My MOS Lady

I go to the MOS Burger stand adjacent to the school to buy a large iced coffee every morning.

A little side note:
MOS Burger is a Japanese franchise that specializes in rice burgers. MOS stands for Mountain, Ocean, Sea. A large iced coffee from MOS Burger is the same size of a Vinti at Starbucks, but it only costs less than one Canadian dollar.

I saw that I had just missed that extra long traffic light when the nice man at the purple rice ball stand handed me my change. I had two choices: I could stand on the sidewalk and breathe in car exhaust under the blazing sun for exactly 2 minutes and 30 seconds, or I could go into 7-11 where they blast the AC with no consideration for the thinning ozone layer. It wasn't difficult.

It took a couple of minutes at 7-11 to pay for a box of already-cut fruit and a bottle of water. Then it took precisely 12 seconds to walk to the intersection. While standing in the blotchy shadow of a free, I thought it was best to take out the exact change for my daily iced coffee. Crossing the 6-lane street took exactly 45 seconds. I know because, in Taipei, the pedestrian traffic light tells you exactly how many seconds you have. In case you're not good with the relation between time and distance, there is even a little green man underneath the time indicator to show you what to do. You walk leisurely when he walks leisurely; you run when he starts to run.



So I got to the other side safe and sound. When I stood in front of the MOS Burger stand, surprisingly no one was paying attention to me. I couldn't see my usual MOS lady.

A second side note:
Since MOS Burger is a Japanese franchise, quality service is EVERYTHING. What I'm used to is everyone is that stand loudly and proudly shouting in unison: "Huan Ying Guang Lin!" (the Chinese equivalence of "irrashiaimasu." as you walk into a Japanese restaurant)

But today was different. No usual MOS lady and no one greeted me. Puzzled, I poked my head in a bit and let out an uncertain, "Hello?" BAM! My usual MOS lady jumped out from underneath the cash register (okay, she didn't, but it appeared as if she did). "Your large iced coffee," she said cheerfully while stuffing a paper bag in my face. "How did you..." my mouth couldn't quite catch up with the string of questions racing in my head. "I spotted you from afar. In fact, I saw you getting out your change wallet when you were on the other side of the street."

My usual MOS lady's got the eyesight of a hawk.