Reminiscing: "I'm Sorry, I can't Speak Chinese"

I was glad that there is a western union service here in China. At first I didn't know the location of the outlet so I had to use bank to bank transfer. The process was a bit complicated for me since there were so many forms that I had to fill in and I had no idea what the information on those forms were since they were all written in Chinese. There was only one teller who could speak English very well and she was busy with other customers and was not too willing to help either. I was a little disappointed since there was no way I could process it on my own. I decided to postponed the transaction and the next day so I went back and asked one of my students to go with me. The charge was about 15USD. But before I could transfer the money to my local bank in the Philippines I had to buy a US currency. I had to fall in line again for more than an hour. That was really a busy day for the bank since there were many people doing business. I then got my money in USD, and now I needed to go to another teller to process the transfer which took almost forever. I was able to successfully transfer the money within 4 hours. The next time I sent money home, I decided to look for a western union outlet since it's faster and a bit cheaper. After class at 11:30 am I took the bus going to the city center in Suzhou. It took about an hour to reach the city. When I got there I went directly to Bank of China to inquire about the service. They told me that they don't have this service in their office and told me to go to Everbright bank. I didn't know where the bank is so I asked the lady to write the address for me. I took a taxi going to Everbright bank, I gave the address to the taxi driver. While driving, he asked something, perhaps verifying the location. I didn't understand so I just said, "I'm sorry I can't speak Chinese." He wrote something, and I said, "I'm sorry I can't read Chinese." He stared at me with disbelief and apparently he was irritated. He stopped driving, handed the paper back to me and motioned for me to open the door. Oh I got that, he didn't want to drive me to the bank because he couldn't understand me or I couldn't understand him. When I was out on the corner of the street, for a few minutes I didn't know what to do. I felt like crying not because, I can't speak Chinese or not because the driver can't speak English. I started walking and looking for some English names of the shops around. I just continued on walking and think of other things that I could do if ever I would not find the bank. I saw a Chinese restaurant so I decided to stop and had my lunch. The waiters say something in Chinese, perhaps it's a greeting. One ushered me to the table and handed the menu. I was still shocked with my previous experience with the taxi driver and didn't think that there would be another one at the restaurant. When I flipped the menu, I immediately searched for some pictures, but unfortunately there was no dish with pictures on the list. I left the table and just looked at their display. I saw some chicken with rice so I ordered that dish without saying anything, but just pointing. It turned out that the dished I ordered was 27RMB and I couldn't even finish half of it. It just didn't appeal to me. Then, a waiter approach and said something, so again I had to say, "I'm sorry I can't speak Chinese." After I said that she went to the other waiters and told them what I said, the group now all stared at me and even the cashier and the chef since there were only few customers in that restaurant. They were staring at me for endless moment and I felt so uncomfortable that I had to leave. I felt lost in the big city with too many people but it seems that no one could understand me. It was already late in the afternoon when I found everbright bank. I arrived there at 4PM. I saw the western union sign inside the bank so I was so happy. I inquired and they really do have the service. I was given a priority number so I waited until they would call it. I remember the number started with 8... because I heard the speaker called (ba...) When it was my turn, the teller asked in Chinese, so as usualy I had to say, "I'm sorry I can't speak Chinese." I told her my needs and she was able to speak English and told me that I need to have a US currency.,I couldn't send the money since they don't have foreign exchange service for foreigners in that bank (I wonder why). I went back to Bank of China to exchange my RMB to USD, good thing they have this service there. It was done quickly. Then I went back to everbright bank, it was already 4:45PM. I took a priority number and waited. The teller looked annoyed and wrote something on a small piece of paper. She called the security and gave the paper to him. I was wondering what was written on that paper. The security approached me and handed the paper. I was totally disappointed with what I saw. Her message says, "Sorry, we can't help you today, time to lock the bank. Come back another day." Oh my! I spent half a day just trying to process this damn whole thing and what I get is just simple I'm sorry! I wouldn't mind if she looked apologetic, but the looked on her face says... "I hope you would never come back and I don't want to assist you." I would never forget that look.