Taiwan’s so funny.

It celebrates Valentine’s Day at least three times!

First, there was the official February 14 Valentine’s Day.

Second, there’s the March 14 White Day, which is based from the Japanese tradition where women show men their affection by giving them chocolates on the official Valentine’s Day, while guys return the favor on March 14.

Meanwhile, the Chinese have their own Valentine’s Day, which we, as ignorant foreigners, had no idea of until recently on August 11!

I actually found out when I wanted to book a table for Thursday, and found out all restaurants are full because of Chinese Valentine’s Day!

My boyfriend apparently had no clue about it as well, and apologized for forgetting. He was completely unaware of the day! He definitely wouldn’t forget the official Valentine’s Day though! To make up for it, he offered to cook pork chops with apricot sauce at home.

I told him it was really no big deal. He had the excuse of being an ignorant foreigner. Even I wasn’t aware that it was Valentine’s! Besides, I think, it’s another conspiracy of flower and chocolate shops to get Taiwanese people to spend more money!

So I made a counter-offer and suggested having dinner in a nice restaurant near NTU Hospital. I have really wanted to go and try out that restaurant. Good thing, they still had seats so we made reservations for a romantic dinner for two.
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Suddenly, an hour before work finishes, my girl-friend sent me an MSN message inviting me to have Thai dinner with her, Karen and George.

I told her I’ll ask my boyfriend about it.

So she jokingly said: “Don’t ask him! TELL HIM! Tell him you’d like to have fun with us! Besides, it’s my (lunar) birthday!”

I found this particularly funny and proceeded to ask my boyfriend about it.

Unless there’s something I really, really want, I’m not really much of a “telling” person. I’d prefer to arrive to a decision we both find to be mutually agreeable.

So we had two options for the night:

1) Have our romantic dinner for two, or

2) Go out with our friends and go to that restaurant next week.

My boyfriend was fine with option A and B. “I get to have dinner with you anyway, so I’m fine with both.”

However, being the indecisive person that I am, it took me several minutes to make up my mind. In the end, we decided to go with option B since we can always eat at that restaurant later, but the opportunity to spend time with friends don’t come very often.

Sometimes, you just have to grab it.

And we did.

We can always have our romantic dinner the next time around. You don’t really have to do it on Valentine’s Day, especially since we’re foreigners and it’s not really a big deal for both of us.

But time with all three good friends? Who knows all the fun we could’ve missed if we skipped it?

And we’re glad we did.

After a very enjoyable dinner, we headed towards Breeze Center to watch “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

Though we were all tired afterwards, it’s a great way to spend Valentine’s — in the company of people who care about you, friends and boyfriend alike.

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I’m thinking of setting up two single friends of mine.

I think they’re both perfect for each other — if only they’d give each other a chance.

For one, both are nice, outgoing, active people who are into traveling and trying the next big adventure. I asked the guy earlier what his ideal woman was like. And his standards fit my girl-friend quite well.

First, she is outgoing. Secondly, she is positive about life, and excited on what life will bring her. I’m sure she’s the type who’s open to new experiences (not one of those prissy women who don’t like to try anything… boring!). She also doesn’t smoke, and not a heavy drinker! I believe she’s attractive too, which is always a plus. I’m sure my guy friend would agree with me.

I was excited about the prospect of them meeting.

Who knows if sparks will fly?

But my boyfriend gave me this very good match-making advice: “Guys are different. When you start asking what he thinks about the girl, he feels too much pressure to do something. The best thing you can do is just keep quiet. Don’t ask the guy about the girl. If he’s interested, HE will be the one to fish for information.”

This was pretty revolutionary thinking for me.

Before, when my girl-friends were trying to set up someone, they’d usually ask, “What do you think of so and so…?”

But that doesn’t really work.

If the guy is really interested, HE will ask for her contact number. HE will fish for information. HE will do all he can to ask her out for a date.

Gee… that’s similar to the message given by the best-selling book, “He’s Just Not That Into You.”

If a guy’s interested, he’ll do the work.

And you don’t have to push him to do anything else.

So this is just more food for thought. 😛