Jump to content
  • entries
    593
  • comments
    68
  • views
    21188

1st Entry From My New Location


breakofdawning

1367 views

 Share

It has been over 2 months since I arrived in the Western World. I am still struggling to find a job and getting used to a lot of the Western ways, especially food. I seriously miss all the good food in Thailand!

I have been meaning to start writing again after such a long pause. But I have been so sidetrack and wasted my time on so many things. I miss writing and I have been missing out on documenting various things in my life in the meantime. I had quite an interesting day today, so I might as well get back to writing again.

Let me go back a few days earlier, I saw the first snow of this winter in this area. Yesterday, my husband and I attempted to make a snowman but the snow was too fine and there was not enough snow. So we ended up having a brief snowball fight instead. It was fun, and we had a good laugh together. :D

It was the coldest night so far this winter last night. Although there was no snow, with such low temperature, ice was everywhere. Having to get some photos printed, I traveled to town and took a few photos along the way. When you have a mission in mind, it is amazing how you notice so many things you never would have noticed of before. I was looking at all the small things along the way and took quite a few interesting photos.

Before the journey began, I stopped by at a small post office to send two cards one locally and one to Japan. Then I got the on the bus, and asked for a day ticket. The bus driver instantly assumed that I wouldn't understand what she said, and spoke with a slower pace than usual. I couldn't help but noticed a change in her tone, when speaking to me in comparison to other passengers, the first bad incident of the day. Yet at the same time, I found something interesting on the bus. The bus driver didn't have enough change to give me, so she gave me a "Change Voucher" that I could give to the next bus driver I caught and I could get my change from. Pretty cool system.

After arriving in town, I headed immediately to the photo shop. The guy who served me got a bit of an attitude. I was trying to explain to him that I want a "Wallet Photo", the term I found out later when I got home today. Instead of listening to my explanation, he spoke quite abruptly that he didn't understand what I was talking about. Not saying that he wasn't sure that such product was available, but he did not understand "me". He was quite an a$$hole in my opinion. :evil: That was the second bad incident of the day.

I had to wait around an hour for the photos to be printed, so I went to Starbucks for a hot drink to warm me up. Since this country doesn't have my favorite drinks available like other countries around the world, I settled for one drink menu through out the past two plus months, Tall Signature Hot Chocolate. The guy rang the cash register and told me the cost of the drink, which was more expensive than usual, but I only realized that 30 seconds later. I rechecked the price on the menu, and asked the lady who handed me the drink to recheck again, she confirmed that I was overcharged.

She, then, called out to the guy, Andy, and informed him that he overcharged me. He insisted that he was right, while I insisted that it was more than I usual paid. His reaction was "Don't worry, I'll sort it out for ya.", then picked up the difference from the "tip box". He did not even bother rechecking the correct price, he simply just gave me the difference with an attitude, so he could get rid of me. I cannot believe this is a standard of customer service in the first world country. There go the third bad incident of the day.

I went back to the photo shop, luckily the a$$hole wasn't there. The other staff was so polite and friendly. He tried to make small talk but he was speaking so softly that I couldn't catch his questions or took a while to process what he was saying. All my replied to him was "Thank you" and 5-10 seconds too late. :oops: I hope next time I go there, he'd be the one serving me!

It was not such a successful day out, so I decided to take a bus back home. Being Asian, I got to sit by myself most of the journey, since no one seemed to want to sit next to me unless it was the last seat available. Fine by me though. :D The whole journey was alright, no traffic and I got the seat to myself, up until about 5 mins to my destination. More than 10 kids got on the bus and made a hell of a noise, shouting and screaming, seriously no manner nor consideration towards others. I think kids in Thailand are way more civilized, and definitely have much better manner. I am not sure if I should also count this in as another bad incident of the day. :confused:

While walking home, I took a photo of the park near the house, which turned out quite pretty. There was also some frost on the plants in front of the house that I did not notice on the way out. They also came out nice in the photos. At least the journey ended with a positive note. :D

I guess that concludes my day out today and this entry. I intend to do this more often, while I am still out of job. I need my writing skills back!

Good night from this side of the world, all. Thanks for reading. :)

 Share

0 Comments


Recommended Comments

It has been over 2 months since I arrived in the Western World. I am still struggling to find a job and getting used to a lot of the Western ways, especially food. I seriously miss all the good food in Thailand!

I have been meaning to start writing again after such a long pause. But I have been so sidetrack and wasted my time on so many things. I miss writing and I have been missing out on documenting various things in my life in the meantime. I had quite an interesting day today, so I might as well get back to writing again.

