Nightmare

I had a nightmare.  I dreamed I was sitting talking to two Americans in a bar in Shanghai.  I didn’t know them before, but they seemed like typical stupid foreigners in Asia: sent by their companies, big beer bellies, little cute girlfriends, uninterested in the culture, the history and the language …

Then suddenly one of the guy’s mobile phone rang.  He picked it up and answered in very rapid Chinese.  I didn’t understand a word.  What really got me though was that the other guy, listening to the phone conversation, nodded repeatedly and shouted his agreements in what also sounded like perfectly fluent Chinese.

I want to be alone with my adventure.  I don’t want other foreigners to butt in.  I don’t want anyone to speak better Mandarin than me.  This is my Oriental fantasy, OK?