Ashleigh is quiet & shy

Hello earthlings! 

Personally, I think that one might describe me as someone who is pretty outgoing, friendly blablabla. Everything but shy or quiet. Right? RIGHT?????

Anyway, someone commented on me being shy and how I have to overcome this problem if I were to be a successful banker/janitor/barista/PR guru/businesswoman/doctor/ gardener/fisherwoman/nurse/personal assistant/vampire.

To which I humbly nodded in return, smiled benignly and listened. 

But inside…

I was boiling with anger and rage! HOW DARE HE???

Okay fine I wasn’t that pissed. Just pretty indignant that he’d made an assumption about me since his whole group of friends were speaking in *drumroll* CHINESE!!

It is a well-known fact that yours truly doesn’t speak/understand her supposed mother-tongue. Yes, so well-known that a country even made it into a national holiday, a day full of festivities. More festive than Mardi Gras, I swear on my firstborn. 

But, I disgress.

You see, everytime somebody changes the flow of the conversation from English to some Chinese dialect, I stop paying attention. My eyes glaze over, my jaw slackens, I start to drool.

Inside, I’m enjoying a mental holiday where the initiator of the conversation in Chinese is dying a slow horrible death where he/she is either being mauled by a unicorn or a tiger with three heads or (if I’m feeling more realistic) getting hit by a bus. 

I supposed I should get used to it by now, seeing how my years in a mainly Chinese-speaking community at my university has somewhat *deepened my understanding of Mandarin. 

*disclaimer: About as deep as a kiddie pool.

So, no offense to you Chinese-speaking peeps out there, it’s all just in good fun. Especially the mauling-by-a-three-headed-tiger part. 

Okay I couldn’t find a photo of a three-headed tiger so you guys just have to imagine it. Ain’t my fault Nature isn’t as imaginative as me. If you still can’t imagine it, may you be haunted with feelings of guilt and inadequacy. 

Ciao!

1. ashleighegoh posted this