Josh and Maggie had really took a turn for the worse.
I had already arrived at his house because Josh thought of me as a good negotiator. He then called John for other reasons.
“John, I am in big trouble. I need your help.”
“What has she done now?” said John.
“She is on my roof threatening to jump.”
“So what the fuck do you want me to do, catch the bitch? I am more tempted to push.”
“No, I have called her father…” said Josh.
“Hmm,” said John. He cancelled his afternoon’s students – 4,000 NT and he couldn’t reschedule either because his schedule was already full - and put on some old clothes. He was regretting his - admittedly self- promoted - reputation for being good with his fists.
From now on when I meet anyone, I am going to flap my hands, and tell them how I live my life in a wafer-thin paper bag, he swore.
Josh’s building was one of the 4 storey terrace ones; this style was the first wave of buildings around the city around 20 to 30 years ago, and still the most common type of apartment. Most foreigners lived on the 4th floor -- the word for four in Chinese sounds like the word for death so Taiwanese don’t want to live there, making the rent cheaper.
“You are only on the 5th floor. Maybe, she just have a couple of broken legs and you’ll be gone before she can continue her obsession.” Suddenly we all had the terrible thought of her speeding down the road towards him on crutches.
"Fuck it is hot up here. Do you have any sun cream? - Sorry,” said John. He thought he had better shut up: the bright sunlight on Josh’s face was exposing a pure shade of white that Dulux would pay a fortune to patent.
First the father arrived and stood over the other side of the roof then the police arrived with their negotiating team. Once they arrived, enlivened by an audience – and someone to stop the fight - Maggie’s father sprung to life.
“Look at my daughter. That bastard wai gwo ren (foreigner), break her heart. Fucka yu! Fucka yu.”
“Who is her boyfriend?” asked the negotiator.
“Ex-boyfriend - I told her I was leaving,”said Josh staring directly at the father.
"He is upset you know. You fucked his daughter and now are leaving,” said the policeman.
The policeman turned to John.“Who are you?”
“I am here to do your job,” answered John.
“What did he say?”asked the policeman. And at this point the father swung for Josh and John was called upon to demonstrate his point, catching the father’s flailing arms and locking them both behind his back -- During the martial law era the police developed a reputation for over zealous use of force, and the reaction to this was to impose on them minimum force regulations, that made it impossible to do their jobs. The news was filled every night with police trying first to break up fights with kindness talking the aggressor out of continuing to punch someone in the head; usually as long as the victim didn’t seem to be in actual danger of dying the police would continue with this tactic. John sat the father down on the other side of the roof and he got the message he wasn’t going to be able to give his little performance.
Maggie would have been down quicker, but the arrival of the cameras meant a bigger show was necessary in order to save face - It took 20 minutes of her mother and father begging her on hands and knees, but that was not what she wanted. Finally, because he didn’t want a dead person on his hands, Josh gave her the apology she required for lying to her and wasting the last year of her life – and she finally came down.
“You know this is Taiwan. You can’t do that to girls,” shouted the reporters loaded questions as they followed him down the stairs. He wanted to say, but I told her I was going to leave, but he didn’t have the energy any more.
“Duei bu chi (sorry),” was all he could muster as he slammed the door to his apartment and eventually they went after ringing the doorbell for 20 minutes. The irony was he didn’t intend to leave anymore.
For the next week, as there always was after an incidence like this regarding foreigners, there were programs every night about foreigners shagging, two timing, gang banging and then dumping Taiwanese girls. In one such program, a scantily clad young reporter with a hidden camera went into the typical western bars, chatted up drunken men and invited them to a hotel. When they said yes, she had her indisputable evidence of that they are about nothing and nothing else. But it would only last a week, enough time for the backlog of stories regarding: Taiwanese men and mainland prostitutes, politicians having affairs, and Taiwanese on Taiwanese violence to become un-ignorable.
