Toastmaster Magazine Reading Gathering in August

Does it ring the bell if an old hilarious analog about the good's and bad's of different countries is told? The heaven is earn American dollars, marry a Japanese wife, eat Chinese food, and live in an English country house. The hell is make Chinese RMB, live in a Japanese apartment, marry an American and eat English food. But if we haven't been to hell, how could we appreciate the heaven?

Golden ladies had Toastmaster Magazine Reading Gathering in August at JB's English Restaurant Friday evening, the 22nd. Trini, Lydia and I were hungry for Fish and Chips, Kate and Irene followed the crowd, so we settled for JB's on Shida Road.

Being seated in a private booth on the second floor, it felt like dining on the mysterious Orient Express of Agatha Christie. On the train from Moscow to Istanbul, we ordered authentic English food, including two fish & chips, one pork & chips, one sausage & mash, one chicken & mash. Five pink cocktails were complimented on the house to add colors to five golden oriental ladies' elegant dresses in the private booth eating, drinking, chatting, and laughing. JB's English food was not bad at all.

The theme of reading gathering in August was "Parents". Lydia brought a huge framed photo of her parents and a big photo of her father. Lydia began her story first and told us that she missed her father even though she had never seen him in person. Her mother fled to Taipei from Hong Kong in the 50's and her father was left behind in China and passed away during the Cultural Revolution. Lydia's mother brought up two of her daughters single-handed. Irene talked about her handsome and rich womanizer father and her outgoing mother. Her father used to be a real-estate tycoon and her mother a Karaoke champion. Trini and Kate fought to compete whose father was more talented in arts and life. After all ladies talked about their parents and their marriage lives, we began reading Toastmaster Magazine July 2008.

Every lady was well prepared in advance at home. We actually read from cover to cover this time. All articles in July 2008 are useful and applicable in our everyday toastmasters activities, especially the annual evaluation and humorous contests are taking place soon. Every piece of good advices in the articles would be like a welcome raindrop on the dry land. As one of the contestants, I was happy to have the chance to reinforce the good reading. Of course, our monthly gathering was also patched here and there with many taboo topics of Sex and the City Taiwanese version after the cocktail effects.

All golden ladies wore big satisfying smiles getting off the Oriental Express before any of us got murdered for beauty &/or $. We caught all the eyes from the crowds while having a photo taken in front of the bar. I even plan to return to JB's one of these days for a weekend brunch. Care to join me?