Monday, April 7, 2008

Countdown to Taiwan

In 6 days I will be on a plane to Hong Kong with the final destination of Taiwan. I've never been to Asia before and am looking forward to touring Taiwan with Mandie and her family. It will be nice to have a Mandarin speaker as our guide! But there will be times when Phineas and I are on our own, and knowing a few words will be a plus.

Here is my language lesson for the day:

Hello
Ni hao

Thank you
Xie xie

Please
Qing

toilet
ce suo

rice
mi fan (chao fan = fried rice)

tea
cha

veggie (generic for green veg)
choy (choi)

The nice thing about having not one, but two sisters-in-law who speak Mandarin Chinese is that I actually know how to pronounce xie xie; I'm still working on ce suo.

Now, I just need to learn how to say "duck", as in the peking variety of crispy skinned succulent moist bird. Even if I can't read a menu, if I can ask for duck, rice and veg, I will be a very happy camper.

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