My wife and I were planning to go on holiday to China last year. She had always wanted to visit the Far East and we decided that was the best time. We had been saving money for that trip since our graduation from university. But I wanted to make a surprise to my beloved one. I had been given two large gold bullion bars by my grandma several years before. My wife didn"t know about it. I decided to sell the gold and pay for a course of Chinese. I had to keep it secret of course. She sometimes asked me why I was late home again, and I would tell her that the traffic was really heavy, but in fact I had been returning from a conversation class in Chinese. After several months, I was already able to speak some basic phrases. Two more months and I thought I was really good at basic communication. We went to China in August. My wife"s jaw nearly dropped when she heard me speaking Chinese to a taxi driver. Then I ordered dinner for us in a restaurant. Of course she wanted to know where I learned all this, so I told her about the course. I didn"t mention the gold bullion, of course. She was really impressed with my skills. Now she wants to start learning Chinese herself as soon as we get home! Well, I never thought I would motivate her.