Just this morning I was saying to my mom that my blog is less about my struggles in China and more about my student adventures. But don’t worry! China doesn’t want me to have writers’ block!
The secretaries at my school are really not so bad. Sure, they practice a little creative recycling, and they’re a bit inclined to nod until I stop talking and they can go back to their QQ. But they’re not alone. All office employees in China make sure they never tell you anything in case it comes back to haunt them.
One of the secretaries stopped me when I was coming to into school and told me that maybe I should pay my electric bill today.
“Ok, how much is it?” I asked.
“Maybe I don’t know.”
“Where do I pay it?” In China, you take your bills and your cash to a local payment office, where they tell you the person you need to stamp your reciept isn’t here and maybe you should come back another day.
“Maybe I don’t know.”
“Then what should I do?”
“Maybe I don’t know.”
“I guess I’ll ask < office manager > when she comes back.”
“If you do not pay soon, your electricity will be shut off.”
“When will that happen?”
“Maybe I don’t know.”
Welcome to China, where an average day can quickly become my own personal text-based-adventure-game hell.
Roll the dice, pick A or B and maybe you’ll be going down the right path. I’ve learned to resent “maybe” more than any other over-used term in broken English. Even more than “drink more hot water”.
OMG I lived off of those text-based rpgs…I had a shareware one. It was one of 1,000 shitty games on a CD along with games like “Dangerous Dave” (a real winner). Gotta love it.
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