So here's the problem with living in a foreign country; the language barrier is unbelievably broad. Especially here in SG, where every is of a different race and speaking a different dialect.
We went out for dim sum yesterday as my dad knows it's my fave. We let him order everything because otherwise we would get it all wrong. My dad amazingly speaks five of the Chinese languages; non of which I'm remotely familiar with, plus two more dialects (English and a faint knowledge of Tagalog). I've only mastered two; English and Tagalog. And despite English being the universal language, not everyone knows it. Which is why even the simplest of task can be turn nerve racking.
People misunderstanding you can led to a ton of inconvenience, the most recent one I encountered was having to eat cheese with my coffee even though I asked for cream. I hate when people send back food they ordered so I sat there and ate my cheese while filling silly and vowing to learn even just a little Chinese to avoid another catastrophe.
Dad's mom came to visit and since she only speaks Chinese, I can only communicate with her using simple English and a truck load of hand gestures. So when we had dinner with her and one of dad's brother, we mostly sat at the table and like spectators in a tennis match, watched them talk. I would even know if they were talking about us or what.
I still have no complaints regarding our move. I find all this just a minor hurdle in our hopes of relocating. I'm thinking of just enrolling for a language class when my job-hunting days are settled. Who knows, maybe I can grow and cultivate a fascination with a variety dialects. But for now, a little nose bleed won't hurt. I'll just leave the ordering to my dad..
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