Defrosting. Again. I’m so telling.

While on my way to church last Sunday, an old Chinese woman approached me. She thought I spoke Chinese so she asked me in her native tongue (the only giveaway I got was that she’s asking a question because of the word ma (吗) in her sentence). I smiled and gave her my mostly used response, “Wǒ bù huì shuō Zhōngwén (我不会说中文 I cannot speak Chinese).”  It’s a good thing she knows little Yīngwén so we had a little chat. 

“Are you…going…to church,” she asked.

“Yes. Are you also going to church?” 

“Shi.”

“What’s…ah…Zhongwen of church?” I forgot what her answer was, unfortunately. She continued asking, “Nose or Purgatory?”

I got a little scared when I heard the word Purgatory. I thought it was some kind of omen or something. I didn’t want to embarrass her so I asked politely, “What do you mean?”

She repeated the words and I swear, I didn’t hear it wrong. I apologized for not understanding the question and she tried to rephrase it. She’s a very nice lady. “Take care of kids…or…” 

That’s the time I understood her. You see, as bad as it might seem, Filipinos have two common jobs here and I guess these already became stereotypes for all of the Filipinos. It didn’t bother me since that’s the way it really goes. It was a relief though to realize what the old lady meant. Nose is nurse (household help) and purgatory is factory (worker).

“Uh, office.” I politely replied. She nodded and smiled back.

After two months of trial and error, my fángdōng’s fridge is finally working! Whew! I had a hard time deciphering how it works and I admit that it should be easier if I just asked questions. But then again, I’m not the ask-about-the-fridge type of person. Ohwell, I’m so glad it’s now working.

This is crazy! It’s Friday night and I have to defrost fridge again. It got cold for a few days and then I’m back to having no-cold fridge. I’m so frustrated, I’m letting my landlord know about it tomorrow.

I think, I’ll be blogging Buffett for a long time now. I love the old man. Despite his genius and big big bucks, he seems so ordinary — that normal people like me can relate to and learn to love.

Last week, I promised my boyfriend that I’ll be buying newspapers every Sunday to start a new routine of getting out of the apartment. I did after the Sunday mass. And I tried reading it from cover to cover. I don’t know why I haven’t loved the newspaper. I just can’t read everything in it. It requires too much effort on my part. 

I mentioned Buffett because after buying newspapers I decided to go to the local bookstore to just see if I can find some titles that would interest me. Well, the bookstore, Kingstone, mostly has Chinese books in its shelves and I was totally dismayed. That’s a sure sign that I’m getting cable after. But I didn’t want to let this eat me without asking one of its personnel. “You mei you Yingwen books (didn’t know the Chinese of book, sorry). The friendly girl nodded and took me to the corner shelf near the cashier. I felt glad thinking that one shelf is ok with me but no, the English collection was just contained in the two rows of that shelf. Sure there are Kinsella books, but I’m no shopaholic so I won’t enjoy it. I’m also not a vampire so I don’t want New Moon. And then there it was…The Snowball. Warren Buffett had me at the first sight as I saw the thick black book with his grandfatherly smile. It was expensive though, yi qian er bai wu (NT$1250). Not within my monthly budget. Now, call me a rational impulsive buyer. I felt the impulse to buy the book and I quickly rationalized by decision by saying it’s ok, I won’t be getting cable instead. Best deal! I’m loving reading The Snowball!

Busy and lonely are the best adjectives to describe this week. Those words have been a deadly combination for people who work their ass off but have no one to give them a pat on the back at the end of their day. Sniff. Good thing the world now has VOIP but still there’s something so magical in having a familiar face greet you as you arrive home. No words needed. Just a nod or smile is already enough. I guess, the thing with busyness is that you need to be busy until you sleep or else loneliness will prey on whatever is left inside you. Emptiness soon comes after…then suicide (hahaha!) But I’m sure this feeling is just temporary. July 25 is a brand new day for me — don’t ask.

Why the title? I hate turning light switches on and finding no one inside.

安瑞雪

I finally found a great site to help me learn more about my given Chinese name, http://www.nciku.com. It uses the Collins English-Chinese dictionary and I’m so thankful I found it.

Here’s my Chinese name and its meaning.  

安 [ān] – peaceful; at ease; undisturbed; tranquil; calm

瑞 [ruì] – noun good luck

雪 [xuě] – noun snow

If you combine 瑞 and 雪, it means ‘timely fall of snow’.

1) I woke up late and I took the second to the last shuttle ride. I got bitten by the sluggish slug again so I’m back to my usual self. Anyway, in the shuttle, after I had my breakfast on the run, I was only thinking of one thing…Gosh, I miss Manila 7-11’s Big Uhaw.

2) I had a nice small bubble tea latte from…get this…The Tea of Cool…Craving…Content. Seriously. I’m not sure if this is the English translation of its Chinese name or it’s just its sticky tagline. In moments like this, I am reassured that there’s still a huge need for foreign English writers/translators here. Cool.

1) I now have three valid incidences as my proof that I am Silver Surfer. I won’t elaborate…and you won’t make me.

2) There’s too much work today and I missed my free-Starbucks dinner. So instead I had my dinner at 7-11. I wanted to lower my carb intake so I opted some cold salad. It didn’t help at all because I didn’t immediately see that in it are cold pasta and potato salad. I had no choice, carbs for me is like the red and juicy apple Snow White wasn’t able to resist. 

3) I’m getting good at it, no doubt. This morning I tried the squat toilets again and my thighs didn’t ache and there were no spills on my pants. It was horrible the first time I used it. I felt that my limbs were unstretched and the seam part of my jeans spelled squat toilets all over. Now, I effortlessly did it while in high heels. Hahaha!

Seems like I have Traumatophobia (googled it and it meant war phobia). Most people wouldn’t want it either but this morning we were discussing about the regular military drills happening in Taiwan and it really gave me the shiver. Got scared with the thought of preparing for war in case something as big as, let’s say, China plans to invade us. Officemates mentioned that during the drill, everyone is expected to stop and wait for it to end (this is only when you’re in streets when it happened). 

Don’t get me wrong, military drills are not so terrible (we had an actual war in the Philippines). I think it’s one way to get the message acrosss: we don’t want to get bullied. It’s just that I don’t want to be here when it happens. Not when I’m miles away from home. Not when I’m alone. Maybe, that’s all about it. Maybe it’s not traumatophobia after all.