Monument Cafe

Toastmaster Linda Tseng invited golden ladies for afternoon tea at Mr. Brown Cafe (Taipei Institute of Technology) to share her travel album in Western America Sunday afternoon, May 24th. I proposed we changed the place to the newly opened and renovated Monument Cafe near Taipei Train Station. But when I got there at 2PM, I only saw the sign, the coffee shop was closed, to my disappointment. In the end, I walked in Mr. Brown Cafe next door.

When Linda arrived, I saw her in time. Before she showed me her photo album, we couldn't help wondering why Monument Cafe was closed on holidays. If we were the owners, how we would run the coffee shop and do our best to promote it by inviting local and foreigners to come visit Monument for a cozy and relaxing afternoon coffee.

When Amy arrived, Linda saw her in time. Amy joined golden ladies a couple months ago. She was the most eager lady among us to learn and to exchange and she always puts on her best shoes along with her fancy hat to our gatherings. Amy wore a red straw hat today. She gave it to me as a gift immediately when she saw me. She complimented me that the red hat looked prettier on me. Thank you, Amy!

It was a pleasant afternoon at Mr. Brown with Linda and Amy. Linda showed us two big photo albums of her exciting trips in the US ten years apart, one was in April 2009, the other was in April 1999 (when Linda was still single and slim). The decade evolution of Linda was astonishing, Linda was still Linda alright, but with more confidence and charm in running her life as a mother of four and an owner of a big molding company. Her growth could be witnessed by how she compiled her resourceful and memorable travelogue with lots of photos and witty and amusing remarks. Thank you, Linda!

As always, our topics switched from time to time. Linda was interested in the book I brought along, "The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell. I told Linda I'd been reading extensively Greek, Roman, Indian, Chinese Mythology recently. I spent a lot of time memorizing the names of gods and goddesses, I found a lot of inspiration and stimulation from the stories of gods and goddesses in the east and west. When Linda told us she was reading "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy at the time, Amy started sharing her perspective about the heroine's overwhelming density and irreconcilable contradictions of existence. I think every woman is a mythology, so is a man. Piece by piece we put together the jigsaw puzzle of our ephemeral lives and blend into one story of human beings in the universe.

At 5PM, Linda needed to join her family gathering. Amy invited me to have dinner at Ogawa Japanese Cuisine where Amy proposed to have the Toastmasters Magazine reading gathering in June. Ogawa is a newly opened in Ten-mu, owned by a dear friend of Amy. Believe it or not, we even ran into a toastmaster member of China Toastmasters Club, Amy and Trini's home club, at Ogawa. What a small Toastmasters world it is in Taipei!

PS: I didn't give up, did I? I called Monument Cafe first thing Monday morning to know their open hours and invited Lydia and Sophia for afternoon tea Wednesday, May 27th. Being an early bird and the only customer on the second floor, I sat by the window, looked out at the heavy and swift traffic on the Chung-shan North Road, like a video on forward 4X speed, time flew just as fast. It's 2009 now. A century ago, women in kimono on rickshaws meandered under the same tree shades perhaps.