Just My Thoughts...
The McDonald's on Gorgie Road.
Homely "American", but weirdly Scottish. Let me explain. We all know that McDonald's is an American fast food joint (however Scottish it may sound!). But most of the time when I have my Big Mac it would be in KL. That is why I put the words "American" in inverted commas, and added the word "homely" in front of it. The place itself looks very welcoming, but the staff and the all the people in it, they somehow didn't make me feel I belong.
The guy at the counter who served me (I reckon he must be the manager or something) did alright, meaning that I couldn't find any real cause for complaints in his customer-servicing. But anyhow I did feel he was a tad rude and in a hurry. When Anne Robinson told off a Weakest Link contender on Wednesday about her Scottish accent, saying "If you want my job you have to speak in a language which we all understand!", the contestant was laughing. Well, to me (and I believe to most other non-Scottish people), that was no laughing matter. The Scots do indeed have a VERY nasty accent (well, most of them anyway!). Thank goodness most of my lecturers, Scottish or not, have very hearable accents.
Anyway, when Mr. Manager asked me what drink would I go with my Combo meal, I honestly thought he was asking me if I was sitting in or taking my meal away with me. At my reply, Mr. Manager looked a "wee" bit irritated and repeated the question, this time in clear English. I really don't like to ask these customer-service people to repeat what they say, because I know many of them think that most Chinese people (here I mean Chinese nationals, but the Brits won't care about that) can't make a decent sentence in English (and sad but true, they're right). And I don't want to let them think of me that way! Besides, I'm not from China anyway! In this case I can empathise with the Brits "lack of understanding" for the Chinese nationals. Heck, you come to my country, but you can't speak my language. But more on this later.
Okay, so when Mr. Manager brought my food to my table, he said "Sorry to keep you waiting, sir!" Well, yeah sorry, but his "sorry" did not sound very sincere to me, nor did the way he put my food on the table. I didn't really enjoy my meal there, to say the least. When I'm home, even if I'm eating alone at McD's or anywhere else, I always feel a sense of acceptance. Not here. I know it's been more than two years since I came to Edinburgh, but I've never really settled. Could the issue be skin colour, i.e. RACE? Could very well be, I'd say. I've always felt that the Brits, and the Scots in particular, are not very exposed to people of other races yet. I've had a Scottish acquaintance told me back in my first year here, "Even coming to Edinburgh is a bit weird for me. It's the first time I'm seeing so many coloured people." Has the guy ever been to London, by the way?? I mean they're not like, calling you racist names or anything (they'd get in trouble for that, look at the hype surrounding Shaun Wright-Phillips and Ashley Cole in recent weeks), but it's just that, you always find it very hard to integrate with them and have them accept you. Maybe it's just me but...hmmm.
Now London's very different. It's much more diverse. While in Edinburgh, if you get on a bus, it's very likely that you'll be the only coloured person on it. In London, the opposite is true. Get on the tube, you see all kinds of people. The first time I was there, I felt at home immediately. I think it's worth mentioning that I was there after I've been living in Edinburgh for a couple of months. My brother won't know the difference, he'll think London is very different from KL, because he's never lived in any other parts of Britain. I've always felt London is very similar to KL compared to Edinburgh, which is rather obvious. I could understand Cecilia's point of view when I chatted with her slightly more than a year ago, when she mentioned she would love the idea of moving to London. She elaborated by saying that while she's not going to make friends with all the Chinese people there, but at least taking a walk in Chinatown would make her feel less alone and probably better. She also said sometimes she feels none of her colleagues could relate to her, because they're all Brits. This is about culture, thinking, and ideas. Most Malaysians and Singaporeans have a somewhat British mentality, I would say. But again, we're not British.
Cecilia also mentioned that she would like some Chinese desserts, but she couldn't get any of those in Edinburgh. London's got those aplenty though. So why isn't she in London?? Because she married to Jimmy, her husband who hates London, and would not be very pleased to move there. And on the surface at least, Cecilia appears to be a very submissive wife...
Now moving on about Chinese nationals being unable to speak decent English. In this respect I feel for the Brits. I've had this experience of helping a Chinese lady regarding a bus pass refund. The bloke who was attending to her must be wondering what on Earth did he have to do to make her understand the conditions for obtaining a refund. She kept asking the same questions, he kept providing the same answers...in English, of course. Only her understanding of his English was something of immediate concern (and no, it's got nothing to do with his Scottish accent). But then she looked so much like a damsel in distress (and in distress she was, but I'm sure Mr. Attendant was too!) that I just had to help her out. I'm at times rather proud of the fact that I can speak five languages, with four being reasonably fluent.
My housemate Zhengnan (he likes to call himself Jender, and you wonder what kind of a buffoon name is that?!), whom most people know as Michael (now, that's better, though a grossly overused name I know), is something like Ms. Chinese (why not, he's Mr. Chinese himself :) ). If there's any problem in the flat that needs professional attention, don't count on him making the distress phone call. Thank God we've also got Nelson, my other housemate from HK. He's always free, and he somehow always seems to get these kind of "external affairs" sorted. If not, I'll have to be on that phone again.
More later...gotta run.