Josh went back into his apartment, and turned on his notebook to try and calm himself down. He would be winding up the company soon because he was going to Nepal for two months and then he had that brokerage job. He should be trying to pass the business onto someone else…he had tried, but the reaction was always the same: that is a lot of money. People seemed to think he was just going to give it away. He would give it to Eric, or John but they didn’t want it.
He looked down the list of clients in his email, then he opened that excel spreadsheet of clients, projects and money earned. He looked at the last few months. Acer had been a client. Taiwan’s leading technology company had used him on numerous occasions to write their brochures, marketing reports, and press releases. He had learnt a lot about their company; marketing in general. So much so they made him sign a confidentiality agreement. He was tired of just brushing up the English. He would like to be the man doing the research. He would like to be the man getting together a product proposal. Technology field was the future. He already enjoyed sales. He had been surprised at the start because such a big company should have already employed a foreigner full-time to do that job. He had asked and although they had offices all over the world, it was the Taiwan head office, filled with Taiwanese, which was responsible for handling production of English brochures. They could send one of their western employees back to Taiwan, but they wouldn’t take the pay cut, and the company wouldn’t pay them their American salary. Acer was no good because they had already had enough people in foreign branches to handle their marketing. If he went to them he would be stuck writing manuals. But there were smaller ones trying to grow their business in North America and desperately in need of the knowledge only a foreigner could give them. He had worked with some of them too. There was the first line of his resume – To increase sales in your North America market. He had worked out how to continue forward with local companies. He could fill that gap. It was an excellent opportunity to get marketing experience.
It was a pity, he thought.
Showing posts with label Josh and Maggie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Josh and Maggie. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Taiwan girls: Josh and Maggie V
“Why you put my phone down?” shouted Maggie. A week had passed since she first came round.
“Because you didn’t say anything,” he replied. This was the fifth time today, and about the 100th this week and it was only Thurday.
“You too quick. You should wait for me to speak.”
He had waited for her to speak before; he had tried shouting, putting the phone down, turning it off – but if he turned it off she rang the phone in his office and he didn’t want his colleagues to know; so he gave up, turned his mobile back on and sure enough it would ring. His nightmare wasn’t limited to the phone calls: every night when he came home from work she was stood outside his door, wanting to see him. If he came back late she buzzed his neighbors, rang their doorbells, making such a nuisance of herself that he had no choice but to go home. He had intended to play a waiting game, but it was now eight days and no let up.
That evening.
“You think you can just fuck Taiwanese girls and leave? Why are you so irresponsible?” She came in and sat on a chair and started the same argument as if she intended to persuade him that he was wrong so that he would go back with her. She didn’t really know what she was doing so she applied more pressure, received more rejection, and got more frustrated and angry.
“I told you what I wanted. I gave you a choice.”
“I cook for you, cleaned, and helped you with your problems.”
“We had a relationship, that is what people do for each other. I also did things for you.” She knew he had and therefore with no riposte she just sat there staring angrily.
She hadn’t said anything for 10 minutes so he was hoping he could just leave her there and get on with some things.“Don’t turn on the TV set when I am talking to you,”she screamed grabbing the remote.
“Why can’t I break up with you? What if you want to break up with someone, can’t you do it?”
“I am not so cruel. If someone loves me I will stay with them.”
This was probably true, but still too much; he sat on the floor, tucked his knees up to his chest, clasped his hands behind his head, elbows on knees and tried to roll around the floor. He knew it looked stupid, but at the same time it was the only thing he could think of that would require all the built-up energy looking to expel itself through his right open hand. Lying head to the floor gave him a new angle on a familiar sight of her sat breathing heavily on his sofa - and he got more angry reminded of the ridiculousness of her presence in his apartment.
