Ni ming bai le ma?

As a new and confused Laowai (foreigner) not knowing a word of Mandarin, all I could say was 'What the hell are you talking about?'. And I'm sure the feeling was mutual when I responded in English to the Chinese in front of me.
But after all, I was in a country where you can't get past without knowing the local language. And as a newbie to Shanghai I already had plenty on my plate, so didn't want the additional burden of learning a new language. While in the US; when Ram's office offered the distance learning class for Mandarin, though I had the inclination I did not find the time to learn it. However, I guess I did the right thing not wasting time on it. Moreover, I thought I will learn the language by observing and interacting with the local crowd here in China. Not sure what I was thinking about when I assumed that. But after 3 months in this country I realized that there are no shortcuts in learning this language. Because the most important advice I can offer to future Mandarin learners - "do it in person NOT online". Mandarin is one language which is better learned face to face. 'It is' as hard as it sounds and looks, and learning it from a teacher is the only way out. Fortunately, you have teachers here coming to your house to teach you.....now, that's something you call 'outright customized and personal'.
I have been taking classes for the last 3 weeks from my teacher Jenny who comes home twice a week. But learning the language is an overwhelming experience. A character in Chinese can have multiple pronunciation and tones. And every tone associated with a word can have a different meaning. However I cannot give up learning, not because Mandarin is the language of the future but because I got to survive in this country. It is overwhelming and I still walk away with a massive headache and an overload, after every Mandarin lesson, but it's worth the while. After all, I can now go out shopping, bargain and get things I want. I now understand at least partially what my Ayi (maid) and Si Ji (Driver) are trying to tell me. In fact I have been attempting to talk to my Ayi and Driver in Mandarin now and have been successful in making them understand what I want. They do have a smile on their face when I say something in Mandarin though. Not sure if that smile means they appreciate the fact that I'm putting efforts in learning the language or if I'm probably sounding stupid with an accent that is not Chinese ;-). Now when someone says 'Ni ming bai le ma'? (Do you understand) I can hope to say 'Wo ming bai le' (I understand).
Isn't that wonderful, because now I am one of them :).