some chinese text). I managed to get it translated via an 
iPhone app. I will never show the translation to my wife though...

I'm off now.

Cheers,
ToAd