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CHINESE | FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING
My Most Embarrassing Language Mistake to Date
How a casual chat during my illegal visit to a Chinese Air Force facility quickly took a strange turn
Her large, deer-like eyes staring at me and her hand covering her wide-open mouth — an image I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life.
On that narrow sofa, in a small apartment at a Chinese Air Force facility, I experienced the longest awkward silence to date. Oh boy… What did I just say? I thought as the appalled faces of my hosts made me wish for the ground to swallow me up right then and there.
I don’t know what’s weirder about this story — the fact that I was smuggled into an air force facility in China; that my host mom, Mrs. Zhang, sent me there to be treated with traditional Chinese medicine; or that I accidentally told my unassuming hosts my views on — I’m ashamed to admit — suicide by hanging.
Earlier that day…
Hours before my fatal language error, I had no idea what awaited me. It was one of those days where you’d rather stay in bed — safe under the warm covers. Rain was drizzling down steadily — dripping almost as steadily as my runny nose.
