Expense and Daily Life

---

One knows one has lived in a place too long when ...

1. one starts to learn the slang of that area, even if it's of a language besides one's mother tongue
2. one starts to sing along to the tune the waitress is humming while she cleans up chairs outside
3. one has restaurants that one goes where the waiter or waitress doesn't even bother to give you a menu because they already know what you're going to order
4. one has places one goes to where people have stopped saying hi when one walks in as one is constantly walking in and out of the place and for them to say hi that many times is a bit ridiculous
5. one has set places to go to get certain things
6. one walks into the Quickie Mart and after buying something the woman says "what time does class start?"

Prices in the US are getting to be a little insane. I looked at prices for flights today. One flight from New York to North Carolina and one bus back to New York is only half as expensive as a flight from Beijing to New York and back. That is absolutely crazy. Not the China Airlines flight but the prices in the US. They should be MUCH cheaper than a 13 hour flight from China to the US. But maybe I'm just finally on the other side of the fence looking back at my own country and thinking "well, dang it's expensive over there" instead of what I was thinking when I got here which was "wow, China's cheap!"

---