Those (Favourite?) Things Left Behind

Despite my oft professed love for Asian food, I miss pizza. Terribly. I've been having cravings for flatbreads from Twisted Tomato, an Italian restaurant in Kelowna. Not sure why my imagination is fixed on pizza, though it is likely a combination of the sharp decrease in both bread and cheese consumption since arrival. To tell the truth, things have become so bad that I purchased a Groupon for half price pie. Ruh-oh.

Don't get me wrong, I love summer as much as the next Island or Okanagan resident, but it wouldn't hurt to have a little bit of temperature variation out here. Day time highs? 32. Night time highs? 28. I don't think I've turned my ceiling fan off or closed my window since arrival. I sleep on top of my sheets. The only respite from the heat possible is the time spent in lectures, where the theatres and class rooms are kept at a frigid 18 or so. Not cool. Not cool at all.

Being a modern city that never really shuts down (the Mustafa department store never closes!) there's quite a bit of ambient light. Combine that with the haze from Sumatran forest fires, and you've got a situation where it is nearly impossible to see stars. A friend of mine spotted one the other night and we all oohed and aahed. One star. I mean, it's not like stars are an important part of my life, but you certainly notice when they are not there.

I'm just gonna come straight out and say I miss wine. There's wine here, even some of the Australian wines I know from back home. But I don't just want wine, I want wine with my wine friends. I want my quiet nights in with a nice dinner and a glass or two of red. Or white, if I'm sipping from a glass of Tantalus Riesling. Also, wine is expensive here, just like every other alcoholic beverage. Gotta love those sin taxes. And yes, that is what they are officially called.

This one requires quite a bit of explanation. I miss the right hand rule. Remember back to my True Colours post, where I revealed that I am a rational and independent green. Now think about driving. Depending on where you live, traffic flows on either the left or right side of the road. In Canada we drive on the right, in Singapore they drive on the left. This rule commonly extends to pedestrians as well: you walk on the right, especially when going up stairs. Naturally, I assumed the same would apply here, except on the left of whatever walkway I found myself. Wrong. So incredibly wrong. There is absolutely no set practice or etiquette for walking. It's a total free for all. You want to get down the stairs? Make your own way up. You want to dodge the incredibly slow walker in front of you? Find whatever route is available. See a spot you can squeeze through? Use those elbows!

I swear I'm not passive aggressive right meow.

first photo by sassyradish, second photo by acidpix, third photo by Dennis Barnes, fourth photo by willy-photographer, fifth photo by otama