"I'll have the usual"

Karl and I went to Cochrane the other day and ate at the 'Cochrane Cafe'... a rather non-descript diner; not the cool retro kind, but the old-and-run-down-not-really-going-for-that-look-on-purpose kind. You know, the napkin dispenser and plastic tumblers on the speckled-but-chipped up melamine surface.

It was good food though, Karl had a Denver that he changed the name to “Omewich” because really, all this is, is an omelet sandwich. I had a classic beef dip, with fried onions and everything.
The thing about this experience though, was that the waitress was chatting with the family in the booth next to us, asking them about the kids’ soccer match. She knew them. The dad called over to an old fella’ as he hobbled his way up to the til to pay his bill. “How’s the farm doin’?” he starts into it on the weather and the seed and the government, etc. They knew eachother.

When we were in Hong Kong, near the end of our final week there, Karl took me to a really cool little dessert place in Causeway Bay. We were eating, and Karl leaned over closer to me and said, “they must be regular customers, the waitress just asked them [in Cantonese] if they wanted what they had last time.” And it made me realize… that’s what I miss about home. It’s so intangible, and you don’t really even know that it is such a big part of your life until it isn’t… the knowing about ‘nothing’… the Seinfeld moments that you don’t catch if you don’t know the language. The, “hey, cute shoes,” and the, “mohhhm, can I have a quarrrterrrr?” and the, “what should we have for dinner tonight, kids?” kind of comments that you hear in passing. The living that you observe and are kind of a part of… just by default. Just by being in the way, being in public, being in shared space.

So, I think that is what would make it difficult being away for much longer than two or three (okay, maybe I could do four if ever offered the luxury of that option) weeks at a time in a culture where you don’t understand the language. I also think that is what is motivating me to learn more fluent Cantonese! But it’s HARD! Okay, I will suck it up. I hope to get into classes at U of C this fall. Then maybe I can learn how to say, “I’ll have the usual please Mr. Wong” in Cantonese, if we go back to Hong Kong and become vacationing regulars at that little dessert place in Causeway Bay.