Redefining 成功

This afternoon I went on a quest for a voltage converter (transformer) - something that could help me power up a small stereo system that normally uses 120V in our home here, where everything (in this country) is 220V.

So, I rode a bus for about an hour, to get into the part of the city where they sell stereos and computers and electronics. Then I shopped around and searched for about an hour. Then I got on a bus for another hour to return home. And I came home... empty-handed.

成功 (chéng gōng = success)? Totally. Really? Successful? How so?

Because, even though none of the shops I visited actually had a step-down voltage transformer, it was satisfying enough for me that at least they knew (meaning, understood) what I was talking about when I was trying out my Chinese.

I would ask for a 电压转换器 (diàn yā zhuàn huàn qì = voltage converter). This was the key pre-trip term to learn for today. And they would reply to me (in Chinese), "Oh, what do you need that for?" I would tell them that I have a 电器 (diàn qì = electronics appliance) that runs on 120 电压 (diàn yā literally means "electricity pressure"... voltage) but now I need to use it on 220 电压. Then they would say, "Ohh... we don't have that."

And I would walk away from the store saying to myself, "Yes! They understand me! 成功!" Even though I came home empty-handed, I still feel like I came home successful. So, I have redefined what it means to have 成功 when running an errand. If the language interaction during an errand actually helps to facilitate the errand and doesn't impede it, then I will consider that 成功. As long as it's not a language issue that is the barrier to completing an errand, then I will consider that 成功. Actually completing the errand? That's just frosting.