你好北京 (Ni hao Beijing)!

Waiting at the airport to be picked up, it finally happened. I had my first Chinese conversation.

I'm finding so far that Chinese people are incredibly kind, like the old man who stowed away my carry-on for me,  the stewardess (from a different airline) who went out of her way to try to help me find mine, or the subsequent people I've had to stop for directions. They didn't actually know a lot of English, but have patiently tried to help me as best they can. In fact, my conversation partner didn't speak English at all. He was maybe older than my father, and had to plug in his phone behind my chair. I was on my laptop, surrounded by my mountain of luggage, and he decided to strike up a conversation. With my very limited Chinese, I was able to convey to him that I was a Vietnamese American going to study at BFSU. I think we finally came to the conclusion that I'm a foreign exchange student coming here after two years of study at college. Unless he thinks that I'll be studying here for two years. It was something about two years.

I think he also said that I look Chinese, not Vietnamese, and proceeded to give me a "pretty" Chinese name: "xiao," meaning short, and a second part I didn't quite catch, but it sounded something like xi. He said it was because Americans are tall, and I must be very short compared to them. He asked me if I liked Chinese people or Americans, and laughed when I said both, saying that I must like Americans better. He proceeded to explain why, but I didn't understand any of it. When his female companion finally arrived, he introduced me as "mei mei," or "little sister" before smiling and saying "bai bai!" as he walked away. Needless to say, I'm feeling a little proud of myself.

Maybe in four months, I'll see him here again and we can discuss the current political climate in China and our favorite modern Chinese literary works.