the jimmymac attack!

I just came back from the Banchiao night market aka 'the cesspool'. It's friday night so it was wall to wall people - with motorcycles driving through the crowd like they are entitled to do. I do not think they should be entitled to drive through a pedestrian mall but its the Taiwan way. They drive on the sidewalks, roads, markets, you name it. The motorcycles only do not go places where physical barriers have been put up to stop them. Even then they will find a way around the barriers.
Sometimes the market is fun. Maybe because I have not been there every day for the past two weeks it was fun today. I buy a mango shake there regularly. I do not have to order because when they see me they know what I want. I am also some comic relief for them. At the fruit stand they do not speak english so we communicate in simple chinese. I say, 'I want 1 mango drink' in my stilted chinese. There is a lady there that everyone decided long ago I have a crush on. I like her but she is no raving beauty. So then I say, 'Achi is beautiful' again in chinese. Everybody laughs. Then I say 'Achi is my girlfriend'. My whole vocabulary consists of about 5 sentences. I will say, 'the weather is beautiful' even if its 95 degrees farhenheit. Then they say, the weather is terrible! Only Achi is allowed to make my mango shake and she gives it to me and I ask in chinese, 'how much?'. I always do this although I've had about 250 mango shakes. Achi is very high spirited and starts a rant in chinese about how stupid I am to ask how much? every time. I do not understand what she says but can tell she is telling me I'm a blithering idiot. It's all good fun and we laugh and laugh. I'm good for something. Comic relief. A little mirth and merriment at the old cesspool. Comic relief.