Vignettes and other such nonsense…

16 hours and 5 minutes until Will gets home, okay so I'm counting. So what if the independent international working woman went out the window – I miss him – what is he thinking leaving me in a foreign country to fend for myself for 3 weeks. See I told you all out there I’m not as brave as you think I am.

After 9 months of making fun of the Chinese about how they come up with some of their quirky English names: Lucifer, Cocaine, Juicy, Tree, I find out from the nurses at work that if you say Tra – cy with the right accent, it is Shanghainese (Shanghai’s version of Mandarin) for IDIOT. Sigh – serves me right I suppose. So they blessed me with a new name today at work: Rui xi (Ray-she) which means lucky. I do have to admit work is getting a touch easier since they are finally starting to accept me – okay – so I did the bribery thing again and bought a few of them coconut frappachinos from Starbucks. After returning, I asked them – I thought the Chinese didn’t like ice and that I was told they think cold drinks are unhealthy. They in turn flex their muscles and tell me they are the new modern Chinese woman. I shrug, ponder and then decide to save the discussion on “Why anklet hose?” for another time….

And speaking of Lucifer – how strange is it that I now like going to this one particular Starbucks in hopes that he will be my barista? Maybe it is the irony? Seriously – he is a nice guy (famous last words!) – for example: the other day, I fell and dropped my coffee outside (yeah that was a classless moment I don’t wish to discuss). However, when I came back in to get another – Lucifer was there with a wet towel to wipe off my arm and he fixed me a Venti latte for free! Was it a sin to take it? I did decide to leave a big tip so I say no – rather a random act of kindness for the not so graceful foreigner. Deal with the Devil? Never. But I think it is time to ask this nice barista how he came about his name.

15 hours 35 minutes...