Tart Beginnings.

I came across this short piece in one of my many, scattered scraps of writing. It brought me back to my first few months of living in Hong Kong and trying to learn Cantonese. I was living in a small but peaceful flat by the shoe-beater's bridge. I remember those days with fondness (how gung ho and hardworking I was) and relief (I'm so glad I know those things now). I'm sure in four more years I will have similar feelings about now.

My ongoing struggle with the egg-tart lady was a common one for me. How can I learn Cantonese when it seemed like a good portion of the population wanted to speak to me in English? Or didn't have patience with beginners? Or just couldn't understand me? This piece brought me back into the midst of that dilemma.

On the way home from Wellcome I decided to buy an egg tart to tide me over until I finished making my soup, which would take at least two hours to boil. There was a place that I’d seen selling egg tarts only a few shops down from the supermarket so I thought I’d try it. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any egg tarts in their outdoor display case. "有冇蛋撻? Jau5 mou5 daan6 taat1?" I asked her. She just shook her head. "冇啦 Mou5 la3." Don’t have. Disappointed, I resolved to try the grumpy egg lady. Her face had a permanently sour expression, as if wanting to scare off any potential customers. She usually barked at me in English whenever I ordered in Canto, which I continued to do. Just last week I had practiced the phrase at language exchange, and a friend corrected my tones. So hopefully this would be the week. I crossed under the bridge to her outdoor spot in front of a chaa chaan teng. Unusually, there was a crowd around her bakery cart, a group of middle ladies dressed in gawdy clothing, all clutching Coach shopping bags and swarming around the cart in no conceivable order. I tried to find the end of the line to wait, but they were continually moving, bumping into each other, yelling something at the lady, inspecting the way she placed the buns into plastic bags. The lady in front of me was spewing egg tart crumbs and kept backing into me. Tourists. I grumbled under my breath, then grinned, realizing I was sounding more and more like my local friends. When the last lady was served, I pressed up against the cart, sure I would be next. Grumpy Egg Tart Lady turned her back to me, counting change into cups. I waited. And waited. I was just considering yelling out a reminder m goi when a thin local lady dressed in an over-sized army jacket zipped in front of me.  Magically, Grumpy Egg Tart Lady turned to help her with her large takeaway order. “Come on,” I grumbled in my head, “I just want one. Just one measly egg tart. Is that too much too ask?” Apparently it was. Finally, after more waiting, I just yelled out my order. "唔該, 一個蛋撻. M6 goi1, jat1 go3 daan6 taat1.”  A grizzled old man had just ducked out of the building carrying a tray of steaming egg tarts, still swollen from the oven. He grinned at me. “Very good.” The lady was not impressed. With a scowl she yanked an egg tart from the case plunked it into a plastic bag. Snatching my coin, she turned her back again. With my prize in hand, I made my escape. Grumpy Egg Tart Lady may have ignored me, but in the end she did give me an egg tart. Success.

My egg tart triumph was just one of many victories, although I have had equally as many failures and disappointments. Ok, who I am I kidding? I have probably had even more failures and disappointments learning this crazy but incredibly fun language as well as learning about the people and culture in Hong Kong.

As anyone knows who embarks on learning a language, it is a not a fun stroll in the park but a journey through rugged terrain, meadows, cliffs, and bogs. It took me many tarts to learn to successfully use Cantonese to order one, and I know it will take a mountain more before I can be really fluent and comfortable with the language and culture.

In this blog I want to my experiences in Hong Kong, things I have learned about culture and food, interactions with people and, of course, my quest to master Cantonese! I will not necessarily be posting chronologically. Since I have already been living in Hong Kong for almost five years, some of my posts will be throwbacks to things I learned or experienced in the past. No matter if you're interested in Hong Kong as a city or Chinese culture or the Cantonese language, I hope there is something here for you. Please join me as I continue on my journey of a thousand egg tarts.