BRATISLAVA — Today I headed to one of the city’s most dynamic arteries, Obchodna Ulica (or “Shop Street”). My target was a pretty good café, but more importantly, the juice to power my laptop for a while.
Navigating my way, I decided to cut through the Chinese market and its gauntlet of hanging clothes. It’s a pleasant change of pace from the dominant Slavic, Hungarian and Germanic features here. Plus, saves time!
Seeing the Chinese faces of the peddlers, it struck me: “Hey, now I can say ‘Hi’ to them in their own language.”
I don’t know why I often feel a need to chat with strangers. In whatever language I can muster a few words. I suppose a major reason is the solitude of freelancing. Also, I’ve asked around: I think I’m a foreign press corps of one. So, I need the occasional human interaction.
In the market, a young Chinese woman stood in front of her stall of blue jeans.
“Ni hao,” I said, clumsily. Hello.
It’s one of the few phrases in Mandarin I learned during my week in Yunnan Province. I tried, but I guess Cantonese really is limited to parts of southern China. My students and colleagues were right indeed.
The young woman seemed tongue-tied and said nothing. But I didn’t stop or look back. (Wasn’t feeling that vibe.) Three stalls down, a second chance: a young Chinese man, leaning against a railing.
“Ni hao,” I said, more confidently.
Even more surprising for Bratislava, he answered with a slow smile: “Hi.”
I thought immediately of my students in Hong Kong, now nearing the end of their one-year program. They were such a charming crowd, I couldn’t help but be affected by them. So here I was, taking that Chinese goodwill and paying it forward – to the Chinese diaspora!
I have been missing you too michael.
hope u’ll be able to come to hong kong again hehe
Well… Hong Kong is hot as in a sauna this week. I’m dying…
Michael…long time no see. I mean in the daily life.
” In whatever language I can muster a few words. ”
i’m actually curious that how many languages you can speak plus those ones that you can only manage with a few words? lol.
Hi~Michael~Today is the Lantern Festival~Traditionally, people eat sweet dumplings made of glutinous flour(tangyuan in Chinese) on the night of the Lantern Festival, because it symbolizes family unity and happiness.
Wish you well-being in thousands of miles away~
Hi Michael, I’m missing you too.
Wish there’s one day I can visit Czech again and to see you 😀
All the best~
Hello MJJ,
tell you some phrases in Shanghai dialect, “Nong Ho~”and “Xia Xia Nong”, which means hello and thanks.
Now you can have another language that you can muster “a few” words.
🙂
Melody
shall I teach you a few phrases in hakka then?>