Early Morning

Sometimes great things come from addictions, like when Franciscan monks liked to drink and eat bread too much and we ended up with sourdough. Or like on Saturday night when I stayed up until five in the morning watching 'The Office' (I couldn't stop, it was terrifying). Once I turned my computer off and though of getting some shut-eye I noticed how fantastic the sunrise was behind me over the city. The summer days are too hot to walk around during, but early morning was a perfect temperature for an adventurous stroll.

I strolled out of my apartment and over a bridge just as the city was waking up, or so I thought, but the city wasn't getting up, it had never slept. An army, literally dozens of uniformed blue city service workers were finishing their shifts. Biking along dragging their brooms, they had cleaned this filthy city, or at least tried to make a dent, during the late hours when the rest of us slept. I was surprised to see so much activity at such an early hour, even more impressive considering they were finishing their work.

As I continued to walk along I was surprised by how many stores were opened by five thirty. Not many percentage-wise, but impressive none the less. I found a produce market just opening, bags and bags of vegetables being unloaded into piles for their owners to claim and display. The fish sellers were just adding ice to empty pools of water, waiting for their fish and the butchers were getting a start on cutting up the animals.

The thought I couldn't escape on my walk was this isn't Europe, and there would be no fresh croissant for me. I tried a succulent smelling Chinese cart breakfast, but Chinese breakfasts remain utterly disappointing to me. In fact they're pretty gross. But perhaps that difference is what makes the experience really educational, a reminder that this isn't a culture I know, a reminder that despite living here for half a year I still know very little about the culture.

By the time I returned home, the buses were crowded and the men sleeping on the carts had woken and begun working on moving rubble around in an abandoned lot. It was six and I could tell the heat was coming, so I finally went to bed.