1st Entry From My New Location
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.
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. 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.
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.
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