The Frenchie In The Elevator

I've been learning Chinese progressively as I try and establish my life here in Zhengzhou. When I first got here, my vocabulary consisted of only, "Hello," "What," and "Hello, how are you?"

To supplement, one of the first things I learned was the phrase for, "I don't understand." I've used this in basically every occasion you can think of. Now that my understanding of Chinese is getting a little better, I try and use it less, but people talk quickly so I'm subject to what I know.

Today I arrived at my building and ran to the elevator as the doors were slowly closing. Missing the elevator is basically the worst waiting game since everyone ever seems to be leaving or entering the building and it can take awhile for it to go all the way up and down (I've waited 10 minutes to get out of my building before. Why didn't I take the stairs? Because I live on the fourteenth floor and I do that justification thing where I've already been waiting for long enough so I just have to stay.). I reached the button just in time and climbed into the elevator where an older woman walked in after me.

As the doors closed, the woman looked at me and said something quickly. It was only minutes later that I understood it to vaguely mean, "You barely got in," but at the time I had no idea what she meant so I relied on my go to phrase.

"I don't understand."

She looked at me with a rather quizzical look. This phrase can backfire because when you say, "I don't understand." A lot of the time, Chinese take that for meaning you didn't hear or catch the meaning, so they say it again. I also see the irony that I'm saying I don't understand in the language I'm not understanding.

She looked at me and said, "You don't understand..." I looked down at her and smiled, trying to not really engage and just make it to my floor. The elevator bounced and opened up on the fifth floor where two other women hopped along for the ride. The first woman in the elevator turned to the first two and pointed at me,

"He told me he doesn't understand."

"He doesn't understand?" said the other women.

"Yes, he said he doesn't understand, in chinese." said the first woman

The group looked up at me and laughed a bit, repeatedly saying, "He doesn't understand..." followed by a little chuckle. The other two women arrived at their floor and exited the lift which left me and my first companion. We shortly rode to her floor and as the doors were beginning to open, she muttered to herself,"

"Ugh, French."

French? "No," I said in English, "I'm American," I said in Chinese.

She looked me up and down, shook her head, and walked out of the elevator.