If you are the sole westerner in a largely Asian department, and you sneeze, you would never hear someone say "Bless you!". It happens all the time to one of my Canadian colleagues. A few times, I was tempted to say it out of courtesy, but it seemed rather lame when I thought about it, so I kept quiet.
My company is a very interesting place to work in. It has about 100 employees, consisting of about 25 different nationalities and the company takes alot of pride in bragging about it. Each morning, as the coffee machine dispenses "wake-me-up" beverages (close to where I sit), I hear a myriad of different languages spoken. I dont understand most of the conversations, but it sounds good as if I were hearing foreign songs with the added advantage of not knowing the exact nature of all their rants from yesterday.
There are alot of differences between the Asians and the westerners at work. Other than the obvious difference that westerners get paid 2-3 times higher for the same job (because they are better at asking for more), they are a bubbly bunch; very bold, informal, loud and sociable. The Asians, however, like to stick among people sharing common cultures, values, nationalities and religions. Their relationships with their bosses are formal in nature, with clear boundaries in hierachies. They are only loud among 'their' people, preferably when the bosses are not around. In my observations, a combination of such behaviours and attitudes have made Asians inferior on the professional front in large multicultural companies.
I had a brief visit to the library today and got excited as I saw a Roald Dahl book. I used to be a huge fan of his books when I was a kid. Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, Charlie & the Great Glass Elevator, Matilda, BFG and Fantastic Mr Fox, were some of them with fond memories. However, I found the book I borrowed very boring. Since his writing style didn't change, the only explanation would be that I have grown out of it. I have had similar experiences before where I could not re-create the childhood excitement I got as played certain games or did certain activities or ate certain food.
I seem to have secret admirers who like drawing patterns on the dust accumilated on my Jeep. A public car park is not a secure overnight resting place for my adorable Chariotte (yes, that's her name) and I worry that these "admirers" might get persistant and vandalise my Precious. The more attached I am, the more fear and worry I have.
We took junior to the park today. It is heart-breaking to drag them out when they are having so much fun and begs to go on the rides again. I can relate very well to the feeling of disappointment as my mother called me out of the swimming pool or out of the beach when the time was up.
The company had a new employee today. He seemed like he had just stepped out of a Bollywood movie shoot (lead role). I am not the type to obsess over random real-life humans, but it will take a couple of weeks to get over the "star struck" effect of this one.
The fashion sense here is outrageous, but it is no doubt one of the best songs of all time:
"Don't Stop Believing" by Journey
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