Lost In Translation
Oh. My. God.
What a day.
I've been having these rapidly cycling phases of slight comfort, deciding to approach the world, getting knocked down in some way (usualy through my own hypersensitivities, I suppose), becoming a teporary recluse, then trying to assimilate again. And so the cycle goes round and round and round. Today, however, was a new day, and I was hoping to wake up to structure and lab work to take my mind off the fact I don't know what I'm doing.
I arrived at the lab at 9 am and waited for Miss Wu to arrive. John had told me to make an appointment with him thorough Miss Wu for sometime that day, presumably to go over what I would be doing for my stay here. Upon Miss Wu's arrival, within a matter of minutes we walked over to Dr. Yu's office, all the while me practicing my Chinese and her complimenting me on it (she must have had a late night last night and can't tell good from bad). I entered John's office (which puts UCSD professor offices to SHAME--no wonder he came back here. It's like a conference room and CEO office all in one.) We sat and chatted a bit about why I'm here and what I could realistically expect to accomplish in a mere ten weeks. He gave me a paper to read and some suggestions on some projects I could jump on, but obviously given the time constraint (and, in my view, my utter lack of experience) of ten weeks, I cannot really launch into anything deep on my own. He said I'm here for more than just lab work and that I should be exploring the country, too. Despite my lack of ability to converse, I can tell everyone in the lab is so nice and so chill. Dr. Yu said the thing about being in a lab is you don't have a rigid time schedule, but that I should just come and go and try to pick things up. I guess this is all an elaborate exercise in weaning me from my excessively structured lifestyle.
After our chat, I read the paper for a bit and then at 11:30 walked over to join a conference/presentation by a Taiwanese professor of Surgery from King's College in London. John and Alice were both there, in addition to two other PIs and other graduate students. He was talking about his work in lung stem cells and experiments with Avian Flu, but...IN CHINESE!!! Some of his powerpoints were in English, which was nice, but I just smiled and nodded, and when other people laughed, so did I. Why? I don't know. They knew I didn't understand, yet I felt compelled anyway. It's a reflex, I guess. Following the presentation, we went to a "Xi Can Guan" (Western-style restaurant) on campus, with the speaker as the main guest, and I saw a fork for the first time since I got here. It's amazing, though, in just a short time a fork almost feels unnatural to me. Who knows how my fingers will react after 10 weeks?
After lunch we went back to the lab and I continued reading the article. When I finished, two of Dr. Yu's students helped demonstrate cell tissue cultures to me (which thankfully I had already done) and cell counting via squares (which I had not done and am still so utterly lost on). But again, along with the theme of the day, this was all in Chinese. I kid you not. This is hard stuff for me IN ENGLISH because of my, how shall we say, diverse and unorthodox background. Throw in some foreign ideas with foreign languages and Jesus Christ. The main guy helping me didn't speak much English (although I think he did a commendable job given the circumstances), and I tried to communicate with my very limited vocabulary and tone-deafness. I admit, the times we did click made me feel freaking awesome, but those were few and far between.
And, of course, the obligatory daily story of cultural hilarity. So shortly after finishing the paper and before commencing work with the graduate students, I really had to pee. I went up to Ping, one of my original contacts, and asked him where the bathroom was (and actually this time I was very conscientious on my tones, so I'm not sure where I went wrong). I repeatedly said, "Ce suo zai na li?" (This is read as "Suh-swoh zai nah lee.") Anyhou, the name of the guy who I was supposed to go to upon finishing the article, from what I picked up, is "Zhuo," pronounced "Jwah." I don't know how or why this presented such a problem, but after asking for the bathroom, Ping brought me to Miss Wu. The three of us stood in the main gathering area, befuddled, and then Miss Wu called for Zhuo. Zhuo, in turn, immediately came out with his broken English to ask if I was ready. At first I panicked, then I just started cracking up because I rapidly realized there was absolutely no dignified way out of this. Three or four times I repeated, "Cesuo, cesuo." (And Miss Wu is looking at me like," Yes, Shannon, that's Zhuo. Very good." And I'm thinking she thinks I'm slow or something.) I finally turn to her and say "Restroom!" Then Ping goes, "Oh! Cesuo!" My response in my head is, "Is that not what I JUST SAID?!?!" Anyway, after much insane laughter on the part of both the asker and askees (and probably anyone who was in hearing range), I made my way to the cesuo and came back, ready to culture some cells and become yet again lost in translation.
