Day in Our Life

Running Buddies and Language Barriers

I run at least once each week with two Chinese friends. Each time, there are funny moments of misunderstanding. The language barrier makes for awkward silences, but they are improving their English while teaching me some new Chinese words. This past week was particularly funny. While waiting for Z* to arrive, Sharon* and I walked around the school track. Suddenly, Sharon was holding her lower abdomen, saying, "How to say...?"  I didn't know what she was talking about, and tried to guess:  abdominals? stomach? small intestines? uterus? bladder? All of these were incorrect guesses, but when the walked by the bathrooms, Sharon ran in, saying "I ate last night, Shao Kao!" Ohhhh. Now I realized the word she was searching for was lower intestines... These delicious barbecue restaurants, known as Shao Kao, cook the skewers of vegetables and meats of your choice, covering them with Sichuan spices that sometimes upset foreigners' stomachs and apparently affect some Chinese people.