The other day there were plenty of tourists coming to our store. Not all of them speak decent English, so sometimes I had to resort to using body language. Here are two incidents that I consider pretty memorable he he...
A couple of middle-aged tourists came to the cashier, paid for their stuff, then the woman asked me in broken English, "Excuse me, can I ask you something?"
I said, "Sure, go ahead."
She said, "Do you have ummm...cheese? But not regular cheese."
At that point the man was making gestures, so I turned to look at him. He was making two horns by putting up two forefingers on both sides of his head. I was trying hard to understand, but couldn't really think of anything just yet. I was wondering if they were looking for some cheese spread, but then she picked up a packet of cheese spread and then asked again, "Not this kind. But..."
Then the guy showed the same gesture, but this time he let out some bleating sound (like a lamb).
Then it hit me..."Oh, you're looking for goat cheese!!!" HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...What a revelation!!!
The second incident that day happened when an old lady with almost on English ability came to the cashier. She paid for her stuff, then asked in her native language "bla bla bla bla bla bla...clock clock."
At first I thought she wanted to know the time, so I showed her my wristwatch, but she shook her head and continued to ramble in her native language "bla bla bla bla bla..."
I was silent for a few seconds, then it hit me...maybe she wanted to know what time the store closed that day, so I put up six fingers to show her (because on Saturdays we're closed at 6 pm). Satisfied with what I showed her, she said, "Ahhhhh bla bla bla bla bla..." Then she said thank you in her native language and left.
Phew!!! Sure would be much easier if I could speak many different kinds of languages, but sometimes you've just gotta rely on body language and guesswork HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...
glitter-graphics.com
Before I forgot, let me just write down some tidbits about our trip to Rome.
1. R2 was planning on walking everywhere, but after the first day we realized that it would be impossible to do so while still wanting to visit as many place as possible, so we bought 3-day tourist tickets that allowed us to use the metro or buses without any limit. I bought the tickets from a newspaper stand seller. Here's a pic of our tickets:
2. Here's a pic of R2 in the metro station:
On the last day of using the metro, there was a pickpocket. We were already inside one of the metros when in one stop, a group of young women came inside followed by two teenage girls. The two teenage girls ran inside and ran as quickly outside, then I heard the young woman standing next to me scream something in Italian while grabbing for her wallet inside her bag. Her purse zipper was open, but thankfully her wallet was chained into the inside of her bag, so the teenage pickpocket couldn't get anything. In fact, while trying to get out of the metro ASAP, the end of her jacket got caught in between the doors, so the doors opened up again and she ran out along with her friend.
After that the young woman told her friends about what had just happened animatedly in Italian and even though I don't know the language, I know what she was talking about 'coz she pulled out her wallet and I noticed that there was a chain connecting the wallet with her bag (she was standing right next to me, after all). Well, glad to know that her wallet was safe! :-D
3. Indonesians would probably laugh upon seeing this photo. "Galak" chocolate bar LOL!!! Galak is an Indonesian word. It can be translated roughly into "fierce or hot-blooded" he he he he he...
4. On Tuesday April 2nd we had a plan on which places to visit, but alas we got caught up in the middle of a heavy rain which even turned into a hail at one point. We had a small umbrella with us, but it wasn't enough to cover our legs. We got wet up to our knees and our sneakers were wet, as well, so we had to go back to the hotel to dry ourselves. We tried drying out sneakers using the hotel's hairdryer LOL LOL!!! We used the time to relax and rest our feet he he he he he he...
A funny thing happened during the heavy rain/hail. We were at the side of the road and an umbrella seller came to offer us another umbrella (a bigger one). We said no a few times, but then when the hail started and R2 was afraid that the umbrella we had would have holes in it, the seller came by again to offer the big umbrella and yes, we did buy a bigger umbrella at a high price due to the situation HA HA HA HA HA HA...And of course we didn't bother bringing it back, so we just left it at the hotel (we brought back the small umbrella, though!).
After we got back to the hotel, I was laughing so much 'coz I told R2 that the umbrella seller may have been telling himself, "Ha, those two stubborn tourists disregarded my first few attempts to sell them a bigger umbrella, but after a while they finally gave up. Silly tourists!" LOL LOL!!!
Wanna know what happened after the rain? Here goes:
And this is the picture we took before the heavy rain - notice the sidewalks?
5. When we had lunch at a restaurant, we were served two slices of cake for free afterwards and I LOVED it! I didn't ask what it was, though, but I found out about it on my own when we were in a souvenir shop selling chocolate and foodstuff. This is the cake that we had and I just had to bring back a big bag of it 'coz I can't stop myself. (side note: I browsed online and found out that this Colomba cake is a traditional Easter cake).
