Observing details

An art professor in Iowa once told me that students from Iowa were much better at observing details that students from Colorado. The subtle nature of the Iowa landscape made it necessary to make fine distinctions. Hong Kong would be more like Colorado--overwhelming. But I am starting to observe finer distinctions. While on a bus I was looking at some apartment buildings. I noticed two things--the feng shui elements added to the top. And then I something related to the apartment buildings in my neighborhood--they have something like "back doors" that are actually "back windows." In this case, two wings of the apartment building have their public side and then a private side where they are close to one another. In my neighborhood I have seen this back side used for hanging laundry, etc. In the U.S. we would be more likely to just have windows on one side and the door to the apartment on the inside. This observation explains a comment by a colleague--she said she could tell if a building was private or public housing because of the size of the apartments. She could tell from the outside--base on the length of the wings the building.

And now I notice...My apartment has windows on opposite sides--front and back. The door comes into the middle. And actually I have back door also!