AFTER 8 PM
B y L i n d a L i n S i u Y u e t
I got the chance to study in Karlsruhe last semester; it is a warm and beautiful city in the southwest of Germany. There is a famous university in this city that attracts many international students, so honestly it is not a surprise to see people of different skin colors on the street, and I heard people saying‘ Nihao’ to me thousands of times! I did not really get shocked by German customs, but there is one thing that is very different from Hong Kong: the time they close the regular shops-8pm! Luckily restaurants are not included.
People wearing thick coats and scarves, carrying paper bags from the supermarket. They stand in the tram station with tired faces, they are heading home. Their home with heat, and with all kind of the warm feelings. Maybe there are kids waiting for their dinner, maybe there is a lover waiting for a hug, maybe there is just a funny TV show, but home is a private place only for you, and your own life. When I think it this way, I feel peaceful and I want to go home, take a shower and get a good sleep. It doesn ' t matter that it is just 8 pm.
What do you usually do at 8pm? Walking around in the crowded street? Still shopping in a big mall? Having dinner with your folks? That ' s what I usually do in Hong Kong. I still remember how excited I was on the first day: I dressed up, and put my make up on. When I left the dorm, it was 7 pm, and I thought that I still had some time to see how Karlsruhe looked in the evening. I went into some shops, but when I really felt like trying a nice jacket, the salesperson came to me and said,‘ Sorry, we are closing the shop’. I never expected this, I hoped that it was just one shop, but when I walked out on to the street, all the shops were closing. I did not know how I was going to survive after 8pm. It is the golden time in Hong Kong after all.
In the winter, night had already fallen by 8pm. It was dark and cold, and the street was nearly empty. There were not many noises, but I liked hearing the sound of the tram passing by. It was a slow and gentle call for going home.
When summer comes, the day time lasts longer. In Karlsruhe, the sun usually sets at 10 pm. I do not really feel like it can be called as‘ evening’, and there are more people in the street than the winter time. It is quite hot in the afternoon, but after 8pm the weather gets cooler. There is a palace in my city which has a garden that is open to the public, and it is very popular for people to relax there. People buy beers and chips( well that ' s what you need to do before 8pm of course), riding their bikes to the garden. Some even bring their own radios or instruments to play the music. We walk through the grass with our bare feet, feeling the tenderness of the ground. We sit on the grass, chatting and singing with our friends. We lie down, waiting for the sky to change color. There is not a fancy modern shopping mall to stay in and air conditioning to make you feel cold like winter. That ' s mostly what we do in Karlsruhe after 8pm in the summer.
If there is a holiday or it is the weekend, people
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