My skills in Cantonese have improved somewhat, and I am now able to order menu item 3 and asking for them NOT to put in those pesky beans.
However, my ability to express the deliciousness of said food is less evolved... and today I decided to do something about it. With disastrous results.
I navigated through the ordering process without hickups. I've even figured out when to nod in order to indicate that: a) I want it spicy and that b) I'll be eatin in. A nod at the wrong time will land you with a hot soya milk drink and no spice.
Feeling adventures I had decided to go for menu item 5 today and had to slurp down noodles with two pieces of SPAM. Nevermind, time to learn some new cantonese. I experimented by telling the woman at the till that it was ho-chi which I hoped would mean something like "excellent eat". But it didn't. So I tried rubbing my stomach with a big smile on my face. The woman returned my smile but clearly didn't understand my desire for language tutoring. I thought the rubby-tummy gesture was international for yummy! I pressed on and tried various gestures and sounds to try to persuade her to say "yummy" in her freaky language. As my smile got less sincere and more calculating, I could see her smile fading as the fear grew in her eyes. Instead of bonding across cultures and linguistic barriers, I managed to build up a very real wall of mutual resentment. She probably thought I was complaining of food poisoning and threating to take her to court.
Oh well. Back to the drawing board. Maybe I'm just better at building walls than bridgees...
P.S. I've requested help from my colleagues and it appears I was on the wrong track to start with. In mandarin you say "good eat", but in cantonese they have a real word for yummy: meido.
So now I'm off for lunch to see if I can get through a whole eating experience without freaking out the locals.
