Cat Got Your Tongue?

I finally got my Canadian Visa approved. My mum and I had to go down to the embassy, as I had to submit my passport. We went there and I was told that it would be ready in an hour. I had the option of waiting for an hour or coming back later at 3.30pm. My mum and I decided to wait...it was only 10.45am. Visa offices are generally boring unless there happens to be a rather dishy looking fellow visa applicant on which you can feast your eyes upon. Unfortunately, it wasn't one of those days.

I was minding my own business...reading the newpaper and it happened to feature an article on beading etc. which was exactly what I was talking about a few days ago. Anyways, I was engrossed in my paper that I didn't bother to look at the person who came and sat down next to my left. Suddenly, I realised that the person came closer towards me and started to whisper in my ear. Startled, I turned and it took me a while to register that she was speaking to me in Mandarin.

She asked me if I could speak any and I told her I could speak a little. Then she started asking me a tirade of questions in very complex Mandarin that I was literally boggled! I had to tell her a couple of times that I had no idea what she was saying to me. Eventually, I realised that she had to be from China as locals usually didn't speak that way. In the end, I told her that my mum could help her but my mum and I weren't seating together. So, when her number was called, she couldn't help but feel flustered.

There was another chinese girl standing by the counter and the lady decided to
approach her. Apparently from the way that I saw the conversation going, she did a much better job of helping her than I did. After exiting the visa office, I saw the same lady again waiting outside. She looked at me and said in Mandarin "Ni pu huay chiang hua yi".

"Hmph...", I thought. At least I did try, and its not everyday you meet people who speak Mandarin who are from China and don't understand Bahasa Malaysia or English. So sue me,I'm a banana.