The Ni Vs The Insulting Taxi Driver

i am angry with your fellow singaporean that i came across last night.
i was insulted by a taxi driver!

as you probably could have known by the previous post of my imposter that i went out in the middle of the night to search for a wine bottle opener for my psycho rab-bitch. i went down to the bus stop nearby my hall expecting some cabs to pass by but there was none. and i was dumb enough to forget to bring my phone along. i couldn't call for a cab. so i decided to walk out. i walked all the way till i reached CHC then the cab appeared.

the taxi driver seemed to be very friendly cos he striked a conversation as soon as i got on the car.

the driver: so where are u from?
me: thailand.
the driver: what are you doing here?
[while i just told him a second ago that i walked out from NTU. do i have a professor look?!]
me: er... study.
the driver: oh... so where do you study before this?
me: in thailand.
the driver: in thailand ah?! u study in thai or english?
me: in thai.
the driver: huh?! everything in thai?
me: ya... everything in thai.
the driver: so how do u find studying here?
me: erm... alright. it's fine.
the driver: ah? but everything is english. then how?
me[started getting insulted]: er... yah... i think it's fine.
the driver: but everything is in english. everyone is speaking english.

he asked as if i wasn't speaking to him in english but an alien language.

me:er... yah... i can speak english, can't i?
the driver with his disbelieving voice: yah... but everything is english, the lectures, the books, the notes, everything!

at this point of time i felt that my intellect was very much insulted and i ran out of way to convince him that people actually have ability to learn and adapt in foreign environment. my ego in me told me to just tell him off that i'm a scholar so he'd shut up.

reluctantly i told him: mm... yah... but i've got a scholarship to study here.

by now he should have got my point. but no. he was very determined to insult me and make me believe that foreigners from non-english-speaking countries can't survive studying in singapore. he paused for a while, trying to keep cool. then he continued his attempt

the driver: ah... scholarship ah? thai scholarship or singapore scholarship?

i could feel his attempt to discriminate thai scholars

me: singapore scholarship.
the driver: is it from the company or what?
me: no. from singapore government, ministry of foreign affair.

he probably didn't have anything to say anymore. but to save his face, he had to.

the driver: so how long will you be here?
me: 4 years.
the driver: 4 years ah?!
[he repeated with his excited voice. i know long ago there were only 3-year courses with no direct honour]
me: yah. it's a 4-year course, engineering.
the driver: oh... so what year are u already? how are u coping? how many more years left?

i know i look young. he probably thought i'm a freshie and hasn't experienced the real tough life of studying here.

me: i'm at my final year already. going to graduate next year (in my mind, i continued - i hope)
the driver: so what are u gonna do after graduate? your father is rich, u can set up a business here.

i don't know where he's got the idea that my father is rich from. i supposed he believed that my father is so damn rich so that he could bribe the singapore minister of foreign affair to take me in as a scholar.

me:uh... no. too bad he isn't rich.

the conversion was paused for a while as we reached 7-eleven. i went down to find the opener but they don't sell it there. luckily the nice 7-eleven lady lent me hers. so i bought a few bottles of drink from them.

as i got back to the car, the driver heard the cranking sound of the bottles.

the driver: so u bought beer ah?
me: uh... no. just mixed drink. i don't like beer.

that's when he start preaching me about how drinking is bad for you and you shouldn't drink when you're a student. i'm sure you don't wanna hear about it.

as writing this, i feel that i'm so lucky that i feceived a scholarship and that i decided to take it. (i almost rejected it) and i'm so grateful of the singapore government for giving me such a great opportunity without any tie. [i know most of u reading this have been cursing and swearing how i waste your parents' tax pay. but believe me, i sure will contribute back to your country somehow. ;)

Ni submitted homework at 4:35 AM

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