Lost in Translation

With the school term coming to an end, my son's nursery organized an end-of-year picnic for students to attend with their parents.

My son goes to a local nursery where the medium of instruction is Cantonese, which is hands down, one of the best things he's gained from being in Hong Kong because he now speaks Cantonese with native-level proficiency.

Now, all the school memos are in Cantonese, but the school very kindly gives us translated English memos.

This English memo read: "Since we will do some beach activities on our picnic day, therefore beach wearing is required, like short pants, water shoes or sandals. Please don't forget to bring a spade and container for collecting clams."

Naturally I thought they meant collecting sea-shells, and I got us all suitably prepared for a day out on the beach.

Picnic mat for the sand - check.

Spade and shovel - check.

Toy seashell moulds for building sand castles - check.

Beachwear - check.

Not knowing what water shoes are, we wore flip flops instead.

The day started off bright and early with a 9am meeting time. We boarded by the bus loads and headed off to the Lions Nature Education Centre in Sai Kung. I'm unsure what we were supposed to see at the education centre since we spent all our time running after my son, who was preoccupied with running after his classmates. I think I saw some grapes and local vegetables growing in the fields.

Then it was off for lunch at...drum rolls...a Chinese restaurant! Uh...is it not meant to be a picnic? I had packed turkey sandwiches! Hmm...I didn't think the loss in translation would be on the picnic part.

After lunch, it was announced that we were heading for the beach. We boarded the bus, which drove us another 15 mins or so and dropped us off at a paved road area. We followed the group and walked a short distance till we hit a stream. To cross the stream, we had to walk through ankle-deep water. What we didn't know was that the stream had an extremely rocky bed, with razor sharp rocks. Our flip-flop clad feet were defenseless against these rocks of nature, and we got pretty cut up. Oh water shoes, so this is what you're for! But wait, what are water shoes?!

Once we had crossed the stream and got onto the opposite bank, we had to trudge through thick, sticky mud. My flip flops kept getting stuck in the mud and every time I lifted my feet, my flip flops got left behind in the mud. Having surmounted that, we swished our way through shrubbery and weeds that reached up to our shoulders, before we finally got a good, unobstructed view of the beach.

Only this was no beach. It was all rocks, with not a grain of sand in sight. It felt like a wetlands park, with a rocky shoreline extending all the way into the water. 

They really meant collecting clams!

We gamely dug around for clams of which we found none, and as far as I could tell, neither did the rest of the parent-kid teams. A lot (and I mean a lot) of parents seemed too preoccupied with holding umbrellas over their kids to shade them from the hot mid-day sun. 

We certainly got to experience a part of Hong Kong that we've never been to before, so unexpectedness aside, it was a good day out. 

Adventure - check. 

Comments

[Sylvia]

Oh dear! Hope the cuts aren't too bad. So rain boots become water shoes. I guess you figured that out when you saw the other parents. Next time when you remotely need any help with translation, you know who to call.
If you want to shop for water shoes, take a look at this ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLhjbY0UTwk&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[Kwan]

I have a few questions, please. 1. What happened to the turkey sandwiches?? 2. How how how did Joshua cross the treacherous terrain? 3. Where is Anneliese in all of this? Water shoes are those that you wear before you wear your fins for scuba diving! Oh but it has been too long since you last dived (like me).

[Kenggai]

I, like Rambo, carried Joshua across. We didn't bring Anneliese (smarty pants on our part!), and we wolfed down our sandwiches on the way home (ravenous!). I don't think they meant scuba diving shoes since no one wore those.
And Sylvia, I don't think they meant rain boots either since no one wore those too. Most were in Crocs?!