I took my morning walk, then jumped on my scooter for a cruise to check out neighborhoods that I've found some potential apartments in (and see if I could spot the apartment buildings). It was a great cruising day - overcast but not raining (finally not raining!!), and pleasantly warm and windy. And oh how it made me miss my cruising buddy!
My second aim was to find a chop-making place once I got into 'down-town' Jhudong (Judge's hometown - our new town in a couple months). On my birthday when I got our chops made, I realized I wrote the simplified Wen (温 - as is the bad habit when I write Wen...starting now though it's a broken bad habit that is) instead of the traditional one (溫), and though it's kind of not a big deal, I want the proper one on my chop so that it will be my proper written name.
I found a shop (chop-shops are always hole-in-the-wall key'n'chop shops), and went in. The guy looked at me and did the universal action for chop (doing a downward air-stamp), and without fully taking off my mouth-mask I said in Chinese "Yes, a chop please". He did the universal action again, and I pulled my mouth-cover down and said in Chinese "I can speak Chinese" as I thought he was just expecting I couldn't so didn't catch my response the first time. He then pointed to his ear and waved his hand in the universal sign for "I'm deaf"...ooops, my bad! No wonder he couldn't read me, with no nod of my head and with my mouth covered Orz. So I nodded my head this time when he pointed to the chops under the glass counter.
I then wrote down my married family-name: 吳溫 (Wu-Wen) and my first name. (It is common for married women to add their husband's family name to the front of their full name...I chose to do this as well for two reasons: the first is that it lets people see I am married, because I have two family names, and second because when you say Wu-Wen it sounds exactly like when you say Owen in Norwegian...is this a match made in fate or what!! :P).
Once he finished the chop and gave me a show that it was as requested, I was about to leave and he waved me back to the paper he just did the trial-stamp on, and carefully wrote out b y e (in English), and gave me a big smile. I had a huge smile for him in return. Totally made my day!
Then I slowly cruised the rice-field back-roads back to my town.
[Along my daily-walk route. I take side-roads until I get to a 2km bike-walk-way up and down a stream that's been made up all nice (it's a development area...lots of high-rises are being put up this year along the stretch...probably going to be a 'nice neighborhood' in the future)].
*like*
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