“Don’t you feel a modicum of shame, of embarrassment that you are sat, unwanted, but refusing to leave someone else’s apartment? That what you are doing is futile. That you don’t have enough pride to say fuck that asshole he isn’t good enough for me anyway? That you are actually an intruder? I bet you used to gate crash the birthday parties of classmates when you were five - Had to have a new bicycle even if you stole it from your sister...for you getting the object was always worth the trouble. But ultimately, you an intruder, you are harassing someone, violating their life and home.”
She shrugged her shoulders, pleased with herself; her expression said perhaps that is the case but it is the way I do things.
“I am thinking about how to punish you,” she replied.
He slumped in his chair with only one thought in mind: can I move my flights out to earlier? He was defeated unable to do anything: harassment laws are weak back home, but in Taiwan suggesting he, a foreigner, was being harassed by a local girl…There was just no point.
“Because you didn’t say anything,” he replied. This was the fifth time today, and about the 100th this week and it was only Thurday.
“You too quick. You should wait for me to speak.”
He had waited for her to speak before; he had tried shouting, putting the phone down, turning it off – but if he turned it off she rang the phone in his office and he didn’t want his colleagues to know; so he gave up, turned his mobile back on and sure enough it would ring. His nightmare wasn’t limited to the phone calls: every night when he came home from work she was stood outside his door, wanting to see him. If he came back late she buzzed his neighbors, rang their doorbells, making such a nuisance of herself that he had no choice but to go home. He had intended to play a waiting game, but it was now eight days and no let up.
That evening.
“You think you can just fuck Taiwanese girls and leave? Why are you so irresponsible?” She came in and sat on a chair and started the same argument as if she intended to persuade him that he was wrong so that he would go back with her. She didn’t really know what she was doing so she applied more pressure, received more rejection, and got more frustrated and angry.
“I told you what I wanted. I gave you a choice.”
“I cook for you, cleaned, and helped you with your problems.”
“We had a relationship, that is what people do for each other. I also did things for you.” She knew he had and therefore with no riposte she just sat there staring angrily.
She hadn’t said anything for 10 minutes so he was hoping he could just leave her there and get on with some things.“Don’t turn on the TV set when I am talking to you,”she screamed grabbing the remote.
“Why can’t I break up with you? What if you want to break up with someone, can’t you do it?”
“I am not so cruel. If someone loves me I will stay with them.”
This was probably true, but still too much; he sat on the floor, tucked his knees up to his chest, clasped his hands behind his head, elbows on knees and tried to roll around the floor. He knew it looked stupid, but at the same time it was the only thing he could think of that would require all the built-up energy looking to expel itself through his right open hand. Lying head to the floor gave him a new angle on a familiar sight of her sat breathing heavily on his sofa - and he got more angry reminded of the ridiculousness of her presence in his apartment.
“Don’t you feel a modicum of shame, of embarrassment that you are sat, unwanted, but refusing to leave someone else’s apartment? That what you are doing is futile. That you don’t have enough pride to say fuck that asshole he isn’t good enough for me anyway? That you are actually an intruder? I bet you used to gate crash the birthday parties of classmates when you were five - Had to have a new bicycle even if you stole it from your sister...for you getting the object was always worth the trouble. But ultimately, you an intruder, you are harassing someone, violating their life and home.”
She shrugged her shoulders, pleased with herself; her expression said perhaps that is the case but it is the way I do things.
“I am thinking about how to punish you,” she replied.
He slumped in his chair with only one thought in mind: can I move my flights out to earlier? He was defeated unable to do anything: harassment laws are weak back home, but in Taiwan suggesting he, a foreigner, was being harassed by a local girl…There was just no point.
Taiwan girls: Josh and Maggie III
Six months after he started dating Maggie, Josh's thoroughly modern relationship was beginning not to look so anymore.
“Why don’t you ever want to get married?” asked Maggie ever so gently.
“Do you really want to discuss this?”said Josh knowing she did but afraid of the results.
“You foreigners like to discuss. I want to know your reason - Why you don’t want a nice girl like me.” He looked at her and frowned. It was a masterstroke: at once being an abstract discussion and highly personal.
