It's funny how I sometimes imagine English when I'm hearing Chinese. When anyone walks into a store, the 7-11 in particular, the store clerks call out, "Good morning!" They aren't actually saying good morning. In fact, they say it at all times of the day. I believe they are saying something equivalent to "Welcome to my establishment, let me know if I can help you."

The ground floor of our apartment building houses some cram schools. (After school day care, Asia style. Send your kids there to spend the afternoon and evening learning English and math.) When I walked by this evening they were just getting out and I'm pretty sure I heard one of the teachers say, "Hey, Wendy, time to go home."

The elevator has a disembodied voice that tells you what floor you have arrived at. I know at least that part because I can pick out the word for 10, the floor we live on. The rest of it seems to be welcoming us to Shangri la. That works for me.