just another day

My cousin Kate (Bruinooge) was in town visiting a friend this week, so we had dinner tonight in the Wan Chai district. It was good to see a familiar face and to talk to someone who's known me my whole life.

On the train ride home, I started to think about all of the things that have become routine and part of daily life here. This week just about marks the half-way point between arriving here and coming home for Christmas. I came up with a list of things that I barely notice now, things that are part of my daily life which I noticed upon first arriving, but have become ingrained with my routine. I'm sure there's more, but here is a list off the top of my head...

routine things:

• watching people do tai chi every morning in the courtyard
• working on the 5th floor of a building, overlooking a racetrack
• going to Pizza Hut and not being able to find a pizza that doesn't have corn on it
• finding myself running down the stairs along with everyone else to get a seat on the train or subway
• taking about 12 escalators a day, and making sure that I follow the custom of standing on the right, and passing on the left when I'm in a hurry
• noticing that 80's fashion has made a huge come-back
• getting coffee at a McCafe (usually adjoined with a McDonalds)
• seeing an entire aisle of Cup Noodles at the grocery store
• passing by 4 7-11's on my way to work, all without a Slurpee machine, but all where I can pay my bills and buy stamps
• hearing students talk about their 4 day weekend vacation to Thailand
• having my students speak at least 3 languages, sometimes more
• passing by malls filled with Gucci, Prada, and Louis Vitton on a regular basis
• commuting to work by bus, taxi, or train and having a book in hand
• calling an elevator the "lift," and the restroom the "toilet"
• going to a Starbucks right next to a street vendor selling fishball noodle soup
• using my cheap cell phone to call home, 14 hours behind me
• taking a ferry on a regular basis, for about 30 cents a ride
• paying high prices for yogurt and cheese, but buying produce cheaply (and often at the wet market)
• seeing about 1/2 the people on the train wearing Converse tennis shoes
• hearing "please mind the gap" when boarding the train
• watching the majority of people passing on their phones or with earphones
• hearing English being spoken, but with a British or Australian accent
• finding most public places extremely clean, maybe due to the "no spitting" or "no hawking" signs