Living with my new housemates has brought back a lot of memories from my exchange. Mainly it's due to the familiar smells - they don't cook often, but when they do, it smells like I'm back on the streets of Mong Kok with the various odors wafting around. I love it (even when I hate the smell).
Another amusing memory that they've brought back is of traveling in China. One of them, most likely Shunde, likes to hoark in the bathroom. The sound of it reminds me of walking the streets in mainland China. Part of me is vastly amused by this, even while the hairs on the back of my neck try to stand on end.
The final similarity between my apartment and Hong Kong is the random miscommunications that occur. One specific instance comes immediately to mind. I had gone to the gym one morning, and when I returned, I started chatting with Shuang. I told her in Chinese that I had gone to the gym, but I guess I said "gym" wrong. She proceeded to repeat the word back to me, then she kept saying something in Chinese that I couldn't understand. I kept replying, "I don't understand" in Chinese. After literally 2 minutes of this, she finally looks at me and says very slowly in Chinese, "I'm speaking English." That's when I realized that she had been spelling out, "G-Y-M" the entire time. I had been confused because the letter "G" sounds like the word "ji" in Mandarin. LOL. When I finally realized what was going on, I was laughing hysterically and embarrasedly. :)
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