My first Mandarin conversation!

So there I was, in Din Tai Fung, a restaurant that blasts the neighborhood and foreign press papers with ads touting "Ten Best in the World, New York Times." It fails to mention that this review was actually in 1992, and was only a tiny blurb mentioning top 10 places in China. Such is the power of marketing. Of course, the food was very much out of step with their bluster.

In any case, Joanna asked me in Mandarin, so what did my mother say to you on the phone?

And I replied, very proudly, with superlative diction and elocution, "um mom say tomorrow moon late earth maybe join chow um yes?" (loosely translated)

And she replied, OK, sure, let's all have dinner together. Anything else?

Wiping the sweat off my brow: "uh horse dung yang yang new year apple ma?"

Hm, she said, are you sure?

"Absolutely, my dear."

And there you have it! My first semi-intelligent conversation in my new language. Some parts may be dramatized, please do not try this at home. But the reality of the actual "conversation", albeit a few seconds long, conveyed just enough information to actually be useful. What a great feeling! In a new tongue -- which I had never pictured learning while growing up -- suddenly I had conveyed a thought to another human.

And now, just a week later, street signs and characters off books and billboards, are suddenly not just a work of art for college dorm walls. I recognize a few dozen already. It's a liberating discovery...