Three glasses of red wine on a Tuesday night. The city is silent, it had gone to sleep. Usually, sirens would still blare from a distance. Not tonight. The morning was too cold for my tropical programming, but the night was just cool. My hands weren’t tight across my body trying to shield me from a cold. It was just right.
I had a slow walk back home from my Korean language class. I haven’t heard silence in a long time, I thought to myself. Sure there were the occasional zooming of the cars, but there weren’t as many that I barely even noticed. The lights weren’t bright in apartment buildings either. It was like the whole city was tired and went to sleep. It was the kind of midnight I haven’t had in a while.
There is a certain charm in a quiet city. There is enough life to know that the city is not abandoned and scary, but quiet enough that you can hear yourself think. It was not the kind of thinking that keeps you up at night either. Just calm thoughts. I could hear myself being grateful for the silence, for the calm breeze, for the terrible that had just gone by. I could hear myself breathe.
It’s not the same in the suburbs either. It’s always quiet in the suburbs. It’s like everyone there have their own lives. City folks have to share the city. They have to. One building houses families. One street is jam-packed with houses side by side. There’s a residence next to a business. It’s always interesting and there’s always new to discover. It can be quiet noisy, that’s why nights like this is always a gem.
When shall I have a moment to myself like this, I ask myself. Who knows. I’m just glad to have had it even just for a few minutes. Tomorrow, it’s once again back to dodging the person walking the same path as you from the opposite direction, listening to songs by yourself trying not to sing out loud and striding as large and as fast so to get away from the organized chaos of the bustling city.
