When I was in High School , my family sent me to a Missionary School which was considered very prestigeous. the founder was an American who went to China in 1875 and established huis first school. The main courses include English. Therefore, everyone was pretty good with written English although we never had an opportunity to speak it.
My first chance came one Sunday afternoon when I was visiting a cousin. His family rented the second floor from a Mr. Lee who got a master's degree in Chemistry from MIT.
The door bell rang. My cousin's sister look through the peep hole and saw a "white devil". She yelled at me to greet the stranger knowing that I knew more English than she. I realize almost immediately that the stranger must have been an MIT school mate of Mr. Lee who live on the third floor.
When I open the door, the stranger asked, "Is Mr. Lee here?"
As I had NEVER spoken English in my life, I was really nervous. But I had to say something to tell him that Mr. Lee lived on the 3rd. floor. So, I pointed my finger up the stair case and said, "DOWN!"
The American stared at me in puzzlement. so, I repeated myself,
"DOWN!" with my finger still pointing up.
He finally percieved what I was trying to say and said, "Upstairs?"
All I could muster was "yeah, yeah, yeah" and slammed the door shut in embarassment!
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