“I am not saying I never want to get married - Just not yet!”
“So when is the right time?”
“I will know! You just can’t marry anyone. It takes time to find the right one.”
“I don’t think you will ever know. You have set yourself an impossible set of conditions to fulfill.”
He knew she had a point but that was between him and his psychologist. "It is better than being prepared to marry anyone. You Taiwanese girls will marry anyone who will have you.”
“Not true. I am just not afraid to marry," she said. "Are you anyone? Why are you so self-deprecating?” He couldn’t help softening when his ego was massaged in this way. It was something he just found so hard to handle: the continual compliments. He liked to give compliments rather than receive, because it meant he could walk away with his emotions intact.
“Yes, I am anyone. You don’t know me so well.”
“How long does it take to know a person? Again, for you, it is forever!”
“Maybe, you are right! But this is the way I choose to be....Please, you know if you are getting in too deep, then we must break up.”
“I said we are just discussing. I want to understand you.”
Josh knew this subject was coming up too often, but he enjoyed it because it was therapy for him - Back in Canada he had been able to openly discuss the impossibility of marriage and long-term commitment with the like-minded damaged female he was with at the time. Since he had been in Taiwan he had been made to feel like a Judas for having these feelings; a despicable and useless human being. He also understood to debate the rights and wrongs was pointless but he liked to communicate and have understanding with people; to not be misunderstood.
She continually leaned the discussion towards the personal, and, he knew it was no longer about understanding each other. Yet, he still believed as she was prepared to talk things would be resolved rationally. She, however, believed that by entering him in a discussion she was suddenly going to change his mind; that he would listen to reason because that is what westerners do.
Later that evening:“But I love you. Don’t stop me from saying it,” said Maggie. She had changed since they came back from holiday. After making love she now wanted to say she loved him. The first few times he, seeing it coming, put his fingers on her lips and she pretended to sulk, but now she pulled his fingers away, and became aggressive.
“I don’t want you to get hurt," replied Josh.
“Please don’t talk about when you are leaving. It is so hurtful!” At this point he knew everything had gone too far.
“I think we should finish things now. I am sorry. You are a great girl, but it is clear you are not keeping a distance.”
“I am sorry. Okay. I accept.”
For Josh, unfortunately, there was no turning back: the plasters that had precariously allowed him to justify the relationship had all popped off. "Sorry, no, it has time to break up."
“But, I love you.”
One hour later she left accepting it was for the best they broke up...
“Why don’t you ever want to get married?” asked Maggie ever so gently.
“Do you really want to discuss this?”said Josh knowing she did but afraid of the results.
“You foreigners like to discuss. I want to know your reason - Why you don’t want a nice girl like me.” He looked at her and frowned. It was a masterstroke: at once being an abstract discussion and highly personal.
“I am not saying I never want to get married - Just not yet!”
“So when is the right time?”
“I will know! You just can’t marry anyone. It takes time to find the right one.”
“I don’t think you will ever know. You have set yourself an impossible set of conditions to fulfill.”
He knew she had a point but that was between him and his psychologist. "It is better than being prepared to marry anyone. You Taiwanese girls will marry anyone who will have you.”
“Not true. I am just not afraid to marry," she said. "Are you anyone? Why are you so self-deprecating?” He couldn’t help softening when his ego was massaged in this way. It was something he just found so hard to handle: the continual compliments. He liked to give compliments rather than receive, because it meant he could walk away with his emotions intact.
“Yes, I am anyone. You don’t know me so well.”
“How long does it take to know a person? Again, for you, it is forever!”
“Maybe, you are right! But this is the way I choose to be....Please, you know if you are getting in too deep, then we must break up.”
“I said we are just discussing. I want to understand you.”
