Chinese 101

Well we have been here 5 weeks and wanted to give you all a Chinese lesson - and also so I can document what I have learned so far and in a year I can come back and compare where I was - naive and with a vocab of less than 20 words. Most of the words I only know "phentically" - not even the pinyan - don't worry I haven't figured out any of the chinese characters...

Ni Hao (knee how) - Hello
Xie Xie (shay shay - you say this one REALLY fast) - Thank you (this is the second phrase I learned - especially "No, xie xie" when asked if I wanted rolex or gucci on the street).
Ni Hao ma? (knee how ma) - How are you?
The most common American response (because most of us think it is funny) is
Ma Ma Hu Hu (ma ma who who) - literal translation is "horse horse tiger tiger" - which means "I'm doing so so." No I haven't figured out what the words are for: "I'm fine" or "I'm not doing so great today"
Zaijian (say jee n - accent on first syllabyl) - Good bye
Yo-gwhy - right
Zo-gwhy - left
Itazo (Eat a zo - long o at end) - straight
Dwey poo chee - I'm sorry (I say this one a lot)
May kwan see - It's okay
Tie gwey la (accent is on the second syllabyl) - It's too expensive (need to know this one before going to the markets!)
Fongzi (like Fonz but with a "ng" at the end and then quick z sound, not "zee")
means "apartment"
Juh lee (soft j, accent first syllabal) - means "here"
Nah lee (accent 1st) - means "there"

Isn't it amazing what you can learn and remember in order for you to get around, albeit not always successfully -

Will and I are going antique shopping this weekend with our new found friends Amy and Josh and I need to go back to getting ready since I have my Tai Tai lunch at "Simply Thai" today - we all thought it was appropriate.