New: Warm hats are so much needed under this cold weather. Indeed I haven’t been able to go out without a hat since November. Hats used to be just a practical thing for me, an item which I would use when occasionally needed. But they have now become part of my daily dress just like my T-shirts and trousers. Although two hats in the wardrobe are practically sufficient as you still get one to wear when another is hung up for drying after washing, I started to want to change hats more often just like I don’t wear only two T-shirts on alternative days. Sorry for my purse that I have bought my second winter hat here on top of the two I brought from home. The good news is that I have a small head so that money is saved by getting kid’s size ones.
Old: Another piece of good news for my purse is that I have absolutely stopped buying earrings. Why wear earrings when my ears badly need to be covered by a hat?
***
New: Lots of tea drinking. English breakfast is still my favourite, as always. A mint tea or an Earl Grey would wake me up when I feel gloomy and sleeping in the afternoon. A fruit tea is a good reward for myself after several hours of class or essay writing. A flower tea is randomly picked but the fragrance makes me smile every time when I open the box.
Old: I still keep a teapot and some Chinese jasmine tea but they’ve eventually become a showcase and it’s mainly served when I have visitors. Interestingly the pattern of choices made my friends has been very consistent so far. Whenever I offered them some tea and asked what tea they would like, all my Chinese friends would go for English tea and all my non-Chinese friends would go for Chinese tea.
And of course, no more bubble tea for me now.
***
New: Lots of walking. I actually enjoy walking as a way of commuting. You get to see the real city instead of having everything flashing in front of eyes for a second through a bus window. Oh I almost forgot how to ride on a bus… In the past four months since my arrival I have only ridden on a city bus three times (inter-city bus exclusive), including one ride from the airport on my first day here and another ride to the airport for a vacation.
Old: Commuting for one hour used to be nothing harsh to me. I routinely commuted for almost an hour to work and a whole hour back home after work, not to mention travel between places at work. I didn’t see why one would “wow” after hearing the distance between my home in HK and my office required one hour of travelling. Now anywhere that I can’t reach within half an hour means a remote place to me.
***
New: Dress in layers, or in a more vivid description I like, in an “onion style”. I really appreciate the idea of having cloakrooms in European museums. They are just desperately needed. This way of dressing also makes me move slower – You don’t realise it takes so much time just to take on and off clothing every time you go indoors and outdoors until you really have to do it many times a day, particularly when you have several classes at different locations on the same day.
And by the way, I have started to wear two layers of gloves since the beginning of 2013.
Old: I think I missed my dresses and skirts in my first two months here.
***
New: I have come to understand why baking is such a popular home activity in Europe. It feels so good to be in front of a hot oven smelling fresh food when it’s freaking cold outside!
Old: Being in the kitchen was simply no fun – it made you sweat.
***
New: Sunshine is a rare gift. When it was still not this cold by December, I would want to go out even just for a little walk to the nearby supermarket when I saw sunshine through the narrow window in my dim bedroom.
Old habit: There was almost always sufficient ambient light cheering up my flat through our large window and I could literally stay at home for days without feeling any depression.
***
New: All DIY meals! Bye to polystyrene food boxes! Yeah!
Old: Restaurant meals for lunch and supper boxes in the newsroom. Weekend meals by mom were big rewards after a whole week of work.
***
No comments:
Post a Comment