Picture this. There I was, sitting in a Japanese Restaurant in the middle of Beijing with a couple of Chinese friends I had just met. One of my friends, Shonna, is a lady who lives in New York City, speaks excellent English; Mandarin is her native language. The other, Mo, is her brother-in-law, who only speaks Mandarin. Most of the afternoon was spent speaking Mandarin, with Shonna helping me out when I got lost.
Before we ordered our early dinner/late lunch, we talked about everyday stuff; our home towns, high school graduation, college, etc… Then after a couple of beers we started getting hungry and the conversation switched to Japanese food. The word "sushi" baffled us. I asked Shonna how to say “sushi” in Mandarin… she replied with, “Good question, I’m not sure.” We then struggled in English trying to figure out how to say “sushi” in Mandarin. About that time Mo, asked us what we were talking about. We told him and asked if he knew. He was also puzzled…no one at the table knew how to say “sushi” in Mandarin.
About that time, the three of us in unison looked down at the untouched menu right in front of us. It was amazing to see three lights turn on at the same time. We immediately flipped to the “寿司” SUSHI page (pronounced: “shou-si”).
Moral of the story: REMEMBER, no matter where you are in the world, if you forget how to say SUSHI, most Japanese Restaurants will have pictures in their menus.
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