language difficulties

ok a funny little anecdote... well i found this funny.

i dont speak chinese!! i know i look it but i just dont.
one of my patients brought his mum and dad in to see me this morning. he explained some stuff and translated some things and then had to go to work and then i was left treating both of them. which was kinda funny cos they dont speak english and i dont speak chinese. i can ask if there is pain and tell ppl to breath in and out (for drop piece) and say sit and stand and that's about it...

so anyway while i was treating the mum, the dad was poking around my shelf - has massage oil, lotion, creams like magnesium, arnica etc that i use, strapping tape etc (you get the idea). anyway... i use massage lotion sometimes cos it's nicer on my hands and doesnt run everywhere like oil. it is a lotion that becomes oily with the heat of the skin.
well the dad must have thought that it was moisturising cream cos he started helping himself... and i was like... errr... i couldnt tell him that it's not so i guess he would have found out when it just became oily on his skin... but i couldnt laugh either and i wanted to so much...

then this arvo one of my interns had a japanese patient... we chatted after and i just kept mixing my vocab up eg tsukate vs tsukute (to use, to make). haha wat a fool i am cos i've just forgotten so much. he must have been walking out laughing.