Lost in Translation

As you might imagine, I was a bit tired when I arrived in Beijing. But I delayed my initial nap and mustered up enough energy to leave Connie's apartment and buy some supplies (including a super-cool backpack) at Wal-Mart.

Upon my return "home", however, I think that my lack of sleep caught up to me. You see Connie lives in what looks like (is?) Communist-era housing.


Not surprisingly, there are other apartment buildings in the area that look just like hers! So when I got back to the complex on my first night in Beijing, I walked into one of them. Workers were doing some welding on one of the elevators, something that I hadn't noticed earlier, but I thought little of it. The second elevator was taking too long to arrive, so I foolishly decided to walk to the 13th floor (where Connie lives). I looked around for a bit, went where I thought her place was, and I saw a screen in front of the door...something was not right. Now, before I go any further, you have to understand that besides being fresh off of a 13-hour flight, I had to deal with the fact that the lights in the hallways in the building constantly turned off to save energy, and I had to clap them back on. It was a bit of harrowing experience.

At this point, I was getting a little concerned, so I went back towards the one working elevator. I buzzed for it and when it opened, a woman was standing inside. I must have looked very much like a "Zhungguoren" (Chinese person) at that moment because she immediately started talking to me rapidly in Chinese. I said "bu zhidao" (I don't know) a few times and tried to speak to her in English, but it was hopeless. Then I pointed at 13, because Connie lives on that floor, and she continued to speak to me in Chinese and point at every other button. That's when it struck me and I remembered that the buttons in this elevator were different from Connie's elevator! For some reason, I didn't notice the completely different lobbies...Anyway, at this point I took the elevator down with her while she continued to talk to me (I'd love to know exactly what she was saying), and then I left with my head down and dropped a "xie xie" (thank you) on her. Turns out of course, that Connie lives the next building over.