Homely "American", but weirdly Scottish. Let me explain. We all know that McDonald's is an American fast food joint (however Scottish it may sound!). But most of the time when I have my Big Mac it would be in KL. That is why I put the words "American" in inverted commas, and added the word "homely" in front of it. The place itself looks very welcoming, but the staff and the all the people in it, they somehow didn't make me feel I belong.
The guy at the counter who served me (I reckon he must be the manager or something) did alright, meaning that I couldn't find any real cause for complaints in his customer-servicing. But anyhow I did feel he was a tad rude and in a hurry. When Anne Robinson told off a Weakest Link contender on Wednesday about her Scottish accent, saying "If you want my job you have to speak in a language which we all understand!", the contestant was laughing. Well, to me (and I believe to most other non-Scottish people), that was no laughing matter. The Scots do indeed have a VERY nasty accent (well, most of them anyway!). Thank goodness most of my lecturers, Scottish or not, have very hearable accents.
Anyway, when Mr. Manager asked me what drink would I go with my Combo meal, I honestly thought he was asking me if I was sitting in or taking my meal away with me. At my reply, Mr. Manager looked a "wee" bit irritated and repeated the question, this time in clear English. I really don't like to ask these customer-service people to repeat what they say, because I know many of them think that most Chinese people (here I mean Chinese nationals, but the Brits won't care about that) can't make a decent sentence in English (and sad but true, they're right). And I don't want to let them think of me that way! Besides, I'm not from China anyway! In this case I can empathise with the Brits "lack of understanding" for the Chinese nationals. Heck, you come to my country, but you can't speak my language. But more on this later.
Okay, so when Mr. Manager brought my food to my table, he said "Sorry to keep you waiting, sir!" Well, yeah sorry, but his "sorry" did not sound very sincere to me, nor did the way he put my food on the table. I didn't really enjoy my meal there, to say the least. When I'm home, even if I'm eating alone at McD's or anywhere else, I always feel a sense of acceptance. Not here. I know it's been more than two years since I came to Edinburgh, but I've never really settled. Could the issue be skin colour, i.e. RACE? Could very well be, I'd say. I've always felt that the Brits, and the Scots in particular, are not very exposed to people of other races yet. I've had a Scottish acquaintance told me back in my first year here, "Even coming to Edinburgh is a bit weird for me. It's the first time I'm seeing so many coloured people." Has the guy ever been to London, by the way?? I mean they're not like, calling you racist names or anything (they'd get in trouble for that, look at the hype surrounding Shaun Wright-Phillips and Ashley Cole in recent weeks), but it's just that, you always find it very hard to integrate with them and have them accept you. Maybe it's just me but...hmmm.
Now London's very different. It's much more diverse. While in Edinburgh, if you get on a bus, it's very likely that you'll be the only coloured person on it. In London, the opposite is true. Get on the tube, you see all kinds of people. The first time I was there, I felt at home immediately. I think it's worth mentioning that I was there after I've been living in Edinburgh for a couple of months. My brother won't know the difference, he'll think London is very different from KL, because he's never lived in any other parts of Britain. I've always felt London is very similar to KL compared to Edinburgh, which is rather obvious. I could understand Cecilia's point of view when I chatted with her slightly more than a year ago, when she mentioned she would love the idea of moving to London. She elaborated by saying that while she's not going to make friends with all the Chinese people there, but at least taking a walk in Chinatown would make her feel less alone and probably better. She also said sometimes she feels none of her colleagues could relate to her, because they're all Brits. This is about culture, thinking, and ideas. Most Malaysians and Singaporeans have a somewhat British mentality, I would say. But again, we're not British.
Cecilia also mentioned that she would like some Chinese desserts, but she couldn't get any of those in Edinburgh. London's got those aplenty though. So why isn't she in London?? Because she married to Jimmy, her husband who hates London, and would not be very pleased to move there. And on the surface at least, Cecilia appears to be a very submissive wife...
Now moving on about Chinese nationals being unable to speak decent English. In this respect I feel for the Brits. I've had this experience of helping a Chinese lady regarding a bus pass refund. The bloke who was attending to her must be wondering what on Earth did he have to do to make her understand the conditions for obtaining a refund. She kept asking the same questions, he kept providing the same answers...in English, of course. Only her understanding of his English was something of immediate concern (and no, it's got nothing to do with his Scottish accent). But then she looked so much like a damsel in distress (and in distress she was, but I'm sure Mr. Attendant was too!) that I just had to help her out. I'm at times rather proud of the fact that I can speak five languages, with four being reasonably fluent.
My housemate Zhengnan (he likes to call himself Jender, and you wonder what kind of a buffoon name is that?!), whom most people know as Michael (now, that's better, though a grossly overused name I know), is something like Ms. Chinese (why not, he's Mr. Chinese himself :) ). If there's any problem in the flat that needs professional attention, don't count on him making the distress phone call. Thank God we've also got Nelson, my other housemate from HK. He's always free, and he somehow always seems to get these kind of "external affairs" sorted. If not, I'll have to be on that phone again.
More later...gotta run.
posted by Keith at 1:30 PM
<< Home