Upstairs downstairs
“For casual everyday use, set the kitchen table for our family without the name cards or silverware. Use only one glass”. “During the party, please stay in the kitchen”. “I will give you a shopping list each day and you should buy the items on your way to work the next morning”. “If you have extra time, you must tell me as I may have extra tasks for you”.
These are all phrases in a book I was reading over the weekend. No, not some 19th century guide on giving instructions to the under parlour maid, but an Ayi Survival Guide, written just last year by two American expats living in Shanghai. It’s basically a phrase book, but filled with phrases apparently useful for communicating with an Ayi. Traditional phrase books are good, but knowing how to say “I would like two return tickets on the soft coach to Beijing” is not much use when you need to tell the Ayi to stop cooking the rice with tap water. I had heard about this book, and had been looking for a copy for a while. Admittedly, it had seemed more urgent with the previous Ayi, as I’d hoped it would contain the Chinese for “Please stop scrubbing coloured items of clothing with bleach and wire wool”, but Joanne the new Ayi doesn’t seem to massacre the laundry with such depressing regularity. Nevertheless, as soon as I saw it, I bought it without even reading any of the contents.
I soon discovered that as an added bonus, it also contains a section on giving instructions to the driver. This includes such gems as “I will let you know when it is a good time to eat your meal”, “I will always tell you when you can go home for the day. Do not ask when you can go unless you have a problem and need to go”, “Never use the horn, use the brake instead”, “and “Do not leave for lunch from my driveway without asking if the timing is good for me to be without my vehicle”.
It is quite an eye-opener to discover that phrases like this are in everyday use between ex-pats and their Ayis and drivers. I am teaching our new Ayi to speak English. The look of horror on the landlady’s face when she saw this spoke volumes – she clearly thinks that the Ayi’s time would be better spent blackening the grate, and that it’s entirely inappropriate for me to be giving the hired help free lessons. Class discrimination is alive and well here in Shanghai.
Probably as a result of us treating Charley the driver and Joanne the Ayi as people and not slaves, Charley invited us for lunch at his house last Sunday. We met his wife and son, and his wife made a Chinese banquet for us. I am positive he does not normally invite his employers for meals in his home with his family. And at this very moment, he is downstairs playing Monopoly (on the Shanghai Monopoly Board that J and I made as part of her project on Shanghai) with J – an excellent way for her to practice Mandarin, and judging by the hysterical laughter, more fun for him than sitting in the driveway.
These are all phrases in a book I was reading over the weekend. No, not some 19th century guide on giving instructions to the under parlour maid, but an Ayi Survival Guide, written just last year by two American expats living in Shanghai. It’s basically a phrase book, but filled with phrases apparently useful for communicating with an Ayi. Traditional phrase books are good, but knowing how to say “I would like two return tickets on the soft coach to Beijing” is not much use when you need to tell the Ayi to stop cooking the rice with tap water. I had heard about this book, and had been looking for a copy for a while. Admittedly, it had seemed more urgent with the previous Ayi, as I’d hoped it would contain the Chinese for “Please stop scrubbing coloured items of clothing with bleach and wire wool”, but Joanne the new Ayi doesn’t seem to massacre the laundry with such depressing regularity. Nevertheless, as soon as I saw it, I bought it without even reading any of the contents.
I soon discovered that as an added bonus, it also contains a section on giving instructions to the driver. This includes such gems as “I will let you know when it is a good time to eat your meal”, “I will always tell you when you can go home for the day. Do not ask when you can go unless you have a problem and need to go”, “Never use the horn, use the brake instead”, “and “Do not leave for lunch from my driveway without asking if the timing is good for me to be without my vehicle”.
It is quite an eye-opener to discover that phrases like this are in everyday use between ex-pats and their Ayis and drivers. I am teaching our new Ayi to speak English. The look of horror on the landlady’s face when she saw this spoke volumes – she clearly thinks that the Ayi’s time would be better spent blackening the grate, and that it’s entirely inappropriate for me to be giving the hired help free lessons. Class discrimination is alive and well here in Shanghai.
Probably as a result of us treating Charley the driver and Joanne the Ayi as people and not slaves, Charley invited us for lunch at his house last Sunday. We met his wife and son, and his wife made a Chinese banquet for us. I am positive he does not normally invite his employers for meals in his home with his family. And at this very moment, he is downstairs playing Monopoly (on the Shanghai Monopoly Board that J and I made as part of her project on Shanghai) with J – an excellent way for her to practice Mandarin, and judging by the hysterical laughter, more fun for him than sitting in the driveway.
posted by Linda at 12:34 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home