Day 1
Brrrrrrrrrrrrr .. it's freezing here in Taipei !!! 9 degrees with a wind that is rattling my teeth. My tooth cavity (my long lost girlfriend) has started to announce 'Hellowww ... I am back !!!" ... I need to buy a jacket. And everything is SO wrong ... the cars are left hand driven .. I ended up opening the wrong door a couple of times. The cars drive in the right side of the road, which to me is the wrong side. I missed a couple of heart beats when I had to cross the roads and saw cars pouring in from the wrong direction. And they have diagonal zebra crossings !! Christ !! Why make life so complicated !!
The babes though are a treat to watch. Roaming around in their tiniest minis with fake fur coats and Ugg boots (who am I to complain)
I am lovin it
Day 2
Communicating in English is a HUGE challenge here .. Last night in the hotel I asked for a coffee .. they called me up 20 mins later and said “Sirrrr … coffee out.” .. I asked “What ? How can you run out of coffee ?” .. He said “Yes yes, out. Coffee out. Standing out of door” …
I sighed and opened the door to find 4 sachets of Nescafe 3-in-1 propped up against the wall.
Day 3
Ordering a coffee (again !!) in Starbucks :
"Can I have a Flat White please ?"
"Flaaahh whaaii ??"
"Uuumm . can I have a Cafe Latter please ? .. With NO foam"
"Aaaah .. Caffe Latte .. Cafe Latte .. with NO foam .. NO foam.." (with a vigorous nod of the head that would make you think the bloke has proved Pythagoras incorrect)
"NO foam"
"Yes, yes, Caffe Latte ... No foam ?"
"Yes, NO foam"
A blank look . ... followed by "You say YES and NO .. I confused"
I started all over again. Ended up getting a Machiato.
So much so for communication skills !!!
Day 4
So I went to buy a dress for the wifey .. ok ? The local girls are SO petite … and this being a highly fashion conscious city, the girls are even thinner … stick thin actually … and its but obvious that the dresses would also be small and smaller .. the typical size that they have is ‘XXXS’, ‘XXS’, XS’, ‘S’, ‘M’ .. that’s IT !!!
So when I asked the girl in the counter for the ‘M’ sized dress .. she broke into peals of laughter and congratulated me … I asked her ‘Why ?’ (and made sure that my facial expression made it clear that I was asking WHY, or else she might not have understood) … she said “Congratuuulatans … Congratuuulatans … you baby …” .. I understood she meant that size “M” signifies that your girl friend / wife is carrying.
I did tell that to the wifey a little while back. She banged the phone down.
Women !! .. Sigh !!
Brrrrrrrrrrrrr .. it's freezing here in Taipei !!! 9 degrees with a wind that is rattling my teeth. My tooth cavity (my long lost girlfriend) has started to announce 'Hellowww ... I am back !!!" ... I need to buy a jacket. And everything is SO wrong ... the cars are left hand driven .. I ended up opening the wrong door a couple of times. The cars drive in the right side of the road, which to me is the wrong side. I missed a couple of heart beats when I had to cross the roads and saw cars pouring in from the wrong direction. And they have diagonal zebra crossings !! Christ !! Why make life so complicated !!
The babes though are a treat to watch. Roaming around in their tiniest minis with fake fur coats and Ugg boots (who am I to complain)
I am lovin it
Day 2
Communicating in English is a HUGE challenge here .. Last night in the hotel I asked for a coffee .. they called me up 20 mins later and said “Sirrrr … coffee out.” .. I asked “What ? How can you run out of coffee ?” .. He said “Yes yes, out. Coffee out. Standing out of door” …
I sighed and opened the door to find 4 sachets of Nescafe 3-in-1 propped up against the wall.
Day 3
Ordering a coffee (again !!) in Starbucks :
"Can I have a Flat White please ?"
"Flaaahh whaaii ??"
"Uuumm . can I have a Cafe Latter please ? .. With NO foam"
"Aaaah .. Caffe Latte .. Cafe Latte .. with NO foam .. NO foam.." (with a vigorous nod of the head that would make you think the bloke has proved Pythagoras incorrect)
"NO foam"
"Yes, yes, Caffe Latte ... No foam ?"
"Yes, NO foam"
A blank look . ... followed by "You say YES and NO .. I confused"
I started all over again. Ended up getting a Machiato.
So much so for communication skills !!!
Day 4
So I went to buy a dress for the wifey .. ok ? The local girls are SO petite … and this being a highly fashion conscious city, the girls are even thinner … stick thin actually … and its but obvious that the dresses would also be small and smaller .. the typical size that they have is ‘XXXS’, ‘XXS’, XS’, ‘S’, ‘M’ .. that’s IT !!!
So when I asked the girl in the counter for the ‘M’ sized dress .. she broke into peals of laughter and congratulated me … I asked her ‘Why ?’ (and made sure that my facial expression made it clear that I was asking WHY, or else she might not have understood) … she said “Congratuuulatans … Congratuuulatans … you baby …” .. I understood she meant that size “M” signifies that your girl friend / wife is carrying.
I did tell that to the wifey a little while back. She banged the phone down.
Women !! .. Sigh !!
