At the post office (#258, Topic D)

After moving to our retirement community, the thought occurred to me that the Post Office has been extremely thoughtful of our welfare, giving us no less than 3 post offices with a 2-mile radius. One, the closest, is actually in our compound, opening from 10 to 2. Another one, the farthest, about 2-miles away in a shopping center, has regular hours of 8:30 to 5. The third one, in another shopping center just outside of our community, has attractive hours of 10 to 6:30 -- most convenient for us to frequent. My fellow retirees apparently have the same idea. Yesterday, while in a queue to be served, a young lady, two slots behind me, was using her cellular 'phone. She was apparently conversing in French, with not infrequent reference to d'accord. Since that word is very close to the Chinese phrase da ge (big brother, with which my younger sisters addresses me), I could not resist the temptation not to turn around and look at her. Another lady, who was immediately behind me, asked her whether she was conversing in French. I then added my 2-bits' worth, by first saying that I was from China originally. The lady behind me then asked: Where are you from? From the mainland, I answered. Is that Taiwan? she asked again. This conversation attracted the attention of another lady waiting in line just ahead of me. So she said: No, no. Mainland China is as big as USA. The lady behind me then asked me in which city in China I lived. Shanghai, I answered. In Shanghai, they speak Cantonese, she volunteered. It turned out that she was born in Harbin, and had been to Shanghai before she migrated to USA. I knew that there were many so-called White Russians in China in the pre-PRC days, so I asked: Are you of Russian ancestry? To which she answered in the affirmative. And she lives in the same retirement community. Apparently, I was not paying much attention, because, by that time, one of the clerks was ready to take care of business. As I did not step up quickly, she chad to say: Next. I excused myself and proceeded to the counter to conduct my business, which was to mail two packages of books and to buy some stamps. In our retirement community, you meet interesting people as soon as you step out of your apartment. Very lively.