Further life and times of *liltayinchina*

PRE-SCRIPT: I apologize to any of you who know pinyin (The alphabet that allows Westerners to read and learn Chinese words and tones. Of course, I have no way of assigning tones so this really isn’t pinyin…to be super-precise). I’ve butchered the pinyin in the following post and have probably done the same destruction in posts before this one. One day, I’ll know how to properly identify the Romanized version of Chinese. Until then, please forgive my blunderings!

Now that I’ve got a full stomach and have dulled my mind with a spot of teli [or is it telly?] (HEY! I AM teaching the Queen’s English after all – that’s British English to any of you who are from a country with your own Queen and my apologies for generalizing…or something)…

…I’ll continue my story.

I had just given Teacher Jiang his money and had made my way back down the seven flights of stairs and was back on the street waiting to hail a cab WHEN, a woman next to me hailed one first. She got in the passenger’s seat and I watched as she and the “si ji” or “driver” had a lively conversation. Then I watched as she opened the door and got back out of the taxi. This being the second observation of such an act in less than an hour, I hailed him quickly, opened the passenger door as he scooted up and asked doubtfully, “Nanhu huayuan ke yi ma?” (Southlake Gardens could you?) He nodded yes, and I hopped into the back seat with all my belongings.

What a wonderful driver I had managed to steal from another woman. He spoke calmly and eloquently as he asked question after question in Wuhanese. Wuhanese isn’t THAT different from regulation Mandarin and especially with his elocution, it was quite easy to understand him. We had a divine conversation. He asked if I was having a happy week. He asked if I was a teacher and where I was from and how old I was. He looked to be about sixty and when I told him I was 26, he replied with, “Oh, good, well then I’m 30!” He asked how I liked Wuhan. He asked if I was going to live in Wuhan for good. I asked him if he knew my community in Southlake “Bao-an Huayuan” and when he said “no”, we agreed that I’d just tell him “left” and “right” when it came time to find the community. He asked if he could drive me home everyday after school. The best part about this segment of the conversation was how I didn’t know what he was talking about at first, but, with time and several reiterations of his question, I managed to understand and was even able to respond with “I have a regular driver everyday but couldn’t take him today because I had other plans”. Of course, I wasn’t able to say these words exactly, but between the two of us, we got there.

Now, this may appear to be a small step after six months of living in China, but, and my mother can back me up on this, it gets hard. It gets hard trying to interact when just around the corner, you’ll be misunderstood or the things being said to you, you won’t understand yourself. Usually, I try not to get into conversations but my “si ji” tonight was so friendly and so encouraging and so kind himself that it just came naturally. And, it makes sense that almost at the end of my ride he told me he had been a teacher a long time ago. I’m sure, if I’d been able to stop for a beer with him, (and if my vocabulary was much stronger) he’d have been able to tell me quite a story.
But, I want to talk a little more about the kind, big heart my “si ji” had tonight. First, we were stuck in traffic at a corner not far from my destination – maybe nine or ten more minutes, and we watched as a woman in a white coat was rejected from two taxis she tried to take. When we drove up beside her as she was walking in our direction, my driver looked back at me and shrugged and then asked through the window if she was heading towards my neighborhood. She nodded yes and he asked me, “Hao, bu hao?” (Good, not good?) and I responded, “Hao”. She got in and he introduced me as the young American teaching him English. He told her I was having a great week. He then taught her what appeared to be his favorite English phrase, “I lub dew!” She turned to me and winked and said, “I lub dew!” and I said, “I lub dew too!” Our new friend got out a few minutes later.

When we were at the Bao-an huayuan gates, my driver asked me if he was a good driver. I told him he was the best. He asked how to say, “turn left” and “turn right” and as I was trying to teach him and saying the Chinese equivalents, he would begin to make those turns. It was confusing and delightful but we finally made it to the school. I paid him and gave him the first tip I’ve given in China. I’ve tried a couple of times before – with people who I really wanted to honor in some way, but those people always took offense (and if someone can explain why it is considered “rude” to tip in China, I’d really appreciate it). Tonight, though, my driver seemed very pleased and stuck the bill I’d given him behind his photo ID, which is displayed prominently on the passenger-side dashboard.

We were both sorry the ride was over. I got out, said “goodbye” seven or eight times and then made for the gate. He made a nine-point turn backing up and when he was pointed in the right direction again, hopped out of his taxi to help me with the gate. We shook hands, bowed and shook hands again and then he said, “Now Li Li, you must GO!” and he waved, jumped in his taxi and sped off.

If only I didn’t have a daily driver already!