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Wednesday, January 30, 2008♥ 1:16 PM
Hallo from across the pacific / atlantic! (depending on which way u spin ur globe)
Howdyhowdyhowdy. Am currently typing this from my very cold hotel room in San Francisco, and feeling extremely uncool cuz I'm wearing a sweater and leg warmers and am all bundled up even though I'm INDOORS. You should see my surreptitious shiver. My toes and fingers do a little dance all on their own when I'm not looking. Am TERRIBLY bad with cold, so I make sure I'm covered with several layers from head to toe and if I had my way, my face would be covered too. Anyways!
Have been here three days, and I kinda like San Fran. (: I was horribly homesick for the first two days, but today's been more settled. What have I been up to? I 1.) shopped 2.) ate 3.) ate more 4.) continued shopping 5.) was very cold 6.) tried to do my work in between all the shopping and eating and wasn't very productive. Heh. Let me try to crystallize why I like this place in a few points:
1.) The people here are really friendly. Like really really friendly. And sales staff here rock. They're helpful, without being pushy, and they greet you ALL THE TIME. Regardless of whether we're in a high-end store or not. The first few times i got greeted with a genunie "how'd you do?", with full eye contact and what looked like genuine interest for my welfare, I was so startled I forgot to answer. Grin. Only serves to enforce what an unfriendly society we come from. I've learnt to smile more at random strangers here. If I do this back home I'd just look cuckoo.
2.) The city has a nice mix of old and new. For example, there're these cute, almost cartoonish trolley cars that run by electricity and have tracks in the ground, along the street, that take u from place to place around SF city. They're adorable, and actually a very functional means of transport, and they've been here since.....I dunno when actually. Heh. But for looong.
3.) Erh. The shopping is good? Hahahahaha. i realized, after point 2, that the reasons why I like this place is just cuz i've been shopping, and what's there to complain abt that man!
Haha. There are other interesting things abt the city, like the fact that there are SO MANY ASIANS here, we blend right in. Like the fact that there are so many art galleries around, which appeals to my arty-farty hoity-toity side, y'know, being surrounded by art. Like the fact that the streets are laid out in such a perfect grid pattern it's sp easy to get around. Like, when the sun (occasionally) comes out during the day, that the weather is so lovely I feel like I can walk (not shop, just walk) for miles.
Okay, serious part now. I think travelling, much as I like it, has made me realize that it's really getting harder and harder, as I grow older, to adjust to being outside my comfort zone. When I was younger, it was easy to try new things, get used to new environments, not wish for the same, the old, the familiar method of doing things. Case in point: I hardly ever got homesick when I travelled without family. But I realize as I grow older, coming out of my comfort zone is a lot more painful, and my inertia is so much higher. So note to self, and to all, is to be more aware and more intentional, about doing things that continually, and yet wisely challenge the boundaries of my comfort zones, mentally, spiritually, physically, so that by the time I reach 30, 40, 50 and beyond, I will still be limber and adaptive to change and to God's plans, and I wouldn't be an old person welded to the same things and the same habits, i.e. tragically boring.
Serious point deux. There was a point yesterday, at the height of my shopping expedition, where I looked around me at all the things I could buy, at the fact that I had nothing more onerous before me but a fantabulous lunch and more shopping, and when I should have been happy, instead I felt a sudden stab of desolation. I think that's a small small glimpse of how people who have climbed the dizzying heights of success, with all the money in the world, feel. When you achieve all that life can offer, and still find that resounding emptiness inside cannot be filled. And if I didn't have God, didn't have much beloved family and friends, how horribly empty it would all be. It was a good opportunity to tell God about it, and a very good confirmation of my intuitive sense (not that anyone ever asked hehhh) that I'd really really hate being a tai tai. Some people can be, and like to be, but I cannot. Same logic for why I'm not a doctor, pop star, or, uh, nun.
So anyways! Did i mention that I've been trying to clear work here? Heh. Time to get back to work then. It's 10.08pm here. Peace, out!
Love Corrine
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