The Road to Shanghai

The first time, I accompanied Cao Pingping to ask the resident apartment repairman to fix it. (We couldn't unscrew the bulb from its socket.) When the problem recurred three days later, I joyfully approached the repairman by myself and explained that "deng zai huai le" (the bulb broke again). When no one came for two days, Xu Laoshi asked me to repeat what I had said. Then, she reminded me that "zai" is the FUTURE tense for again. My listener know doubt thought I was reminiscing about the original incident. I should have used the PAST tense of again, "you." I tried again, with immediate results.

I also had fund making five trips to the counter at the neighborhood post office, where I successfully mailed my first domestic and international letters. On the second trip, the young man at the counter didn't understand my question about whether the letter was overweight and simply sent me to a
mail box. I tried again and this time got an answer (as well as to all my questions about envolope size, etc.). I am sure he was happy when I had completed my business!

Three days ago, my stomach was a little upset. Lao Zhang was very worried when I missed two meals, but some ginger tea that Xu Laoshi provided seemed to speed my recovery. She and I were both just a tiny bit disappointed, though, that my condition didn't require a trip to the hospital, whether I could practice the medical dialogs on which we had been working. Terry is trying to fit everything -- including, of course, gifts -- into her suitcases. I can't wait for her arrival in five days.

-- Norty