My aunt invited me to lunch with two of her coworkers. When my aunt invited her coworkers, one of them said, "How can I talk with your niece? I don't speak English." And then I thought my aunt explained that I was learning Chinese, but I guess my aunt's coworker didn't fully absorb that information. When we met, I just said polite hellos, and she looked at my aunt and asked, "How is she speaking Chinese? I thought she grew up in America her whole life." My aunt explained that Chinese was my second language. 

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Then we were we eating lunch, I said something like, "My mom doesn't want to send my brother to East China Normal University because it's is a bit messy. My mom wants my brother to go to Fu Dan University. Indeed, my school is messy. However, I like the cafeteria. Moreover, it's close to my cousin's house. Therefore, I like East China Normal University." And then my aunt's coworker was amazed. "Wow, you can even say words like 'moreover' and 'therefore'! Your Chinese is pretty good. You even pay attention to the intonation of the language."

 

My guess is that she's never really had contact with a Chinese American before. I learned "therefore" probably when I was in elementary school and I learned "moreover" last year, which is definitely not impressive. But she intended it as a complement and I appreciated the sentiment. She was adorable.

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我姨妈请了我跟她和她两个同事吃一顿午饭。后来姨妈告诉我在她请她同事的时候，其中一个同事问她：“我怎么跟你姨侄女讲讲话呢？我又不会英语。“ 我相信我姨妈告诉她我现在在学中文，但是她的同事好像还是没搞清楚我是可以讲一点中文的。因此当我跟她打招呼的时候，她看着我姨妈，问道，”她怎么能说中文呢？我以为她是一直在美国长大的。” 我的姨妈说中文是我第二种语言。

我们吃饭的时候，我说：“我妈妈不太愿意把我哥哥送到华师大，因为华师大乱得很。她要我哥哥去复旦大学。华师大确实有点乱，但是我很喜欢华师大的食堂。而且，离我表哥家很近。所以我很喜欢华师大。” 然后那个阿姨很惊讶。“哇！你还能说 ‘而且’ 和 ‘所以’。你的中文挺好。你还会注意四声。” 

我猜想他有可能从未有机会碰到美国的华裔。我大概是在上小学的时候学会 ‘所以’，不过‘而且’ 是去年才学会的。虽然这么晚才学会 ‘而且’ 没有那么了不起。但是她对我的表扬我还是很感谢。这个阿姨特别可爱。