Linda – that’s one of the reasons I’ve always functioned reasonably well in foreign countries: no shame at all. It’s not easy, and I really get uncomfortable being shit at things, but really early on I realised I had to force myself to stop caring about looking stupid and just try and communicate somehow. Consequently I’ve been in situations where I end up doing the talking for people with far more knowledge of the local language than I do, just because they are still uncomfortable looking a little silly.

Meanwhile I had no hang-ups whatsoever about pointing, pantomiming, and otherwise making an idiot of myself. I was determined to make the most of being there because the only other foreign country I have been to is Mexico, and that was only Baja.

I surprised myself by being quite comfortable with my ignorance. Example: I went by myself to a shop in Beijing where a lady made hats and purses to order. She spoke about two words of English, luckily one of which was “color.” I managed to order two hats and a purse in the styles and colors I wanted, negotiate the price, give her a down payment and agree on the amount still owed, and the date I would pick up the order. And the order was completed perfectly by the day I went back.

My husband speaks some Mandarin Chinese from his Air Force days in Taiwan, and his daughter traveled with us and did a lot of the negotiating for us. I learned to say “Hello” and “thank you,” and that, along with hand signs and drawing pictures, got me everything I wanted or needed–I went out shopping by myself a couple of times. In general, people were very nice. We encountered no safety issues. Outside of Beijing, it was fun to have small children point at us in awe!

It was the trip of my lifetime. You should go, Matt. It is awesome. I can even tell you where the best club for rock music in Beijing is; it is called simply “Mao.” Chengdu was fantastic–I would definitely go there again. I posted photos from our trip over at my blog several months ago.

What part is Mrs. Toad visiting?