Cogito ergo scribo

I got back to the hotel room later than 10pm everyday for these few days. It was like a SOP that we worked till 8pm+, then went for dinner, returned to hotel, and then continue working in the room. I went to bed every night after 1am.

So i didn't really get to go anywhere except office and hotel. I do, however, had plenty of Taiwanese food here. Just this evening, we went to a shop that sells lamb dishes. We had lamb hotpot, BBQ lamb, and small lamb chop, which were all delicious. The interesting thing is that the shop has an ironic name, "莫宰羊", which is translated to "don't kill the lamb".

And something funny happened over dinner just now. The menu had this dish that called something like "烤羊LP" with indication that the price is seasonal. My big boss asked me what was that and i seriously didn't know what it meant. Then when the waitress was serving the food, my big boss asked her and she said a term that we didn't understand. Then she said it was "羊睪丸" (testicle of the lamb), and we were all so amused.

(From now on, i'll address my two bosses as little boss, who's my direct superior, and the big boss, who's his boss.)

I laughed and told my two bosses that i knew what the "LP" stands for after the waitress' clarification, and my big boss wanted me to tell him the word. I refused and said to him that it's a vulgar word and i don't wanna say it. My little boss was smiling sheepishly at the side, claiming that he didn't know what word is that too. Frankly i don't believe him. He's from KL and i don't believe he had never heard people swearing before.

I had dinner with my two bosses everyday, and they had beer everyday too. I only had a glass on the first day, but didn't join them in the drinking on the subsequent days. I didn't really enjoy drinking the beer here, but they seemed to like it very much. Oh, and by the way, till this day, i still didn't spent a single cent. Everything was paid by the two bosses. But then, that also means that i'd be left with lots of Taiwanese dollars if i don't get to go out tomorrow night too.

There's a small driving range at the top floor of the office building. My big boss wanted my little boss to try golfing for the first time. My big boss said that he used to play but had stopped 10 years ago after he had his second child. I hit 2 balls too today, but was rather embarrassed, as i don't play well and they were looking at me while i had my swing.

The colleagues here are generally nice to us (except a few who hated us because of their increased workload due to the new system implementation). They would bring us to have good lunch, and then recommend good dining places for dinner. I doubt i'd enjoy such hospitality in HK next week. In fact, my big boss already made it clear to me that he wouldn't be accompanying me at all when in HK (since his family is there), and my little boss will be staying behind in Taiwan. So i'll be all alone.

The weather here is irregular. It was really warm yesterday; in the afternoon, it was even warmer than our rainy days in Msia. Then today, it was cold, with strong wind blowing and all. Luckily it didn't rain for these few days.

This hotel that i'm staying at is located quite centrally in the town. It's just by a busy street with a few shopping malls nearby. There are also some shops such as bookstores, restaurants, or pubs that are open 24hrs. Too bad that i didn't get a chance to explore the place yet.

I looked out to the streets and it seemed as if people here like to stay up late. There are still many cars on the street late into the night. Another thing i noticed during one of the nights when i was having dinner and sitting by the window, looking out to the streets, was that the people here are rather good looking, or perhaps it was because they know how to dress up well.

I've had a few people commenting that i speak good Mandarin. A waitress even thought that i'm a Taiwanese and was surprised when i told her that i'm not. I think this is the effect of watching too much Taiwanese variety shows on TV. I find it not too hard to mimic their accent, but when it comes to express myself entirely in Mandarin, like when i was explaining to the users on the new system, i really had difficulties in getting the right words. I think we are so used to speaking in a mixture of English and Chinese, especially for IT terms, and we don't even know what words are used in Chinese for certain terms.

It's time to go to bed, but my hair is still wet. Maybe i'll watch the TV for a while. Hopefully i can resist the temptation and really watch it for a while, as there are so many channels here and i could watch the TV all day long if i'm not doing anything else. Now, self-control is the key, which is somthing that i'm totally lacking of.

Labels: travel, work