Let me go back a few days earlier, I saw the first snow of this winter in this area. Yesterday, my husband and I attempted to make a snowman but the snow was too fine and there was not enough snow. So we ended up having a brief snowball fight instead. It was fun, and we had a good laugh together. :D

It was the coldest night so far this winter last night. Although there was no snow, with such low temperature, ice was everywhere. Having to get some photos printed, I traveled to town and took a few photos along the way. When you have a mission in mind, it is amazing how you notice so many things you never would have noticed of before. I was looking at all the small things along the way and took quite a few interesting photos.

Before the journey began, I stopped by at a small post office to send two cards one locally and one to Japan. Then I got the on the bus, and asked for a day ticket. The bus driver instantly assumed that I wouldn't understand what she said, and spoke with a slower pace than usual. I couldn't help but noticed a change in her tone, when speaking to me in comparison to other passengers, the first bad incident of the day. Yet at the same time, I found something interesting on the bus. The bus driver didn't have enough change to give me, so she gave me a "Change Voucher" that I could give to the next bus driver I caught and I could get my change from. Pretty cool system.

After arriving in town, I headed immediately to the photo shop. The guy who served me got a bit of an attitude. I was trying to explain to him that I want a "Wallet Photo", the term I found out later when I got home today. Instead of listening to my explanation, he spoke quite abruptly that he didn't understand what I was talking about. Not saying that he wasn't sure that such product was available, but he did not understand "me". He was quite an a$$hole in my opinion. :evil: That was the second bad incident of the day.

I had to wait around an hour for the photos to be printed, so I went to Starbucks for a hot drink to warm me up. Since this country doesn't have my favorite drinks available like other countries around the world, I settled for one drink menu through out the past two plus months, Tall Signature Hot Chocolate. The guy rang the cash register and told me the cost of the drink, which was more expensive than usual, but I only realized that 30 seconds later. I rechecked the price on the menu, and asked the lady who handed me the drink to recheck again, she confirmed that I was overcharged.

She, then, called out to the guy, Andy, and informed him that he overcharged me. He insisted that he was right, while I insisted that it was more than I usual paid. His reaction was "Don't worry, I'll sort it out for ya.", then picked up the difference from the "tip box". He did not even bother rechecking the correct price, he simply just gave me the difference with an attitude, so he could get rid of me. I cannot believe this is a standard of customer service in the first world country. There go the third bad incident of the day.

I went back to the photo shop, luckily the a$$hole wasn't there. The other staff was so polite and friendly. He tried to make small talk but he was speaking so softly that I couldn't catch his questions or took a while to process what he was saying. All my replied to him was "Thank you" and 5-10 seconds too late. :oops: I hope next time I go there, he'd be the one serving me!

It was not such a successful day out, so I decided to take a bus back home. Being Asian, I got to sit by myself most of the journey, since no one seemed to want to sit next to me unless it was the last seat available. Fine by me though. :D The whole journey was alright, no traffic and I got the seat to myself, up until about 5 mins to my destination. More than 10 kids got on the bus and made a hell of a noise, shouting and screaming, seriously no manner nor consideration towards others. I think kids in Thailand are way more civilized, and definitely have much better manner. I am not sure if I should also count this in as another bad incident of the day. :confused:

While walking home, I took a photo of the park near the house, which turned out quite pretty. There was also some frost on the plants in front of the house that I did not notice on the way out. They also came out nice in the photos. At least the journey ended with a positive note. :D

I guess that concludes my day out today and this entry. I intend to do this more often, while I am still out of job. I need my writing skills back!

Good night from this side of the world, all. Thanks for reading. :)

Link to comment

<The bus driver instantly assumed that I wouldn't understand what she said, and spoke with a slower pace than usual> - In my opinion, this is not a bad experience, because most people in the Western World would consider it polite to speak more clearly and a bit slower than usual when speaking to someone who has another mother tongue because they can understand better.

Link to comment

sound like you are dealing with the bloody British - Shannon. A few more bad experiences and I would guess -- French!

Great to have your crisp and clear Blogs back on this cold winter's night!

Link to comment

It's nice to see your blog again.

I know what you mean about assholes vs. nice people in America. Some of it really is people being assholes, and some of it comes from your head. As Kaunitz said, the bus driver probably was trying to be polite, but we weren't the ones there. Maybe she was being rude.

I've noticed that the world is as nice as I make it to be. That is, if I'm in a good mood and try to see the good in everything, things tend to go well. If I'm stressed and have a short temper, the world is filled with assholes. Food for thought.

Children might seem uncivilized in the states, and at times you might be right. Western schools tend to have teachers and parents that push their kids to be leaders, while (from what I've seen) Thai schools push the kids to be well-behaved and respectful. This affects how they act in public, and you have to take the good with the bad. Obviously, it's not black and white, but that is generally true.

