Fili’s world

Hey, this kind’o seems familiar …

Me : Hi, do you speak English?

Taiwanese : <embarrassed look, seeking someone else in the area> Eh, eh, hmm… eh, English, no… sorry.

Me : It’s just that I’m a bit lost.

Taiwanese : Lost, oh, I see, that’s too bad.

Me : So how to get to X from here?

Taiwanese : I don’t understand.

Me : You know what, it’s okay, I think I’ll keep on looking.

Another Taiwanese joins : (in Chinese) I think he’s looking for X .

Me, realizing that I can actually say this in Chinese : (in Chinese) Yeah, I just want to know how to get to X.

The Taiwanese looking at each other : (in Chinese) Huh? What did he say? (in English) Sorry, sorry, our English isn’t that good.

Me : It’s not English, it’s Chinese.

Them : <blank face>

Me : Okay, thank you anyways.

Them - usually without breathing in between questions : Hey, you American? How long in Taiwan? What do you do? Teach English? You’re very handsome, have Taiwanese girlfriend? Like it here? Taiwanese people very friendly, right?

Every time I ride off from a conversation like that I have a strange feeling it’s all somesort of a joke and usually imagine them laughing together about lost foreigners around Taiwan in Shakespearean English they’ve acquired while studying their PhDs in Oxford.

Or something like that… :S