<-- An accurate recreation of my OPI.
But in all seriousness, I just finished my OPI, and all I have to say for myself is "wow." I knew my Chinese was getting rusty considering I haven't spoken it since August, but I didn't expect my listening comprehension to be as bad as it was. I managed and got through by circumlocution and lying, but I wasn't as fluid with my answers as I was post NSLI-Y, although that's to be expected.
At the beginning of my OPI I explained that I hadn't studied Chinese in a year due to my current school not offering it, so the interviewer asked me where I studied Chinese previously. But here's the thing: I did not hear her say 以前, so I misunderstood her two or three times and kept reiteriting that I do not study Chinese. So, that was fun.
The other minor hiccup I had involved anticipation. The past two OPIs I've done, they've always asked me "what is your favorite movie" because I alway mention that I study film in college. The past two times, I've said Imitation Game because that was the only movie that would come to mind and each time, they ask me to explain it. I never could give a comprehensive description of the movie, which resulted in awkward silences. This time, I was ready. I was going to say my favorite movie is Despicable Me 3 since I saw it in China, and I actually know how to narrate the plot. So, when I mentioned I was in film school, she asked me what classes I was taking. I said: art history, art, film, and English. I was so ready to tell her all about 卑鄙的我三 and how it's the 故事 of a 男人叫 Gru and his 三个女儿 Margo, Edith, and Agnas. He discovers he has a 兄弟叫 Dru that 他的父母没告诉 him about because they are 离婚, yada-yada-yada, but no.
Instead she asks me about what books I am reading in English. Well, jokes on me because we're only reading poems in English, and I forgot the word for poem. So, I had to think of a book, and I guess I took too long to think of one because she ended saying: "你可以告诉我英文名字." Plus one for self-esteem. I ended up saying To Kill a Mockingbird because it's a "classic American novel."
And this is where my hopes and dreams are crushed because she then asks me to explain the plot of To Kill a Mockingbird. I gave a description along the lines of "This is a southern American book. In the south, some people believe that white people are better than black people. The book is about two children and their dad is a lawyer. He helps black people."
She then asks me: "How does he help black people?" And all I can think of is "how do I talk about law in Chinese???" I ended up saying he convinces white people that a black man did not kill (taking a creative license here) a white woman.
I think the one positive I got out of this OPI was making my interviewer laugh. She asked me about the differences between Nanjing and Memphis, so I talked about them both hot in the summer because both cities are in the south of their respective country. I then said that in America we use air conditioning, and in Nanjing, my host mom wouldn't let me set the temperature below 78 degrees. There's a strong chance she was laughing at my "culture shock" but I'll take whatever I can get.
If you wanna see me struggle for 49 seconds, watch the video. (I got tired of doing subtitles. Also, some of the Chinese characters appear as blanks characters, so thanks for that Premiere.)