My Aunt treated us to dinner at TGI Friday's in Banciao last night. To my surprise, the restaurant is exactly like its American counterparts, down to the servers singing to anyone celebrating a birthday, and all the hoopla and embarrassment that is normally bestowed upon the birthday guest (she was at the next table). We had a TGIF feast (thanks Aunt Michelle!), and even my grand-Aunt Jimbo had two cocktails. Afterwards two of my cousins and I took a stroll around the mall, playing air hockey and shooting some hoops at the arcade, totally fun. I took home two bruises on the base of my thumbs as souvenirs, for grabbing the handles too tight while playing air hockey. You know how competitive I get with air hockey. You know.
I had to change buses at the Taipei Main Station on the way home from dinner. There was another girl waiting at the bus stop, I'm guessing she is probably in her late teens or possibly early 20's since Taiwanese women can look deceptively young (take myself, for instance ;)). She's on her cell phone and talks in a high-pitched, soft, kitten-like voice, very similar to the voice of a young child. Then she is on another call, and I know because she is using her normal speaking voice, which is a few octaves down from kitten, and much more assertive and adult sounding. A 3rd call is greeted with yet another voice, this time a mix of the kitten and the adult, sort of medium high-pitched. Why a grown person would talk in the voice of a child, I don't know. Even more bewildering to me is how she can manage to remember which voice to use on whom.
I had to change buses at the Taipei Main Station on the way home from dinner. There was another girl waiting at the bus stop, I'm guessing she is probably in her late teens or possibly early 20's since Taiwanese women can look deceptively young (take myself, for instance ;)). She's on her cell phone and talks in a high-pitched, soft, kitten-like voice, very similar to the voice of a young child. Then she is on another call, and I know because she is using her normal speaking voice, which is a few octaves down from kitten, and much more assertive and adult sounding. A 3rd call is greeted with yet another voice, this time a mix of the kitten and the adult, sort of medium high-pitched. Why a grown person would talk in the voice of a child, I don't know. Even more bewildering to me is how she can manage to remember which voice to use on whom.
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