Learning Chinese

We have officially started to learn Chinese. Andy has met with the tutor several times and I met with him for the first time today. Today, I just learned to say the sounds correctly. No words, just saying the sounds. The fun really begins when you add in the 4 different tones. You can say a word how you think is correct, but unless the tone is right you could be saying something else entirely. In English, we use tones to ask a question or to clarify something. Just to give you an example, last night at the restaurant we were trying (unsuccessfully) to order a bottle of water. Andy kept pointing at the kids and saying they were wanted water in Chinese. Well, he thought he was saying they were thirsty for water but because he had the tone wrong, he was saying they were tired. Gracious! No wonder the staff kept looking at us strangely! Finally, in order to show what we wanted, I had to walk to the cooler at the bar and physically show her. When I showed her, she laughed. Now that I know what Andy was saying, I get the joke a day later! So, begins the battle of the Wilcoxen vs. Chinese. I think that we lost this round.