Assignments and a Chinese Girl

This is my first weekend at the new place. I was playing darts in the graduate lounge when a Chinese girl came and asked me "I... I... hav a few quest-uns. Can I ask you?"

Well, normally, if you're spending your first weekend in the US and a girl comes to talk to you in the graduate lounge, you should expect better things to happen soon. But if you're me, be prepared to be bombarded with questions from an assignment you don't remember to have received. And then, you must somehow pretend that you know, for the resputation of a lot of engineers and intellectuals from your country is at stake.

I said "I will surely answer this question, and the others that you have. But first, can you tell me something?"
"Sure", she said.
"When you see a girl and want to tell her she is looking pretty, how do you do that in Chinese?"
"What?"
I repeated my question, with a smile.
"Oh, you just say 'Nee khmm... pyom sham'."

I repeated what she said with a smile, and then again. She said thank you, and never asked me any further questions. :)