Even though it was rather inconvenient to bring something like that 'coz I couldn't put it inside the backpack (too big) or the luggage ('coz it could get crushed), I'm SO happy to find a store that sold them at a 50% discount. In fact, all the Easter eggs and cakes were sold there at a 50% discount LOL!!!
OK, I have a test coming up (theory test) next Monday in Finnish, so I've gotta get back on reading up the materials. I wrote this post to have a break from studying he he he he he...I'll write more about our Rome trip later.
When my Mom went with a group of Indo tourists and tour guide to Taiwan, she had no idea if they would be her age or not. Turned out most of them were 50-70 years old, so around her age group. Among them, there was one woman in her mid thirties and a man in his early forties. The woman was accompanying her 70-year-old dad during the trip. She was single and she paid for her father's trip including hers. The man was a dentist who accompanied his mother and he was also single.
Knowing that, many of the older ladies in the group tried to set them up. And they were rather persistent!!! They kept telling her that she should spend more time with him, but she said that she didn't want to be the first one to make the move. Then one time they even tried to create a situation where he would be forced to sit next to her in the tour bus. I was shaking my head in disbelief when I heard the story.
I remember an incident when one of my first friends got married earlier than the others (if I remember correctly it was in 2001 - I graduated from uni in 2000 at the age of 22 y.o.). We were invited to her house the day before the wedding to celebrate her "hen night". This kind of hen night isn't the same as in Hollywood movies. It's usually a party set up in the bride's parents' house where they invite the bride's friends and relatives to enjoy the last day of her being single. On that particular hen night, there was SO MUCH food 'coz apparently many of her relatives also cooked and brought different dishes (I seem to remember at least more than a dozen type of dishes). In some cases the bride and family may opt to just buy food from the restaurant.
Note: Mind you that in Indo the dishes are main food and side dishes, not hors d'oeuvres or snacks. So a combination of rice with pork dishes, chicken dishes, beef dishes, fish/seafood dishes, noodles, etc. (at the very least there are usually 3-6 dishes to accompany the rice) And no alcoholic drinks served. Just water, tea, and/or soft drinks.
Anyway, after taking the food, some female friends and I were sitting down on the sofa, talking to the bride and enjoying the food while one older relative of hers (an uncle or something) passed us by and said, "Oh, look at the row of ladies here! You! (pointing to a girl with dimples) You're really pretty! Are you single? What's your name? Can I have your phone number? I want to introduce you to someone."
The girl just giggled and said nothing, but that moment I felt like being in a shop display for a matchmaker. Goodness! It was really awkward and I just wished he'd go away pronto - which I think he did after the girl didn't say anything much. I don't remember too much of what happened next except that (I think) he was too eager to ask for that girl's name and phone number. But anyway, we were able to continue talking to the bride in peace again without being bothered. Mostly we asked her about the beauty salon that she chose and where she ordered the cake and stuff like that, because none of us had got married yet, so it was interesting to get to know her experience. But yeah, Indo people can be TOO involved in other people's affairs. That's for sure.
glitter-graphics.com
The title sounds intriguing, isn't it? I just found out that The Ring of Kerry is the name of a place in Ireland. It's actually a 179km tourist trail in the country Kerry. Funny thing is that I learn that the best way to enjoy the most dramatic view is by travelling counter-clockwise around the trail. However, during busy summer months, if you drive your own car, lots of sites suggest that you drive your car the other way around since then you don't have to be behind slow tour buses or coaches.
Apparently it's also the most visited place in Ireland. I read that people love visiting this place since it's mystical and unspoilt. This place is perfect for nature lovers or outdoor sports lovers. It also provides beautiful beaches and plenty of places to cycle, walk, ride, golf, fish, or even do watersports. I also read that there are lots of delicious restaurants there. What else could tourists want, eh?
Tourists also love visiting Killarney National Park, since they can kill a few birds with one stone by going there. They can see Ross Castle (a solid castle built during the middle ages), Lough Leane (Lake of Learning, the biggest out of the three lakes in Killarney), and Ladies View (you can see the three lakes of Killarney from this beautiful vantage point).
Here's a picture of Ladies View that I found in wikipedia:
I must say that looking at the breathtaking pictures of this place makes me drool. I've never visited Ireland before, but it sure is one of my dreams. Have you ever visited this place before? If so, how did you like it?
