I made a post some time ago about how hard it was to find single, Taiwanese women in Kaohsiung City who were in their 30s and 40s. Sure there's plenty of young single women, but the former is hard to get.
So I had been having dinner in a restaurant very near my school quite often when I noticed this fantastic looking waitress. We started flirting and I later found out she was 32 and Vietnamese, but had impeccable Mandarin skills. We soon agreed to meet for tea near the restaurant but she was awfully shy and spoke only Mandarin. My Mandarin sucks so it was difficult but yet very satisfying for both of us to finally meet.
I continued frequenting this restaurant and we set up a few more meetings, with each one getting a little better. I realised that I knew much more Mandarin than I thought, and she was very charitable when communicating with me. She did her best to understand and of course I did the same. She never once made me feel that our language barrier was a problem.
One thing led to another and we soon had a "date" . It was near my house and she asked if she could see my apartment. We had a great time that afternoon. I did not want to have sex with her on the first date so we just got to know each other a lot better.
She works two jobs and has a child (she is separated from her Taiwanese husband) and of course I work a lot of evenings but we still get to see each other at least once a week and when I am at the restaurant. This has been going on now for about two months and....are we in love?
Hmmmm....well we both count the days until we see each other and she calls me even though speaking Mandarin on the phone is a god-awful chore. Yet we are very very happy.
I wasn't looking for love at a small outdoor Taiwanese restaurant but it may have found me. And who knows of the longevity of this tentative relationship? But we both seem to be willing to see where it goes.
Cheers Forumosans. Never lose hope.
