Still don't know Mandarin Chinese

I ate dinner the other night with a friend of mine and her mother who speaks no english at all.  Not only was I not familiar with her mother's accent, I realized how difficult it is for me to have a normal speed conversation about subjects I'm not used to discussing.  Needless to say, the daughter translated a lot. (Sometimes she could just use simpler vocabulary but sometimes she had to speak english to me.) It was humbling, but then again everything here seems to be humbling. 
 
We go to Hong Kong this weekend!