WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, USE BODY LANGUAGE.

We live in a small apartment on the 20th floor of a skyscraper. As far as I know, we're the only non-Chinese in this huge building. This afternoon I knocked at our neighbor's door across the hall. I'd never met them before, but I needed someone to babysit our plants while we're gone for a month to Shanghi, Hong Kong (teachers' conference) and then visit our kids in the USA.

When this Chinese neighbor opened his door, the first thing I asked of course was, "Do you speak ....a ....little...English?" (I think I ask that question more than any other question in China.) He smiled and reluctantly said, "....a little..." Unless a person just outright speaks zero English, 99% of the time they'll say, "Just a little...." That could be anywhere from five words to 5,000 words. In this neighbor's case, it meant about five words.

So, using my most-relied upon form of communication (body language), I introduced myself and asked him if he'd babysit our plants (keep them in his apartment and water them)for the thirty days that we'd be gone to the USA. Now this simple sentence, when spoken in body language, takes considerable time and energy: showing him the plants, getting a pan of water and pouring the right amount on to demonstrate how much they'll need, somehow demonstrating how often that should happen, waving arms and hands to indicate we'd like to bring them into his apartment and that we weren't giving them to him, but only asking him to care for them, pulling out the calendar and pointing to today, and then counting out how many days we'd be gone and the date of our return, all the time, trying to read his face to discern comprehension level and when that confused look comes, re-doing the antics until the broad smile of comprehension unspokenly communicates "I get it, you crazy lady, I get it!"

I suppose I could get a tutor and learn the Chinese language. But I think not. I know the abilities and disabilities of this old brain. I'm here to teach English and I know how far this old girl can be stretched. So while here, my swinging and gesturing arms and hands and posture will have to take the place of my tongue.