Eric's Beijing Diary

Yesterday Piano called and asked if I wanted to go to lunch. I had just heard about a place not to far from here that has an American Breakfast menu, so I asked him if he was interested. "Watashi wa American Breakfast hoshii." Well, that settled it. Piano was very hungry. I think he may have skipped breakfast. As we were walking toward the restaurant, Piano was paging through my dictionary, a going-away present from my Mandarin tutor in Arizona (Thanks, Ina!). He was very interested in the way it was laid out. After going through it for awhile, he looked at me and said, "My stomach is digesting by himself." I said, "Does this mean that you are hungry?" He said, "Yes." I said, "Well, in America, we say, 'My stomach is growling.'"
"Growling?"
"Yes, like a bear."

I think I know, now, why Piano has such a flair for languages. He talks. He doesn't wait until he knows it's right, he just speaks. He is constantly guessing the right way to say things. His English is pretty good, and his Japanese isn't bad either.