While on my way to church last Sunday, an old Chinese woman approached me. She thought I spoke Chinese so she asked me in her native tongue (the only giveaway I got was that she’s asking a question because of the word ma (吗) in her sentence). I smiled and gave her my mostly used response, “Wǒ bù huì shuō Zhōngwén (我不会说中文 I cannot speak Chinese).” It’s a good thing she knows little Yīngwén so we had a little chat.
“Are you…going…to church,” she asked.
“Yes. Are you also going to church?”
“Shi.”
“What’s…ah…Zhongwen of church?” I forgot what her answer was, unfortunately. She continued asking, “Nose or Purgatory?”
I got a little scared when I heard the word Purgatory. I thought it was some kind of omen or something. I didn’t want to embarrass her so I asked politely, “What do you mean?”
She repeated the words and I swear, I didn’t hear it wrong. I apologized for not understanding the question and she tried to rephrase it. She’s a very nice lady. “Take care of kids…or…”
That’s the time I understood her. You see, as bad as it might seem, Filipinos have two common jobs here and I guess these already became stereotypes for all of the Filipinos. It didn’t bother me since that’s the way it really goes. It was a relief though to realize what the old lady meant. Nose is nurse (household help) and purgatory is factory (worker).
“Uh, office.” I politely replied. She nodded and smiled back.
