The person who helped me check-in said in perfect Chinese, with a Taiwanese accent,
Are you “X”?
In Chinese, we normally address a person with full name, that means first name + last name, like Bruce Lee. It’s not wrong to say “Bruce”, but it is strange. Calling someone by first name is only between friends in my culture. I was confused.
His accent was pretty good. And how did he know that’s my name? But I think my name is probably the only Chinese name that hasn’t checked in.
“Umm yes.”
I said. Trying to act like it is perfectly normal for a Jew in Jerusalem to speak Chinese.
“Taiwanese?”
He asked in Chinese again. His accent was just like one of us. We skip a syllable when we say “Taiwanese”. It’s too Taiwanese. I cannot believe he has such accent. So I had to ask him,
“Did you study in Taiwan? XX University?”
Then I found out, he had only studied Chinese for a year. How can someone be so smart that he can speak perfect Chinese in just one year? Or what kind of teachers did he have in Taiwan? It’s unbelievable. His Chinese was so good that made me forget that I was in Jerusalem. This conversation brought me back home, to Taipei. And I couldn’t wait to go to 7-11 or night market for a midnight snack….! Oh wait, no, this was still Jerusalem.
“Why did you choose Taiwan?”
“I like Taiwan.”
“Oh. What do you like about Taiwan? Food?”
“Everything! I like everything about Taiwan! I like Taiwan more than Israel!”
And here’s a problem… I think he was not joking. He is serious about how he really likes Taiwan. And there I was, confused again. I don’t know how to process this. Why do you like Taiwan so much? What do you mean by everything?
But I think what I felt was what the manager felt, when he told me “I have never seen a Christian who loves Israel.”
Now I understand why he said it was an honor to meet me, because I honored his people first.
