Delayed Response.

God its hot. Uff. Really really hot.. its really hard to be productive when its like this...

Dear Life: It took me 5 minutes to shove everything in those couple of bags under my bed when those guests decided to come over. Why doesn't it take the same amount of time to find my stuff. This makes no sense.

 When people come over you have to say hi. That means go out, shake everyone's hand, sit, talk to them, provide them with a drink, then tea with cookies and what-not... and no, they don't call you beforehand to let you know that they are coming.. so the entire idea of being home in your pajamas all day is completely out of the question. You must look presentable at all times of the day.

Also the idea of being 'alone' is completely bizarre. Only crazy people have 'me' time. You cannot sit in any room, forget about 'your' room for more than 20 minutes without someone coming in, or banging on the door (if its locked) to come and see what your doing, what your up to... hang out...

Its a very invasive culture... if you dare.. tell people about your problems... wow...

They will involve themselves SO much in your life, and literally force you to do what they tell you because its right and they know whats best and this is what you should do!!! There's no such thing as 'I think you should do this, but its up to you'. Its more like 'You must do this! Yes! Let me help you.. does the thing for you, without your consent - and this is in everything, even in your marriage, they will go and talk to your partner for you, if your wife is sick they will tell you where to go regardless of your budget (and a lot of the time they have no idea what they're talking about, so you're basically being lead into a trap) - but you can't get angry because they mean well...

Another example of this is time. Oh time.

Its 11am the previous day - 'Hi Mr X, I would like to order a taxi for 3:00pm sharp Tomorrow. Can you do that?

'Absolutley I can!'

'Are you sure? Can I count on you, because I have a plane ride, and I needn't miss my plane!'

'Yes! 3 sharp, done'

'So how much will that be'

'Don't worry about that sunshine!, we'll talk about that later'


3pm.. no sight, 3:10, doesnt pick up phone, 3:30, phone is switched off...

5pm (On the plane) Hi! So, where did you say your house was?

You might think this is outrageous... but I've come to realize that its kindness.. they don't want to say no... that's all it comes down to. They feel like saying no is much worse than ruining your plans... and so you can't get angry... because again.. they mean well

Adapting to this was very difficult for me, I used to get really upset because in England this would never ever ever happen... but.. now I'm kinda used to it - and to be honest, now i book a cab for 6:30 and I start getting ready at 7, because I know it won't be here till 8:30!