Stop laughing at me, I'm new here

From the desk of Allie (we have a desktop now so its the same desk but I am Allie so that's that)

So we have been establishing our new life in HY for the past week and it has been fun, and more than a little interesting.  What little Chinese I picked up in Beijing flew out the window when we moved to the Hunan Province because they have a very different dialect than standard mandarin.  It's like learning a few phrases in Connecticut and moving to New Orleans.  So things like, 'how much is this' and 'I want egg fried rice'  get me a very confused looks from the person I am talking to.  But the most humbling thing is just how often people laugh at C and I.  I mean not subtle giggling and turning away but all out, almost uncontrollable laughing.  The kind where you tap your friend on the shoulder so they can also share a laugh with you.  So here are some pictures of things we do that made people laugh at us.

Shopping in ANY store

 

It doesn't matter what we are looking at, whenever a sales clerk comes up to us, they typically run away giggling after we say hello.  Or maybe its just our fashion choices?

The post office.  I dunno, you hand me the stamps without a self-adhesive back on them and my first inclination is to lick them.  Fortunately, the lady next to me in line started laughing before I could put them in my mouth and pointed to a tub of glue at the end of the counter.  Yum.

But we did get to send some postcards to our family at home!

This is just the beginning of what I am sure will be a very exciting time of laughter for the people of HY while C and I bumble our way through our new life here.  More examples will follow but for now, Wan an! (that means goodnight [and several other hundred things since there are no tones marked]) I'm learning.