Noah and I had a 'sleep-over' party at my sister Ashin's apartment in Berkeley. We all had a great time and got to sleep until 7:30am!
It made me kind of jealous that my little sister gets to enjoy such a life: living at the heart of the 'gourmet ghetto' (you can tell there are abundance of serious foodies there), walking around in a beautiful town infused with floral fragrance, surrounded by independant shops and cafes, saturated by mountains Buddhist and art-history texts (well this part I can skip, but the tranquil scholarly life of reading and writing and debating does have its appeal), having a yoga studio in every other street corner... the list goes on.
What puzzles me is: how do these people have the money to afford such life? The cafes, organic, free-range markets, eco-friendly boutiques, bakeries.. and life seems easy with casually-dressed walkers and bikers. I asked Ashin, who lives on a humble grad-student stipend, and she said she or her grad-school friends couldn't possibly afford eating out or buying things from the little boutiques. But, you can tell people are consuming, and stores and restaurants are booming rapidly, so, how do they make it?
One possibility is that it's simply a lifestyle choice. By forgoing a big house, big cars and the commute, the Berkeley people opt for small, older homes and bikes, with more time devoted to good food and the outdoor. But still it seems a little too nice to be affordable.
Noah declared that we had a sleepover at Ashin's "work" (not home), since, as he puts it: "Home is where puopuo (grandma) lives, and work is where Ashin lives". Cleve distinction, isn't it? Very Chinese--you are only "home" in your parents' house :)
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"One possibility is that it's simply a lifestyle choice. By forgoing a big house, big cars and the commute, the Berkeley people opt for small, older homes and bikes, with more time devoted to good food and the outdoor. But still it seems a little too nice to be affordable."
It can't be that, because houses there are more expensive than almost anyplace where the bigger newer houses are. These can't be mainly people who are giving up one thing to spend on another. I think there are just a lot of rich people in the area.
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