China Girl

Tonight, as I was waiting for my friend Adam outside his apartment near USC, a young woman approached me and asked, “Do you have a cell phone I could borrow? My friend was supposed to pick me up, and I’ve been waiting for half an hour, and I’d like to call him, but I don’t have my phone with me.” I said, “Sure,” and handed her my phone. She dialed and spoke in Chinese to someone, then handed the phone back to me and said, “Thanks. I got his voicemail.” We chatted a bit, and I learned that she was just finishing up a phD in phonetics and was then planning on going back home to Shanghai. Finally her friend arrived and picked her up. When Adam finally showed up, he said, “Sorry I’m late,” and I said, “No problem. I had a nice chat with a Chinese girl,” and I described how she’d needed a cell phone. Adam said, “Weird. I was standing out here last week and a Chinese girl came up to me and said exactly the same thing.” Just a funny coincidence, I’m sure, but I joked, “Maybe it was the same girl. Maybe this is how she strikes up conversations with guys,” to which Adam replied, “Or maybe this is how she affords phone calls home to China.”