Distances have always troubled me, temporal or spatial. They carry with them an undercurrent of separation. A silent (and sad) feeling of something tearing down. But unfortunately that's what I have found in plenty in the new world I am in. Having stayed (survived rather) for 2 months here I think I have enough American air in my lungs (like it or lump it) to write a few lines about it. Its different for starters. Cold indeed, but also very different. People wear less and eat more, walk less but run more, thrive more and drive a lot, talk less but smile a lot! I can't say more about how much I miss those familiar faces , busy roads, lively markets, honking cars. The silence here is deafening. You look out of window you find most beautiful trees, latest cars and ever clean roads but no(thing/one) else. Roads are always empty, porches always silent. And just incase you find someone he would be eager to say hi but probably only to pass by as quickly as possible, You can always sense a distance, a cover of individuality, a layer of pretence probably. I sometimes wish earnestly that I do not start liking this or getting "adjusted" to it. I want to keep this distance alive in some sense so that I donot get infected by this air of individuality. But there is flip side of this dire state as well. People value time and work, they really do, classes start at the exact minute, session ends at the precise time. People are available when they are supposed to and consider patient hearing as a TO DO list item (yeah weird I know). Things (and some people too) are mechanized which adds order to the system but also deprives it of life. It works nonetheless. Views are often subjective and hence biased and inherently flawed. May be someone arrives here tomorrow and finds that this is the place they always to live in. I didn't. I just miss my family and home more than ever.