Jimmy McIntyre - Editor HDR One Magazine
A boat st sunset
Daily HDR Blog | HDR One Magazine | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Google+
French Journal Day 16 (Travel Diary Day 96)
(travel blog - strange-lands.com/daily/2012/10/19/a-lovely-indonesian-fi...)
I do a number of things to avoid public embarrassment when I’m in the UK. If I’m running for a bus, and it drives past me, I keep running to show onlookers that I wasn’t even running for the bus anyway. Sometimes I walk to the next bus stop. It’s
always embarrassing if I then see the people from the previous stop on the bus I just got on.
If I’m walking in the wrong direction in town and don’t want to look a fool by turning around, I’ll pretend I’m speaking to someone on the phone, and then turn around. That seems to take the edge off it.
Once I was buying hair removal products for myself in preparation for dressing as a woman, and I pretended to be speaking on the phone. The invisible person on the line, presumably Rachel, was telling me which product she wanted. I played the ‘stupid husband who doesn’t know what products his wife usually uses’ role. I knew what I was looking for, but I cleverly hid the shame.
Funnily, on the road, I have no shame – especially in the far East, where public etiquette is often non-existent. While waiting for a bus in Korea, everyone knows it’s going to be chaos when the bus arrives. They don’t do queueing. I’d weigh up the little old ladies and think ‘you’re going down granny’. I was often wrong. Korean old ladies are powerhouses. I’ve been punched in the back more times by Korean grannies than any other group of people – that’s a fact.
In France, I haven’t come up against any awkward situations apart from the odd linguistic blunder. I often say ‘hello’ when I mean ‘goodbye’. That really confuses people, especially when I look as if nothing odd is happening because I haven’t yet figured out what I’ve just said. They just stare at me.
I had to call the cleaner today and tell her not to come in to work. Since Rachel’s mental and did all of the house work, the cleaner has nothing to do. I told her on the phone that she could have the day off. She asked ‘so I shouldn’t come in?’ I responded with ‘I don’t know’. What the hell was I thinking!?
It’s hard enough having a conversation in French with a Moroccan woman who doesn’t speak the language well, and an Englishman who can barely speak English, never mind French. It was just an automatic response. I often say it to French people when I have nothing left to say to them.
It took another 5 mins to clear up the misunderstanding.
I have to pick up Betsy tomorrow. I’m hoping her braeks will be in tip-top shape. I have no idea what the mechanic is saying. His accent is extremely thick. When I called him today, out of the hundreds of words he said, I understood ‘not ready’ and ‘tomorrow morning’. There’s no bus nor taxi, so I’ve got a 3 mile walk ahead of me to pick it up.
Today’s Photo – A fishing boat in Karimunjawa
One of the most beautiful places in Java. Apart from washing my face in human poo and sleeping with rats, I really liked Karimunjawa. It was such a quiet island. We were free to walk along this deserted beach at sunset and explore the resting fishing boats. It was the peaceful spot we needed after a busy day on the motorbikes.
A boat st sunset
Daily HDR Blog | HDR One Magazine | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Google+
French Journal Day 16 (Travel Diary Day 96)
(travel blog - strange-lands.com/daily/2012/10/19/a-lovely-indonesian-fi...)
I do a number of things to avoid public embarrassment when I’m in the UK. If I’m running for a bus, and it drives past me, I keep running to show onlookers that I wasn’t even running for the bus anyway. Sometimes I walk to the next bus stop. It’s
always embarrassing if I then see the people from the previous stop on the bus I just got on.
If I’m walking in the wrong direction in town and don’t want to look a fool by turning around, I’ll pretend I’m speaking to someone on the phone, and then turn around. That seems to take the edge off it.
Once I was buying hair removal products for myself in preparation for dressing as a woman, and I pretended to be speaking on the phone. The invisible person on the line, presumably Rachel, was telling me which product she wanted. I played the ‘stupid husband who doesn’t know what products his wife usually uses’ role. I knew what I was looking for, but I cleverly hid the shame.
Funnily, on the road, I have no shame – especially in the far East, where public etiquette is often non-existent. While waiting for a bus in Korea, everyone knows it’s going to be chaos when the bus arrives. They don’t do queueing. I’d weigh up the little old ladies and think ‘you’re going down granny’. I was often wrong. Korean old ladies are powerhouses. I’ve been punched in the back more times by Korean grannies than any other group of people – that’s a fact.
In France, I haven’t come up against any awkward situations apart from the odd linguistic blunder. I often say ‘hello’ when I mean ‘goodbye’. That really confuses people, especially when I look as if nothing odd is happening because I haven’t yet figured out what I’ve just said. They just stare at me.
I had to call the cleaner today and tell her not to come in to work. Since Rachel’s mental and did all of the house work, the cleaner has nothing to do. I told her on the phone that she could have the day off. She asked ‘so I shouldn’t come in?’ I responded with ‘I don’t know’. What the hell was I thinking!?
It’s hard enough having a conversation in French with a Moroccan woman who doesn’t speak the language well, and an Englishman who can barely speak English, never mind French. It was just an automatic response. I often say it to French people when I have nothing left to say to them.
It took another 5 mins to clear up the misunderstanding.
I have to pick up Betsy tomorrow. I’m hoping her braeks will be in tip-top shape. I have no idea what the mechanic is saying. His accent is extremely thick. When I called him today, out of the hundreds of words he said, I understood ‘not ready’ and ‘tomorrow morning’. There’s no bus nor taxi, so I’ve got a 3 mile walk ahead of me to pick it up.
Today’s Photo – A fishing boat in Karimunjawa
One of the most beautiful places in Java. Apart from washing my face in human poo and sleeping with rats, I really liked Karimunjawa. It was such a quiet island. We were free to walk along this deserted beach at sunset and explore the resting fishing boats. It was the peaceful spot we needed after a busy day on the motorbikes.