One of the techniques we learn about in psychology is listening to people. Sometimes you can get a lot of information from someone, just by letting them talk and fill the silence. Of course, it depends on the person, but some people (like me), can't handle silence and have this need to fill the void.
Anyway, I went to get my phone today, from some store run by Chinese people (which you'd think would be in Chinatown, but was actually near the Greek Precinct). The last time I was there with Sharon, the woman working there was speaking Mandarin with her, so I assumed she only spoke Mandarin and dragged my mum there with me the next time I went. So she has probably figured out that I don't speak Chinese (turns out she also speaks Cantonese and English). I was alone when I went there today, and the server that processes the stuff was taking forever, so I got out some HLT readings and waited. Another customer came in, and started asking about phones. She didn't speak Chinese either, so it took a while for them to get their meanings across.
After she left, the Chinese woman turned to the other guy working at the shop, and started bagging the other woman in Cantonese. I could tell because some of the things she was saying just happened to be some of the stuff I had picked up from watching Jackie Chan movies (*sheepish look*), and I was pretty surprised.
It makes me wonder if people are saying stuff behind my back when they're talking in another language. I know this is just me being weirdly paranoid, but every time I go past the Indian restaurant near my house, I keep thinking that they're saying stuff about me. T_T
It's not just people speaking in other languages. I fell asleep in business management in high school (I really only did it to get the two units of arts/humanities as the rest of my subjects were maths/science) a few times, and sometimes, I'd wake up to hear people talking about something interesting. I know this is terrible, but once, I pretended to still be sleeping so that they're continue talking about what they were talking about, and I could listen.
There is so much you could learn from just listening, but I find that it's something not very many people like to do. I'm not just talking about eavesdropping, but also listening to what people are saying, not what you think they are saying. I feel quite bad in that I think a friend of mine was asking for help at the start of this year, but I thought he was just emo-raging and went to play DotA. A couple of weeks later, he told me something that made me kick myself for not realising that he was actually quite depressed, and just wanted someone to talk to.
Unfortunately, I'm finding it hard to just chat with people online lately. Maybe because I don't sign into MSN very often, and don't have that many Gtalk contacts, so the number of people I talk to at night has gone down to about 7. =( I think I'm too impatient to wait for people's replies, so I go and find other stuff to occupy my mind, but then that makes me neglect the conversations I'm having. =/ I definitely want to spend more time listening to people though, so after exams, I'm going to try and force myself into doing more things with people offline!
Anyway, I went to get my phone today, from some store run by Chinese people (which you'd think would be in Chinatown, but was actually near the Greek Precinct). The last time I was there with Sharon, the woman working there was speaking Mandarin with her, so I assumed she only spoke Mandarin and dragged my mum there with me the next time I went. So she has probably figured out that I don't speak Chinese (turns out she also speaks Cantonese and English). I was alone when I went there today, and the server that processes the stuff was taking forever, so I got out some HLT readings and waited. Another customer came in, and started asking about phones. She didn't speak Chinese either, so it took a while for them to get their meanings across.
After she left, the Chinese woman turned to the other guy working at the shop, and started bagging the other woman in Cantonese. I could tell because some of the things she was saying just happened to be some of the stuff I had picked up from watching Jackie Chan movies (*sheepish look*), and I was pretty surprised.
It makes me wonder if people are saying stuff behind my back when they're talking in another language. I know this is just me being weirdly paranoid, but every time I go past the Indian restaurant near my house, I keep thinking that they're saying stuff about me. T_T
It's not just people speaking in other languages. I fell asleep in business management in high school (I really only did it to get the two units of arts/humanities as the rest of my subjects were maths/science) a few times, and sometimes, I'd wake up to hear people talking about something interesting. I know this is terrible, but once, I pretended to still be sleeping so that they're continue talking about what they were talking about, and I could listen.
There is so much you could learn from just listening, but I find that it's something not very many people like to do. I'm not just talking about eavesdropping, but also listening to what people are saying, not what you think they are saying. I feel quite bad in that I think a friend of mine was asking for help at the start of this year, but I thought he was just emo-raging and went to play DotA. A couple of weeks later, he told me something that made me kick myself for not realising that he was actually quite depressed, and just wanted someone to talk to.
Unfortunately, I'm finding it hard to just chat with people online lately. Maybe because I don't sign into MSN very often, and don't have that many Gtalk contacts, so the number of people I talk to at night has gone down to about 7. =( I think I'm too impatient to wait for people's replies, so I go and find other stuff to occupy my mind, but then that makes me neglect the conversations I'm having. =/ I definitely want to spend more time listening to people though, so after exams, I'm going to try and force myself into doing more things with people offline!
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