Josh knew this subject was coming up too often, but he enjoyed it because it was therapy for him - Back in Canada he had been able to openly discuss the impossibility of marriage and long-term commitment with the like-minded damaged female he was with at the time. Since he had been in Taiwan he had been made to feel like a Judas for having these feelings; a despicable and useless human being. He also understood to debate the rights and wrongs was pointless but he liked to communicate and have understanding with people; to not be misunderstood.
She continually leaned the discussion towards the personal, and, he knew it was no longer about understanding each other. Yet, he still believed as she was prepared to talk things would be resolved rationally. She, however, believed that by entering him in a discussion she was suddenly going to change his mind; that he would listen to reason because that is what westerners do.
Later that evening:“But I love you. Don’t stop me from saying it,” said Maggie. She had changed since they came back from holiday. After making love she now wanted to say she loved him. The first few times he, seeing it coming, put his fingers on her lips and she pretended to sulk, but now she pulled his fingers away, and became aggressive.
“I don’t want you to get hurt," replied Josh.
“Please don’t talk about when you are leaving. It is so hurtful!” At this point he knew everything had gone too far.
“I think we should finish things now. I am sorry. You are a great girl, but it is clear you are not keeping a distance.”
“I am sorry. Okay. I accept.”
For Josh, unfortunately, there was no turning back: the plasters that had precariously allowed him to justify the relationship had all popped off. "Sorry, no, it has time to break up."
“But, I love you.”
One hour later she left accepting it was for the best they broke up...
Friday, April 10, 2009
Taiwan girls: Josh and Maggie II
A couple of months after Josh and Maggie had started dating Josh relayed to me some stories, he thought were funny.
Event one:
This happened after just a week or so of their relationship.
“Is it okay if I say I am your girlfriend?” asked Maggie and Josh had laughed because Maggie’s question smacked of nonchalant indifference: just taking the tone rather than the content and it would appear the answer meant no more to her than whether he liked tomato sauce, but he knew the opposite was actually true.
“Sure, if you want but it doesn’t change anything! Sorry!”
“I know!”
Event two (last night)
“Hey, how did you get in?” asked Josh.
“You gave me a set of keys!” He knew he hadn’t given her any keys but he couldn’t help noticing his apartment was clean.
“You are round every night so why not! As you cleaned, I’ll cook dinner.” He replied cheerfully. Already so much of her wardrobe was there and his bathroom was awash with her cosmetics. He liked her very much and enjoyed her company. He was not selfish or uncaring towards women, or unfaithful, just preferring to act out marriage and then walk away at the end.
“Why don’t we go on holiday together?”she asked.
“Maybe, next year. If were together.”
“That is not so good, then,”I said after hearing the stories.
"Man, she is a sophisticated adult - She just knows what she wants...Unlike a lot of the locals," said Josh.
I wanted to say get the fuck out of there; change your phone, locks, get plastic surgery, but josh was not someone I had grown up with. He didn’t know him so well, I should respect the guy to make his own mistakes.
Event one:
This happened after just a week or so of their relationship.
“Is it okay if I say I am your girlfriend?” asked Maggie and Josh had laughed because Maggie’s question smacked of nonchalant indifference: just taking the tone rather than the content and it would appear the answer meant no more to her than whether he liked tomato sauce, but he knew the opposite was actually true.
“Sure, if you want but it doesn’t change anything! Sorry!”
“I know!”
Event two (last night)
“Hey, how did you get in?” asked Josh.
“You gave me a set of keys!” He knew he hadn’t given her any keys but he couldn’t help noticing his apartment was clean.
“You are round every night so why not! As you cleaned, I’ll cook dinner.” He replied cheerfully. Already so much of her wardrobe was there and his bathroom was awash with her cosmetics. He liked her very much and enjoyed her company. He was not selfish or uncaring towards women, or unfaithful, just preferring to act out marriage and then walk away at the end.
“Why don’t we go on holiday together?”she asked.
“Maybe, next year. If were together.”
“That is not so good, then,”I said after hearing the stories.
