Chinese whisper

Living in any city in China, the first thing you'd notice is how handicapped you can be if you can't speak the language.

Reading my previous posts, you'd have noticed how excited I used to get speaking Chinese with the local grocery guy or the cab driver. After 3 long years in the Jing...I've noticed that I don't have as much fun communicating in Chinese as I used to when I first began.

It's probably because it's just the same conversation with everyone over and over again, and you've come to a stage where you don't want to practice "Ni shi na guojia de" translating to Where are you from....and then the usual conversation begins...
The local people are very kind and encouraging...Just say "Nihao" and they say "Oh! you're Chinese is very good..." with a very warm smile.
Abhilash doesn't speak much Chinese, and if someone's asking him something, he just turns and looks at me to help.
I start speaking in Chinese and they realise my Chinese is far better than his and just assumes I can completely comprehend what they say when they speak as fast as they can and in long sentences and I am completely lost, while trying to translate continuously in my head!
It's stressful...

Another reason is probably because in the beginning we like to show off and let everyone know we can speak Chinese...and as we learn more, we realise we're gramatically wrong and what we said doesn't make any sense. Like the other day we went to a restuarant and we were asked to wait for tables and I asked the fuwuyuan is there a possibility of any one will ".....Xia chi?" which ofcourse I meant will finish eating soon...(we say xia ban for finishing work) and then she looked at me and I immediately corrected myself.

I've forgotten a lot of words I learnt in the beginning...like names of fruits or vegetables and  simple words I don't use so often.
I never remember the tones of any of the words and the classic example I share with everyone is how I get cigarrettes when I ask for salt. Both sound the same "yan" but have different tones ofcourse!

Being used to listening to so much Chinese around you , and constantly trying to think in Chinese and speak in Chinese...when I go back to India for a holiday I notice that Chinese words like "duo shao qian" (how much does this cost) or "xie xie" (thank you) are the first that come to mind.

I still attend classes once a week and I've completed my Elementary course book...still a long way to go ofcourse...
...But I wonder how long I'll continue before I give up completely!