Monday, August 16, 2004
The lady who took advantage of my good mood at the bookshop last week turned out to be a member of Amway.
It all started when I bumped into her in the line at the Nobel bookstore. She took my number (...the good mood) then rang me and said she has some Chinese language books she would like to give me. So I happily went to meet her before realising that taking the books would render me obliged. Obliged to do what? I told her I was interested in a language exchange and she made it quite clear that since she was generous enough to give me a stack of flash cards, two of her son's Chinese books from elementary school, and a story book with an accompanying CD, the only language that was going to be exchanged between us was English. She had the impression I was the only foreigner in Taiwan who had been living in a cave until last week. So tonight I turned up as planned and straight away told her I was leaving in 30 minutes. She said it was fine and quickly pulled out her Amway book and explored the concepts of freedom and hope and achievement. (I asked her what all that had to do with the products and she was stunned. I certainly gave her a run for her brainwashing.) I said to her, "So I just have to sit and listen to your presentation? That's easy then!" And she laughed and said "Yeah, you can be my English teacher" and laughed as if it was in fact not obvious that she was convinced she had stumbled across free English lessons. She runs a buxiban, and knows exactly what the Go is. I did not like her approach at all. What made me uncomfortable was the difference between her smile and her words.
When she asked me to correct her pronounciation I just smiled and said she was right. She asked me what the word for dandruff was and I told her it was lice. When she told me that with Amway frying pans I can cook a meal for all my friends, she looked like she was about to cry. I looked at my watch.
I just wanted her to know that I was not stupid. So at the end I told her I would teach her one phrase. I wrote down the words 'economic rationalism' in big letters and told her about how my father was a lawyer who calculates the value of the time it takes to lift up the phone or call out to his secretary, and in even bigger writing I introduced her to the infamous time=money equation, and told her I was also an economic rationalist. I think she is too, but she also thought I was a bimbo. So that's the end of my Give Them a Chance Revival.
¶ 23:13
It all started when I bumped into her in the line at the Nobel bookstore. She took my number (...the good mood) then rang me and said she has some Chinese language books she would like to give me. So I happily went to meet her before realising that taking the books would render me obliged. Obliged to do what? I told her I was interested in a language exchange and she made it quite clear that since she was generous enough to give me a stack of flash cards, two of her son's Chinese books from elementary school, and a story book with an accompanying CD, the only language that was going to be exchanged between us was English. She had the impression I was the only foreigner in Taiwan who had been living in a cave until last week. So tonight I turned up as planned and straight away told her I was leaving in 30 minutes. She said it was fine and quickly pulled out her Amway book and explored the concepts of freedom and hope and achievement. (I asked her what all that had to do with the products and she was stunned. I certainly gave her a run for her brainwashing.) I said to her, "So I just have to sit and listen to your presentation? That's easy then!" And she laughed and said "Yeah, you can be my English teacher" and laughed as if it was in fact not obvious that she was convinced she had stumbled across free English lessons. She runs a buxiban, and knows exactly what the Go is. I did not like her approach at all. What made me uncomfortable was the difference between her smile and her words.
When she asked me to correct her pronounciation I just smiled and said she was right. She asked me what the word for dandruff was and I told her it was lice. When she told me that with Amway frying pans I can cook a meal for all my friends, she looked like she was about to cry. I looked at my watch.
I just wanted her to know that I was not stupid. So at the end I told her I would teach her one phrase. I wrote down the words 'economic rationalism' in big letters and told her about how my father was a lawyer who calculates the value of the time it takes to lift up the phone or call out to his secretary, and in even bigger writing I introduced her to the infamous time=money equation, and told her I was also an economic rationalist. I think she is too, but she also thought I was a bimbo. So that's the end of my Give Them a Chance Revival.
¶ 23:13
