Kindness of Strangers

There was this Aimee Mann song, that said, 'I keep going round and round on the same old circuit' and then went on to say, 'and here i'm sitting in my car at the same old stoplight' and I felt I could relate to the lyrics until now that I think about it... well I don't go round and round on the same old circuit or sit in my car at the same old stoplight, because nothing is the same anymore. I enter a building and the smell is different. The size of cucumbers is different. The way people pronounce my name, the speed they drive on the highway, the jokes on the tv, the prices on the tags, the objects decorating shelves are different. I realized recently that since I moved to the US, I haven't walked on the street or gone anywhere on my own for that matter, certainly my basic independence levels are different (working on that driver's license). I'll admit once and for all that I really, really miss home. I miss the little streets that are crooked and disorganized. I miss my cellphone and my ringtone, and how happy I could be when a friend called out of the blue. I miss cooking in my kitchen and being absolutely obsessive about keeping it clean. And our little songs at work. Hey, I didn't complain publicly since I got here and today, I just am.
The restaurants are hopeless, by the way (except Farmer's Kitchen, but then I'm never a customer there).