Much Ado About 普通话

Yeah-huh. You read right. 普通话。

Today was the official last day of the Pavilion Guides's chinese classes, and we had to put up this semi-major presentation depicting scenarios we would possibly encounter when in Shanghai. In other words, it was a scripted simulation.

The thing is, I generally have no fear when it comes to public speaking, presenting things in public, and heights. This time was totally different though. I thought about a lot of other thing's I would have rather done than perform that skit again. Some of them involved dancing and singing to B.Spears in a bikini, eating grasshoppers (never, ever cockroaches. EVER.), or giving up food altogether that day.

Unfortunately there wasn't really much of a choice in the matter, and while I didn't dazzle the audience with my mandarin skills, I didn't exactly sink the ship either. Though I did forget way too many lines, took too long to remember my lines, and I'm pretty sure I didn't even deliver them in correct, coherent tones. Crap.

Nevertheless, its over and done with. Here's a look at a rough draft of some of our lines. We (me and my partner, Claire) were supposed to talk about the Theme of the pavilion. The suckiest topic of them all.

菲律宾展览馆(zhan3lan3guan3)的主题(zhu3ti2)包括(bao1kuo4)许多(xu3duo1)方面。The Philippine pavilion’s theme has many different aspects.

在内部动感之都和在外面有许多双菲律宾人的手， 代表了有活力的菲律宾城市。Performing cities on the inside and on the outside many pairs of Filipino hands, representing the vigor of Philippine cities.

动感之都表现了城市发展和人类的互动。The performing cities show urban development and mankind’s interaction.

手象征(xiang4zheng1)人类在城市化， 但它也象征关怀(guan1huai2)，工艺(gong1yi4)，和劳动(lao2dong4)。The hands symbolize the human aspect of urbanization, but it also symbolizes care, craftsmanship and labor.

通过展示(zhan3shi4)很多手 还有使改变(gai3bian4)它们的形式(xing2shi4)，菲律宾展览馆(zhanlanguan)也显示（xian3shi4)城市和环境(huan2jing4)之间的相互作用。 By displaying many hands and causing them to transform their shape, the Philippine pavilion also demonstrates the cities and environment’s interaction.