[continued from yesterday's post; series started 07/05]
So there we have it, and there I've stayed. For more than 25 years I've used only the Chinese acquired from the initial push to learn the language. It was enough to impress and amuse, but not enough to be really conversant or fluent. I was pretty much satisfied that I knew enough for the time being, and didn't really have a desire to go any further with it. On one occasion, however, during another visit to Taiwan, I was encouraged that the level on which I chose to stay might not be permanent.
It happened that my brother-in-law - the one who owned the proverbial Chinese laundry establishment - took a half day off in order to show me a huge park situated within the Taipei city limits. Chenjean had something else going on, so my "Cleaner Brother" - as he came to be called - and I piled into his small sedan and drove almost an hour to our destination. The pictures of that trip were posted in March of 2010, one of my favorites of which is here.
This was an unusual situation, as I'd never been left without a translator before in Taiwan, and Cleaner Brother knew only about ten words in English. To his credit, knowing that my Chinese was much more advanced than his English, while we were in the car he did what he could to help me expand my capabilities. And to my delight I was able to make myself understood and, thanks to his patience, held my own in conversation for almost the entire hour that we were on the road to the park. In fact I felt the gears of learning start to turn in my head, just like it was after I'd moved to Mexico. Very encouraging.
But alas, it was only for half a day, and the progress was pretty much erased by the time the visit was over. So again, there I've stayed.
Until very recently, that is...
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