Score!!

This will be a very short entry as I'm flying to Hong Kong in just a few hours. Anyway, tonight, the taxi driver asked me where my accent was from. I replied, "From Taiwan," as it's well known here not to distinguish yourself as an American for fear that others will think you're very wealthy -- and therefore -- try to rip you off in some way. He replied, "I see." Then, later, after other casual conversation, he remarked, "You know, your Putonghua [standard form of Mandarin Chinese, based on the Beijing dialect] is very good for a Taiwanese!" To this, I smiled and laughed it away. But, inside, I was secretly very happy as 1) my Chinese passed for a native Taiwanese speaker, and 2) this is the 2nd taxi driver in recent days that has said this! And, Beijing taxi drivers are notorious for being very difficult to communicate with since they have a very heavy Beijing accent. So, hooray!! I'm making it a long-term goal of mine to keep up my Putonghua even when I get back to the States...even though things will be vastly different there, as here in Beijing, I spend about 90-95% of my time at work speaking in Mandarin.

Anyway, time for a few hours of sleep before it's time to head off to the airport... eating, shopping, sightseeing -- here I come!!!