What a day.
I've been having these rapidly cycling phases of slight comfort, deciding to approach the world, getting knocked down in some way (usualy through my own hypersensitivities, I suppose), becoming a teporary recluse, then trying to assimilate again. And so the cycle goes round and round and round. Today, however, was a new day, and I was hoping to wake up to structure and lab work to take my mind off the fact I don't know what I'm doing.
I arrived at the lab at 9 am and waited for Miss Wu to arrive. John had told me to make an appointment with him thorough Miss Wu for sometime that day, presumably to go over what I would be doing for my stay here. Upon Miss Wu's arrival, within a matter of minutes we walked over to Dr. Yu's office, all the while me practicing my Chinese and her complimenting me on it (she must have had a late night last night and can't tell good from bad). I entered John's office (which puts UCSD professor offices to SHAME--no wonder he came back here. It's like a conference room and CEO office all in one.) We sat and chatted a bit about why I'm here and what I could realistically expect to accomplish in a mere ten weeks. He gave me a paper to read and some suggestions on some projects I could jump on, but obviously given the time constraint (and, in my view, my utter lack of experience) of ten weeks, I cannot really launch into anything deep on my own. He said I'm here for more than just lab work and that I should be exploring the country, too. Despite my lack of ability to converse, I can tell everyone in the lab is so nice and so chill. Dr. Yu said the thing about being in a lab is you don't have a rigid time schedule, but that I should just come and go and try to pick things up. I guess this is all an elaborate exercise in weaning me from my excessively structured lifestyle.
After our chat, I read the paper for a bit and then at 11:30 walked over to join a conference/presentation by a Taiwanese professor of Surgery from King's College in London. John and Alice were both there, in addition to two other PIs and other graduate students. He was talking about his work in lung stem cells and experiments with Avian Flu, but...IN CHINESE!!! Some of his powerpoints were in English, which was nice, but I just smiled and nodded, and when other people laughed, so did I. Why? I don't know. They knew I didn't understand, yet I felt compelled anyway. It's a reflex, I guess. Following the presentation, we went to a "Xi Can Guan" (Western-style restaurant) on campus, with the speaker as the main guest, and I saw a fork for the first time since I got here. It's amazing, though, in just a short time a fork almost feels unnatural to me. Who knows how my fingers will react after 10 weeks?
After lunch we went back to the lab and I continued reading the article. When I finished, two of Dr. Yu's students helped demonstrate cell tissue cultures to me (which thankfully I had already done) and cell counting via squares (which I had not done and am still so utterly lost on). But again, along with the theme of the day, this was all in Chinese. I kid you not. This is hard stuff for me IN ENGLISH because of my, how shall we say, diverse and unorthodox background. Throw in some foreign ideas with foreign languages and Jesus Christ. The main guy helping me didn't speak much English (although I think he did a commendable job given the circumstances), and I tried to communicate with my very limited vocabulary and tone-deafness. I admit, the times we did click made me feel freaking awesome, but those were few and far between.
And, of course, the obligatory daily story of cultural hilarity. So shortly after finishing the paper and before commencing work with the graduate students, I really had to pee. I went up to Ping, one of my original contacts, and asked him where the bathroom was (and actually this time I was very conscientious on my tones, so I'm not sure where I went wrong). I repeatedly said, "Ce suo zai na li?" (This is read as "Suh-swoh zai nah lee.") Anyhou, the name of the guy who I was supposed to go to upon finishing the article, from what I picked up, is "Zhuo," pronounced "Jwah." I don't know how or why this presented such a problem, but after asking for the bathroom, Ping brought me to Miss Wu. The three of us stood in the main gathering area, befuddled, and then Miss Wu called for Zhuo. Zhuo, in turn, immediately came out with his broken English to ask if I was ready. At first I panicked, then I just started cracking up because I rapidly realized there was absolutely no dignified way out of this. Three or four times I repeated, "Cesuo, cesuo." (And Miss Wu is looking at me like," Yes, Shannon, that's Zhuo. Very good." And I'm thinking she thinks I'm slow or something.) I finally turn to her and say "Restroom!" Then Ping goes, "Oh! Cesuo!" My response in my head is, "Is that not what I JUST SAID?!?!" Anyway, after much insane laughter on the part of both the asker and askees (and probably anyone who was in hearing range), I made my way to the cesuo and came back, ready to culture some cells and become yet again lost in translation.
posted by Shannon @ 4:40 PM
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