It doesn't have quite the same ring as "my first paycheck" or "my first apartment," does it? Nevertheless, it's true.
So far my mail here had fallen into one of two categories -- personal correspondence and utility bills. There's also the occasional missive from the building complex, but since that doesn't actually come through the post office, it doesn't qualify for its own category.
Today, however, I opened my mailbox to find a very strange piece of mail. A catalog, in fact. From a place called Harbor House (never heard of them), which appears to be sort of like Pottery Barn, only more alliterative. It's a very nice catalog, all glossy and four-color, with a reasonable heft; the kind of catalog you'd get in the US if you've ever used a credit card at a merchandising store and haven't opted out of junk mail. And in fact, despite the fact that my address on the plastic cover wrap was printed in Chinese, the return address showing through was in English: Fremont, CA.
Lo and behold, despite a California return address, once the wrapping came off I saw the list of no fewer than 6 addresses of stores in China, including three in Shanghai. But here's what I think is funny -- while the catalog is clearly geared to the store's Chinese audience, with prices in RMB and product descriptions in Chinese... the product titles are in English. Huh?? And before you tell me they wanted consistency with the English version of the catalog, or some way of checking the item for inventory, etc., purposes, (a) each product carries a product number, which is presumably universal, and (b) some of them have typos.
Color me confused.
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