I'd love to see some of your pics if you feel like posting them. Anyway, it's great to see you back. Good luck with the job hunt!

Link to comment

lol this is your first day in a "first world country" and you had 5 "bad incidents"?? At this rate you would be home in a few days! You need to take things much easier. Also question yourself too. What you see may be unnormal for you while you are normal, but maybe its actually just normal?

Link to comment
lol this is your first day in a "first world country" and you had 5 "bad incidents"?? At this rate you would be home in a few days! You need to take things much easier. Also question yourself too. What you see may be unnormal for you while you are normal, but maybe its actually just normal?

Andy --- time to re-focus... start by reading Shannon's first line....

"It has been over 2 months since I arrived in the Western World "

and from her previous Blogs she lived in Britian for some weeks and I recall several trips to America....

My impression from her previous blogs is she is quite open-minded, patient and introspective....

NOw then after re-reading perhaps you have a little different take sir?

Link to comment
<The bus driver instantly assumed that I wouldn't understand what she said, and spoke with a slower pace than usual> [/color']- In my opinion, this is not a bad experience, because most people in the Western World would consider it polite to speak more clearly and a bit slower than usual when speaking to someone who has another mother tongue because they can understand better.

The slower pace in speech wasn't exactly what I took in negatively, but the tone that she used was totally different from the cheery tone she spoke to the guy before me.

The last thing any foreigner wants is to feel different. It might just be me and my pessimism, but quite a lot of people in this area do want to stress that you are unpleasantly different and often do it in your face.

I live in an area where multicultural population is new to them. If someone speaks with a different accent, although he/she is Caucasian, a remark would be made on his/her accent, unfortunately in a condescending tone.

Link to comment
sound like you are dealing with the bloody British - Shannon. A few more bad experiences and I would guess -- French!

Great to have your crisp and clear Blogs back on this cold winter's night!

I am trying not to name names here, Dan! :lol: Thanks for the welcome message. It is the cold winter like this that is perfect for creating nuisance on TF. ;-)

Link to comment
It's nice to see your blog again.

I know what you mean about assholes vs. nice people in America. Some of it really is people being assholes' date=' and some of it comes from your head. As Kaunitz said, the bus driver probably was trying to be polite, but we weren't the ones there. Maybe she was being rude.

I've noticed that the world is as nice as I make it to be. That is, if I'm in a good mood and try to see the good in everything, things tend to go well. If I'm stressed and have a short temper, the world is filled with assholes. Food for thought.

Children might seem uncivilized in the states, and at times you might be right. Western schools tend to have teachers and parents that push their kids to be leaders, while (from what I've seen) Thai schools push the kids to be well-behaved and respectful. This affects how they act in public, and you have to take the good with the bad. Obviously, it's not black and white, but that is generally true.

I'd love to see some of your pics if you feel like posting them. Anyway, it's great to see you back. Good luck with the job hunt![/quote']

Thanks Rob! How I wish I were to move to the US. I know that it is not a wonder land, and there are bad sides about the country, but I just thought I would get along much better with Americans. I agree with what you said totally about how positive outlook makes a huge difference and I have been trying HARD to stay on the positive side of things.

You also have a valid point about upbringing and schooling here. But it shapes this society more negatively than positively. I do not claim to know this country or the people here well. I just cannot help noticing that people in this country would exercise their rights fully, and at the same time violating other people's right. Although I am not saying a submissive Thai way is the way to go.

About the photos, I thought about it, but still to lazy to upload them on a web hosting. If I just use a facebook link, will it work? Thanks a lot for your well-wish. I hope it comes true soon! :D

Link to comment
lol this is your first day in a "first world country" and you had 5 "bad incidents"?? At this rate you would be home in a few days! You need to take things much easier. Also question yourself too. What you see may be unnormal for you while you are normal, but maybe its actually just normal?

Given a choice, I would go home and only visit this "first world country" only on holidays! I am very Asian, and I know that I will not be able to change that quite easily. As I posted earlier to Rob, I really do think I would adapt much easier in the US but not so much here in the UK.

They have their own ways here and I do find them very abnormal and at some point absurd. In order to accept something to be normal, it most possibly means that you have to embrace the abnormal to become the normal. It takes time to accept things as they are, and it might take even longer to accept things that you do not like as they are.

I were given a choice to go home (for a short time) recently, but going back to my comfort zone now would make it harder to come back and start all over again. In the meantime, I do not think I am ready to adapt to the "first world" normalcy just yet.

Link to comment
Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...