i am back.
👋🏼
趣事; tsui si
英國趣事 / uk 'tsui si' / uk stories
I'd like to start a series of blogs about the fun and interesting stories
that have or may happen during my time here in the,
soon not to be,
United Kingdom.
🇬🇧
*
*
「 The Refreshment Incident 」
So my first 'tsui si'
was on the day all our crap from HK had arrived.
was on the day all our crap from HK had arrived.
It took about 2-3 months via sea freight,
in total 50 boxes including small dining table, chairs etc.
The team at Baggagexs (not sponsored, duh) was absolutely great.
If anyone needs to relocate, I fully recommend them.
Anyway,
back to my tsui si -
Doorbell rang,
cp went and gathered the cats into a room for safekeeping,
and I went to open the door.
Two middle aged gwai lo's
(Canto slang for westerners)
were patiently waiting.
They cautiously went up and down the stairs with our boxes,
until our what used to be empty living room,
was filled up from floor to ceiling
with boxes.
I then realised that I was a terrible host.
I had completely forgotten to offer any form of refreshments.
I am actually an introvert,
and avoid human contact if at all possible.
If not,
my acting skills are quite up to par
when needed to come across as a
seemingly functioning adult.
So I did what my HK cultural upbringing would usual do -
I offered them
water.
💧
💧
'Would you guys like a glass of water?'
I offer.
The bigger guy looks at me as if I had said something
rude
(?)
He could tell by my bright eyed, deer in headlights gaze
that I had no idea.
He then so replied:
'A cup of tea would be nice.'
☕️
The culture shock finally hit after just 2 weeks in London.
Tea.
Of course tea!
Rookie mistake.
I was in England afterall.
Tea is always to be expected.
So it finally occurred to me
that I may have actually insulted him
by offering him my common tap water.
Well now I know.
So we put the kettle on, prepared the mugs,
and asked if they wanted milk and sugar in their teas.
Wouldn't want to make another rookie mistake
by smugly assuming how much milk and sugar they used
...
I believe we've all learned a valuable lesson here today.
Remember darlings,
tea.
Always tea.
-
And that was that.