"Man, she is a sophisticated adult - She just knows what she wants...Unlike a lot of the locals," said Josh.
I wanted to say get the fuck out of there; change your phone, locks, get plastic surgery, but josh was not someone I had grown up with. He didn’t know him so well, I should respect the guy to make his own mistakes.
Taiwan girls: Josh and Maggie I
Tales of scorned women harrassing ex-boyfriends abounded around the slightly paranoid foreign community. It was understandable:
a) We had no actual legal rights beyond the goodwill of the people. And if you did start getting hassled by your ex, whose side do you think the police were going to take: sweet, little Taiwanese girl, or dirty horn dog foreigner who just wants to fuck a lot of girls.
b) If you spent any time watching the local news it was filled with stories of ex-boyfriend killing girlfriend and vice-versa. The soaps weren't any better: it seemed suicide or murder was the usual way out of a relationship. How did you know? Understandably it was the only part of the TV that your girlfriend bothered to translate.
In truth, most of us got away with just minor harrassment - and we probably deserved that. We were hardly innocent. Poor Josh, however, seemed to always have bad luck.
Josh, after his last girlfriend cried when he finished with her, decided he needed a more westernized girl. Again a lot of us went through this stage to varying degrees, and none of us really knew what a more westernized Chinese girl meant; unfortunately, under the strain of culture shock it usually translated as thus: aggressive, direct, strong-willed, opinioned; all of those things we supposedly were. Fine, but even more unfortunate was there was a fine line between aggressive and direct and damn right crazy in your own culture - and submerged in a foreign culture it could be very difficult to pick the difference.
Maggie was educated in the States for 10 years, spoke perfect English, and had come back to Josh's willingly even after his diatribe about them having sex not meaning he loved her. She was supposedly happy with a casual fling.
When Eric and I met her, she sent a shiver down our collective spines: beautiful, yes, but her eyes were set on full stare paranoid beam, seemly evolved to stick out by the sheer force of mistrust. Afterwards, I felt like holding a teddy bear.
We tried to suggest things politely but he wasn't interested: "Thanks, dude, but she is cool," he said. "It is nice to have a girl who stands up for herself - not like the other locals."
a) We had no actual legal rights beyond the goodwill of the people. And if you did start getting hassled by your ex, whose side do you think the police were going to take: sweet, little Taiwanese girl, or dirty horn dog foreigner who just wants to fuck a lot of girls.
b) If you spent any time watching the local news it was filled with stories of ex-boyfriend killing girlfriend and vice-versa. The soaps weren't any better: it seemed suicide or murder was the usual way out of a relationship. How did you know? Understandably it was the only part of the TV that your girlfriend bothered to translate.
In truth, most of us got away with just minor harrassment - and we probably deserved that. We were hardly innocent. Poor Josh, however, seemed to always have bad luck.
Josh, after his last girlfriend cried when he finished with her, decided he needed a more westernized girl. Again a lot of us went through this stage to varying degrees, and none of us really knew what a more westernized Chinese girl meant; unfortunately, under the strain of culture shock it usually translated as thus: aggressive, direct, strong-willed, opinioned; all of those things we supposedly were. Fine, but even more unfortunate was there was a fine line between aggressive and direct and damn right crazy in your own culture - and submerged in a foreign culture it could be very difficult to pick the difference.
Maggie was educated in the States for 10 years, spoke perfect English, and had come back to Josh's willingly even after his diatribe about them having sex not meaning he loved her. She was supposedly happy with a casual fling.
When Eric and I met her, she sent a shiver down our collective spines: beautiful, yes, but her eyes were set on full stare paranoid beam, seemly evolved to stick out by the sheer force of mistrust. Afterwards, I felt like holding a teddy bear.
We tried to suggest things politely but he wasn't interested: "Thanks, dude, but she is cool," he said. "It is nice to have a girl who stands up for herself - not like the other locals."
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