Saturday, March 22, 2008

"chaina" means "no" in nepali, apparently
subtitle: international who's on first

"Where are you from?" We ask.
"Korea," answers he.
"China?" says the Nepali hostel owner-guy.
"Chaina. Korea," So-and-So responds.
"Wait, you're from China? "
"No, Korea."
"Oh."
"China," says hostel guy again.
"Chaina. Korea."
"Wait. What?" I lean over to Abby. "Seriously where the hell is this guy from?"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Okay, I've been meaning to leave this comment for a while. I have a similar-ish situation to share.
When I was in China, we were ambushed by a group of little girls. We exchanged precious gifts (a Marlboro pen for them, pens for us)
and proceeded to introduce ourselves.
She said "wo jiao (I am) Amina."
I said, "wo jiao Minna." She thinks I do not get it. She repeats, "wo jiao Amina, and gestures to me. We go on like this for a while, until we both realize these are each other's names, not just a repetitious game.

Love, Minna